What keeps frying H8000 PHY chips? Firewire fail

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    • October 15, 2020 at 12:17 pm #116139
      Rosincore
      Participant

      Twice now I’ve had to have the PHY controller chip replaced on the H8000 to get my Mac to recognize it. Anyone else have this problem? I suspect that it happens because I used a Thunderbolt-to-FireWire adaptor with a relatively new MacBook Pro (which of course has no hardwired FireWire port), as an older Mac with a FW800 port didn’t fry the PHY (yes, it rhymes). Any help? Ideas? Much appreciated!

    • October 16, 2020 at 12:37 pm #156039
      nickrose
      Moderator
      Eventide Staff

      This has been answered via support@eventide.com.

      But for others who are interested:

      It is not possible to say for sure what happened – we have replaced a few of these but not a lot.

      Most likely are differences in the grounding of the two connected systems. Hot-swapping is worth avoiding. The fact that the previous setup did not do this suggests that it is a connection issue.

      FireWire is pretty much obsolete now, and will probably go away entirely with ARM macs and OS11 (or the next one) – AES might be a better bet.

       

       

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    • May 30, 2021 at 9:53 pm #157979
      Rosincore
      Participant

      The firewire sockets in the back of the H8000 seem to permit upside-down insertion of the Firewire cable (male), which I now suspect is what is frying the chips. Anyone still using FW should take extra care when connecting.

    • October 17, 2020 at 2:13 pm #156052
      Fender17
      Participant
      nickrose wrote:

      Most likely are differences in the grounding of the two connected systems. Hot-swapping is worth avoiding. The fact that the previous setup did not do this suggests that it is a connection issue.

      Grounding may be tricky, Since the experience when I measured 80 V !!!! between two grounds in one room, I always plug all gear to one common plug.

      And even smaller voltage difference fries any chip…..

    • May 31, 2021 at 2:01 pm #157989
      nickrose
      Moderator
      Eventide Staff
      Rosincore wrote:

      The firewire sockets in the back of the H8000 seem to permit upside-down insertion of the Firewire cable (male), which I now suspect is what is frying the chips. Anyone still using FW should take extra care when connecting.

      The sockets are polarized, so you have to use some force to get it the wrong way round. But, once you have succeeded it will be easier the next time.

      Look at the grounding, also. Best to plug the H8000 into the same outlet as the computer.

       

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