Ultralite mk3 suddenly stopped showing up on Mac

[andreas]

Hi,

Today my Ultralite Mk3 stopped working.

I bought a FW -> TB adapter to try the interface on my new Macbook Pro 13 (2015) with El Capitan installed, but it didn't show up.

Therefore I decided to try to hook it up to my older Macbook Pro (2011) with Yosemite using Thunderbolt, still no success.

Now to the strange thing.
I removed the adapter and connected it straight to the FW port on the old Mac. Still no sign of the UL3. It can power up only using the FW-cable, so there is some connection.
I borrowed a FW400 to FW800 cable to eliminate cable problems, but still nothing happens.

I used the UL3 with my old Mac for years without any problem. Last time was about one month ago.

Any suggestion what might have happened or how to troubleshoot is highly appreciated.

I have tried the latest and second latest driver.
I also tried it on my wife Mac, but still no success.

It seems to work in stand alone mode, without the Mac connected.

Thanks,
Andreas

[mikehalloran]

I normally recommend this order but since you have tried more than one Mac already, perhaps you should try the factory reset first.

One thing that I would try is to reset the NV RAM. I have a FW hub that crashes the FW ports and this normally brings them back to life (I only use the usb part nowadays). Restart your Mac holding the option-command-p-r keys and let it chime three times before releasing the keys.

Next is to try a factory reset:

UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid / UltraLite-mk3:
Press the Param/Setup knob until the LCD screen reads "UltraLite mk3 SETUP" or "UL Hybrid Setup". The LCD screen will quickly flash to "LCD CONTRAST". Turn the Param/Setup knob all the way to the right. The LCD screen will read: "Factory Defaults Press [Value]". Push the Value knob once. The LCD screen will display "Are you sure? Push [VALUE]". Push the Value knob again to confirm. The LCD screen will read: "Initializing...". The clock value in the LCD screen will flash when the reset is complete.

If that doesn't work, I would pop the lid and look for discoloration or a cold solder joint around the FW connector.

If nothing brings it back, a call to MOTU is in order.

[andreas]

Thank you for your suggestions.

Unfortunately they didn't solve the problem, so I opened a TechLink to see what the Motu support says.

/Andreas

[andreas]

I got the following response from Motu Support:

Thanks for writing. Given your description, the firewire chip on the unit is damaged. I'd recommend contacting your local distributor for their repair policy:

https://www.motu.com/other/distributors.html

Alternatively, we can replace the unit at our center in the U.S. If you purchased the unit new within the last two years, it is covered by our warranty. If the unit was not purchased new within the last two years, there will be a $99.95 flat fee for the repair. Please call 617-576-3066 and reference this techlink number to set up the repair.

Given that the unit is 8 years old and the support for firewire is abandon by Apple I'm hesitant to spent too much money trying to repair it, especially since I was not able to confirm that it works with the Thunderbolt port and what latency figures I will get in El Capitan.

I will start searching for a suitable replacement.

I really like the professional support given by Motu in this matter, and the fact that they release driver updates once a new OS X version in official, so I would like to stay with Motu.

However, I would like to turn to Thunderbolt to gets as low latency as possible, but unfortunately the Motu alternative with TB is way to expensive.

I mainly use the board with MainStage during live performance, taking in audio from my external synth into MainStage, add quite a few Software instruments and send it out to the FOH desk.

Can someone with an Ultralite AVB check the latency figures in MainStage 3 (or Logic x) for an I/O buffer size of 256, 128, 64 and 32. Preferably on a Macbook Pro 13" retina.

Will it be any difference using USB or AVB?

Thanks,
Andreas