firepod troubleshooting

B

bluelonestar

New member
(searched this entire board and been working on this for the past 2 days-and nights)
so i got a firepod this week and haven't been able to get it working. it installs but i still get a RED LIGHT-not blue...not ever. It just wont sync!

i know my current computer isn't the greatest for a daw:
amd athlon 1.5 ghz (via chipset-ouch, i know)
512 mb pc133 ram
80gb 7200rmp hd
win xp pro sp1
integrated graphics

I visited the presonus website to double check incompatibilities and verify i meet minumum system requirements...which i believe i do. i installed the firepod exactly the way the manual says...i waited until it told me to connect the firepod...and i did.

I have a 400 speed firewire card(not a combo, no 800 or usb ports) with a Texas Instruments chipset.

I originally had xp with sp2...but the microsoft patch (885222) didn't seem to do a thing for me. so i reverted back to using an older version of win xp with sp1...(apparently microsoft screwed up firewire connections with it's release of sp2) so i reformatted and started fresh...so with sp1 loaded - my drivers are the newest 2.14.25 and so is the firmware-the light is still RED!! Presonus website tells you to click on Network Settings and verify the firewire card is "connected" or "enabled." and it most definitely is. After spending two whole days searching this board and other websites...and troubleshooting-i finally decided to write Presonus' Tech Support. I just figured I'd type up a message on here in case any firepod owners or audio engineers out there could point me in the right direction...maybe something i haven't tried. I'm obsessively trying to get this thing working before i decide to ship it back. ill post what happens with tech support asap.
-tom
oh one more thing, i do have a 2nd pc i could test this thing on...its a gateway with a 1.3 ghz celeron...and even less ram-384 and it also has integrated graphics...win xp pro with sp2...do you think its even worth the hassle of installing the firewire card and testing the firepod? presonus' website says (celeron - not recommended) so i sorta ruled it out. thanks
 
I hate to ask, but is the power for the firepod plugged in?

I installed a firepod on a lesser system than yours and have been amazed by the results.

Our install was trouble free, but I saw a few places where it could have gotten dicey.

Are you 100% sure your firewire card is installed correctly? Check in device manager

sorry if this sounds basic...

Anyhow, I just fired off an email to presonus on your behalf, hopefully theyll get back soon (they always have for me so far)
 
Thanks for the quick response. I know it's basic stuff but that's usually what it always turns out to be! Yes the power supply to the firepod is plugged in and the power is on...it just displays a red light instead of blue. out of curiosity i plugged the main cr outs into my monitors and hear loud humming and can make out very faint sound(almost inaudible underneath all the noise) when i play a wav file back.

the firewire card says that it is working properly and that it's connected...not firewalled...no antivirus or spyware. however, i did make one mistake. when i installed the firewire card, i stupidly didnt have the cable they sent me installed that's supposed to run from the firewire card to the power supply of the computer. so i hooked that up thinking i had found the culprit!! I uninstalled everything, rebooted, then reinstalled...and it still didnt work. i then rebooted again just in case and still the same red light.

what's strange is that windows is detecting the firepod. if i start windows with it turned off it says "no device" in the firepod software. once i turn it on it is detected(Found New Hardware) and windows re-installs the necessary drivers. i also have the settings at:
10ms - latency
internal - clock source
medium - cpu speed

the damn thing just won't sync. i really dont know if there is a solution this time. do you think the firepod is a lemon?
 
I run a pair of Firepods on a Duron 1.3ghz with MSI SIS Ultra645 chipset mb with 512mb PC3200 ram and 2 40gb 7200rpm IDE harddrives; they sync & run flawlessly, so you have enough computer power. The Firepod (and Firebox) has problems with the firewire ports onboard, they don't grasp the firewire cable connection very securely.

Do you have any way to test your firewire card?

Try to install the 'pod on your other Celeron machine. If it sync's, then you know that it's some definite incompatibility with your main computer. If it still doesn't work, it could be dead. If you bought it new, return it and get a replacement. If you bought it used, and can't get the seller to take it back, Presonus will repair it for a $85 bench charge. Only problem is that it can take a while for you to get it back.
 
This can't be good...my firewire card is installed on the same irq with 6 other things. I'm gonna mess with this for a while.

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard OK
IRQ 3 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 3 Trident Video Accelerator Blade 3D/ProMedia OK
IRQ 3 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 3 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 3 Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter(LNE100TX v4) OK
IRQ 3 Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller OK
IRQ 3 Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK
 
I will test it on the celeron pc and repost the results. I bought it new from sweetwater.com and their return policy is pretty good...so maybe ill try to exchange it if it won't work on the celeron and tech support can't help me. as far as irqs...do you think that could cause it not to sync?
 
swapped the firewire card into the celeron pc...installed drivers successfully, installed microsoft patch for sp2. rebooted...started firepod driver software...connected device when it told me to...did the same thing-detected device...finished installing drivers successfully- light STILL RED!! im on the celeron pc now(theyre networked) and i dont even feel like putting it back in the other computer. im exhausted.
 
bluelonestar said:
swapped the firewire card into the celeron pc...installed drivers successfully, installed microsoft patch for sp2. rebooted...started firepod driver software...connected device when it told me to...did the same thing-detected device...finished installing drivers successfully- light STILL RED!! im on the celeron pc now(theyre networked) and i dont even feel like putting it back in the other computer. im exhausted.
Click to expand...

Are you sure it isn't switched to external sync?
 
positive, i checked those settings a million times. 44 khz, 10ms latency, internal clock source...unit is active, cpu medium. i dont get it. thanks to all of you for replying to my thread.
 
still not working, but tried to fix the irq problem...
went into device manager, right clicked "computer" and clicked "update driver". i changed the driver to "standard pc" instead of acpi. i got the firewire card installed on its own irq. i also went into the bio and shut off every single device i could...even the floppy drive! firepod still lights up red. hopefully tech support will get back to me tomorrow. if they're no help im going to exchange it for another one...although that might be more of a waste of time. i dont know of any other product in this price range i would try...maybe a moto 8pre? but its not out yet. sweetwater has them for 550.
i bought a firewire card and an external firewire hard drive with enclosure so i would like to use this set up for its portability. (should have kept my q10!) i wish i knew how to test the actual firepod to see if its chipset is bad. my computer should be able to sync otherwise...my firewire card is compatible and installed correctly. aaaagggrrrr!
 
Does the firewire hard drive work on your firewire card?


Also are you sure you got the firepod drivers installed OK? It seems wierd that windows does the 'Found new hardware' thing whenever you turn off and restart the firepod...it doesn't do that on mine
 
Bulls Hit - It did that a few times when I would boot the computer up with the firepod off...when i would turn the power switch on, windows would detect new hardware and reinstall drivers.(strange huh - but my usb printer used to do that too when i would plug it in) but since i reinstalled windows with sp1 it no longer does that. drivers installed correctly. (actually fixed something)
just now, i had the firepod off and turned it on as im typing this message to you and i watched the cursor on the screen start to lag(slightly) behind my actual typing. and i see the unit appear in "active units" once i power it on. so i know my pc and fw card is detecting the unit and everything is installed correctly, it just wont sync. ive been doing this for days - and never had such a hard time with a device before.

i ordered my firewire hd last week, thinking it was a good idea before this whole nightmare..so it's scheduled to arrive tomorrow. but what do you recommend once i get it? daisy chain them? i suspect that the ports on the firepod might be bad...and read that its a common problem...

Monkey Allen - ive been trying to tackle the issue on my own since wednesday...so i waited till last night to write them and theyre still closed. so im calling them first thing in the morning. ill post an update as soon as i speak with them. (thank you)
 
ok, spoke to tech support. they were very nice. he told me that the firepod should work with my computer...even the celeron system. he said they are compatible with via chipsets. he also said plugging and unplugging the firepod while the computer is on makes no difference.(which ive avoided doing this entire time) he told me he thought i tried just about everything and recommended i try a different firewire cable...so i ran to radio shack-they didnt carry 6pin to 6pin...so went to staples and bought a belkin for 30 bucks! and uninstalled drivers...rebooted-reinstalled...and again-red light. so the tech said at this point everything points to the firepod being broken. im calling sweetwater now.
 
sweetwater is awesome. told me the unit is definitely defective based on the fact that the led never lit up blue and is always red. they shipped one out today-said ill have it by thursday- and are having fed ex pick this one up tomorrow. i actually feel like i got something accomplished today.
 
Awesome! Presonus emailed me back and they also assumed it was a defective one. Sorry to hear of so much trouble! Glad to see Sweetwater took care of an issue, for once
 
UPDATE:
Got my external firewire hard drive yesterday and it worked, confirming my firewire card and setup was correct. Today i received the 2nd firepod...and to my surprise...BLUE LIGHT!! the damn thing actually works. its all hooked up within a matter of minutes...i have the hard drive daisy chained and i just hooked up my monitors and im about to start messing around with some sounds. thanks again to everyone here.
-tom
 
Glad to hear its resolved. I've got a FirePod and I love it. It works the first time every time. I don't know if I could get this thing to not work properly, haha.

Sounds like both presonus and sweetwater treated you pretty good, but it sucks that you got a lemon to start with.

I'm sure you'll love the 'pod. Let me know how the daisy-chaining the external firewire hard drive to the firepod works out. I'm planning on doing that with my new laptop setup. I just got a new MacBook Pro, but it never booted up - its currently at the apple store for repair - I got a dud, too. Too bad they didn't just give me a new one . . .
 
daisy chain works well in theory i suppose...i am having delayed write failed messages when i try to transfer libraries of music over. i transferred two large folders that were approx 700 mb right when i hooked it up and it worked fine. later on i transferred another folder around the same size and got a "delayed write failed" and the drive disappeared. when i rebooted, the drive was there (g) but it said it wasnt formatted! and now i realize a lot of people have this problem. i have a seagate 320gb 7200rpm 16mb buffer external drive. its hooked up to the firepod and it definitely works - it is fast too. but if its going to fail on me like this im not going to use it. got another lovely unit to troubleshoot, as usual...oh yeah-im supposed to be working on MUSIC. i forgot.
 
seems to me there are a lot of people having problem with this unit and it's limitations.
 
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