UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

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Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. with Windows
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ronausti
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 3:33 pm
Primary DAW OS: Windows

UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by ronausti »

UPDATE: There is a Windows workaround for this bug. See my more recent post below.
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The MOTU browser interface is crashing, going to a gray screen that says only "Could not communicate with device." Has happened three times since installing the product yesterday. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate with Firefox, both up-to-date. The only solution is to reboot the computer. Firefox is my preferred browser and is wht the interface opens in by by default. My connection is directly to a USB2 port on the computer's motherboard. I've tried pasting the URL into Chrome or IE, but still get the "can't communicate" message. (Update: I changed my default brower to Internet Explorer 11, so the MOTU software will open in that, and still have this problem. I've tried closing browsers, turning off (and after a brief wait) turning on the UltraLite unit, and other "start from scratch" approaches short of rebooting, but it still won't load. The error messages in these attempts to relaunch say "Could not communicate with server" or "Could not communicate with driver." A couple times the failure has occurred shortly after booting, with no other programs running and maybe one or two other browser tabs (e.g., a video on YouTube, for sound).

A windows diagnosis offer says "connection refused." Other Firefox windows and tabs remain functional. I've tried aborting Firefox by ending the process in Task Manager. (On restarting FireFox, it usually offers to re-open all the windows and tabs that had been been open. The UltraLite window is among them, but still shows the error.)

Being a researcher, I often have a LOT of windows and tabs open simultaneously. This is rarely an issue, unless I'm also chewing up memory by running a lot of videos or something. But the third MOTU crash happened within minutes of a reboot, with only one window and one other tab open; I hadn't even had a chance to look at the MOTU control panel's setup.

After the crash, I continue to get audio, but of course an unable to do change anything till I reboot.

The interface informs me that there is an update available (the same day as I downloaded the driver ???!!!), but it says I have to be connected via Ethernet to download and/or install it. Ethernet?

I've run through Sweetwater's "PC Optimization Guide for Windows 7," no improvement. (I didn't disable all my startup apps ... yet. Wanting to avoid driver hassles and endless experiements is why I got the MOTU box in the first place, so I can chuck my crippled E-Mu MicroDock.)

In the process of following that Guide, I downloaded and installed the driver again, just in case.

There's a post on the Mac forum that might be related, maybe not.
http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =2&t=59670
Last edited by ronausti on Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
deuscreator
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:06 am
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by deuscreator »

Hey,

I have the same exact error. No luck so far in eliminating it.

One thing I think I experienced is that when I only access the interface via usb and no wifi, it seems to be stable, which sucks for me, since my band uses this as a monitor mixer, and 7 musicians are accessing it at the same time, while I deal with my main mix. I would appreciate any tips if you discover a solution and will post it if I find it first.

Best 'o luck!
Goryko
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:20 am
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by Goryko »

Hi,

same problem here. I hoped this would be fixed after the firmware update but it still happens. Everything is fine via USB but with the wifi option it's really unstable.
ronausti
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 3:33 pm
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by ronausti »

As I am connected via USB 2 and not Wi-Fi, I can't say if this will work for everyone, but it's working for me as a solution to the "Can't find device" failures. Also, I am on Windows 7, and don't know if it will work with other Windows versions.
  1. In Windows Task Manager, on the Services tab, scroll to MOTUAVBHTTPServer. Right click and change its Status from “Stopped” to “Start.” But the crashes are too frequent to hassle with this, so ...
  2. In Windows Services Manager, change that service’s Startup Type to Automatic. The driver will keep crashing from time to time, but the controls will reappear in 5-10 seconds. It’s a tolerable enough fix that I don't notice the brief outages anymore, or if they even still happen.
Nevertheless, I still look forward to an actual firmware solution.
Tojvo Glumov
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2015 11:50 am
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by Tojvo Glumov »

Registered just to thank ronausti.

As of 31st Oct 2015 I had the same problem with MOTU 1248 AVB connected to Win7 PC over USB.

Restarting MOTUAVBHTTPServer service works OK.

Startup Type already was Automatic in service properties, but I didn't help to restart service. AFAIK it is just for booting behaviour.
I had found Recovery tab and chosen "Restart Service" option for failures. Hope that would help.
Danielle
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:07 pm
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by Danielle »

Tojvo Glumov wrote:Registered just to thank ronausti.

As of 31st Oct 2015 I had the same problem with MOTU 1248 AVB connected to Win7 PC over USB.

Restarting MOTUAVBHTTPServer service works OK.

Startup Type already was Automatic in service properties, but I didn't help to restart service. AFAIK it is just for booting behaviour.
I had found Recovery tab and chosen "Restart Service" option for failures. Hope that would help.
I am getting same symptoms with my Ultralight AVB. I believe the changed suggested above may have helped but did not completely resolve.
Danielle
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:07 pm
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by Danielle »

For communication to the browser, I stopped relying on the USB connection (for the browser communication) and connected my laptop to the Motu AVB using an ethernet cable and put the IP address in the browser. This seems to be working OK.
kevinjmcmahonjr
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 4:43 pm
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: UltraLite AVB "Could not communicate with device" crash

Post by kevinjmcmahonjr »

I found this to be a common issue, and although connecting to the AVB unit via ethernet is the best solution, in cases where that's not an option or for the convenience of only needing to connect a single USB cable to you PC, starting up the MOTUAVBHTTPServer service does work. Like others, setting the service to "automatic" did not really do the trick. I have to go into Service, scroll down to MOTUAVBHTTPServer and then right click and select "start". After a while, this gets annoying, though. I find myself having to start the service many times a day. So I figured I'd make this work around a lot easier to use.

First I figured out how to start the service from the command line instead of having to open the Services application hunting through the list of services and the right clicking and selecting "start" on MOTUAVBHTTPServer. This is done with the following command in Windows Command Prompt:

net start "MOTUAVBHTTPServer"

This command didn't work at first, and that is because the Command Prompt must be run as an administrator. Before opening the Command Prompt, you'll want to right-click and then select "Run as administrator"

It works, and it's faster than having to open up Services and hunt around the GUI. However, this still wasn't convenient enough for me so I turned it into a shortcut. Luckily, you can pass commands to an application the shortcut you create is set to open. So now all I need to do is double click an icon on my desktop and the MOUTAVBHTTPServer instantly starts back up. Do do this, simply right-click on the desktop and select new > shortcut. You will then be prompted to enter a path to an application or file. We will need to create a shortcut to the Command Prompt, but also pass the command above so that it simply does so automatically. Enter the following line as the shortcut:

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c net start "MOTUAVBHTTPServer"

The first part is the file path to the Command Prompt so that the shortcut opens it. The "/c" tells the Command Prompt to run the following command and then automatically close after completing it. The "net start "MOTUAVBHTTPServer"" is the same command from above. There is one more step you need to make. After creating the shortcut, you must right-click the shortcut itself, then select "properties", in the panel that opens up click the "Advanced" button. In the Advanced panel, check "Run As Administrator". Click OK on the Advanced panel, then Apply on the Properties panel and then OK.

Next time you AVB gives you a connection issue, just double click the shortcut and refresh the browser window. You could even add the shortcut to the task bar and make it a single click without having to minimize any applications to see the desktop.
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