22 replies to this topic

[Woot?]

Hi Guys,

Doing a good deal of  :bang: :bang: with my MOTU Ultralite at the moment. Have just tried to install it on my new Dell XPS 1330. Installs fine (all new drivers etc) - works perfectly for anywhere up to a few minutes then just cuts out. Does it randomly eg with Reaper or just with Windows player so prob not a DAW issue. I think I have disabled everything else on the same IRQ or whatever, but I'm not very technical in this sense and it makes no difference whatsoever. I recall a similar problem on a yumcha laptop some time back. Works fine on desktop PC. Any other hints?? Ehsan?? Much appreciated - will prevent me from going completely bonkers.

:-*

[Cheyne]

Could be the firewire connectivity ..

I had issues with mine when i was running it from a yumcha 1394 card ,  I replaced it with a Belkin OHCI compliant card and iv never had the problem again.

Also , make sure your ultralight is powered from the power point , not just bus power.

Worst comes to worst and it is the firewire , you may need to buy a PCMCIA 1394 adapter .  Theres some good texas instruments chipset PCMCIA cards out there that would do you fine..

[neo]

I had a very similar problem using mine with my old PC. My solution was to buy a Mac  :-[

[ehsan]

Oh noes that's not good news! All good with the Ultralite if you're able to test it on another system? It sounds strange but perhaps try disabling the CD drive in Device Manager chuck a restart and see if you still get the sam beef. Mmmm, beef.

I would have thought that the firewire chip in an XPS would be totally up to the task - googling doesn't bring up much...

When you say it cuts out - what seems to happen? Does the UL turn off? Does it still appear as active on the system? - That is are you still able to run Cuemix or do you get the 'No MOTU Devices Connected' error? Does Windoze still have the UL available as an output device in Control Panel->Sounds?

If you keep having issues PM me your email and I can get the support gurus onto it.

[Woot?]

Tanks heaps everyone.

Cheyne - this firewire controller is ohci RICOH, presumably not yumcha like the old lappy - thought XPS red would be fine it's running off power point. The only thing I haven't tried replacing is the actual cable, but I don't really see how a cable fault would lead to intermittant operation, I would have expected nothing to work if that was the case.

e - What happens is it is going along seet in DAW or windoze media playa (and being evident in the Windoze sounds screen). Then will get random audio drops, nil clicks or pops just stutters of silence. Sometimes it comes back and continues, mostly it just stops and the DAW comes up with "Motu device disconnected, please reconnect". Switch MOTU off and start again and it just goes on its merry way for another minute or more, then does the same again. Have nothing else on the same IRQ as far as I can tell. Have disabled everything - except the DVD - i'll try that this pm, but has not made a difference.

Tanks once again guys

MAtt

[Cheyne]

Hmm , thats a shame ... MOTU love is the best of them all ..

Actually , cable can make a difference .. I doubt it is your problem here as it rarely causes such a large issue, but certainly use a good quality firewire cable , yumcha ones can cause loss in quality as did the sparkly silver one that came with my  $8  eBay firewire card.

Bottom line , always use the best gear you can ..


p.s .. This probably should be a very last resort , but there are firmware updates for the Ultralight , but my advice is , if Version 1.0 isnt working correctly you should be looking to fix that first , not to mention if your ultralight turns off Mid flash , you may have serious problems...    Ehsan and the MOTU warriors can advise you more on what you should be doing .

[Woot?]

I know its a shame isn't it. I was really looking forward to the wang factor of rocking around with lots of various shaped, different coloured boxes to exhibit my audio wankery - that and actually doing some recording and stuff. I think I will try change the FW cable.

Forgot to mention but the firmware is 1.15 (the most utd as far as I can tell) - and has been runnin fine for over a year on desktop...

[dylab]

sounds like firewire in laptop might be bad
have you got pcmcia card / express card you can test?

[Woot?]

No not readily available, but a mate has a XPS 1550 that may have the same chipset, might try that

[Jester_Fu]

When do you fly out, mate? If you want me to have a look at it, give me a call. I should be in Newcastle next week Thursday/Friday at this stage for work. You bring the beer and i'll bring the Dell fixerator with me I'll also have my D830 with me - which has never had my 828 installed on it... so we have a clean option to try on. Oh, and you're using XP and not Vista, yeah?

[ijed]

Power supply maybe?

[Woot?]

Quote

When do you fly out, mate? If you want me to have a look at it, give me a call. I should be in Newcastle next week Thursday/Friday at this stage for work. You bring the beer and i'll bring the Dell fixerator with me I'll also have my D830 with me - which has never had my 828 installed on it... so we have a clean option to try on. Oh, and you're using XP and not Vista, yeah?

Mate, I would be honourered if you spared the time next week. Unfortunately i'm trying to record on monday, so i'll struggle along by myself. Would be keen to see you regardless

[Jester_Fu]

What are you doing this weekend? If you can make it to Syd, i have nothing planned. I'd prefer not to go to Ncle this weekend though as i've been traveling too much and just want a weekend at home. Yes, selfish of me, i know ;D

[Woot?]

Motherfucker....

[Woot?]

Fixed!! :cans:

http://www.soundpunk..._serialNumber=2

Hey everyone, esp JF and E for all your offers of help. Bought this baby as above. $130 that I didn't want to spend, but no-one in Newcastle, and even a heap of Sydney computer shops didn't have them for me to pick up today (needed to record tonight).

Read quite a few posts randomly on the net that described very similar problem to mine on the Ricoh chipset. One with MOTU, a few with Firebox(?pod). Said problem fixed with TI chipset FW - so I risked it and gave it a crack. All fine now which is just as well, cause I was tossing a coin about whether to throw my Dell or MOTU out the window first.

Thanks again  :-* :-*

Matt

[Jester_Fu]

Offer is still there to have a look at it, chopstick. I'd be surprised if it can't be resolved by disabling a few things you don't need/wont use (hardware wise), a BIOS config change and some IRQ/address space modifications. OHCI compliant is OHCI compliant... the main thing you'll have resolved using the PCMCIA slot is bus conflicts.

[Woot?]

Yeah cheers mate, I'll prob use it for recording in the next couple of days, refund it and get you to check it all out when I get back from OS.

[pan_down]

had a similar issue myself this week with my ultralite on a bootcamp partition, just needed 3 hotfixes installed from windows update.

[hps909]

i love my mac

[Jester_Fu]

Nice bump there, fanboi.