Ancient (2002) 896 stops working

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Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. for Mac OSX
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Robb Scott
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Ancient (2002) 896 stops working

Post by Robb Scott »

So I've had this thing for over 12 years, with little trouble (other than the 1-2 outputs burning out via a static electricity jolt a few years ago).

Today, I'm watch a Youtube video, with sound streaming through 896. The video grinds to a halt. I restart Firefox, resume the video. No sound. I check Apple's Sound pref panel. The 896 is not listed. I get a system report from "About this Mac". At first it listed the 896 as "unidentified device", now it's displaying "Unable to list Firewire devices". A Firewire drive is behaving normally, Apple's Disk Utility says it's fine.

Restarted.

Downloaded Motu's latest driver.

Is this thing dead? Anyone ever seen anything like this?

2009 8-core tower, latest Mavericks.
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TinenTech
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Re: Ancient (2002) 896 stops working

Post by TinenTech »

Have you tried a new Firewire cable? (Is the hard drive connected to your Mac, or was it connected through the 896?)

How do things look in Audio MIDI Setup? (It probably isn't showing there if it's not in System Report, but worth a look.)

Hook up an analog input and see if you can get signal to an output via CueMix using the front panel…if not, then it's got to be something wrong with the 896.

Try a hardware reset:
* To perform a voltage reset, power the unit down and disconnect all cables. On the right side (the depth) of your unit, there is a red voltage selector. Toggle this switch back and forth several times, and be sure to reset it to the correct voltage (115V for domestic power supplies). Power the unit back on and test.

I wonder what made the video stop at the time of this fail? If the 896 failed, I wonder if that caused the video to stop...If it weren't a Mac running Mavericks, I'd suspect some virus downloaded with the video attacked something.

After 12 years, it might be a corroded internal connector that would benefit from being unplugged and replugged, but I haven't cracked open one of these.

Good luck.
MacBook Pro 9,1 (mid-2012 Core i7 2.3 GHz 4 GB RAM), OSX 10.11.3, Newertech Voyager SATA drive dock
MOTU: DP 9.02, Traveler Mk 1, 896 MkIII Hybrid, MIDI Express XT
Alesis AI3 optical interface, QS8, QS7, DM Pro, DM5, QSR
Mackie Controller and Extender (original MIDI)
Pro Tools 12
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Robb Scott
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Re: Ancient (2002) 896 stops working

Post by Robb Scott »

Hey, great advice TT, and thanks. Will try all that and get back.....
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The One True Robb
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User avatar
Robb Scott
Posts: 58
Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:01 pm
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Re: Ancient (2002) 896 stops working

Post by Robb Scott »

OK, I finally got some time to go through TinenTech's suggestions above. Fired up the 896 in question and...well, it's working again. I've been using it all afternoon with no problem. Weird.

Thanks for the suggestions, TT, I'll keep that post handy (just in case...)...
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