• mmr9
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Topic: Sudden FF800 malfunction - intermittent connection drop

Hello,

My Fireface 800 suddenly started disconnecting intermittently from my Mac Pro. The sound goes, and the red "host" LED lights up for a few seconds, then it reconnects. This keeps happening every 3-5 minutes.

It's connected to a brand new 2.93ghz quad Mac Pro running Snow Leopard. It's connected to the computer via a fw 400 cable through a 400-800 converter. It has worked fine with heavy daily use in the weeks since I got this Mac until today (1 month).

The problem showed up first today when I opened an Ableton Live session, where the only unusual fact (for me) is that I was working at 96khz.

I tried with a firmware update (2.70) and driver re-istall (273_x86) to no avail.
I tried switching firewire cables, no luck either.

I am puzzled and hard-pressed by a deadline so I could use any and all advice.

Thanks

  • mmr9
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Re: Sudden FF800 malfunction - intermittent connection drop

Also I should mention that the fireface mixer and settings apps dont quit when this happens.

  • mmr9
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Re: Sudden FF800 malfunction - intermittent connection drop

Ok actually, I stand corrected on two fronts:

1. The problem occurs more often with audio apps open - every few seconds.

2. The fireface mixer app freezes when FF800 goes offline, closes the mixer window but doesnt quite. the setting app stays open.

  • Jeff
  • Jeff
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Re: Sudden FF800 malfunction - intermittent connection drop

Possibly something is interrupting the FW connection. What do you mean by "400-800 converter", is this just a cable? Do you have any other FW devices connected to the Mac Pro?

Regards,
Jeff Petersen
Synthax Inc.

Jeff's Website

  • mmr9
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Re: Sudden FF800 malfunction - intermittent connection drop

The sonnet dongle that turns firewire 400 into 800 (Mac Pro doesn't provide fw 400 ports anymore)

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw_adapter.html

No other fw devices connected.

The same setup was working perfectly well until today...