TC Electronic Powercore Firewire - Kernel Panics

Hi Sloanlogic,

can perfectly understand your frustration, as Ihad to deal with the same problems for a long time. But the very latest Beta version xxx.14 did finally work here, both with Logic 7 and 8. Even though it was a littly tricky.

Here's what I did, maybe this works for you too:
I tried all previous versions too and of course, none of them worked. Kernel panic every time. Then I always used the PowerCore UnInstall Command to get rid of each version.

When I installed 2.5.0.14, at first the same kernel panic appeared. As usual, when AU validation reached the very first plug-in (247-C) the lights went down. This time, instead of clicking PoCo's Uninstall Command I manually searched for the Plug-Ins (../Library/Audio Plug-Ins/Components) and noticed, that they all came with different dates. 247-C was one of the oldest. So I removed this one as well as Assimilator, both with date from June 07.
Oh, and even though I don't know, if this influenced the whole thing, but while doing the latest restart I clicked Apple alt+PR (maybe I was bored...)

Ok, next time I started Logic, ALL PoCo plug-ins did pass the AU validation, all fine - except... they didn't work ... Logic up and running, all PoCo plug-ins there, but deactivated. A PoCo messenger window appeared with an endless array of error reports.

Then I did contact TC support again and got a mail back, telling me to also remove Brickwall Limiter from the components folder to the desktop and to re-run AU manager.
Removed Brickwall Limiter, started Logic, all fine, all plug-ins there. As advised started AU manager, only to get another kernel panic. Next Restart, new try with Logic and all is up and running. All PoCo plug-ins work now.

Ok, that's only half the truth, as the system is still not very stable. First I tried all PoCo plug-ins (the ones I own) in an empty new song with a simple midi loop. All fine, except for DVR2, causing another kernel panic. Restart (...staying calm helps...) and tried DVR2 once more - works.

Next I opened an older, bigger project and tried to insert a few PoCo plug ins. All fine with audio tracks or instruments, same with busses, but PoCo plug-ins in main outs crash the system. But I also have problems with my UAD plug-ins in main outs, so I'm used in avoiding this...
Also think, the song should be stopped, when inserting a plug-in. Doing this with the song running on a loop is another great method to provoke a kernel panic.

Regarding TC Support - so far I have only made great experiences with these guys. They usually answer very fast. I never called, only posted my question at TC Support and usually had an answer withing 24 hrs, sometimes even faster. Hm, even though I was as frustrated as you, I always tried to be nice in my emails - maybe this helped 😉 ?
Take UAD - I had as much trouble with UAD (different issues though) as I had with PoCo and these guys never ever replied, even though some UAD tech offered her personal email at a UAD forum for immediate help. But their plug-ins are still awesome...

Anyway, good luck,
Joern

It seems I've got a similar problem. A few weeks ago I updated Apple's firmware to the latest version. I also installed Logic Pro 8 about the same time. Because my system suddenly didn't recognize my M-Audio firewire 1814 anymore, I updated the M-Audio driver to the latest version. All went well but suddenly kernels panics appeared, one after another. In time even when I disconnected M-audio, and even when I worked with other than audio software. Finaly I re-installed my complete system.

This seemed to help a few days, until I installed my M-Audio again. Kernel panics were the result. I de-installed the M-Audio driver but still I sometimes get kernel panics. I even brought my Mac to a Apple service centre because I still wasn't sure what the problem was.

In the meantime I worked on my Macbook Pro with any software except Logic and M-Audio. But yesterday I connected my M-Audio firewire and also had to update Apple's firmware and the M-Audio driver. Guess what. Today my Macbook had his first kernel panic ever. Since my laptop hasn't got Logic Pro 8 installed yet (but Logic Pro 7) the only possible answer is the M-Audio driver.

I'm thinking of wiping my whole system clean and re-install once again to get rid of M-Audio. Only de-installing the M-Audio software doesn't seem to help. Probably because some kind of settings or preferences keep bothering my system. If that doesn't solve the problem I'm out of options.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but the dirty little secret about virtually ALL firewire based audio devices, including interfaces and DSP accellerators, is that they take up a lot of bandwidth which the MacPro FW is not designed to deal with unless the entire bus is dedicated to that box. This means removal of all other Firewire devices, including hard drives.

For whatever reason, the MacBook seems to be better in this regard.

The simple truth is, if you are on a MacPro and running an audio FW device--a PoCo, Duende, Fireface, TC Konnekt, or similar, you are on a precarious cliff. You may get it to work, and yes some people manage to do so--but it is definitely inviting problems and instability. You are far better off buying a Firewire PCIe card and running the device off of that. You will lose a slot, but your system will be more reliable--guaranteed.

Here is some more info on this subject:

http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/article.php?id=186

http://www.mixbuss.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2293&sid=ce889a9409f338521f3805284f e6496c

http://solid-state-logic-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/solidstate_logic_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=811&p_created=1182187062&p_si d=azDluPOi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZ wX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTEzLDExMyZwX3Byb2RzPTAmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0 mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWZpcmV 3aXJlIGNhcmQgbWFj&p_li=&ptopview=1

Just to report in for the good of other sufferers, I took Sloanlogic's advice about adding a PCIe FW card to my G5 Quad. I run multple FW800 drives, FW400 drives, a DV Camera and an Alesis iO26. As predictible, there where lots of confilicts. I added a FW800/400 card from OWC for $115 and all my problems are solved. No more drives unmounting or rebooting the interface or...

The one problem I did have is that the MIDI part of the interface was not seen by the system. I tried all different versions of the driver with a great many reboots. Nothing. Driver appeared in Audio/MIDI set up but greyed out. Audio worked fine with all drivers. So I gave up and thought that maybe resetting the FW bus by letting the computer sit overnight unpowered may help. It did. The problem healed itself overnight and all is right. I have only the interface plugged into the internal bus and the FW 800 drives in the Aaxeon FireWire 400(1394A)/800(1394B) 4 Port PCI Express Controller Card.

The card does not support Sleep mode but it never worked consistantly on my system anyhow.

Thanks Sloanlogic for great advice. Good karma coming your way from Vermont.

Eric

Possible dumb question, but does this affect the G5's as well?

I have an 8 Core Mac Pro with 4GB RAM and I get the Powercore utility pop up with an Error message. My machine does not kernal panic so I suspect its just a driver issue.

Running Logic Studio 8 under Leopard 10.5.1 and as yet haven't been able to get it to work. Still using the latest Beta Software from TC.

My machine is having kernal panics on my Quad Core Mac Pro with Pro Tools. Very irritating. The PCIe Firewire card sounds like a logical and economically reasonable solution. After some thought, it actually makes sense in that the card has a 2.5GHz pipe directly to the processor bus, AND it's dedicated.

Thanks for the advice. I'll pick one up at Fry's tomorrow and post my findings.

Now you have good karma from Santa Cruz, CA as well.

Jeremy

Almost a month since I bought my PCIe FW card. I use it for my FW800 drives and plug the interface into the front. Problem absolutely solved. Best c-note I have spent on my computer. Still good karma coming from Vermont too.

there is a v3.0 out of the PoCo soft...
It starts out like this..

kernel panic, problems, kernel panic etc..
after a few hours..
all problems is gone ??? ( om 10.4.11)
got a quad 2.66 and poco ( FW) worx after about 2 hours, with both 8.0 and 8.01.
Still if your machine is a job machine, youd could check soft on another machine, and see if it worx..
My myself was first very frustrated, now very happy..

I stayed with 2.5.0.16; no kernel pannic..
Also installed LP 8 and there was no problems except Dynamic EQ...but its working