StudioLive 2442, 1642 and 1602 with Universal Control Ai, SL Remote & QMix
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i purchased 2 of the 16.4.2 and both had this problem the third one has worked for a year and a half and has now started freezing up and of course this is a studio and live situation i am ready to scream now i have lost 2 sessions worth of money and i will have to buy a mixer to get threw the next gig witch we play every weekend and i cannot get through the voicemail trap with tech support NO MIXER , NO HELP , AND SOON NO MONEY
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by vertigo on Sun Oct 04, 2015 12:32 pm
Last year I had the freezing problem. They changed the internal PSU. Today it has started again.

Sergio
http://www.sergiobrunetti.it
At Home studio: Studio One 5 Pro - Notion 6.7
Windows 10 on Vertex4 SSD - I7 3960x - 32 GB RAM -
2010 MacbookPro 2.66 Ghz 8 Giga RAM -
Presonus Monitor Station and
MOTU: 2408 MK3, 24I, Traveler, MIDI Express XT
At theater: Studio One 4 Pro
Windows10 HP desktop
Presonus Studiolive 1642
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by tonycullen on Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:55 pm
My Studio Live 16.4.2 has the same problem, tried multiple fixes and test but i believe its a design/quality control flaw with the Presonus, they seems to be a lot of people with the same issue of lockup/freezing and

Presonus have not replied or commented on the issue, except for the good old "please open a service ticket" :thumbdown:

I will not be buying presonus again.... if u design a mixer make sure the design is rock solid before releasing it.

I now have an expensive piece of gear that i cant use in any live situation :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:
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by LexCan on Fri Apr 15, 2016 5:38 pm
My 16.4.2 has lived in my home studio for a couple of years, and has never completely worked properly. One warranty repair in the first year, a recent re-build of the power supply ($100), and now I'm looking at $500+ to replace the DSP board to "see if that helps" fix the lockup issue (even when not connected via FireWire). Meanwhile, a buddy owns several 16.4.2's and uses them regularly on live shows. Seems to be hit and miss with this mixer - and mine is a "miss".
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by daveberm on Tue Jun 14, 2016 3:28 pm
Bummer, I just started having the same problem. In the middle of a gig the PA cut out. When I looked at the board there seemed to be no input signals and of course no sound was being output. Being a computer tech the first thing I did was turn it off and on and it started working again. It happened once again later in the gig. Then the next day it wouldn't work at all until I turned it on and off at least 5-6 times. However it then worked for the entire 3 hour gig. I had no computer attached to it.

TaylorT5 wroteSorry to revive a couple month old post, but I'm starting to have the same problem with my 16.4.2 freezing. It started happening a couple of days ago. The mixer would sporadically stop producing audio from the audio outs and the metering would freeze - the buttons still functioned, just no audio. Yesterday, the unit repeatedly froze in the same manner. After cycling the power, it would run for a couple of minutes. My studio monitors would emit a loud burst of white noise and the unit was no longer updating the metering or producing audio. I finally turned off my Crown amp.

I also tried resetting the unit back to factory settings and reloading the firmware - no change. Disconnecting the unit from the computer made no difference

Today, with the 16.4.2 still unplugged from the computer, I turned it on and it froze within a matter of a couple of minutes. After a cycling the power and two or three more freezes, the unit suddenly started working. It's now been running for about 20 minutes without any hiccups. As an electronics tech, I know better than to trust it - it will fail again.

FWIW, this mixer is two years old and is connected to a Furman AR-PRO power conditioner and an APC UPS.
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by roblof on Wed Jun 15, 2016 12:49 am
There is a reason why writing to a flash memory every couple of seconds is a really bad idea...

Studio One Pro v5, Notion 6, Nuendo 11, BitWig v3, Reaper v4, Ableton Live 8 Suite, iMac late 2015, Behringer Wing/x32-BigBoy/x32-rack all with Dante/aes67 and s16/sd16 stageboxes, Flow8, Waves x-wsg with SoundGrid server, Behringer X-Touch, X-Touch ONE, M-Air mr18, X-Air xr18, DP48, Hub4 and p16 monitor systems, TurboSound iQ-speakers, Motör 61, BCR-2000, FirePod 10, Apogee Ensemble, Alesis HD24, NI Komplete 12 Ultimate Collectors, Halion 6, True Temperament Frets on basses and guitars, Katana-100, DT-50, JSX, JCM800, Korg Kronos, Roland vk-7, Behringer Deepmind 12, Behringer Neutron
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by MikeWalker on Wed Sep 07, 2016 8:53 am
Hi my 16 4 2 has just started to have this problem pretty much exactly how TaylorT5 explains. Ive tried it with the computer, without, factory reset, firmware update, power from mains, power plugged into a power conditioner.
Can anyone please shed some light on this problem, is there no one from Presonus on here that can help?
Cheers
Michael


TaylorT5 wrote
Sorry to revive a couple month old post, but I'm starting to have the same problem with my 16.4.2 freezing. It started happening a couple of days ago. The mixer would sporadically stop producing audio from the audio outs and the metering would freeze - the buttons still functioned, just no audio. Yesterday, the unit repeatedly froze in the same manner. After cycling the power, it would run for a couple of minutes. My studio monitors would emit a loud burst of white noise and the unit was no longer updating the metering or producing audio. I finally turned off my Crown amp.

I also tried resetting the unit back to factory settings and reloading the firmware - no change. Disconnecting the unit from the computer made no difference

Today, with the 16.4.2 still unplugged from the computer, I turned it on and it froze within a matter of a couple of minutes. After a cycling the power and two or three more freezes, the unit suddenly started working. It's now been running for about 20 minutes without any hiccups. As an electronics tech, I know better than to trust it - it will fail again.

FWIW, this mixer is two years old and is connected to a Furman AR-PRO power conditioner and an APC UPS.
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by SwitchBack on Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:04 am
PreSonus will help, but probably not here as this is a user's forum :|

Submitting a support ticket is the best way to go. The mixer will need a repair.
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by MikeWalker on Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:46 am
Has anyone had success with repairs of this problem though? A few mention they have had their desks back and forward time and time again :(

Yeah I'm just about to submit a support ticket I'm uploading a video to show them the problem
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by Ray's Hell on Sat Oct 01, 2016 1:44 am
Not really a reply in as much as a frustrated shout to people with the same problem and maybe there listening ........


I love my PreSonus 16.4.2 ............ when it works.

I am not a professional musician any more.
But I am a recovering musician. I'm playing again, after a long time.

I am used to working with professionals and professional gear.
I purchased the 16.4.2 with great exceptions. My daughters are almost grown and play music.
My vision was to setup a music room (garage) with a complete complement of gear.
We have our room setup so any musician can walk in empty handed pick up a guitar, bass, microphone, keyboard or drums and play.

The 16.4.2 seemed to be the perfect fit, semi parametric EQ on each channel, sub and Mains.
Totally digital with recording capabilities.

Enough about me ....

Hey what is it with the lockup ... I sent my device back under warranty. It was repaired (hardware replacement as I recall) and worked perfectly for about a year.

Thank you.....

Unfortunately the problem is back.

I recently googled this problem after being on hold for an hour to tech support.
I was disappointed to learn this seems to be a common issue.
I see running the gamut from tech support, reset this, update that.
I did that. It didn't work for me as is apparent with many other people.

Come on guys. (PreSonus)
Have you ever been at a gig and the PA stopped working.

Do you have any comprehension of how catastrophic, embarrassing and humiliating that is.
Not to mention "We're not hiring that band again"

Oh yeah,
That's right, you have a job.

I am a small business owner not a full time musician anymore.
But FYI.
If I had enough dissatisfied clients to have there own forum .... I would be out of business.

This problem is something that a corporate business owner or CEO would look at as there aren't that many units that have problems ...... percentage wise.

This needs to be made whole.

With all.


Rock On ...

Peace
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by wahlerstudios on Sun Oct 02, 2016 7:42 am
Let me respond as one of the "old" PreSonus users. I got my first SL board (SL 1642) in October 2010. In January 2009 the first SL 1642's were shipped and it was not only the first board from PreSonus, but also their first digital board and at its time it time did not really have any competition. There was no other "modern" product on the market available for musicians and small PA companies, except the big and expensive digital boards or the Oldies from Mackie, Soundcraft and Yamaha. PreSonus was a pioneer, bringing digital mixing technology into the MI field.

Being a pioneer means learning, and also sometimes failing. There were problems with bad soldering and dirt on the DSP boards, some DSP boards worked, some not, fader banks had to be renewed because of dirty faders, so during the nearly 5 years of production (2008-2013) the product probably has seen "internal" changes and improvements. When the AI series was released, the boards were delivered with totally new constructed faders and I guess there was more "inside", that was different to the design of the legacy boards. Also the SLAI boards have two fans inside to solve a common "heat problem", which occured when no air could get to the sides and/or the bottom of the SL mixers.

Of course, nobody "needs" a mixer (or whatever machine), that stops working. We pay some money and we expect the product to deliver. But we can also spend (much) more money and still fight with hickups or even total blackouts of mixing boards. It does happen any time and anywhere with any board, so the question has to be, how we can deal with this kind of situation. If you have no "emergency plan", that you can recall immediately, then there is nobody else responsible than YOU! Never do a gig without redundant equipment!

Obviously your board needs some "care", so you should contact PreSonus' service and talk to them BEFORE shipping the board. If the last repair was only one year ago, that was no repair and you need better service. Get your board identified (serial number) and tell them, what the problem is and ask for advice. "Send it in, we will have a look" can NOT be an answer, at least it has to be clear before, what the costs will be.

But PLEASE do your homework first, which is updating firmware (from a stick, not online!) or/and factory reset. Sometimes this solves the problems - if not, this makes it clear that a repair is needed.

Generally it may be that you have to consider basic economic questions, which concern the "life cycle" of a computerized product. Your SL 1642 is more than 8 years old in its technical construction (regardless when you bought it) and since then we have seen a dramatic development of digital technology and also a dramatic reduction of costs. Nowaydays there are plenty of alternatives to your SL 1642, so if a repair f.e. would be 500 USD, I think it's not worth spending that money any more. Have a look at the many rack mixers, how they work and what they can do for you. Even a RM(L)16AI from PreSonus with its 2 more auxes might be an alternative.

I have to say that I always got my trust back in the boards after repairs, but there has always been good communication with the service (I am living in Germany) before and after. But I have also learned to have a solution AT HAND, if a problem occurs. There is ALWAYS a second board prepared and ready for use.
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by roblof on Sun Oct 02, 2016 10:14 am
The main problem is that the flash memory wears out and becomes corrupt after too many autosaves. It is inherent in the design and will always come back, no matter what you do. The flash memory is soldered onto the dsp pcb.

If my memory serves me an autosave takes place every five seconds when the mixer is turned on. This is great since you won't lose any work in case of a power failure or similar. But this also means that 720 autosaves are made in one hour.

This means that for a flash memory with a lifespan of about 100.000 write cycles the MTBF is about 140hrs if you were to write into the same memory location every time. Since flash memory is written in blocks a lot of memory is affected, even if you only change one single bit.

Because the flash memory internally uses memory cell leveling it will spread the writes throughout the free memory cells, so depending on how much free memory is left in the flash from the beginning the wearout will happen sooner or later. Because the flash memory has internal error correction bad memory cells may still read out correctly for some time.

So, as soon as you see the memory become corrupt (mixer acting weird) and it helps reflashing the firmware this is only a temporary bandaid before the flash memory eventually becomes toast.

Studio One Pro v5, Notion 6, Nuendo 11, BitWig v3, Reaper v4, Ableton Live 8 Suite, iMac late 2015, Behringer Wing/x32-BigBoy/x32-rack all with Dante/aes67 and s16/sd16 stageboxes, Flow8, Waves x-wsg with SoundGrid server, Behringer X-Touch, X-Touch ONE, M-Air mr18, X-Air xr18, DP48, Hub4 and p16 monitor systems, TurboSound iQ-speakers, Motör 61, BCR-2000, FirePod 10, Apogee Ensemble, Alesis HD24, NI Komplete 12 Ultimate Collectors, Halion 6, True Temperament Frets on basses and guitars, Katana-100, DT-50, JSX, JCM800, Korg Kronos, Roland vk-7, Behringer Deepmind 12, Behringer Neutron
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by wahlerstudios on Sun Oct 02, 2016 2:30 pm
Auto save is every 40 or 45 seconds.

I have to make one correction: Using a stick for updating firmware is a new feature, that was introduced with the SL AI boards. So used to "think AI" already - sorry...
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by roblof on Sun Oct 02, 2016 3:30 pm
wahlerstudios wroteAuto save is every 40 or 45 seconds.

On the sl16 I count the autostore to approx 15 sec. (I knew it was something about a five :lol: )

But it will still leave us with 240 autostores/hour leaving us with a MTBF of 420hrs for approx 100.000 write cycles to the same memory locations.

For a console that see a lot of daily use this will possibly wear out the flash in 2-5 years. I used to not turn off my studiolive24 and let it stay on 24/7. :thumbup:

Studio One Pro v5, Notion 6, Nuendo 11, BitWig v3, Reaper v4, Ableton Live 8 Suite, iMac late 2015, Behringer Wing/x32-BigBoy/x32-rack all with Dante/aes67 and s16/sd16 stageboxes, Flow8, Waves x-wsg with SoundGrid server, Behringer X-Touch, X-Touch ONE, M-Air mr18, X-Air xr18, DP48, Hub4 and p16 monitor systems, TurboSound iQ-speakers, Motör 61, BCR-2000, FirePod 10, Apogee Ensemble, Alesis HD24, NI Komplete 12 Ultimate Collectors, Halion 6, True Temperament Frets on basses and guitars, Katana-100, DT-50, JSX, JCM800, Korg Kronos, Roland vk-7, Behringer Deepmind 12, Behringer Neutron
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by Samuel Stroobants on Tue Nov 22, 2016 7:09 am
I own a Presonus StudioLive 24.4.2 mixer April 2012.
Did a lot of gigs with it and was always very pleased, happy, (certainly about the fat channel, such an improvement on mixers) ... so were the artists and audiences.

Since late june I've had my first crash : all the FX were gone !
Couldn't restore it, even with the new Universal control 1.7.4.
Then I had a better Idea : I uninstalled everything ... and installed the Universal Control 1.7 and it worked !

Now, 2 weeks ago I encountered my worst nightmare ...

Installed for a festival on Friday, ran tests, audio setup OK.
The day after, the day of the festival ...
The mixer wouldn't start up anymore, no time for tests and recovery, since my computer had crashed too ...

Now I'm on my PC again, Ran RAM and motherboard tests : OK
Formatting the HD again and re-installing everything :

- Windows 7 ultimate
- all drivers
- Presonus stuff
- MOTU traveler stuff
- Nuendo stuff
- Waves & VST plugins
- Hofa stuff

Curious if it will work in the end, but no security of the system anymore, certainly not about the mixer ... :-(
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by wahlerstudios on Tue Nov 22, 2016 8:50 am
It looks like your mixer needs a repair, but it is known that the "older" boards had some problems like loose cables or bad soldering, which partly could be solved by just opening the board. There is a thread about this with a link to a detailed description.

https://forums.presonus.com/viewtopic.php?p=117900#p117900

If this doesn't help and the board does not start again (without compouter connected!), open a ticket and let the doctors at PreSonus do their work.

Using a digital board for 5 years without a serious problem is quite a "good" time! And don't mind, even users of professional boards lose the confidence in their board, when it crashes or faders don't work or functions are not available... You should always have a plan for emergency situations like that.
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by sammycat on Thu Nov 24, 2016 7:36 pm
Does this mean the mixer is a throw away after 2 to 3 years?
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by wahlerstudios on Fri Nov 25, 2016 8:43 am
This mixer has been used for over 4 years and will work for further years, but this product has been designed in 2008 (first shipping in early 2009), so there have been changes and improvements here and there during the years. The AI series did see a lot of improvements, based on the "learning" from the original SL's.

This is nothing unnormal. It happens anywhere and anytime. The manufacturers develop their products "under the hood", and this is always good! A repair at the manufacturer does not only solve the problem, but might also solve the reason for the problem. I have seen that several times over the years. So I can only encourage everybody to not wait with a repair, if there is nothing left that a user can do himself.

The classic mixers are working now for a period of nearly 8 years and will do a good job also in the future, but digital boards do get "older" sooner than their analog counterparts. It is also relevant how often a board is used and under which circumstances. I see 5 years as the period of using a board, also as "return on investment".
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by sammycat on Sun Jan 08, 2017 2:04 pm
I have a question my 16-4-2 I bought in June 2013 which means it will be 4 years old in June, My question is I have never taken it out because I run sound where all the P A is furnished, so my 16-4-2 has pretty much set in my practice room all this time except playing around with it from time to time now I'm thinking of doing some side work with my 16-4-2, should I worry about this problem of not coming on? Should I send it to the factory to be upgraded? Thanks.
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by wahlerstudios on Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:51 am
It is not a question of years, but of the intensity and the circumstances of usage. If your mixer was seldom used and is standing in a dry and heated room, what should go wrong? Normally nothing, so you can use your board for years and years. What I wrote about the changes "under the hood" is a simple and normal process, that ANY manufacturer follows. A product "develops" over the years, so it can happen that at a repair a component gets replaced by a not original, but improved part. But there is NO UPGRADE KIT and NO DO IT YOURSELF INSTRUCTION, so if your board is working perfect, it most probably will work fine for more years.

What I don't like in this whole thread is 1) the bashing of PreSonus for something, that happens to other boards as well and 2) a DIY-mentality trying to replace professional service. There is NOTHING ELSE than a factory reset, that a user can do! If this does not "repair" the board (the reset really brings the board to zero), there is no way around sending the board to service!

I have made the experience with "my" service in Germany, that it helps to talk with them BEFORE sending a board in. Anyway repairs are made ONLY to registered boards, so they already know what the problem is, if it was a manufacturing problem or a problem of wear and tear of components. If a repair needs to be done, I get to know the costs before anything is done.

In your case I would see no problem at all. Your board is technically "fresh" and there is nothing to worry about. But I recommend a good flight case (not the textile bag) to protect your board on the road.

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