MBox Mini UNABLE TO LOCATE HARDWARE Pro Tools Express

[electropunkboy]

I am working with a brand new MacBook Pro (1 year old) and OS Up to Date just have not updated to Mavericks yet. I don't know if I want to.
I purchased ProTools Express with MBOX mini in December of 2012 from Musicians Friend and after figuring it out and getting registered, downloading drivers etc I was able to open Express and utilize my MBox and mix down some old sessions I had. I did not touch it for a while and went back to reset up my studio and get back into music and it keeps saying "UNABLE TO LOCATE HARDWARE"
I have all the necessary up to date drivers and I even had my friend who is pretty much a Mac, ProTools expert (he is very computer savvy) come over and update everything, the drivers etc. and he could not figure it out.
I open my "MBOX MINI" screen and it says under the section Firmware: Hardware Not Connected.
The PT software is downloaded fine, the drivers are fine, I don't know what to do from here and AVID the company is so hard to reach (gotta buy a plan in order to talk to them?) that I feel like I spent all this money for crap that does not work.
I just want to upload my reason tracks and do some vocal tracking with the PT Express package I purchased. Can anybody help me?

[Darryl Ramm]

Lots of words here to communicate very little actually useful information. Please start by reading the "Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!" link above on this page.

So standard things to try for this are

Disconnect any other USB devices not needed on the Mac
Try several different USB cables (yes even if the cable works for other things)
Try all the different USB port on the Mac (USB 2 port preferred if you have them)
Is the Mbox Mini directly connected to the Mac, or via a USB hub? If it is currently using a hub try direct connecting it.
If you only have USB3 ports, try connecting the Mbox Mini through a USB2 powered hub.
Download the correct mini driver for your OS version. yes donloa da new copy even if you have one on the Mac. With the Mbox Mini disconnected uninstall the current driver. reboot the mac. install the downloaded driver. Connect the Mbox Mini. Does it work?

We need to know exact details of you setup. At least...

What changed from when it all last worked OK? You did fully optimize the system, including having OS X automatic updates disabled? Right? Do you gave a backup ready to roll back to?

What exact OS X version?

What exact driver version?

What exact Pro Tools edition and version?

What exact Mac model/date code? CPU speed, memory and all disks (make/model/rpm spec) isntalled?

Saying things like your friend looked at this does not help in any way unless you tell us what he exactly looked at and tried.

[electropunkboy]

Forgive me if I don't know anything about computers or AVID product maintenance.

1. Exact details of setup: I have a MBOX mini purchased with PT Express plugged into M-Audio AV40 speakers which don't receive signal that way (because the mbox is not recognized) and have RCA plugged into the headphone jack.

2. Nothing has changed since I used it before except that I unplugged it and stopped using it for almost a year. I don't know what that means to have OSX updates disabled. But I'm pretty sure they are not automatic.

3. OS X 10.8.5

4. The box says ProTools Express. No edition or version given.

5. Mac model... ? ... Macbook Pro, i just bought it, processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3, ? is that what you asked?

6. My friend downloaded all the up-to-date drivers from the avid site for the MBOX and even updated my OSX to what it is now. He uninstalled AVID and reinstalled it and ruled out any software installation malfunction and the same with the drivers.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by electropunkboy

Forgive me if I don't know anything about computers or AVID product maintenance.

1. Exact details of setup: I have a MBOX mini purchased with PT Express plugged into M-Audio AV40 speakers which don't receive signal that way (because the mbox is not recognized) and have RCA plugged into the headphone jack.

OK not germane to the current issue, but I'm not following the comment about RCA plugged into the headphone jack. that 1/4" phono jack normally has a headphone connected to it using a 1/4" phono plug. RCA plugs look entirely different and are commonly used on consumer audio gear for line-level connections. There are no RCA connectors on the Mbox Mini.

2. Nothing has changed since I used it before except that I unplugged it and stopped using it for almost a year. I don't know what that means to have OSX updates disabled. But I'm pretty sure they are not automatic.

Please read the computer optimization section for OS X Mountain Lion under the "Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!" link above on this page. All this stuff should have been done--including disabling automatic OS X updates. (which of not disabled might be the cause of your problem, who knows...). You do not have the option of ignoring/avoiding this because you don't think you are computer literate, do a few things like this and you will become computer literate. Ask your friend or ask here if you get stuck, and you'll understand this stuff fast. Knowing your way around computers is a critical part of working with a DAW (otherwise give up now and go and rent time in a studio/somebody else to do this for you).

3. OS X 10.8.5

Great, don't upgrade it to Mavericks.

4. The box says ProTools Express. No edition or version given.

Yes but Pro Tools Express knows what version it is. In Pro Tools Express go to the top menu bar Pro Tools>About Pro Tools. What does the About screen say? I want the exact version like 10.3.0 in small font on the about screen. You should be running Pro Tools Express 10.3.4 if not unisntall what you have currently (run the uninstaller application with "clean" option). Download the 10.3.4 installer from http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/d...-3-4-Downloads and install it.

6. My friend downloaded all the up-to-date drivers from the avid site for the MBOX and even updated my OSX to what it is now. He uninstalled AVID and reinstalled it and ruled out any software installation malfunction and the same with the drivers.

That does not help as much as telling us what exact version of the drivers you have installed, in case your friend got it wrong. Run this command in a Terminal window

kextstat | grep avid

and paste the output here. (I'm looking for a version number 1.3.0 in that output for mboxmini)

Presumably you mean he uninstalled and reinstalled Pro Tools Express, that's a good move, but again we need to know the exact version installed. Are you sure he uninstalled it before reinstalling it (and did not just reinstall it again over the old version), and when uninstalling its really a good idea to use the "clean" option of the unisntaller.

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But at this point, the most important thing is you should work though all the troubleshooting steps I outlined earlier and answer the above remaining questions if it is still not working.


Darryl

[Shan]

Originally Posted by electropunkboy

I did not touch it for a while and went back to reset up my studio and get back into music and it keeps saying "UNABLE TO LOCATE HARDWARE"

Sounds like a USB cable possibly went bad. Did you try different USB cables as mentioned by Darryl above? That would be my own first step.

Shane