MBOX pops and clicks on a Win/PC system

[Niko7]

I just installed a friends Mbox (PT6.9) on his P4 XP Pro SP2 brand new PC (2Gb ram), and every minute or so during playback I hear an awful crackle, pop and click noise.

It sounds like a clocking issue, but I have the Mbox clocked internally.

We are working from the OS hard drive, as he can't afford and external drive right now. Could that be the problem?

I'm a Mac guy, so my Win troubleshooting is a little rusty.

Thanks

[atma]

i've never used an mbox, but it's audio interface with the PC is via USB, right? if that's the case, one thing to definately check is if there's an IRQ conflict. this might happen if windows has assigned the same IRQ number to 2 devices (in this case it would be the USB ports assigned to the same IRQ as something else). with xp it can be a serious pain to reconfigure this, i won't even go into it, you'd just need to do some searching with google to figure it out, but it may mean having to go into bios and altering some settings there to free up and/or change around the irq settings. the other thing to check is your mbox drivers latency setting. try cranking the buffer size up and see if that doesn't help.

[lotsacaffeine]

I know nothing about the Mbox either...but make sure you are connecting it to one of the computers USB ports and not a HUB.


--Bill

[Niko7]

The Mbox is connected to the computer directly.

Since he only has 2 USB ports, I connected the keyboard and MIDI controller keyboard to the hub.

[Niko7]

I spoke with a rep at Digidesign and here's the tips he emailed me. Sorry about the length, but this should help anyone who is having difficulty installing a Mbox on a new PC.


Update your Mbox firmware...
Here's where to find it and how to run it:
System hard drive > Program Files folder > Digidesign folder > Pro Tools folder > Pro Tools Utilities folder > Firmware update. Double-click on the firmware updater and follow the prompts.

Welcome to Windows XP troubleshooting for Pro Tools LE:

XP Optimizations:
Right click on desktop and choose Properties.
- Settings Tab > Advanced button > Troubleshoot Tab > Hardware Acceleration -Slide from Full to None.
leave "Enable write combining" click Apply and Okay
- Appearance Tab > Effects button -Deselect "....smooth edges of screen fonts" and "Show contents while dragging." click Okay

-Screen Saver Tab > set "Screen Saver" to None and click on Power button. In Power Schemes Tab set "Power Schemes" to Always On and set Monitor, Hard Disks, and Standby to Never. Click Apply and Okay and ten Okay in Display Properties.

Right click on desktop on My computer and choose Properties
-Advanced Tab > Visual Effects Tab -click "Adjust for best performance" Advanced Tab -click "Background Services" and "System Cache" -click Apply and Okay restart Computer.

In a ProTools session Setups Menus > Peripherals > Operation Tab -set "Open Ended Record Allocation" to "Limit To" and type 5 min longer than play length of session. Click done.

To enable DMA on the hard drives:
(It seems the default is already set to "DMA if available".)
* Start menu > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager > Open "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" > Primary IDE > Primary IDE Channel (for 1st HD) or Secondary IDE Channel (for 2nd HD) > Advanced Settings > Device 0 > Transfer Mode > Set to" DMA if available".

To get to the Device Manager:
1st way:
* Start menu > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager.
2nd way:
* Start > right-click on My Computer > Properties > Hardware Tab > Device Manager.
To create a Hardware Profile:
By creating a Hardware Profile for Pro Tools you can disable devices in the Device Manager that could be conflicting with Pro Tools. When you disable devices in the Pro Tools Hardware Profile, the Original Configuration remains untouched; thus, all devices will still be enabled in the Original Configuration.


* Start menu > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Hardware Profiles > Copy > Name it: "Pro Tools" > OK > Restart. When computer reboots you can choose between "Original Configuration" or "Pro Tools", select "Pro Tools".

To disable devices in the Device Manager:
* Start menu > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager > (ie.Open "Network Adapters") double-click on a device there > General Tab > Device Usage: Do not use this device (disable) > OK. Or, right-click on the device in the Device Manager and choose "disable".

To remove a device from the Device Manager (ie. the Digidesign Mbox):
* Start menu > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager > Open "Sound, video and game controllers" > right-click on Digidesign Mbox> Uninstall > OK.

To trash preferences:
DAE prefs folder:
* Start menu > My Computer > Local Disk (C:) or correct Hard Drive > Click "Show the contents of this drive", if files aren't showing > Program Files > Common Files>Digidesign > DAE > Right-click on the DAE Prefs folder and delete.
Pro Tools prefs:
* Start Menu > My Computer > Local Disk (C:) or correct Hard Drive > Documents and Settings > Your user file folder > Application Data > Digidesign > right-click on Digidesign folder and delete. Empty Recycle Bin and Restart. (If the Application Data file is not showing: Tools Menu > Folder Options > View Tab > Select "Show Hidden Files and Folders" > Click Apply and OK.)

Digidesign Database folders:
* Start Menu > My Computer > Local Disk (C:) > Digidesign Database > Right-click on the Digidesign Database folder and delete.

* Start menu > My Computer > Local Disk (C:) or correct Hard Drive > Click "Show the contents of this drive", if files aren't showing > Program Files > Digidesign > Pro Tools > Databases > Right-click on the Database folder and delete.

To find which processor the computer uses:
* Start menu >Control Panel > System > General Tab > Listed under "Computer heading".
To find out which chip set your computer has:
* Start menu > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager > Open "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers"
the chip set should be the same as the ATA controller. (ie.Intel 82804
Windows XP:Uninstalling and Reinstalling Pro Tool
- Start Menu > Control Panel > Add and Remove Programs.
- Remove PACE System Files & Pro Tools LE
- Start Menu > Right-click on My Computer > Properties > Hardware Tab > Device Manager button. Open the catagory for Sound, video and game controllers. Right-click on Digi HW (Digi001,Digi 002, Mbox, AMIII) and choose Uninstall. Restart computer.
- When Add New Hardware Wizard appears, leave it on the desktop and go to CD rom drive (Start Menu > My Computer > Pro Tools CD). Double-click on Pro Tools LE installer folder. Double-click on gray setup icon and install Pro Tools LE.
- Restart and Pro Tools should launch fine.
To reformat the Hard Drive: (Back up the drive previous to reformat to prevent any permanent loss of files)
* Start menu > My Computer > right-click on Local Disk (C:) or correct drive > Format.
Requests for technical support via email can be posted online at:
<http://www.digidesign.com/tsr>
A good start to learn the software is the Disk Flix section of are website at:
<http://www.digidesign.com/disk/diskflix/>
Technical Support information, including policies, procedures, contact information, and links to technical resources can be found in the Tech Support section of the Support section of th
e website, or the direct link here:
<http://www.digidesign.com/support/techsupport.html>