No firewire device found - 002R - check your cable

[Eric Baragar]

Here's what I learned from a recent Digi 002R firewire failure.

My Digi 002R suddenly stopped working to the point where the Apple System Profiler of OSX 10.2.8 could "not detect a firewire device". The Pro Tools CoreAudio driver would not initialize when starting any application used by the driver, i.e., Pro Tools LE, Logic Audio Pro, iTunes, Jam, etc. The driver was giving an error to the effect that the CoreAudio driver was in use by another device.

I tested both firewire ports on my MAC G4 733 Mhz with another device and both ports were OK. This test device used a firewire cable that did not have the same connectors as the 002R firewire cable, so I could not use it to test the 002R.

I spent 4-5 hours troubleshooting on my own before calling Digidesign tech support. Digidesign had not seen this problem before. Before shipping the 002R back for repair, I agreed to try the 002R with another MAC .

I borrowed a MAC and a couple of firewire cables from a friend. Before I tried the alternate MAC, I connected with a different firewire cable and… (drum roll) - it worked!

Somehow, the cable that shipped with the 002R had failed. To double-check, I re-connected with the original 002R cable and it failed… "No firewire device found". The original cable appeared to be in good condition and the link light on the back of the 002R lit up with the failed cable connected, but it no longer worked.

I went back to the alternate cable and the OS detected the 002R, but the CoreAudio driver was still "in use". I tried to reset the firmware with a command from Digidesign: Hold down Command + Option + O + F (Open Firmware) on boot up and type "reset-all" at the prompt and hit enter to reboot.* Still no CoreAudio driver.

I deleted all Pro Tools, CoreAudio, and DAE files I could find and re-installed Pro Tools 6.1 from the install CD.* This brought the 002R back to life, but there was no CoreAudio Setup utility to setup other applications, i.e., iTunes, Jam, etc.

I downloaded and installed the latest version of Pro Tools LE 6.1.2 which automatically installs the matching CoreAudio driver 6.1.2.* This version of the CoreAudio driver installs the CoreAudio Setup utility that allowed me to setup iTunes, Jam, and the other applications requiring CoreAudio.

Problem solved.*

This incident also proves one of my personal troubleshooting rules when dealing with any kind of audio gear. I call it the 90 Percent Rule… "90 percent of the time.. It's a cable." - even when the link light is on.

[dicknash]

I had the excact same frigging problem in December. Was so happy to get my 002R in the mail I hugged it for an hour. Then spend 10 hours trying to make it work. I was just about to kick it off the porch and decided as a last ditch effort to go buy another firewire cable.

The cable that shipped with the 002 was bad right out of the box.

[koko]

And here is what I learned;

Even in MacOS X - DEACTIVATE APPLETALK (network preference pane)

I had intermittent "Hardware not found" , dropouts, CoreAudio stalls, sample rate mismatches, etc
I tried various short and long FW cables, I reinstalled PT, upgraded then downgraded...

until I found I had my AppleTalk on "Active"

PS Don't you think the supplied FW cable is too long for its build quality ? And why doesn't Digi add these magnetic polarizers bits ?