Windows 7 crash problems, mbox outputs not showing.

[The Blue Peanut]

Hi all, I bought my mbox 2 pro 4 years ago now, ran it on a mac for 2 with only a few problems but then once the mac self desctructed in a big fireball (thanks apple) I decided to build a PC. Without the mbox plugged in it works perfectly, I haven't had a single problem that I can think of until the box is plugged in. I have posted on this forum before but have spent until now trying hundreds of options (and nearly bankrupting myself) in an attempt to make it work, but at least now I know a little more about it...So here's the list of problems it causes...

When I turn the PC on, I have about 5 minutes before it crashes. This happens every time without fail. The solution appears to be running some audio through the mbox and restarting the PC. When I do that it won't crash but there is a 1/50 chance it will select the right outputs- I am given the option of 1 or 2 random outputs, which usually seem to be 3/4 or S/PDIF so I then have no sound from my monitors. Another thing which is a bit odd is that there's a 50/50 chance of my wireless card not being found when the mbox is attached making me think the whole thing is a driver conflict.

Today I had to restart 17 times (9 was the old record) so I decided I'd had enough, 1 restart is a pain in the arse as it is. I've taken the unit back to the shop (Novatech) and to about 7-8 repair shops as well as a few friends of mine and my old job where I was the studio tech guy (ironic, maybe). None of them have any idea whatsoever how to fix it and have all simply come to the conclusion that AVID are [bleep][bleep][bleep][bleep]. Now I'm not paying £35 for 1 phone call on the off chance they're not so any help from you lovely people would be greatly appreciated!

I don't know what everyone else tried to fix it but personally I've tried disabling various things in the BIOS, reinstalling drivers for everything, updating all drivers, (this problem started with 8.0.1 and still exists on 8.0.4, on Vista and W7), wiping the PC completely and rebuilding it and kicking it. Next step if it doesnt work is to drive my car over the MBox and buy something useful that provides free tech support- sorry for ranting a bit but seriously paying for tech support...I spent £10k on a studio system I'm not paying even more just cos they sell me something flawed- without any obvious spec list to tell me components that would work or anything.

Anyway here's a Sandra report, I can give any other info needed if it might help...what I ate for dinner, how far the PC is from Hull, that sort of thing.


SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : System manufacturer System Product Name
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : SuperGoat-Thing
User : The Blue Peanut

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Speed : 2.8GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 On-board Cache : 4x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L3 On-board Cache : 8MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size, 8 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : Asus P6T SE
BIOS : AMI 0608 11/11/2009
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3GB DIMM DDR3

Chipset
Model : ASUS X58 I/O Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.41GHz (4.82GHz)

Chipset
Model : Intel Core Desktop (Bloomfield) UnCore
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.41GHz (4.82GHz)
Total Memory : 6GB DIMM DDR3
Channels : 3
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 536MHz (1GHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Patriot Memory 1600LL Series 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (7-7-7-20 4-27-8-4)
Memory Module : Patriot Memory 1600LL Series 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (7-7-7-20 4-27-8-4)
Memory Module : Patriot Memory 1600LL Series 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (7-7-7-20 4-27-8-4)

Video System
Video Adapter : ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (800 SM4.1 750MHz, 1GB DDR5 4x900MHz 256-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
Compute Shader Processor : ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (800SP 750MHz, 1GB DDR5 3.6GHz 256-bit)
STREAM Processor : ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (800SP 750MHz)

Storage Devices
WDC WD5000AAKS-00A7B2 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS40 (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 628MB (D:)
ELBY CLONEDRIVE (SCSI, SCSI-2, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD-R, CD-R, 256kB Cache) : N/A (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AAKS-00A7B2 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
Renegade Game (D:) : 628MB (CDFS) @ HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS40 (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
Optical Drive (E:) : N/A @ ELBY CLONEDRIVE (SCSI, SCSI-2, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD-R, CD-R, 256kB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 A5-13
Audio Device : ASUS HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semiconductor 888 High Definition Audio
Audio Device : PC Partner Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dual Slot Fansink
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Disk Controller : ASUS 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #4
USB Controller 2 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #5
USB Controller 3 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #6
USB Controller 4 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 5 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #1
USB Controller 6 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 7 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #3
USB Controller 8 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #1
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : ASUS VT6315 Series Firewire Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Wireless Adapter 1 : Belkin Wireless G PCI Adapter (802.11g (ERP), AES-CCMP, 54Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7600
Platform Compliance : x86

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9

[sw rec]

Maybe or maybe not related....where's your dedicated recording drive?

[The Blue Peanut]

Not plugged in for now, I don't think it'll be related to that though since it's not just when pro tools is running. That does remind me of something though- When I first turn it on usually it'll find the right outputs but then I start pro tools up and the mbox stops registering any input or output. I usually have my guitar plugged into the front of it and the light won't even show to suggest there is any input once I start pro tools up. After restarting though this is fixed, it just loses track of which output to use instead.

[The Blue Peanut]

More info that may be useful- when it crashes first time round and I'm playing audio sometimes it just stops but other times it seems to grind to a halt. It sounds as if the sample rates of whatever music I'm playing (Spotify/iTunes/Media Monkey) are being stretched out although the music doesn't slow down it just becomes gravelly and then eventually the whole PC freezes up. Possibly implies that the Mbox clock isn't working?