PreSonus Forums

I know others have had this problem and I wanted to post this comment hoping it will help the community. I purchased a FSProject a year and a 1/2 ago and it was working fine up until about 6 months ago(maybe longer) when it all of a sudden would not sync. (flashing blue/red light). I tried swapping cables and even more recently moved my texas instruments-chipset 1394a 400 card to a different PCI slot thinking a bad seat of the card may have been the problem but to no avail. I gave up. I had resolved to the fact it must be a broken firewire interface card or worse, a lemon FSP. All i would get is a flashing blue/red light no matter what I tried. With my busy schedule I ended up using an older ASIO compliant card interim to satisfy my audio needs but more recently decided to dig in and see if I could get the FSP to work and either send it back to presonus to be fixed(should it be faulty) or get a new firewire card in case THAT was the problem.

HERE IS WHAT FIXED IT:

- I simply downloaded the latest driver/Universal Control from Presonus.
- I FOLLOWED installation instructions (shut down Universal control/disconnected FSProject's firewire cable)
- I re-installed the driver/universal control - rebooted
- ka-bamm.....if i had only known 6 months ago how easy to get a solid blue light on my FSP /face-palm

Glad to hear you're up and running! Thanks for sharing your experience!!

In support of the author's observation about the driver update, based on my own diagnosis for my FSP sync issues, yes the different driver releases did appear to have different performance -- not huge, but detectable.

Root cause: I believe, however, that part of the root problem is that the blue/red light indicator is partially an illusion. While having a 'solid blue' does indicate 1394 sync, and a 'red' does indicate loss of sync, neither are an indicator of "by how much". The LED can be 'blue' but just barely sufficient to maintain sync and so any added computer load will cause a 'blip' in the sync and the audio (hesitation, halting, etc.). Likewise, a 'red' shows no sync, but the condition might be just barely unable to sync and so just reboot or just a new driver or slightly less computer activity and 'blue' sync will return. It's like AM vs FM radio: with AM (not like the FSP), you hear the signal fading but you can still listen to the music but with FM (like the FSP blue/red) it's either there or it's not there will little indication of the actual signal strength. The only way the 'blue' sync indication is really reassuring is when your system works flawlessly every time -- but you still won't know how much 1394 connect margin you actually have.

My suggestion for FSP loss of sync: look for anything which might reduce 1394 performance: old driver, incompatible 1394 card, overloaded PCI IRQs, long 1394 cables, wireless connect running in the background, etc. and fix it.

Early technical support from Presonus seemed helpful but then faded into no response over time. While users sometimes do eventually solve their individual 1394 sync problems (as I did), PreSonus should be more helpful and publish a whitepaper listing every technique available for users to hunt down 1394 bandwidth limiting factors which can contribute to loss of sync. It's a win-win option; more users will be happy and PreSonus' reputation get's a bit more polished.

For me one time it was a change of fuse right under the power cord that did the trick (think it was going..)

I'm looking everywhere to try and fix mine!
My light flashes blue then stays red.

macbook pro - mountain lion.
firestudio project with latest driver installed (I've uninstalled and reinstalled 10 times now trying different combinations of waiting to plug in the cable and turn on.)

Whats weird is universal control app acts as if something is plugged in even when it is not. It will say when i check firmware that its uptodate even with it not plugged in. hmmm
I know the fire wire cable and port are not the issue.
I've tried on a new user on my macbook too… issue persists.

Have you tried to switch from Project Master to SPDIF and back, it solved an issue I had earlier.

Hey - to everyone who is experiencing the flashing light issue - here's my story:

First, I brought home the Presonus 22VSL, and recorded with it successfully in Logic Audio X for about four hours. Then on my MacBook Air, I had disconnected it and plugged in a flash drive into the same USB port. When disconnecting the flash drive, I rushed and did not disconnect it "properly." Then, when I plugged the 22VSL back in, that's when the flashing lights started. I couldn't get it to stop, restarted the computer, uninstalled and reinstalled the driver, etc. Lots of stuff, no dice.

Then, I emailed PreSonus - actually I opened a ticket. Their response:

You should be aware:
http://support.presonus.com/entries/233 ... patibility

http://support.presonus.com/entries/227 ... mpatibilit

Ridiculous, in my view.

Anyway, here's what FIXED it for me - I plugged the PreSonus into a DIFFERENT COMPUTER. It did not flash. That was a relief to me, because it confirmed that it was not a hardware problem. Then, when I reconnected it to my MacBook Air running Logic, it did not happen again.

I hope this is helpful to someone. Lessons learned for me are that plugging it into a different computer can fix it, and that PreSonus' tech support is a joke.

Your experiences with your USB interface have no bearing on issues other users are having with their FIREWIRE interfaces. Please refrain from posting comments regarding USB interfaces in the FIREWIRE forums. If you have issues, questions or concerns regarding your Audiobox 22VSL please post them in the appropriate forum:

https://forums.presonus.com/viewforum.php?f=165

This fix still works. I'm running a firestudio mobile on StudioOne3 on a Sweetwater Creation station. Lost sync about 15 minutes ago. This fix was a fast find and got me back up.

Please Help!!!

i purchased my fire studio interface back in July. I got it installed and it was working just fine. I came home tonight and turned it on and things were working fine then all of a sudden there was no sound coming through my monitors or headphones and the light was blinking red and blue.

i came on here and read things up, uninstalled everything and then reinstalled it, also did the update. Nothing is working. My mac is still recognizing the fire studio interface in the system preferences but the light is still flashing blue and red.

I do not know what else to do.

Have you opened a support ticket?

Yes i opened a support ticket, and of course since october 16th i have not gotten anywhere and no responses to fix the issue. What is the return policy for these interfaces? i can't seem to find that anywhere on pre sonus' website.

What is the return policy for these interfaces?

Any applicable return policy would be through the retailer you purchased the unit from.

klypeman wroteHave you tried to switch from Project Master to SPDIF and back, it solved an issue I had earlier.

This worked in my FSP. Thank you!

My problem was a little more Insidious. I tried all the driver updates, I confirmed that my fireWire
and cable was working by successfully connecting another known working FireWire device. So no luck fixing the problem with all the suggestions listed on the blog so far, and I tried them all. For my fix, I removed the top cover and bottom cover od the unit, it was pretty easy to do. I cafefully reconnected every connector on the board. I remove the power supply to inspect it and reinstalled it because it looked ok, no obvious burned components. Finnaly, there's is a connection between the main motherboard and the front control panel, it's a push pin connector. it was loose so I re-engage that connector several times. When i powerd the the unit back on after putting it together I had a solid red light, I did leave tho top cover off and tapped on the push pin connetor while power was applied and the light went from flashing to solid red. I reinstalled the top cover. When I rebooted my computer I had a blue light. Are you kidding me, yay. Please ensure that you unplug the device before you take it apart. Then use care when tapping the push pin with power on, use something non metalic and non conductive so you dont get shocked or cause damage to the circuitry. Good luck, you can do this. If you are afraid, and I don't blame you, find a friend that understand electronics to help. What the worst you can do, break it more 😁

What fixed the problem for me was changing the clock source on the "Universal Firestudio" program, I also played with the Sample Rate, and magically, it worked.

After days of trying all of the drivers I could find and working through each one, I ended up following the advice above on the MIDI clock settings. At first it didn't work. I went from World to Internal and no good. Then I went to SPDIF and back to Internal and miraculously, it came to life with the magic Blue light. Days of agony for such a simple and rather odd fix.

Mac Pro - Catalina OS