USB keeps disconnecting

[Firewalker750]

Has the below issue been resolved with the Helix? Mine keeps disconnecting via usb on multiple computers. It's not noted in the known issues section of the latest update

 

In rare cases, Helix/HX devices can become disconnected from HX Edit. If possible, always connect your Helix/HX device directly to the USB port closest to your computer’s power connector. Never use any sort of USB hub, which may include the front USB ports on the front of towers.

 

I did do the usual troubleshooting, factory reset, etc. 

[silverhead]

I haven't checked but it sounds like this was a known issue in a previous release and is no longer noted. That suggests that it was fixed.

If you are having trouble, the most common troubleshooting steps are....

- try a different USB cable

- try all USB ports on your computer

- make sure you are using the latest Line 6 driver

- recycle the power on both your computer and Helix

[Firewalker750]

All done. 

[silverhead]

I think you should open a support ticket.

[Hillman1312]

I get disconnects from time to time as well, but strangely this happens only for HX Edit. I'm running Ableton as DAW and I never had issues with that programme. I guess it has to do with the HX Edit software itself and not so much with the USB cable or which port I'm using (I've tried different cables/ports also). FWIW, I'm running an old MacBook Pro with OSX El Capitan and the latest HX Edit software. I don't need to install a HX specific driver, just works out of the box. 

The disconnects are inconvenient indeed and it should not happen, but I've learned to live with it. Apart from the dropouts I'm also experiencing slow response from time to time. Not really helping you, but at least so you know you're not the only one having these kind of issues.

[Lone_Poor_Boy]

What about your power settings?  Windows can have a lot set to sleep, especially on laptops.  I always set mine to 'High Performance'.  You can mine deeper for more settings.

 

https://imgur.com/a/ixfzEbY

 

EDIT: One test might be to see how long it takes for the USB to disconnect after not using it.  If it is consistent, and close to a set number of minutes such as 10, 15 or 30, then that would point to something going to sleep; meaning, that would point to a setting somewhere with a specific time.

[Firewalker750]

Power settings are good. Thanks for the tip though. 

 

We'll see how the support ticket pans out. 

 

Anybody have to send theirs away to get repaired for this issue? If so, how much did it cost?

 

 

[Lone_Poor_Boy]

By the way, love your dog pic.  Is that a Jack Russell?

 

 

[Smj7]

I've had this happen time to time... but I chalked it up to once I installed an external webcam on my desktop it started happening but not before that.  Are there any other usb devices you're using at the same time?

 

Sean Meredith-Jones

www.seanmeredithjones.com

[mennace]

mine disconnects after about 5 minutes. using mac not windows. just started since update so probably not the power source, does update contain drivers?

 

[amsdenj]

macOS Big Sur disconnects after about a minute, but only if the HX Edit window looses focus. If you go away from HX Edit to another window, but get back within about a minute, it doesn't disconnect. I don't recall this behavior in Catalina. So I think this is an issue with Big Sur.

 

[jakob_n]

7 hours ago, amsdenj said:

macOS Big Sur disconnects after about a minute, but only if the HX Edit window looses focus. If you go away from HX Edit to another window, but get back within about a minute, it doesn't disconnect. I don't recall this behavior in Catalina. So I think this is an issue with Big Sur.

 

 

Can confirm this exact behaviour. I hope this HX Edit issue will be fixed very soon, as it makes using the software under Big Sur really frustrating...

[willjrock]

Happens on a PC too. Maybe not to that extent but it happens

 

On 6/30/2020 at 2:32 PM, Smj7 said:

Are there any other usb devices you're using at the same time?

Of course. Id say the chances of anyone using just one single USB jack are about next to none.

[lou-kash]

13 hours ago, jakob_n said:

it makes using the software under Big Sur really frustrating

 

Um… well, I guess that was exactly the reason why Line6Tony has posted a sticky link on orange background at the top of every page in these forums, titled

  MacOS 11 Compatibility with Line 6 Software,

with this content:

 

Quote

 

Currently, Line 6 software products are not compatible with macOS 11 Big Sur.

We recommend that you wait until Line 6 software product compatibility with macOS 11 is announced before updating to the new operating system. Compatibility is currently being tested and will be ensured in upcoming software updates.

To prevent macOS from automatically updating, uncheck the “Install macOS updates” option in System Preferences > Software Update > Advanced.

Please watch this space for more information regarding support for macOS 11.

The Line 6 Support Team

 

[jakob_n]

4 hours ago, lou-kash said:

 

Um… well, I guess that was exactly the reason why Line6Tony has posted a sticky link on orange background at the top of every page in these forums, titled

  MacOS 11 Compatibility with Line 6 Software,

with this content:

 

 

I am well aware of this sticky post, and I did not complain about not enough warnings or info about the Big Sur compatibility :)

But there are some people (like me) that just cannot delay an operating system update just to wait for HX Edit to catch up, because controlling my Helix is not the only use case of my macbook.
Anyways, I just wanted to confirm the behaviour that was stated above.

[lou-kash]

22 minutes ago, jakob_n said:

there are some people (like me) that just cannot delay an operating system update just to wait for HX Edit to catch up, because controlling my Helix is not the only use case of my macbook.

 

Well, no offense intended, but you've been warned, you've made your choice, and now you're facing the consequences.

 

That said, you still can have "best of both worlds", but you need to prepare yourself in advance. In short, if you need to run both the "cutting edge" Bug Sur and <insert your favorite MacOS version here>, you can create bootable partitions and switch as needed. That's exactly what I'm doing – albeit without Bug Sur due to lack of a compatible Mac. But just a few minutes ago, I have received the e-mail notification about your post on El Capitan – my trusty "mission critical" MacOS of choice. But because I was just in the process of wanting to test something with Logic Pro 10.6.1 on Catalina, I'm currently typing this after my MacBook has just rebooted in Catalina.

It's really that simple.™

(Disclaimer: Strictly technically speaking it's not really that simple to switch between OSes smoothly, as it may also require lots of unix symlink voodoo and magic to sync all the preferences and files. But it's possible and manageable.)

[jakob_n]

2 hours ago, lou-kash said:

 

Well, no offense intended, but you've been warned, you've made your choice, and now you're facing the consequences.

 

That said, you still can have "best of both worlds", but you need to prepare yourself in advance. In short, if you need to run both the "cutting edge" Bug Sur and <insert your favorite MacOS version here>, you can create bootable partitions and switch as needed. That's exactly what I'm doing – albeit without Bug Sur due to lack of a compatible Mac. But just a few minutes ago, I have received the e-mail notification about your post on El Capitan – my trusty "mission critical" MacOS of choice. But because I was just in the process of wanting to test something with Logic Pro 10.6.1 on Catalina, I'm currently typing this after my MacBook has just rebooted in Catalina.

It's really that simple.™

(Disclaimer: Strictly technically speaking it's not really that simple to switch between OSes smoothly, as it may also require lots of unix symlink voodoo and magic to sync all the preferences and files. But it's possible and manageable.)

 

thanks for trying to help :)

As I said before, some people do not have a choice in that sense, i hope you can understand.

Let's just leave it at that for now and hope for a quick update. Because 3.0 is really great so far :D

[Paulzx]

Yep, always had this usb disconnect problem too. Been through all the possibilities, its not the cable or computer, thought it most likely to be dodgy helix USB port but strangely it only disconnects with helix edit. If you play audio tracks back through helix it stays connected.

 

Must be something to do with helix edit software

[dinurium]

Hey Guys,

 

I wanted to chime in and say I am also having this problem on the current version of windows 10 and Helix Edit.  I can not really pinpoint what is causing the issue.   I tend to play for a few hours at a time.   Some days it does not ever disconnect.  Some days it will disconnect a few times in a row, then go two hours without disconnecting.  

 

I do not think it is related to power settings.   I use a laptop and microsoft will adjust power settings based on if the laptop is plugged in to a charger (by default).   The logical conclusion would be that I would be more prone to disconnected messages while my laptop is not plugged into a charger.   This is not the case.  I have only ever experienced the issue while my laptop is plugged into a charger.  This would be an anecdotal observation/confirmation bias, but it would appear power settings/usb port powering down to conserve power is not the cause of issue.  

 

I can say that I have experienced the issue on two different windows 10 laptops.  I have used multiple USB cables.   

[datacommando]

I’m not a Windows user and I’m not sure if this might help, but it could be worth checking out. There seems to be a whole bunch of stuff out on the internet about Windows and USB disconnects.

 

 

[PerS]

Hi

This question is perhaps for @datacommando, or anyone who have a clue.

 

Have had some USB-issues for a while, but the main problem is solved. Replaced the cable, PC <-> Helix, that was out of spec did the trick...

 

I looked at the video that @datacommando published, thanks for publishing that by the way. First thought was “I already done this…”. But yesterday when I made some more investigations of my PC, I thought I make a check anyway and all found USB-ports had power management activated/selected. I know I both inactivated all power control both in Power Management setting and checked it in Device Manager during the optimization on my PC a few month ago (this PC was built in September, brand new). My network card had the power management disabled, made that at the same time. I went to the Power Management setup and the USB power management settings was activated… and this was deactivated not only for the USB-ports but all energy saving was inactivated. So, all settings in Power Management looked like they were back to default/basic scheme.

 

So my question – Has anyone seen this happened? If so, what triggered it? An update (eg a large one like 20H2). Another configuration change that triggered enabling of power management?  Operation/user error? I don’t say that I’m not the root cause... very possible, but don’t know what I can have done. Any clues? (gentle with me, I'm very sensitive:-)  

 

//Per

[datacommando]

2 hours ago, PerS said:

So my question – Has anyone seen this happened?

 Hi,

 

As previously noted, I’m a Mac pilot rather than Windows, but as these USB issue keep cropping up, I just looked around for possible clues. The thing about the Power Management has been mentioned before, although I haven’t seen the instances of it turning back on after it had been turned off. That could possibly indicate that some preference file is not updating correctly, or possibly the “USB Selective Suspend” settings.

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices

 

There is a thing here on this site that covers most of the more obvious things on troubleshooting USB, but “Method 9 Uninstall Hidden Devices”, could be something that the average Windows user may not be aware of and might be worth checking out along with the other things.

 

https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/usb-device-not-recognized/
 

Hope helps/makes sense.

Edited January 10, 2021 by datacommando
Added link

[PerS]

Hi

 

Thanks so much for reply and maybe ha hint of where to fund a solution @datacommando. I appreciate your feedback and seen your earlier around those subjects and if I didn’t know you were a Mac user, I could have bet you were a PC user :-).  

 

Made a quick check and the first link is what I have done, I had disabled suspending of USB. I have also in principle suspended all what power management can turn off under Power Options. I have made some of the steps under the second link too, but there are some parts I will dig into. There was also some interesting links on this page to more info.  

 

On this thread, I started to try digging into some of those problems. My bad lock was I got a 6 meter USB 2.0 cable. That was how I found that power setting on the USB-port had changed, pure luck… 

 

Thanks for your feedback

 

//Per

[HelixErik]

Any signs of an update yet? I still get disconnected all the time, it annoys the hell out of me.

 

 

 

[HelixErik]

Quote

Any signs of an update yet? I still get disconnected all the time, it annoys the hell out of me.

 

Anyone? Same here...

[brue58ski]

6 hours ago, HelixErik said:

 

Anyone? Same here...

It was stated in a thread on the Gear Page that 3.1 will not drop in February. So you have to at least wait until March. But it is in the Beta stage.

[jakob_n]

7 hours ago, HelixErik said:

 

Anyone? Same here...

 

Did you just quote yourself with "same here"? ;D

[datacommando]

24 minutes ago, jakob_n said:

 

Did you just quote yourself with "same here"? ;D

 

I think he did it as a BUMP ⬆︎⬆︎⬆︎    :) 

 

[itsjustme]

My Helix edit only stays connected for a few minutes and then it disconnects after a few minutes every time I use it. I'm using Big Sur and a newer iMac. And I know, Line 6 products don't support Big Sur but come on, it's been 5 months now since the official release and months before that when it was in beta. 

[cglaser68]

This happened to me as well on my MacBook Pro with Big Sur.  What fixed it for me was to completely uninstall Helix Edit (PLace Helix Edit in Trash, then empry trash), then reboot, then download the latest version of Helix Edit (3.10 at time of this post) and re-install.  After the re-install I dot no more disconnect issues.

[tes735]

I know this is an older thread, and there might be a newer one for the issue, but I didn't see it, so gonna revive this one. I've had this issue for some time, but hadn't really needed to stay connected until now. 

I have a floor, and 2 HX stomps. The stomps do not disconnect, but the floor has done this for several years even after updates.
I have 2 pcs. It happens on both of them, so doubtful that it's the computer's problem, and I can see it's happening to people with OSX as well.

It actually just disconnected while I was typing this. :|

 

Any recent movement on this? Now I'm actually attempting to use it for more than a few minutes on a project and, with it disconnecting it will be a no-go. 

*NOTE: I have used many different power situations and USB cables. No hub.