Help with "unable to find hardware" issue

[barstool719]

Been having a crap weekend and have a ton of work to get done. Hopefully someone can help.

I'm using the Avid Mbox with the newest drivers, 8.0.4cs2, Win7x64. Sandra is below.

Took my system to record someone yesterday. Simple enough, just recording piano in a piano studio (just recording MIDI, I just wanted the performer to be comfortable)

Carefully packed up my gear and made the trip. Got everything setup no problems. Turned the system on and heard system sounds through my monitors as usual, lights on the Mbox are fine. Start Pro Tools and get the "unable to locate Digidesign hardware" error. The Mbox is in my system panel, and it shows "hardware connected" in the driver window.

Right away, I trash prefs and databases, empty trash, and reboot. No dice. Go to look again, and the DAE prefs folder hasn't even been rebuilt.

So I shut down-unplug-restart-plugin-driver setup is fine-sounds play-hardware not found about about half a dozen times. I swap USB cables. I tried all my ports. I uninstalled and reinstalled drivers. After a few more starts and restarts, PT finally bites and everything goes off just fine. The woman knew her material, we tracked everything (12 songs in under an hour and a half!) and I packed up and was on my way. I got home and set my system back up (it was late - only tried playing some sound and that was fine), but I didn't test out PT.

Get up this morning to start working on arrangements, and I'm getting the same thing. "Unable to locate Digidesign hardware". I've rearranged ports and plugged and unplugged. I'm about to uninstall reinstall Pro Tools but I'm trying not to get carried away. Ive been using this system in DAILY with very few issues.

Nothing was damaged in transit. Everything was carefully packed in it's original box, and other than Pro Tools, everything works fine.

Here's a sandra report, per req

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : Aaron-i7x64
User : Aaron

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz
Speed : 2.8GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 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 : Intel DP55WB
BIOS : Intel Corp. WBIBX10J.86A.0165.2009.1110.1916 11/10/2009
Bus(es) : PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR3

Chipset
Model : Intel Clarksfield/Lynnfield DMI
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.4GHz (4.79GHz)

Chipset
Model : Intel Core Desktop (Lynnfield) UnCore
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.4GHz (4.79GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR3
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 665MHz (1.33GHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Kingston 9905458-012A00LF 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Kingston 9905458-012A00LF 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (8 SM4.0 1.4GHz, 512MB DDR2 2x400MHz, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL Processor : NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (8SP 1C 1.4GHz, 495.4MB 2x400MHz)
CUDA Processor : NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (8SP 1C 1.4GHz, 495.4MB 2x400MHz)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (8SP 1.4GHz, 495.4MB 2x400MHz)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST3500418AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)
Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 29MB Cache) : 932GB (E:)
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS40 (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)
EVOHW ARCP6JWHI (SCSI, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD+-R-DL, CD-R) : N/A (F:)
EVOHW ARCP6JWHI (SCSI, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD+-R-DL, CD-R) : N/A (G:)

Logical Storage Devices
Barracuda (C:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST3500418AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
Deskstar (E:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 29MB Cache)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS40 (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
Optical Drive (F:) : N/A @ EVOHW ARCP6JWHI (SCSI, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD+-R-DL, CD-R)
Optical Drive (G:) : N/A @ EVOHW ARCP6JWHI (SCSI, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD+-R-DL, CD-R)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Intel P55 LPC Interface Controller
Audio Device : Intel P55/PM55/3400 High Definition Audio
Disk Controller : Intel P55/PM55/3400 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
USB Controller 1 : Intel P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : Intel P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Intel TSB43AB22 1394a-2000 OHCI PHY/Link-Layer 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 : Intel(R) 82578DC Gigabit Network Connection (Ethernet, 10Mbps)

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

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 6.01.7600
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 4.4

[pablote]

Hi barstool719,

I know how you feel... I've been having the exact same problem since I got my 3rd Generation Mbox two weeks ago...

First time I installed it, it worked perfectly fine. Next day I got the "Unable to locate Avid hardware..." error message.
I uninstalled everything and did a clean reinstallation. It worked a couple of times and then got the same issue again.

I even tried it in a Windows 7 32bits laptop and got the same problem. The same happened when I tried installing it on my old XP SP3 destop.

It's very weird since the drivers seem correctly installed and it's recognized by Windows...

I sumbitted a support request on Avid's support site but they are not responding... If I get a reply from they I'll let you know what they tell me...

If you get it to work please let me know what you did.

Thanks and good luck.

Pablo

[leftbrain99]

I believe my problem MAY be similar, but I have actually NEVER been able to get PT8.0.4 to locate my MBox 2 hardware on my laptop running Win7 x64. PT8.0.4 works fine with the very same MBox 2 on my desktop. Laptop drivers are installed normally. Details of my situation are here:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=289049

Avid has responded to my support case claiming that my USB Host Controller drivers may be the problem - but they do not cause a problem anywhere else and I cannot find any other drivers that make a bit of difference. Please let us know if you have any luck tracking down the source of your problem, as it could help a number of us.

[barstool719]

Had another away session today and had the same problem again.

I think I figured out "the trick" though.

If I move my machine and plug up the Mbox BEFORE I turn on the PC, PT will not find the hardware - but system audio playback is fine. I then have to unplug the Mbox, uninstall the drivers, reboot, reinstall the drivers, THEN plug in the Mbox.

If I let the machine fully boot and THEN plugin the Mbox, it works.

This is contrary to the suggested startup procedure IIRC.