Just a little sharing. I had an problem with audio dropout using a newish iMac and a Presonus 16.0.2 desk connected by firewire. I spent hours looking for network saturation problems, disk write overloads, critical memory shortages, dearth of hard disk capacity, and also swapped the firewire (800 to 400) cable to try and find the problem. Checked the software on the desk, hunted around forums, searched for firmware updates etc. etc., the way you do.

None of those things worked so I started from scratch again. Turns out it WAS the first Firewire 800/400 cable. Also the second one (a fancy one, with gold connections!) But, as in Goldilocks, the third and last one I dug out worked perfectly and all the problems went away.

Problem solving advice often includes 'check/swap cables', usually USB which I've never had a problem with. But here was a rare example of two out of three Firewire cables being no good.

The only problem is the working one is a bit on the short side. Anyone have a recommendation for a reliable brand of Firewire cables?

I think the clue here is that that the cable that worked is the shorter one!

It might be possible to find a longer very low-loss FW cable, but it sounds to me like one or other of those devices isn't too clever at recovering data via longer cables.

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Get Firewire cables from Lindy.

Quote Hugh Robjohns:

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It might be possible to find a longer very low-loss FW cable, but it sounds to me like one or other of those devices isn't too clever at recovering data via longer cables.

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Yes, that may well be right, the 'good' one is only 1metre long. Though the 'bad' ones were only 1.5m and 2.0m, so we're not talking about 8m or 10m monsters. But it would be surprising if either Apple or Presonus were offering a substandard Firewire port. Wouldn't it?

Meanwhile, the Applestore offers one - a snip at £24.95, so I'm going to try the most highly recommended one from Amazon, made by Neet, for a mere £7.95.

Edited by Iain Boyd (03/08/12 11:37 AM)

Well,it depends,there is a difference between ‘regular' Mac Books and MacBook Pro connection ports for example….

Quote Hugh Robjohns:

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I think the clue here is that that the cable that worked is the shorter one!

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Spoke too soon, the problem hasn't gone away and it turns out that many people have had similar audio drop-out problems with the 16.0.2 and 16.4.2 mixers. There are several threads on the Presonus forums, but no single easy solution, it seems.

Spooky as had very similar issue with the new(ish) iMac and Focusrite Saffire. Wouldn't see the device at all with 2 different 800-400 cables I had bought, even got that one from the Apple store for £25. Bought a cheap 1 mtr cable (£5) from the local dodgy computer shop and, as if by magic, it worked with no issues at all!
Seen similar issues with some Tascams requiring to have the machine running in 32bit mode, though mainly to do with the lack of software updates they provide.

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www.9volts.co.uk

Well. In the end it went back to HHB, the UK agent for Presonus. And they fixed it within a few days and redelivered it.

They haven't told me what they did, but it is the same mixer, according to the serial number, so they didn't have to replace the whole thing. I feel certain it must have been something to do with the firewire chip/circuit/board.

Not the cable!

Quote Iain Boyd:

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Well. In the end it went back to HHB, the UK agent for Presonus. And they fixed it within a few days and redelivered it.

They haven't told me what they did, but it is the same mixer, according to the serial number, so they didn't have to replace the whole thing. I feel certain it must have been something to do with the firewire chip/circuit/board.

Not the cable!

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So it works OK now. They did fix it? I sent my Presonus Mobile after discovering that for months I was searching for source of firewire interruptions at wrong places (even blaming wiring in my house, had 3 different electricians examining wiring, all saying that wiring is OK). Even after having the issue recently @ a gig, started to think, it might be something with my MBP.
After reading some entries @ Presonus forum realised I am not the only one with such problems. While waiting (45 minutes) to get to Presonus US, tested setup, in all possible ways without Presonus and no issues at all. Support advised me to sent the unit to local distributor while they will do they own search about the case and advise the local service what should be done.
Talked to the service last week and they are testing but couldn't really nail the source. Waiting that Presonus US might tell them what to replace, they have the parts, several boards that could be used but it is up to Americans to tell them which one might fix the problem.

Edited by electrotimba (01/10/12 08:47 PM)

Quote electrotimba:

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So it works OK now. They did fix it?

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Yes. It's been three weeks now, and absolutely no problems. As suspected, it's a great device when working properly.