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DAE ERROR -4 and -9003
So today was a nightmare. I got the dreaded DAE -4 followed by a DAE -9003 error. This indicates a communication problem with the DSP cards. Digidesign says it could be a faulty Core or Process card which means I’d have to send it in for repair and be out of commission in the mean time.
In the end, I got it fixed but not before some serious headaches and cursing. Turns out my DSP chips are fine (I hope) and it was corrupt preferences (shocking, digi preferences getting corrupt? Noooo).
The Steps I took to get to a resolution:
First I trashed DigiSetup.OSX in my user prefs folder (users/yourusername/library/preferences/) and rebooted. Same problem.
I ran digitest to check the DSPs… it kept crashing and I rebooted, ran the test, rebooted, ran the test, etc. with the same results.
I then trashed DAE Prefs — still a no go.
Turned the machine off, powered down the 96, checked the cable connectors in the back of the machine. Tried again. No go.
This time I deleted all four preference files (com.digidesign.ProToolsHD.plist, DAE Prefs folder, DigiSetup.osx and ProTools v8.0 Preferences).
PRESTO. It works. So all four prefs gone and wiggling cables solved the problem - for now. Ran digitest application and results came back with a passing score. I know I say it again and again that trashing prefs resolves a lot of problems and this case was no different. I’ll be pulling my machine out and dusting the inside just for good measure - after all, dust is a conductor and can fry components if you let it build up long enough.
Here’s a link to Digi’s site about the -9003 error: http://tinyurl.com/y9rn4c8
Here’s another link regarding the -4 error: http://tinyurl.com/y939t4t
And here’s to hoping you (or I) never encounter the -4 error for real!!
- Nick
Kelly
July 14th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Nick,
this was infinitely helpful to me today, as i’ve been struggling for weeks with DAE -4 errors. sometimes they could be solved by unseating and reseating the HD cards in the Magma chassis, but lately that hasn’t helped at all, and simply trashing the prefs that you specified did the trick. Thanks SO much for posting specifics rather than just saying “trash the preferences”… it was very important to get all of these specificallly, because i had tried trashing some of them and it didn’t help (same as you).
Thanks again a million times.
Kelly