• Registered: 2010-11-20
  • Posts: 2

Topic: Multiface (I) with PCEe (laptop) FW type cable problem

Hi,
I really would like to have some info from RME about the firewire type of cable requirements.
I had constant never ending issues with the bright shining HOST ERROR indicator. When I noticed that it would go away when I change firewire cables I started to wonder if there's a resistance spec from RME that most firewire cables actually don't respect. I had a cable that works, I put a sticky tape on it... only to discover that when I moved to another country that it didn't work any longer = (this raises a power supply question but never mind, we talk about that another time) bright shining non blinking HOST ERROR. Now I took the shortest (hence lowest resistance) firewire cable that I have, a Metric Halo 30cm short cable that they ship with their interface. Miracle: My Multiface works again. Unfortunately I need that short cable for my Metric Halo interface on the Mac when I'm doing large scale recordings at the same time with the Multiface on a PC...
Any word on a firewire type of cable that works with the PCI Express card? If RME sells one I would even buy it from them...

Any good word is appreciated :-)
Jurgen

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
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  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,779

Re: Multiface (I) with PCEe (laptop) FW type cable problem

FW cables that don't work with the MF are simply defective. This is not about resistance, more about capacity. They will fail on one or the other FireWire equipment too, but that depends on the amount of data transmitted. Technically said they have problems to transmit the highest frequencies correctly.

There is no way to 'spec' such a cable. You really have to try it. But usually they all work, what you experience is quite unusual.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • Registered: 2010-11-20
  • Posts: 2

Re: Multiface (I) with PCEe (laptop) FW type cable problem

Thanks for the reply.
Definitely the problem should be elsewhere, not with the cable(s). A firewire cable that was working wouldn't work any longer once the interface has been powered off and on again.
Before getting this card I used the PCMCIA card and had very similar problems, intermittently though (it would mostly not work from the beginning, then work for a year, then again almost never..., and again for another year without problems).
I was assuming that perhaps the box has a problem - are there Multifaces that had hardware issues like the one I describe? - I'm reluctant to get a Mulitface II because I'm worried to have the same problems and the hardware has only a few improvements.

Jurgen