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 13, 2011 at 8:11pm

Does not matter which slots the Protools cards are plugged in to the 4slot chassis. As long as the ribbon flex cable that connects the Protools cards together are correctly connected. The proper way to connect the ribbon flex cable is from port B of Core card to port A of Accel card.

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 17, 2011 at 12:38pm

I'm trying to figure out if this is a problem with this particular machine or a more generalized problem with all late 2011 MacBook Pros. That will determine if I exchange this computer for a new one, or just send it back and look for something else.

Magma, do you have any knowledge of any users using more than one ProTools cards in a Magma chassis with this particular model of MAcBook Pro?

If anyone is using ProTools HD with a late 2011 17" MacBook Pro and a Magma chassis connected via the ExpressCard 34 slot can you please post how is it working? Especially, if you have installed more than one PCI or PCIe card in the chassis.

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Permalink Reply by Magma on December 17, 2011 at 8:39pm

To be more precised this is related to particular model of MacBook Pro 2011 17" that has a built in Thunderbolt port...............

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Permalink Reply by Mauricio Ardila on December 17, 2011 at 9:03pm

Thanks for your reply.

I have figured something out. I have now installed the 4 cards in the chassis. I found out that after turning the computer off, if I disconnect the EC34 card from the computer, then first turn the chassis and the audio interfaces connected to the cards, then turn the computer on and right then insert the EC34 card after the startup chime and before the grey Apple comes up while the computer starts up, all cards are recognized and the chassis works as expected. All is fine! ProTools runs fine, recognizes all cards, everything just works!!!

Again, the trick is to power up the chassis first, then as soon as I start the computer, right after the chime and before the grey apple comes up, I insert the EC34 card. I hope this is not going to damage the chassis or the EC34 card in any way.

Also, it doesn't work if I start the chassis and then start the computer and wait until it goes through all the system startup to insert the EC34 card. If I insert the EC34 card after it has gone through all the startup, then it won't recognize the EC34 card.

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Permalink Reply by Magma on December 18, 2011 at 6:27am

Excellent!!
We do this trick in Laptop PC running Windows Operating system and old model of MacBook Pro running dual boot OS (w/o the Thuinderbolt). This trick really works, 90 percent it fixes the problem, but there were instances that it did not work.