Hi everyone,
I've been reading these forums for a while now and elsewhere on the web and can't seem to get any answers about why the firestudio will not even link up to my notebook computer without crashing. I no longer feel confident about making this work, but I've been willing to try everything I can think of to troubleshoot (at vast expense to me timewise - I've probably spent over a full 40 hour work week reading up on various issues & trying to see if they work in my situation). I'm going to try and detail everything out in hopes that its just something I'm missing here that will get me up and running.
My specs & what I've tried so far:
Gateway MX6448 (less than a year old and had no prior problems running any other musical apps I threw at it including Sibelius 4, Band In a Box, Media Monkey, Itunes, Audacity, etc)
Processor:
(2)AMD #40f82, 1600 MHz
200MHz external bus
BIOS
Phoenix Technologies LTD 84.02 09/04/2006
Memory: I upgraded to 2 gigs
2048MB physical
90% free resources
2 memory slots, 0 free (1024+1024)
Video
Graphics Adapter: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M Series
Screen Area/Colors: 1280x800 pixels, 16 million colors
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor: MS_ 0
Monitor: Generic Television
Drives
C:\ (NTFS) 107458MB total, 33903MB free
D:\ (FAT32) 6991MB total, 3497MB free
E:\ CD-ROM/CD-RW or DVD Drive
Network and Modem
(net) Marvell Marvell Yukon 88E8038 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
(net) Broadcom Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter
(net) Microsoft Direct Parallel
(net) Microsoft 1394 Net Adapter
Operating System (media center edition - thought this may have been the cause but I was told that the media center problems shouldn't cause the system crashes and unability to sync up)
Windows XP SP2 (Windows XP 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2)
Original setup date: 4/5/2007
DirectX Version: 5.03.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
SWAP FILE DISABLED
File cache managed by Windows
I started out trying a firewire 400 6-4 pin 14' cable and when I couldn't get it to work, went to a 6 - 4 pin 6' cable. I thought maybe I needed to shorten it, same problem - system crashing. So I tried buying a PCMCIA card and used a 6-6 pin 6' firewire cable. Was actually able to get it to sync shortly but then it crashed and I couldn't replicate the sync again. All this extra stuff cost me an additional $125 which isn't alot considering, but it was an unexpected cost that I had to eat and am understandably not too happy about.
I tried installing the microsoft XP service pack II firewire patch. Didnt help. Tried downloading the driver from the Presonus website (even though they were both 1.0.98) and nothing changed. More crashing. I even removed all other software from the laptop and reloaded the operating system for a fresh start thinking maybe there was a sharing conflict with some other program. Sometimes the steps I took helped for a minute or two, but eventually my system wound up crashing and unable to re-sync.
I did follow the installation instructions to a T btw. I went a step further even, made sure all my firewalls and antivirus software was turned off when I installed the Presonus drivers. Restarted the system. Turned off Antivirus again on reboot (PC Cillin 2006 btw). Tried to plug in firewire cable from Firestudio. Sometimes I could get it to load all the way (for a minute or two) and others the notebook would crash as soon as I plugged it in. The few times I was lucky enough to get it to actually sync up and saw the blue light, it would nonetheless crash as soon as I tried to open up the Firestudio Control Console software or Cubase LE. I know some people don't like Cubase, but I could care less about that - I'm even trying to get this working with the recommended software! Don't know what else to do. Any ideas why this is happening? Is it my laptop, the connection, the Firestudio? Should I take the computer back?
I've talked with Ben from tech support on multiple occasions for quite a while and we did try a lot of things as I've noted but cannot seem to get any answers. I appreciate all the time he took with me, but we're really no further than where we started. Trying to keep a positive attitude, but I'm worried that I made a bad choice when I bought the Firestudio. I will say though, that the time Ben has taken to help makes me think that Presonus is a quality company who genuinely cares about the reputation and longevity of its products. Still, here I am with nothing but frusterations about ready to boil over when I think about how many other ways I could've used the time invested thus far into troubleshooting.
I did send two different .nfo files and he can see no apparent issues, so I figured I'd try asking here because I don't know what else to do and I know tech support is closing down for the weekend and my gigs are steadily coming and going without me recording them (although I have everything right here thats supposed to allow me to do this). It's been a frusterating time for me. I've been at this four or five hours a day for the past 10 days or so and with mulitple trips to the store to try various cables and hardware at additional expense. I'm not a computer genius, but I know a little bit. I'm perplexed and drained that I cannot seem to figure this out.
Before I bought this I tried to do my homework and my computer is not listed as one of the problem computers. I saw the four potential problems in the FAQ (http://presonus.com/faq/index.php?si...=48&artlang=en) and a red flag went up when I saw that my system did use a ATI RADEON video chipset, so I even called presonus tech support in advance of purchase to make sure that this configuration would work. I gave my particular specs and they said all systems should be a go, my chipset was the 200 series and the problems were only with the 9000/9001 series. Asa far as I know I do not have an nForce4 or NEC chipset. Nor do I have the incompatible s400/s800 combo card, as I said above I even tried various options here with the 6 - 6 pin PCMCIA card which used the recommended Texas Instruments chipset. I am not trying to blame anyone for what I've gone through - maybe I'm the only one of a long line of satisfied Firestudio users. The unit is certainly impressive on paper! But what can I do to make it work for me? Has anyone else run into these issues with the Firestudio or Firepod? The last resort is sending the unit back in to have it looked at, but I really want to avoid that because then I miss out on recording even more gigs (missed 4 already that I had planned to record) and it doesn't really guarantee anything except that I'll be out another $50 or so in shipping. Please let me know if anyone can help, or if more info is needed. feel free to email me ddriesen@gmail.com
thanks
Dan
I've been reading these forums for a while now and elsewhere on the web and can't seem to get any answers about why the firestudio will not even link up to my notebook computer without crashing. I no longer feel confident about making this work, but I've been willing to try everything I can think of to troubleshoot (at vast expense to me timewise - I've probably spent over a full 40 hour work week reading up on various issues & trying to see if they work in my situation). I'm going to try and detail everything out in hopes that its just something I'm missing here that will get me up and running.
My specs & what I've tried so far:
Gateway MX6448 (less than a year old and had no prior problems running any other musical apps I threw at it including Sibelius 4, Band In a Box, Media Monkey, Itunes, Audacity, etc)
Processor:
(2)AMD #40f82, 1600 MHz
200MHz external bus
BIOS
Phoenix Technologies LTD 84.02 09/04/2006
Memory: I upgraded to 2 gigs
2048MB physical
90% free resources
2 memory slots, 0 free (1024+1024)
Video
Graphics Adapter: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M Series
Screen Area/Colors: 1280x800 pixels, 16 million colors
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor: MS_ 0
Monitor: Generic Television
Drives
C:\ (NTFS) 107458MB total, 33903MB free
D:\ (FAT32) 6991MB total, 3497MB free
E:\ CD-ROM/CD-RW or DVD Drive
Network and Modem
(net) Marvell Marvell Yukon 88E8038 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
(net) Broadcom Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter
(net) Microsoft Direct Parallel
(net) Microsoft 1394 Net Adapter
Operating System (media center edition - thought this may have been the cause but I was told that the media center problems shouldn't cause the system crashes and unability to sync up)
Windows XP SP2 (Windows XP 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2)
Original setup date: 4/5/2007
DirectX Version: 5.03.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
SWAP FILE DISABLED
File cache managed by Windows
I started out trying a firewire 400 6-4 pin 14' cable and when I couldn't get it to work, went to a 6 - 4 pin 6' cable. I thought maybe I needed to shorten it, same problem - system crashing. So I tried buying a PCMCIA card and used a 6-6 pin 6' firewire cable. Was actually able to get it to sync shortly but then it crashed and I couldn't replicate the sync again. All this extra stuff cost me an additional $125 which isn't alot considering, but it was an unexpected cost that I had to eat and am understandably not too happy about.
I tried installing the microsoft XP service pack II firewire patch. Didnt help. Tried downloading the driver from the Presonus website (even though they were both 1.0.98) and nothing changed. More crashing. I even removed all other software from the laptop and reloaded the operating system for a fresh start thinking maybe there was a sharing conflict with some other program. Sometimes the steps I took helped for a minute or two, but eventually my system wound up crashing and unable to re-sync.
I did follow the installation instructions to a T btw. I went a step further even, made sure all my firewalls and antivirus software was turned off when I installed the Presonus drivers. Restarted the system. Turned off Antivirus again on reboot (PC Cillin 2006 btw). Tried to plug in firewire cable from Firestudio. Sometimes I could get it to load all the way (for a minute or two) and others the notebook would crash as soon as I plugged it in. The few times I was lucky enough to get it to actually sync up and saw the blue light, it would nonetheless crash as soon as I tried to open up the Firestudio Control Console software or Cubase LE. I know some people don't like Cubase, but I could care less about that - I'm even trying to get this working with the recommended software! Don't know what else to do. Any ideas why this is happening? Is it my laptop, the connection, the Firestudio? Should I take the computer back?
I've talked with Ben from tech support on multiple occasions for quite a while and we did try a lot of things as I've noted but cannot seem to get any answers. I appreciate all the time he took with me, but we're really no further than where we started. Trying to keep a positive attitude, but I'm worried that I made a bad choice when I bought the Firestudio. I will say though, that the time Ben has taken to help makes me think that Presonus is a quality company who genuinely cares about the reputation and longevity of its products. Still, here I am with nothing but frusterations about ready to boil over when I think about how many other ways I could've used the time invested thus far into troubleshooting.
I did send two different .nfo files and he can see no apparent issues, so I figured I'd try asking here because I don't know what else to do and I know tech support is closing down for the weekend and my gigs are steadily coming and going without me recording them (although I have everything right here thats supposed to allow me to do this). It's been a frusterating time for me. I've been at this four or five hours a day for the past 10 days or so and with mulitple trips to the store to try various cables and hardware at additional expense. I'm not a computer genius, but I know a little bit. I'm perplexed and drained that I cannot seem to figure this out.
Before I bought this I tried to do my homework and my computer is not listed as one of the problem computers. I saw the four potential problems in the FAQ (http://presonus.com/faq/index.php?si...=48&artlang=en) and a red flag went up when I saw that my system did use a ATI RADEON video chipset, so I even called presonus tech support in advance of purchase to make sure that this configuration would work. I gave my particular specs and they said all systems should be a go, my chipset was the 200 series and the problems were only with the 9000/9001 series. Asa far as I know I do not have an nForce4 or NEC chipset. Nor do I have the incompatible s400/s800 combo card, as I said above I even tried various options here with the 6 - 6 pin PCMCIA card which used the recommended Texas Instruments chipset. I am not trying to blame anyone for what I've gone through - maybe I'm the only one of a long line of satisfied Firestudio users. The unit is certainly impressive on paper! But what can I do to make it work for me? Has anyone else run into these issues with the Firestudio or Firepod? The last resort is sending the unit back in to have it looked at, but I really want to avoid that because then I miss out on recording even more gigs (missed 4 already that I had planned to record) and it doesn't really guarantee anything except that I'll be out another $50 or so in shipping. Please let me know if anyone can help, or if more info is needed. feel free to email me ddriesen@gmail.com
thanks
Dan
