MOTUnation.com

There seems to be one thing missing in this.
In your original post, you said you were using XP with no upgrades to SP1 or 2.
This is something you might want to look into.
What recording software are you using?
Some recording software does not do well with SP1 or 2.
I was speaking with a very prominent Nashville recording studio owner and producer who said tha SP1 and SP2 are really problematic in some instances. He recommened I use an original XP 32 bit version with no upgrade.
I use Sonar7. It is designed to work with the XP upgrades and was told by the tech guys at Cakewalk that my friend in Nashville was correct but Sonr7 is different in that Cakewalk has updated it's drivers to reflect and work with XPSP2. But like I said, others are most certainly not and you might want to look into that as well as your old er version of XP.
That your system worked so long flawlessly with the original XP version is a huge clue.

Hope that helps

I also read that folks have problems with channels dying on the 895HD?
I have just purchased one and would like to know about those experiences given that my channel one went out before the warrenty was even up. Good in some respects but not good in a long term outlook it would seem.
Thoughts and suggestions??

Hi Shepiod, thanx for the reply.

I use Magix Samplitude Professional, but I get the same problem (clicks, pops, and in the end disconnected device) in any other software as well using MOTU (Winamp, WMP).
It's true, I never had problems before with XP Original (no SPs), so I did just that - I attached the MOTU unit to my old PC (Athlon 2000+, Mercury motherboard, 512 MB SDRAM, TI firewire on Asus card, XP Original) and got the same problems, so it's definitively the unit which is faulty.
Like I said, the problem is that it IS working for about 30 minutes after reboot, and only after 30 minutes or so, the problems begin (on every machine I tested I got the same results, that's 4 completely different PCs, different firewire chips, different cables, with different OSs - XP Original, SP1, SP2, SP3 and different processors/motherboards). I also excluded overheating and inadequate power supply.

FWIW, I never had any trouble with the preamps or any other feature on the MOTU unit.

I have been in touch with MOTU tech support via their web site; we went through all the usual useless diagnostic procedures, and finally they gave me info on sending it in for repair. They quoted $135US for the repair, which I may yet do, as it would still be considerably less expensive than buying a used one even.

I'm so much in love with the preamps that I'm willing to go the extra mile to get this fixed. It really didn't appreciate the quality of the MOTU pres until I used the M-Audio junk that seems to be so popular.

What bugs me, however, is that the repair is probably simply a small solder issue or quick change of a component which would take less than an hour to do and cost very little in parts, and I'll bet their best bench techs could tell me exactly what to fix if I could talk to them; I'll bet any money they see this problem often and know it to be a specific component which would be easily changed. The unit is so neatly built with easy access to all components (very high quality design IMHO) that fixing it should be a doddle.

Cheers

Yes I agree. It's really too bad they do offer a schematic for the 896.
This would solve a lot of problems.
The preamps are really nice I agree.
No matter what it worth fixing.

Good luck.