HELP! ProTools 10HD Magma 4 slot and new MacBook Pro 17 Late 2011

I was using a MacBook Pro 15" 4,1 (Early 2008) just fine with a 4-slot Magma chassis housing an HD4 ProTools system, connected via ExpressCard 34. I just bought a new MacBook Pro 17" late 2011 8,3 in order to upgrade my system, the only apple portable that still has an EC34 slot. When hooking my Magma chassis, the computer won't boot. I get a blue screen and nothing else... This is with Lion OX 10.7.2, 8Gb RAM newly installed ProTools HD 10. Turning it off, and hooking the EC34 card back to my 15" also running Lion OSX 10.7.2,6Gb RAM, with same version of ProTools HD 10 and same plugins installed... it runs fine... Is there some firmware update somewhere that will fix this? Is there anyone running a similar system with luck?

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Permalink Reply by Magma on December 5, 2011 at 1:37pm

Are you using the new MacBook Pro 17" that has a thunderbolt Port?

How many ProTools cards are installed in the Magma chassis?

Did you check with Digidesign - Avid as far as compatibility of their ProTools Protools HD 10 with Lion 10.7.2?

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 5, 2011 at 2:19pm

Yes it's the new MacBook Pro 17 with thunderbolt, HD4 (core, 2 ACcels, and 1 Process, all PCI), PTHD10 works fine with Lion 10.7.2 in my other systems. Again, if I just switch computers, all other things being equal, my MacBook Pro 15" works fine with EC34 card and chassis (Magma's 4 slot PCI). Switch back to the new MacBook Pro 17, and doesn't boot. Same system that in the 15", I did the migration assistant and then reinstalled most of the software from scratch. Same plugins in both computers, same version of OSX, PTHD10, and other software. It seems to me it's a hardware issue. Unplug the card, and the 17" works fine. PTHD10 without the card, in other words in native mode in my 17", works fine, actually works great. But can't use the hardware...

Are there different versions of the EC34 card? I am using the Pericom 4-slot chassis, but is there a different version of the EC34 card itself that may fix this? Or a firmware upgrade for the card?

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Permalink Reply by Magma on December 5, 2011 at 2:21pm

Using with this new MacBook Pro that has thunderbolt port, you can only work with two ProTools cards.
Try it and see how it goes.

You have to contact Avid and let them know about this issue.

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 5, 2011 at 3:08pm

Thanks for the tip. I removed two cards, left a Core and Accel only. The MacBook Pro 17 now starts normally, but it doesn't recognize the EC34 card at all. I ran digitest and it doesn't see the cards. Also, in system profiler, PCI cards, it states no cards are installed. hmmm... Any other advice? Thanks for your help! I will try to leave only 1 card, and see if that helps... Thanks again. At least I can boot the computer now, although still no Magma hardware... Installing the EC34 in the MacBook Pro 15" works fine, only in the 17" is not seen.

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 6, 2011 at 4:39am

Ok. It finally worked with only 1 card. Very frustrating. Is this an Avid issue or is this Apple's implementation of Thunderbolt that crippled the ExpressCard port?

One last question. I also have a 1-slot Magma chassis. Will it work with that chassis too? I'd have to dig for it, bc it's in storage as a backup unit. As only 1 card is working, I'd rather take with me a 1 slot rather than an unused 4-slot chassis to our portable recordings...

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 7, 2011 at 7:10pm

One more thing I have noticed. With only 1 card running in the 4-slot chassis, this is the first time that I have PCI bus errors (too slow). The meter in ProTools goes red. Never before had it gone past 15% or so, and that was with 4 cards in the MacBook Pro 15" Early 2008 and heavy sessions.

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 7, 2011 at 7:43pm

The session I am using has now no TDM plugins. All plugins are Native, so it should not be using the PCI bus. It has 41 total channels, it is using 76 out of 96 voices and 59 out of 512 TDM slots. CPU (Native) when idle hovers around 55%. When idle (no playback) the PCI meter shows up at 63% in red. The only items filling the slots of the HD Core are the HD Engine (2 slots) and the Delay Compensation set at long, which uses 3 slots...

I just changed the Delay Compensation to short but it still shows up the error. It did take longer to stop though, but the PCI meter bar equally shows up in red from the start.

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 10, 2011 at 2:34pm

I have now tested starting the MacBook Pro 17 with an external drive that has 10.6.8 and ProTools 9.0.3 which used to work just fine. Same issues. Only recognizes one card. With two cards, computer starts but doesn't recognize the PCI cards. Again, in system profiler, PCI cards, it states no cards are installed.

Also running with only 1 card I get PCI errors again (too slow).

I also tested running with the 1-slot Magma chassis. Same issues. Starts up and behaves as the 4-slot with 1 card.

Is this a problem that could be resolved with a firmware update from Magma? Is it Apple? I don't believe it is Avid, because ProTools 10 HD4 runs just fine in the MAcBook Pro 15, with osx 10.7.2. There seems to be an incompatibility between the hardware in this new MacBook Pro and Magma's hardware. I sure hope this can be resolved soon.

Then again, if Magma can come up with a Thunderbolt card for this chassis, maybe that would work ;)

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Permalink Reply by XpansionX on December 10, 2011 at 2:49pm

Here's an information on Magma's website about their Thunderbolr Expansion Unit, http://www.magma.com/thunderbolt.asp

Permalink Reply by Magma on December 10, 2011 at 3:00pm

Magma expansion unit requires no firmware, software and driver update. Magma hardware works on any apple computers. Magma Expansion chassis is just an expander or an enclosure that houses the third party pci or pcie cards in order to interface with laptop.
You can change or swap your Magma expansion chassis as many as you would like or try different Magma expansion unit but the problem wont be fixed because this is a related issue between Protools ( software ) and MacBook Pro (new model Thunderbolt) and its Operating system.

Based on the information you just provided, it works with MAcBook Pro 15, with osx 10.7.2 but not working with MacBook 17 ( with thunderbolt), per process of elimination this points to the computer platform.

Permalink Reply by Magma on December 10, 2011 at 3:03pm

Suggestion:
Performing a fresh install of Mac OS directly from the CD/DVD, Mac OS 10.6.7 and Pro Tools 9.0.4 and disable the Mac OS Update.

Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 13, 2011 at 8:30am

Question for Magma... Will it matter which slots the cards are plugged in to in the 4-slot chassis? I have the Core Card installed in the bottom slot (when having the chassis flat rack mounted) and the Accel cards connected from that one up. Would it matter if I change the order of the cards?

I find it strange that the system recognizes the chassis and card with only 1 card installed but when installing 2, it won't recognize the EC34 card at all (won't show in system profiler, for example). Then with three cards and up, the computer doesn't start...