Mbox – CPU-USB errors – any advice ?

[ISedlacek]

Maybe I am not the first one having this problem, but I don´t know what is the reason and how to solve it. I have iBook 500 MHz with 320 MB RAM and use it with Mbox for mobile recordings. It works well, but suddenly, just while recording mere two tracks with no other tracks around it stops with a report “USB is holding the usage of CPU ...” or something like that, “decrease the number of tracks” etc. Well, I have only two, so it is strange. I have allocated 70 MB memory to PT, 80 MB to DAE, 256 buffer size. It is supposed to play 24 tracks without problem, so why is this happening, I don´t know. And often it is a disaster – I record and play with a nice inspiration, then come back to the machine and find that it stopped long time ago and nothing was recorded ... In this way it becomes very unreliable and recording becomes a lottery – was it recorded or not ? Could anybody advice ?

[ISedlacek]

... and I have Mac OS 9.2.1...

[Egghd]

I get that message if I have 24 tracks, a bunch of aux tracks and too many plugs ins, but no other time.

Odd.

[DaWhole9]

well this is documented, but not "officially" recognized even though a lot have had this problem. Are you using the internet on this machine? Are you using a DSL or Cable Modem? Ethernet Networking? Well if your computer is setup to network or DSL/Cable Modem via the ethernet port, and maybe the airport, but you are not connected, then your computer constantly tries to connect. This constant checking the port is usually invisible to us, but to USB audio which is very sensitive to CPU interuptions, you get errors. The fix is simple, when using the Mbox, you have to turn off your ethernet port, or stop your computer from tryng to connect to a network, or internet. If you have a seperate extension set for Pro Tools (I highly suggest you do because Pro Tools doesn't play well with LOTS of normal use things) then in that extension set simply turn off Apple Enet. You can also turn it off in the TCP/IP control panel (I think) or is it the ethernet panel....one of those. I am in os x right now, can't check. But as a test, try turning off the Apple Enet exten in the extensions manager, then reboot. Try it out.

[cheekypaul]

I don't believe Ethernet has anything to do with this problem, DigiStudio & the Rocket network wouldn't be possible. It's more to do with USB useage. i.e Additional keyboards, optical mice, dongles, printers, midi interfaces. I can occasionally make the playback fail over complicated sections of work by moving my mouse unduly.

Ti/500 & Mbox

[DaWhole9]

Paul this happened to me. It is documented on the DUC. My problem was this. I was using the MBox at the studio connected to a T1. No Problems. Came home, and since I wasn't connected, but my computer was trying to connect, I couldn't play 4 tracks without errors. At the studio, 24 tracks with tons of plugs. Same projects would not play at home. Then I just tried at the studio. Load the projects play, no problem. Unplug my ethernet cable to the T1, hit play...errors. Plug it back in, no problems. This problem only happens when you are not connected to the internet via the ethernet port and your computer is setup to do it. The computer keeps trying to reconnect and this causes the errors. It won't show up if you are actually connected and using rocket network. Digi has acknowledged this, but they will not warn you of this problem.

[aphunk]

I'm having a similar problem. i'm just now setting my iBook 500 with the Mbox for a job. for this, I have a movie running too. I installed 512MB to make it 640MB. Increased memory in ProTools to about 300000K+ and DAE to about 200000K. Increased buffer size in Hardware Setup to 1024. Have the most basic extensions set. I still can't run it. The same "CPU usage... -9136" message comes up after all the adjusting. Please help!

[DaWhole9]

turn off Apple Enet extension and reboot. See if that works.

[aphunk]

thanks for your suggestion; unfortunately, it still happens. it either seems to work with no error message, but it moves so extremely slowly you hardly see movement of the movie, or the same cpu usage message pops up. i'm baffled.

[bjoneill]

I have battled this problem on a dual-1ghz G4,
and an interim answer came by accident...if I use
an external firewire drive for audio/movie data instead of an internal IDE drive, it all works fine.Until I tried this, no amount of fiddling with extensions, ethernet cables etc. made any difference. If you are listening Mr Digi, is there any chance we could get a serious, long term answer to this?