MOTU 828 won't work with any of my macs...

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Level 1

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MOTU 828 won't work with any of my macs...

I have a MOTU 828 and had used it for a few years until some of the more recent releases of OSX. I can't get it to work for anything any more. And the frustrating thing is that it works with windows machines, so I know it is no the unit. Again, this is an 828 that has been tried on multiple macs running the most current versions of OSX. What gives? Any one know?

I consider myself relatively adept at using these machines. I am trying to run either DP 4.6 or protools on all of the machines just to see what will work. I also have a 002 rack that is doing the same thing.

iMac core duo 20", Mac OS X (10.4.6), 2gig ram, 256M vram

Posted on Apr 24, 2006 3:30 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 25, 2006 3:59 AM in response to Terry Sallee

Hi Terry,

did you install the latest MOTU drivers?

Dual 2.3GHz G5 3GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) iBook G4 1GHz

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Answer 2

Terry Sallee Author

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Apr 25, 2006 8:10 AM in response to Jean-Pascal Roche

Thanks for the reply. Yes, been there done that many many times. I have even gone in and removed files using the unix console and reinstalled all pertainant drivers, to no avail.

I had heard that apple downclocked firewire in some of the later releases of osX and that you need to remove some firewall settings or something like that because you can use firewire to network. Anyone know anything about this?

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Answer 3

Justin S.

Level 3

655 points

Apr 25, 2006 11:34 AM in response to Terry Sallee

Hey Terry,

Does anything function through the firewire bus, such as a hard drive or some other firewire device? Or is the firewire bus completly non-functional? When one of your devices is connected, does it show up in the system profiler?

--Justin S.

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Answer 4

Terry Sallee Author

Level 1

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Apr 25, 2006 2:55 PM in response to Justin S.

yes the firewire bus is functioning and the motu unit will show up in the profiler, most of the time. I will try to confirm that, but let's assume that I am right and it is showing up in the profiler. I have seen others who have had a similar problem. They have said that either the unit won't function or that it quits after a few hours of use. The initial problem might seem to be a heat issue, but I am not so sure about that. It's as if there is a bad sync issue. But I just gave it to a friend of mine who has a PC to test it out and he said it works great. When I sent it to MOTU they tested it for a couple days and it worked fine for them. I don't get it.

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Answer 5

Justin S.

Level 3

655 points

Apr 25, 2006 4:25 PM in response to Terry Sallee

Have you tried trashing the preference file for the MOTU. Its located at YourUserName-->Library-->Preferences-->com.motu.firewireaudio. Maybe that could help your situation.

--Justin S.

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Answer 6

Terry Sallee Author

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Apr 27, 2006 9:07 PM in response to Justin S.

thanks Justin. Been there, done that, too. It's enough to make ya wanna bang your head on the wall a little, eh?

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Answer 7

May 14, 2006 7:49 PM in response to Terry Sallee

There's another preference file you should try trashing, but it is very difficult to remove it at exactly the right time. It's the file

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist

The best way to remove this file is to do so in single user mode.

1) Reboot

2) Hold down Command-S until you see the screen turn to a black background with white text.

3) Wait for the text to stop scrolling and arrive at the prompt. The prompt will either be:

Enter pathname of shell or RETURN for /bin/sh:

or it will simply be:

#

If the prompt is the former, just press RETURN as it asks. If it is the latter, just continue to the next step.

3) Type the following and press return:

/sbin/mount -wu /

4) Type the following and press return:

rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist

5) Type the following and press return:

exit

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Answer 8

Justin S.

Level 3

655 points

May 14, 2006 9:02 PM in response to Jeremy S. Cooper

OFF TOPIC::

Jeremy- Nice to have you in this forum-- Good Info. I was just wondering why you have to go through all of those steps to trash that plist. Is it due to the fact that core audio is constantly processing the preferences? I have advised people to trash that plist in the past, but have not known that there was special procedure for it. Thanks for your time...

--Justin S.

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Answer 9

May 14, 2006 9:12 PM in response to Justin S.

I went through this route because I'm pretty certain that this file is consulted by coreaudiod, and in the past, I've found that coreaudiod will automatically recreate this file with its previous contents if you remove it while it is still running. Killing coreaudiod will work, but it is rapidly restarted by launchd.

Rather than teach someone how to race against launchd, I figured the single-user route would be easier.

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Answer 10

JonYo

Level 1

128 points

May 21, 2006 4:24 AM in response to Terry Sallee

Terry -

Just as an FYI, I have been running a MOTU 828mk2 on my G5 2x2.0GHz tower for quite some time, through all the iterations of 10.3 to 10.4.6. I've been updating my MOTU FW drivers regularly as MOTU has released them. I've had no problems with the OS and all apps seeing the interface. (LogicPro, Reason3, MaxMSP, etc) The only thing of note about my setup is that my MOTU unit is hooked up via it's own rear FW400 port on the back of my Mac, with no hubs. My other rear FW400 port is hooked to a FW hub and then to a bunch of other FW stuff. I'm not using my FW800 port at all currently.

- JonYo

G5 2x2.0GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2.5GB RAM, MOTU 828mk2,

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