Mbox Pro Communications Problem

[Calum M]

Hi Everyone,
I have recently started getting major problems with my Mbox Pro with pops and crackles which then cause stops starts and stutters on playback.
I have identified that it is not the the Mbox pro itself as it works fine with my Macbook Pro.
I have upgraded to 8.0.3 as well as repaired disk permissions etc...
After doing that, it worked once, and i thought it was solved, but today we are back with the same problem.
But it now has come up with a new message (PT has re-set sample rate of the HW device because it was changed by another application).
The previous message was the standard "Increase Buffer or remove plug ins" which was coming up even though i was playing only a couple of tracks with no plugins.
I have also connected my Mbox to the system with similar problems.
Playing Ableton Live or Sibelius through the Mbox also causes problems whereas playing then through the computer sound itself they work fine.
One other thing, even when not playing PT you can hear the Pops and crackles coming through the Headphones accompanied by the Peak lights on and off mostly on Aux in and input 2.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Calum

Macpro [email protected] Ghz Quad Core Intel Xeon 8 Gig Memory OSX 10.5.8 PT 8.0.3

[BradLyons]

Using the Digidesign hardware as a core audio hardware device for other software doesn't always work the best. For some it works fine, for others they have reported all kinds of weird issues. So that's not a surprise there, however the issue you're having with ProTools itself isn't common nor normal. The fact that you say you can also hear the crackling and noise when no audio is being passed at all, well that leads me to believe your unit may not be functioning properly.

[Calum M]

Thanks Brad!!
I thought initially that it was an MBox Pro problem or a firewire connection problem but the fact that it also causes problems with my ordinary USB Mbox2, and the fact there is no problem when connecting both to my Macbook Pro, suggests a communication problem between the unit and my Macpro.
But What?????
You can see the problem even before you load PT as the Peak lights on the Mbox light up accompanied by this low crackley sound.

The strange thing is that it worked for one session for me last night and i was back to square 1 this morning.

Thanks
Calum

[barstool719]

if the mbox pro and the usb mbox2 work on your other machine, id say its a configuration problem with your mac pro.

check your firewire ports. make sure you're using the one on the back. also make sure to turn off firewire networking. doesnt hurt to try another firewire cable, as ive seen them get very picky. also make sure that since the macpro supplies power to the unit over firewire that youre not using the digidesign power supply for the mbox 2 pro. this can cause some of the exact freakiness that youre describing.

one thing with my home setup is that if im turning the machine on cold, i have to disconnect my FW hard drive, let the machine start and the mbox 2 pro initialize, then plug up and mount my hard disk. otherwise the mb2p AND the hard drive wont recognize.