MOTU 828mkII dropping offline

[skylabfilmpop]

I have about an 8 month old 828mkII which has just started dropping offline fairly regularly (about every 30 minutes) it will come back if restarted but drops out again. It has worked flawlessly and very stably in the past although I have noticed it dropps out if my comtrol room heats up. I am using a g4 Mac with Logic 7.1, and Protools 6.9 OS 10.34. Does anyone have any insight to this before I start reinstalling drivers and resetting the unit?

Thanks!

[Atardecer]

hey skylab,

i just posted a reply for elysienboy for this particular problem - check it out. It happened to me all of a sudden. Power cutouts and the unit resetting. Problem was when the unit reconnected the volume defaulted back to unity gain thus resulting in extremely loud signal coming through! Very frustrating & it happened so often that the unit was virtuallu unusable. Check to see if this happens in standalone mode without the computer. Chances are that it will and you can at least rule out any fault with the computer setup. It was totally random for me. it might work for 20 minutes then cut out and keep resetting after that, or it might happen withing a few minutes. This seems to be a problem with the PSU or the circuitry dying out. Unfortunately, not much u can do but send in for repairs im afraid. Interestingly, i had my 828mk2 for about 8 months when this started to happen. On a positive note, MOTU are going to replace mine with a new unit. One thing i noted was that my hardware version was 1.00 and not 1.01 as is the case with more recent units. I dont know what the difference is but i know that my LCD also died and that this was a common problem with these earlier versions. Perhaps this power problem is also specific to the older version?

Regards

[chucks]

At this time every year there seems to be a flurry of reports about 828s dropping out, restarting, etc. What I discovered a couple of years back was that my 828mkII is very sensitive to line voltage fluctuations. If the voltage droped below 110, I was about 99% sure to experience lockups and problems. With the temp up and the demand for AC up, you could well have the same issue. Get a volt/multimeter and watch your voltage when your (or your neighbors) AC kicks on. A good power conditioner with voltage regulator was the fix in my case.

[madelefant]

Mine is having the same problem. virtually unusable. In standalone mode currently cant even reset the unit. Around a year and a half old. Pretty shoddy piece of equipment I have to say.

Mike

[Atardecer]

Its worth pointing out that i tried the unit at three different locations as well as my home studio and the same problem occurred. Also i dont have AC in my studio and its winter here so i can rule that out!! The Australian distributor also tried it out in their workshop and the same thing happened. Whats more it seems that this problem only occurs after a certain time of usage so i think its more likely that it is a specific issue with the parts than the voltage levels of people's studios.

Regards

[Smokehouse]

Sounds like a defective unit alright. I'm curious -- when you power up, what version does it display on the front panel? v1.00 or v1.01?

[skylabfilmpop]

Yes mine is 1.01 if that is significant. Just factory reset it. I cant get it to stay on long enough to repatch my cuemix settings, terrible. No Answer from Customer Support via phone or email, although that "dall at reception frum the nawth shoaw was wicked chamin" not much help though. I thought it might need an updated driver but the current one on the website won't roll with my 10.3.4 (using logic with Protools mix hardware (requires 10.3.4 max) and the motu to route coreaudio and mix external synths. Worked great for a while.

[Atardecer]

Do you use the 828 in standalone mode (ie. basically a mixer or patch bay) while using the pro tools hardware? just wondering because it could be conflicts between the 828 and the PT h/w if they are both connected to the computer. I have no idea, but is it a bad idea to have 2 or more different brand soundcards working together on the same computer? How would you make this work?

Regards

[dickythebrit]

My 828 is probably 2 years old now, and is plugged directly into a Monster Pro3500 power conditioner and has still been cutting out, and now it does it every 10 minutes or so - very frustrating. I am running firmware v1.00. If I could find a place to upload v1.01, maybe that would fix it .... but judging by the other posts ... maybe not. With as many problems as people seem to be having MOTU have a problem on their hands. If this was a car company there would be a product recall. Anyone got any solutions to this? Thanks in advance.

[madelefant]

My 828 is probably 2 years old now, and is plugged directly into a Monster Pro3500 power conditioner and has still been cutting out, and now it does it every 10 minutes or so - very frustrating. I am running firmware v1.00. If I could find a place to upload v1.01, maybe that would fix it .... but judging by the other posts ... maybe not. With as many problems as people seem to be having MOTU have a problem on their hands. If this was a car company there would be a product recall. Anyone got any solutions to this? Thanks in advance.

Mine is suddenly working well and has been doing so for about the last week. But this kind of intermitancy is typical of a failing/defective electrical component. So there is something bogus in the thing.

Mike

[dickythebrit]

My 828 is probably 2 years old now, and is plugged directly into a Monster Pro3500 power conditioner and has still been cutting out, and now it does it every 10 minutes or so - very frustrating. I am running firmware v1.00. If I could find a place to upload v1.01, maybe that would fix it .... but judging by the other posts ... maybe not. With as many problems as people seem to be having MOTU have a problem on their hands. If this was a car company there would be a product recall. Anyone got any solutions to this? Thanks in advance.

Mine is suddenly working well and has been doing so for about the last week. But this kind of intermitancy is typical of a failing/defective electrical component. So there is something bogus in the thing.

Mike

I resigned myself to sending mine back for a replacement. I don't have work in my studio right now, but Murphy's Law says that it will break down when I have clients!! $79.95 and a fews days patience to have it replaced is a small price to letting down a customer who is spending $1000's =)

Thanks for your feedback.

Richard =)

[Graham]

My 828 is probably 2 years old now, and is plugged directly into a Monster Pro3500 power conditioner and has still been cutting out, and now it does it every 10 minutes or so - very frustrating. I am running firmware v1.00. If I could find a place to upload v1.01, maybe that would fix it .... but judging by the other posts ... maybe not. With as many problems as people seem to be having MOTU have a problem on their hands. If this was a car company there would be a product recall. Anyone got any solutions to this? Thanks in advance.

Mine is suddenly working well and has been doing so for about the last week. But this kind of intermitancy is typical of a failing/defective electrical component. So there is something bogus in the thing.

Mike

I resigned myself to sending mine back for a replacement. I don't have work in my studio right now, but Murphy's Law says that it will break down when I have clients!! $79.95 and a fews days patience to have it replaced is a small price to letting down a customer who is spending $1000's =)

Thanks for your feedback.

Richard =)

I just had this same problem with my Traveler. I have only had the thing 5 months and now it is costing me over $100 to get it fixed already!! I am debating selling the thing when I get it back and going for a different brand. I always heard good things about MOTU products but my first experience with one is horrible. 90 day warranty should have been a warning sign.