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9 replies

Do i have a faulty unit ?

FM Former Member
I'm back after a while, and I have a new VMS4 (a few people here know I had one of the first and it went straight back due to major problems).

Well this one is exhibiting some strange "issues".

Lets first look at the system spec (for the techies).

Tested on two machines.

First Dell 1501 dual core, 4GB DDR2-800 ATI GFX, stipped down custom win7 x64 build. No wifi, bluetooth etc. (only 29 processes running and DPC checked at less than 200)totally clean drive, fresh build

Second Gigabyte quadcore 8Gb DDR2-1333 Nvidia GFX - custom build W7x64 and regular build (my DAW)


USB ports have been cleared of all other mappings to avoid USB confusion, and are running at full rate and power.

The PSU is plugged in

Running Traktor pro & scratch pro 1.2.6 (legal not torrent), soundcards available:-NI4/8, Fast track pro, and saffire 800

VMS4-FW 3.11 latest downloads from the site.
all ports USB
set as VMS4 (110070768) 8in - 2 out

This unit seems to be in better shape than my first, but it's doing something very odd and perhaps fatal in a live performance.

Just running a couple of tracks A/B in Traktor whilst "turbo mode" is enabled, it freezes, flashes all the LED's off, then I get the bootup FW indication 3-11 whilst it's doing this, traktor obviously freezes and there's no sound for a few moments whilst it sorts itself out.

This doesn't happen with anything else I have.

What should I be looking at to fault find this unit?

I also get some odd "spikes +4/+7" on the VU's when nothing is playing and nothing plugged into it.

Obviously if I run through the NI or FTP cards this doesn't happen.
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FM Former Member
Your symptoms seem to indicate that it's rebooting after losing power.

Strange though, as you say you're using the PSU (and the USB cable is connected) so if one or the other were intermittent, there would still be power - I'd assume.

Sounds to me like maybe something internally is causing it.

You could experiment by trying with just the PSU (in analogue mode) without the USB cable connected, and also just on USB power with no PSU, to see if it still happens.

That would go towards confirming that it's inside the VMS4.

Expect the unexpected, because there are badly made units out there. I had one with reversed mic channels!
FM Former Member
Just as i was mapping this unit (Traktor Pro 1.2.6) with an external soundcard, i moved the CF-A and CF-B buttons and it rebooted .... didn't loose the sound as it was playing through the NI-A4 at the time, but i lost all response from the VMS4 and saw the installing new device on the PC.

I'm guessing something not right with this one too ...

I thought i'd gotten around the problems by adding an external soundcard.

Can someone at AA /ADJ try this, play around with the buttons whilst running the software (I was in MIDI learn at the time)

@Groovin.

Will try later, i'll hookup my decks and see if i can replicate it with or without PSU/USB.

cheers
ihearyouamericanaudioihearyouamericanaudioMember
Mark sounds like the power reset's in your unit, you mentioned you are running your usb a full speed and power did you adjust the in your BIOS menu? this could be # of things try using a different usb cable or a different port. are you using the power supply?

the thing that im concerneded about is that you mentioned that a new device is being installed when it resets.every time?
FM Former Member
my mistake, it wasn't re-installing, it was the system USB disconnect sound.

and yes i was using the PSU.

Another user mentioned to me that his reset with voltage spikes on the same powerstrip, i'e switching something on/off casued his to reset ... and it's being investigated by AA/ADJ
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by Ihearyou(American Audio):
Mark sounds like the power reset's in your unit, you mentioned you are running your usb a full speed and power did you adjust the in your BIOS menu? this could be # of things try using a different usb cable or a different port. are you using the power supply?

the thing that im concerneded about is that you mentioned that a new device is being installed when it resets.every time?


Leo,

The BIOS is set at USB2 on both machines, legacy USB disabled.

I've connected on all USB ports, and even added an extra USB card inside the tower that uses a different chipset.

The USB chipsets are Intel, VIA and adaptec ... all give intermittent resets.

I'm going to buy a power cleaner later in the week, to see if it's dirty power.

I've also swapped the USB lead, I've a brand used new Belkin gold, NI's own and DJTechtools' own.

I will experiment to see which combination is the worst and get back to you.
FM Former Member
HI Leo,

The USB port seems okay, a little lateral movement but nothing i would call "loose".

One interesting thing is though, Having left the unit connected to the power for the last 24 hours or so, i have noticed the unit has become a little more stable.

Almost as if there was/is a dry joint in the power stage and the heat has expaned the joint to make a better connection.

However this doesn't answer the USB problem, unless thats where the bad joint was ..

I did some further testing last night as I was mapping it, and it reset only once, rather than a few times an hour.

I'll continue to test it, but it's going to have to stay at home this weekend, i can't risk a reboot mid set, fortunately this weekend is a private function reltively close to my house so lugging around all the old kit isn't a killer.

Cheers


------------------------
Traktor Pro Users ......

If anyone is interested I have a almost fully mapped VMS4 as Internal mixer,4 decks & EQ, FX/Loops/cues for Traktor Pro using an external sound card (includes headphone volume, cue/mix, fader curve etc ..)

If you have an Audio 2/4/8 fast tackPro or Maya - anything that can work at 24bit 44.1/48/96khz and you are worried about output levels of the VMS4 - this is the way to go forward .. forget trying to get the internal card working, it's a good controller without the inbuilt sound.
FM Former Member
Leo,

I couldn't identify exactly what was causing it, however buying a power surge filter and leaving the unit plugged in for the entire weekend has helped a lot, but unfortunately i have now hit another problem, this time concerning the internal sound. I have stated that i would use the NI-A4 as the sound, but i thought about configuring it for a 1 box rig .. it just glitches at any setting ...
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Stewart (JSM):
Leo,

I couldn't identify exactly what was causing it, however buying a power surge filter and leaving the unit plugged in for the entire weekend has helped a lot, but unfortunately i have now hit another problem, this time concerning the internal sound. I have stated that i would use the NI-A4 as the sound, but i thought about configuring it for a 1 box rig .. it just glitches at any setting ...



This can be closed now, i bought a surge filter strip and the problems of resets have gone away. I think it was a combination of a dry joint that has expanded and the fact there are no sudden spikes in the power causing the USB2 reset.

I confirmed this when i connected without a power filter and got a spike/reset 10 mins after connecting.

but someone please help me on my other post (ABOVE!)

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