CDM48 won't recognize Dante Card 128x128

dLive dLive Troubleshooting
1

Hello everyone,

Guilherme from Brazil here.

I’ll start describing my saga to get a Dante 128x128 card to be repaired since 9 months ago:

After using the CDM48 (Mixrack only system, with Macbooks M1-M2 laptops, touchscreen monitors, etc…) for around 2 years, with a Dante Card 128x128 fitted, suddenly the CDM stopped seeing the card. I did all the basic troubleshooting and figured out the card was faulty. So the saga began…

After reaching the Brazilian tech assistance, I’ve got all sorts of negative feedback on repairing the card. The company told me they won’t REPAIR the card, because it was not repairable, and also they told me it wasn’t built by Allen & Heath, but by Audinate itself, and branded as Allen Heath, so I needed to contact Audinate directly.

Audinate sent me back to Allen Heath, and then luckily I had an European tour a few months later… I brought the card to France and sent it to a recommended (by Allen heath support in the UK) tech support company in France. After a while that assistance came back with the same response and rejected the service saying the same thing as the brazilian tech assist…
Again I reached Allen heath UK and that time they asked me to send it directly to them.
The actual company was AUDIO-TECHNICA (i had no idea they had business together! and still didn’t figure out how is it).

I sent it, came back to Brazil while they got it repaired, and soon after I arrived in my country they told me the card was repaired and good to go. I found a friend that was coming to Brazil and he brought it to me.

Now the second part of the saga, while I am right now:

The card seems fine… I installed it back on the i/o port in the CDM48, it get powered, I recognize it in the Dante Controller, all good.

BUT THE CDM48 won’t recognize the card!!! Down in the menu MIXRACK → AUDIO → I/O PORT it shows the message " No I/O Port Card Fitted ".

Hours of troubleshooting and no good… updates and downgrades in all firmwares (MIXRACK, Dante Card, etc…), all combinations, and still no good. Reseted MIXRACK via DIP Switch, no good.

So, ANYONE had an idea other than now sending it to service (that in Brazil is JUST replacing an entire board, since they don’t actually REPAIR anything)???

I’m very frustrated as you all can imagine. Being in a 3rd world country, with such poor tech services, etc, is really something that we struggle everyday, and there’s no way sending a CDM48 abroad.

Thanks very much in advanced, and sorry for my bad english… I’ve tried my best to make everything clear so someone can help!

2

Update the Mixrack to the latest firmware version. The newer cards have different components in them and it requires a firmware update for the system to recognize the new cards.

3

pU

4

@Brian, I’ve tested all firmwares from 1.94 (the last one that the Dante card was working) to 1.9A (the latest).

No good :frowning:

5

Do you have another I/O card that you could test in the MixRack? It doesn’t have to be another Dante card, just any I/O card to see if the system recognizes any I/O card. It’s possible that the Dante card is actually working normally, but there is something else wrong with the I/O slot or connector which is preventing the card from being recognized by the system. I would at least visually inspect the socket to see if there appear to be any bent pins, etc.

It could also be that the card wasn’t really repaired back to 100% functionality. If you have access to another MixRack, you could install the Dante card in that device to see if the problem follows the card or not. If it does, then you know it’s still the card that is the problem.

Although it is unlikely, it could also be some sort of user error.

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Thanks for the input, Brian!

Yes, the Dante card was fully repaired. Since our Mixrack is not working right now, we rented a DM64 from a partner and we’re using it with our repaired Dante card. Fully working.

Unfortunately is not easy in Brazil to find another card to test our Mixrack.

First thing I did was a visually inspection of the slot. Everything seems fine.

My guess is that the Dante card got faulty and messed the slot. Even though the slot still pass energy, because the Dante card is operational by itself when plugged in our Mixrack. Just not recognized by the Mixrack…

Thanks very much for your time!

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My guess is that the Dante card got faulty and messed the slot. Even though the slot still pass energy, because the Dante card is operational by itself when plugged in our Mixrack. Just not recognized by the Mixrack…

That stinks. I would agree with your assessment however. The fact that the Dante card works in another MixRack proves the issue is with the MixRack, not the Dante card.