Disconnects with 1248 on M1 Pro/Monterey [resolved with latest drivers]

[Dark Barn]

Yes I know these are early days for the new OS, and just the second Mac Laptop to carry an M1 processor, so consider this a report rather than a complaint. I'm also looking for any guidance on further steps to take if anyone from the community has any insight to offer.

I have a new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro processor on OS Monterey 12.0.1, and a 1248 and 24Ai bridged using AVB connected to the laptop via thunderbolt 2, to Apple Thunderbolt 3 adapter, to the first Thunderbolt port on the MacBook. The 1248 is seen on System Information > Thunderbolt as 1248, seen in MOTU Discovery along with the 24Ai, and finally shows up in Audio MIDI Setup on both the Audio and MIDI tabs as 1248, furthermore it's available in Logic as 1248. Both interfaces are on the most recent firmware and using the most recent version of AVB/Pro installer is installed on the Mac, and I *did* do the security permissions step.

It works, but it crashes, most crashes are disconnects where reinserting the cable makes the interface available again, sometimes it crashes the laptop. Most of the times the laptop happens have been when the laptop is in sleep mode, but I've had at least two 'live' crashes as well. I am not experienced enough to decipher the crash reports but I have sent them along to apple.I have tried fixing permissions after the crashes.

The 1248 (or its relation to the Mac) seem to be the culprit because I have experienced 0 crashes while the 1248 is either powered off or disconnected to the Mac.

So, something ought to be done, hopefully sooner than later to fix this issue, in the meantime if any thoughtful users here know of any additional steps I could take to get these to cooperate I would be most grateful!

Thanks

[HCMarkus]

Send a Tech Link to MOTU so they know about this issue, too. Please let us know if/when a resolution is achieved!

And thank you for your service, on the bleeding edge of it all.

There, but for the fact I don't need a laptop, go I.

EDIT: Have you tried connecting via USB? Possible temporary work around.

[Dark Barn]

Currently I don't want to dive into unwiring/unracking the interface to look at the serial number, now a requirement before opening a tech ticket, but I will definitely do that next weekend. Is there any remote way to assess the serial number? I don't believe I have the manual anymore but I guess I'll go look for that first.

[HCMarkus]

I'm gonna send the link to this thread to MOTU as a new TechLink.

I don't recall if you need to put in a serial number to get a TechLink started... I'll get this one rolling for you (and others who may encounter this issue).

EDIT: TechLink set up at MOTU.com

[HCMarkus]

Travis Hagan posted a response to my MOTU TechLink:

Thanks for sending this along. This user can register the unit without having to remove it from a rack. The serial number is published at the bottom of the MOTU Pro Audio Control Device page. The 1248 should work well on macOS 12, so long as the proper drivers are installed. I'll reach out to the user and see if they can get in touch with us directly.

[Dark Barn]

I ended up sending an email to customer service, but I’ll try to register again when I get home. Thanks for your assistance HCMarkus!

[Dark Barn]

I was able to finally register both my interfaces and have sent a TechLink. I am somewhat confident at this point that the disconnects and crashes are related to sleep mode on the computer, and that even though Logic Pro will prevent the system from sleeping when it is running, the auto sleep still is getting through to the interface somehow and causing it to disconnect or sometimes crash the computer. We will see what MOTU says and I will follow up here with any info.

[Dark Barn]

Aaand I guess this is expected behavior with macs built since 2018, solution is to not let the drives go into sleep mode, the screen can sleep, drives can not. The fact that my system wasn’t sleeping because Logic was open wasn’t specifically addressed but I’ll turn off hard drive sleep and see how it goes.

[HCMarkus]

No sleeping! Been sort of a standard DAW thing for me since time immemorial. Unlike many, I shut down every night. Saves energy (especially with my old as dirt Mac Pro) and allows a fresh start the next day.

Hope that is the issue; if so, you will be able to mark the thread "Resolved". Glad to have been able to assist... Good luck!

[Dark Barn]

No more crashes but still getting an occasional (less frequent than before) disconnect. But still, moving in the right direction! My old MacBook (2015 on Catalina) had no problem going into sleep mode with peripherals attached, so this was a surprise to me. Why would Apple mess that up!? I shake my fist at a mental image of Tim Cook. If this gets completely resolved I’ll make sure to update the thread and thread title as well, for posterity.

[Dark Barn]

Turning off sleep mode seems to have eliminated all crashes but not the disconnects.

But I have run Logic all day today with no disconnects and here is how:

I dug around online and on one blog post I saw some people commenting that using various Thunderbolt docks either improved or in some cases exacerbated their disconnect problems. I have a SanDisk G-Drive TB3 HDD that has a Thunderbolt port that allows daisy chaining on the main connection, basically a one port dock, previously I had a smaller external SSD plugged in there, but today I moved that to a laptop port and plugged the 1248 in there, no more disconnects. I don’t know if this is feasible for every user and I think Apple owes us a fix to this problem, which seems to extend beyond audio interfaces and includes all sorts of peripherals. If you are a MOTU interface owner and are having problems like mine you can try using a TB dock or similar to see if it resolves for you. I will also follow up with my TechLink and let them know how I have addressed the problem.

[HCMarkus]

Nicely done. Thanks for reporting back.

[papageno]

I have used good old Ultralite mk3 Firewire through chained Apple adapters TB3>TB2 + TB2>FW.
No problem experienced with Mac mini i7 or M1.
I got my mew MBP 16'' today and also TB3 Dock- CalDigit TS3+
I searched first and based on reviews I got that one.
UltraLite mk3 FW keeps working, 2 chained adters to Caldigit TB port. Nice.

[lukehoward]

Same issue with Ultralite AVB and M1 iMac, on macOS 12.0.1. Perhaps they'd have resolved if I didn't use a hub but, I didn't have a USB-C to B cable (perhaps it's time to get one).

I should add that my OWC USB dock was not recognised at all either.

Big Sur on an Intel MacBook all worked fine.

[tony1278]

I’m having the disconnect issue with the 8A for both the M1 Max 2021 and 2019 MacBook Pro in Monterey. Per previous recommendations in this thread I disabled sleep. In addition, I ran caffeinate from the command line. In the interim I purchased the OWC TB4 hub to see if that helps. I’ll post when It gets in to let everyone know if that works.