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Greetings! I have been browsing for a solution to my problem but can't find a solution.

I recently acquired an 8pre and it was working for a few days (using with logic on an i7 MBP). However, now upon startup, it goes through various blinking sequences and never settles. The OS cannot detect the device, thus rendering the firmware updater useless.

Prior to purchasing, I noticed a reviewer who had mentioned the functionality of his 8pre was reduced to christmas lights. Short of sending it back, is there any way I can fix this?

Thanks for reading

What happens if you turn on the 8pre while it is disconnected from the computer? If the same problem occurs and it never switches into the converter mode, then it is probably malfunctioning and will need to be repaired.

Hey thanks for the quick response!

It does similar sequencing of flashing the LEDs, except on the very last attempt. Right now it's sitting with the "converter" and "44.1" LEDs lit and stable (firewire still disconnected).

Any thoughts?

gonna let it sit like this for a bit, I fear it's teasing me.

admittedly, i am a bit of a hardware noob. i've been careful not to hotplug so hopefully that isn't the issue. appreciate any advice anyone has to offer!

update: it was sitting happily in converter mode. i turned it off and moved it back to my workspace. upon turning on, LED activity has ceased altogether. i can see in the back, behind the optical outs, there are blinking red lights coming from the inside. think i need to send it in?

Mine was acting funky, just like yours, with my Powerbook 1.67/1 GB Under Tiger OS X. Flashing christmas lights and no settle down. So I disconnected the whole 8pre from power cable for about 20 minutes. Then, I plugged it back in, connected firewire back into the computer, and it worked. This has happened a few times until I figured out a shutdown order. Shut off MIDI controller going into the 8pre. Turn off 8pre via switch on front. Disconnect firewire interface from computer when you want to use the laptop away from the studio. They say firewire is hot-swappable, but I don't believe that is true with my 8pre. I mean, damage isn't done, so in some sense it IS hot-swappable. But then the 8pre never boots fully when turned on, into a stable device. Whenever I disconnected firewire cable while 8pre is on, I get that christmas light blinking behavior you get that never settles into stability. Just don't do hot-swapping with firewire on an 8pre. It works for my 8pre. Your results may vary. I hope this helps.
Meister

eisbär wrote:update: it was sitting happily in converter mode. i turned it off and moved it back to my workspace. upon turning on, LED activity has ceased altogether. i can see in the back, behind the optical outs, there are blinking red lights coming from the inside. think i need to send it in?

Hi there

I know its been a while but did you ever get this sorted out? I have 2 8Pre's, and both have done exactly the same thing, lots of funky lights, eventually settling down, but now no led lights at the front, just a blinking ADAT led at the back. It doesn't seem to matter what order I turn things off/on neither want to know, they just have the ADAT light flashing at the back. Both are running the latest firmware 1.03, and I managed to do a factory reset on both before the seemed to konk out.

Im running them on a Mac with OsX Sierra

eisbär wrote:update: it was sitting happily in converter mode. i turned it off and moved it back to my workspace. upon turning on, LED activity has ceased altogether. i can see in the back, behind the optical outs, there are blinking red lights coming from the inside. think i need to send it in?

Hi there

I know its been a while but did you ever get this sorted out? I have 2 8Pre's, and both have done exactly the same thing, lots of funky lights, eventually settling down, but now no led lights at the front, just a blinking ADAT led at the back. It doesn't seem to matter what order I turn things off/on neither want to know, they just have the ADAT light flashing at the back. Both are running the latest firmware 1.03, and I managed to do a factory reset on both before the seemed to konk out.

Im running them on a Mac with OsX Sierra

FWIW

I had this same problem with mine.

There's lots of stuff on the web about this. There is even a tech note over at MOTU if I recall correctly.

In the end it seems like there are Lots of hoops to jump thru to get things going correctly, then it's very finicky to keep it going and not fall back into this problem.

Sorry to say I eventually came to the conclusion that the 8pre (at least the older ones) simply are not reliable. I gave up and mine has been in the closet ever since.

If anyone does know of a bullet proof method for addressing this, I am all ears....