PreSonus Firepod ~ a curious problem and its (interim) solution

gecko zzed

Grumpy Mod
Some years ago I bought a Firepod and enjoy many hours of trouble free recording after a painless install.

However, a couple of months ago I was just about to it record and the Firepod's power light went out. With a band all miked up and set to go, this was somewhat alarming, to say the least.

I checked that everything was plugged in okay. Everything was. I checked the power supply output; it showed a stable 15VAC (as it was supposed to). That meant the problem was in the Firepod itself. This was even more alarming.

I unracked the Firepod and endeavoured to get inside it. The rack-ears unscrew to reveal a very hard-to-get-at interior. But I found the fuse and checked it . . . it was fine. I poked around in there a bit to see if anything was loose, hot, or otherwise suspect, but couldn't find anything obviously wrong.

Somewhat despondently I put everything back together, and plugged the power back in again. Lo and behold, it fired up with a glorious welcoming blue light. I was able to finish the recording session successfully, and since then have again enjoyed trouble free recording.

Until today.

I took the Firepod out for a live on-location recording. I connected it to the laptop and all was well. Halfway through the session, Reaper told me there was problem with the audio device. I checked the Firepod . . . again it showed no power.

I poked and prodded inside it as I had done before, confirming that it was getting plenty of juice. After about half-an-hour it fired up and again I was able to finish the session successfully.

I got my gear home, and hooked the Firepod back up to the PC. No power! This time I had a bit more time to look into it. I discovered that behind the fuseholder is a short cable that connects the on-off switch to the circuit board via a plastic connector onto a couple of pins. The connector was discoloured. I prised it off and examined it a bit more closely. The pin holes were brown and burnt looking, as if they had experienced rather more current than they were designed for. But the fuse was intact.

The connector, in fact, was looking seriously sick, and I pondered both the cause and how to fix it. Other than the connector, everything else seemed to be fine. Maybe it was just a loose fitting that, through vibration or something, had generated sufficient heat to progressively cause deterioration. Or maybe there had been a power surge that affected this weak link.

Not having at hand the immediate means of replacing the connector, but having a need to get the system up and running, I decided to bypass the on-off switch, and bridge its connector pins. Fortuitously, a hard-drive jumper is exactly the right size. Fortuitously I found one and managed to slide it over the pins.

I connected up the power cable and, to my considerable relief, the Firepod came back to life. It now works fine again, though its switch is inoperative. That is no big deal, because I never use it anyway . . . whenever it is connected it is always on.

However, I expect I will have to get a better brain than mine to look into and establish the cause of the initial failure. And I better start looking for a back-up interface. It is the one item I have for which I have no replacement.
 
Nice emergency surgery!

I suppose if the fuse didn't blow, the current was within acceptable so possibly it was a bad solder joint or similar at that connector that caused it to heat?

Would it be easy to eliminate the connector and solder directly into a new switch?
 
Thanks for the help!!

Thanks for your post. This just saved me $400 (for now).

So my Presonus Firepod (the main audio card I/O on my PC) was acting up. Power wouldn't stay on. I contacted Presonus, and they agreed a new PS might work. So I ordered one from Sweetwater. But even with a new PS the problem continued. The device is out of warranty, so sending it off to be fixed was not a very good option, and a new one (well, the modern equivalent) is $400+.

So in one last attempt to figure this out, I did a search and found at least two people with the same problem. One person had the problem, and linked to a post about it in the Presonus forums, but the link didn't work (as if it was removed)

So I searched outside their forum, and found gecko's post above.

It worked. Same problem as gecko had: fuse not blown, but faulty switch connection or something. I used the same method to fix it: a hard drive jumper. Don't really care that the switch doesn't work now.

One hint: You only need to remove the small black screws on case from the side where the power supply connects. Then slide the silver end cap off. It literally took me less than 5 minutes to fix. For a moment I had my socket set out thinking I'd need to take the whole back apart, but luckily that wasn't necessary.

I let Presonus know, but of course haven't heard back (probably never will). Checking to see if I can return the extra power supply now. What a hassle. The FireStudio looks like a much better device, but I'd rather not drop $400 on something like that right now. Given this little mishap, and how poorly they guided me to a solution, I am questioning Presonus gear.
 
Hey guys,
I know this is an old thread, but if any of you are still out there I could definitely use your help. I own two Presonus FP10 interfaces that both died within the last year. I opened one up last night and found the burned power connector you guys are referring to. Based on some of these posts, it sounds like an easy problem to fix. I'm not sure exactly what parts I'm supposed to jump though, or even what a jumper is. So I decided to upload some photos of my FP10 in hopes that someone can guide me to a solution for this.

The first photo has the part circled that I think I'm supposed to jump, and the second one shows the brown, burnt-looking connector. Do I just attach the jumper to those two prongs, or do I need to do something with the wires coming out of the actual power switch. I also broke off one of the 4 tabs that holds the fuse in place, which you can also see in the first photo (top left corner). I don't think this is an issue since the fuse is still pretty snug in place, but let me know what you guys think.
I really appreciate your help on this since I can't record anything at the moment, and I don't really feel like forking out the money for a new interface if this is a simple fix.
Michael
Firepod Guts 1.jpgFirepod Guts 2.jpg
 
Use a jumper on those prongs. When you buy a hard disk drive, it usually comes with jumpers to configure it in various ways.

See:c00366457.jpg

Just use one of those jumpers across the two prongs. Leave the flying cable attached to the power switch off. When you do this, it will mean that the firepod is permanently on. That's no big deal . . . you can awlays unplug its power source or turn it off at a power point.
 
Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be! It worked like a charm though. I got a 100pack of those jumpers for $8.00, which definitely beats having to spend money on a new interface. By the way, I did have a slight issue with the fuse, but I managed to make it work. If it doesn't have good contact the unit won't turn on. Anyway, thanks so much for your help. I'm gonna go record now!
 
Thank you! I had this problem a few months ago, bought a replacement power supply and the unit did power on. Today, no light, 18v measured at the power supply so I cannibalized an old computer for a jumper and I'm up and running again.
 
Had been having this same issue intermittently for the past few months and this weekend it happened again but seemed more permanent. I then found this thread and followed this fix and it seems to be working like a charm.

Many thanks to you Gecko and anyone else contributing to this thread!
 
This is why I love the internets! Thanks to all in this thread, my FP10 is working fine again. Jumppers did the job. Hopefully nobody will throw away their presonus devices for because of this power-switch problem.
 
Run my Internet radio station using a Presonus Firepod. My radio station was completely down and the Firepod wouldn't even show a light on. Pulled the unit, found your post and voila... after fiddling with the connecter from the switch it's working. I'll be adding the jumper tomorrow to make sure it stays on!!!!
 
I'm pleased that I've been able to find an answer that has helped others.

But I'm appalled that so many people are experiencing the same problem. Presonus generally enjoys a pretty good reputation, and I have two firepods that, power issues aside, have been the models of reliability. But this power thing is puzzling, and I can't figure out why it occurs.
 
I would ignore the discoloration of the plastic connector. I'm pretty sure the discoloration indicates that one of the components next to it is getting hot. I can't imagine having enough resistance in one of those conductors to produce enough heat to cause that kind of discoloration under any conceivable load. :)

My guess is that the switches are inadequate to handle the inrush current when you switch the device on, so the points are burning out.
 
OMG!
This worked for me too!

Thank you so much for posting!

It took about 5 minutes to fix with a hard drive jumper!!!
 
I had exactly the same problem and solved it exactly the same way. Thanks!! Clearly a manufacturing problem with this unit.
 
Mark me down for another ass saved by this fix!! I read this thread a couple of years back and was waiting for the day that I needed it. That day unfortunately arrived a couple of weeks ago, but I ordered a pack of jumpers and went to work last night...and I'm not generally the type to pop open an electronic device and attempt anything. Nonetheless, it worked, and I've now got a working interface again!! I actually have a second that I use for extra channels, so I'll know exactly what to do if it happens to that one.
 
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