Helix Stopped Connecting to USB after update to 3.5

[TurbineTester]

I have a used Helix that is less than 11 months old from purchase at Sweetwater.  I downloaded the 3.50 helix firmware and the HX Edit from Line 6 ane ran them from I connected my Helix to a MacBook Pro yesterday using the OEM cable and a USB-C hub.  No connection at first, then i flipped over the USB-C connection at the MacBook and voila! All connected and was well.  I backup up all the previous owners paid patches to the Mac, flawlessly ran the 3.5 update, did a "button 9 and 10" factory reset and was able to play.  However, within minutes after this update the Mac started loosing connection with the Helix, intermittant at first but now it will not connect, no matter if i try two different USB cables, different ports on the HUB, different ports on the MAC, different USB cables on a Windowws 10 laptop.  Nothing.  It says a USB device is connected in device manager on the Win10 laptop, but it's "unrecognized"  and shows no connection whatsoever in HX Edit.  Both the Mac and Win10 versions of HX Edit are the most up to date version available directly from Line6 website.  I've factory reset the device 3 times this morning and tried everything i can think of and checked everything i can.  USB Port feels very firmly attached, no sign of damage, and the same cable i used with flawless connection during the 3.5 firmware upgrade does nothing.  I appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks! -Chris

[DunedinDragon]

There may be different issues between what's happening on the Mac and what's happening on the Windows 10 machine.  As far as the Mac there's some level of hardware connection issue if turning over the USB-C connection fixed it initially.  Of course using a hub in ALL cases is a known area of problems.  The no connection on Windows 10 makes me wonder whether the HXEdit version and Firmware versions on the Helix are in alignment.  The first thing I'd do is eliminate the well-known culprit which is the USB hub and go to a direct port.

[TurbineTester]

I installed the 3.5 update with a Mac and have tried to connect again from both a Mac and a PC.  Yesterday i tried connecting to the Helix from Windows using HXEdit 3.52 and today i uninstalled that and installed HXEdit 3.5.  Still no connection.  I get the error Message "The last USB device you connected malfunctioned and windows does not recognize it.  Please try reconnecting" or soemthing pretty close to that.  When i clicked further into the error details it said basically the device isn't identifying itself and we don't know what it is.  In device manager there was jsut an unrecognized USB device with the yellow exclamation point over it.  Today I couldn't grab the screenshot of the exact USB error when i did it a second ago.  Just now i unplugged the helix and plugged it back in several times trying to get the error message to dispaly to i could copy it perfectly and post here. However, the last time i connected the helix connected to HXEdit for about 30 seconds, long enough for HXEdit to tell me that there was an update available for HXEdit 3.52.  When i clicked download and install, about that time the HXEdit status bar at the bottom said "Connection Interrupted" and then it dropped the connection. Now when i reconnect the helix i don't get the USB message.  I see it in the Windows devices listed as Helix. Right now it's updating to 3.52

[TurbineTester]

Here is the USB message

[TurbineTester]

Here is the Helix showing up in the connected devices screen in Control Panel.  

And then 5 seconds later is drops out and disappears, no movement of the cable and without even touching the PC.

 

Sometimes it will connect and sometimes it won't.  There doesn't appear to be any damage or anything to the plug, and this is a brand new (but old stock) cable with no ferrite choke.

[DunedinDragon]

As mentioned before, none of that matters if you're using a hub because all bets are off if that's the case.  It's been well documented USB hubs are problematic with the Helix USB port.

[TurbineTester]

My apoligies if i wasn't clear, but i don't use a HUB when connecting to the Windows machine.  All of these screenshots are with a direct USB connection from the Helix floor to the laptop port running Windows 10.  In fact i've tried every port on the Windows laptop and two different USB cables.  Always the same result in the Device view in Windows, connecting and reconnecting every few seconds.

[TurbineTester]

So i ordered and tried THIS CABLE from Amazon.  It is a USB Type-C  to USB Type-B cable.  It works with my MAC.  I have not tried it with the windows machine yet.

[JustinSummerlin1]

I essentially have this exact same problem.  Plug in Helix to PC.  Recognize... PC audio starts playing through helix... open HX Edit and it recognizes the Helix.  15 seconds later, lose connection, audio goes back to computer speakers, then at some point audio might go back to the helix, but HX Edit won't recognize it.... and then, after 10-15 minutes of leaving it plugged in (with it going in and out), I get the same message TurbineTester got about "The last USB device you connected to this computer has malfunctioned....blahblahblah"

 

I'm getting really frustrated with this because I don't understand it.  I've worked with computers most of my life, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out why this won't work.  I'm dying to know how the USB cable works for you.

[TurbineTester]

On 3/27/2023 at 2:08 PM, JustinSummerlin1 said:

I essentially have this exact same problem.  Plug in Helix to PC.  Recognize... PC audio starts playing through helix... open HX Edit and it recognizes the Helix.  15 seconds later, lose connection, audio goes back to computer speakers, then at some point audio might go back to the helix, but HX Edit won't recognize it.... and then, after 10-15 minutes of leaving it plugged in (with it going in and out), I get the same message TurbineTester got about "The last USB device you connected to this computer has malfunctioned....blahblahblah"

 

I'm getting really frustrated with this because I don't understand it.  I've worked with computers most of my life, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out why this won't work.  I'm dying to know how the USB cable works for you.

OK i have tried the cable on MacBook Pro and Windows 10 MSi Laptop.  It seems to be reliably connecting to both so far.  It stayed connected long enough for me to add some patches to the Helix from Mac. It also connected right away to the PC, and stayed connected the whole time i was writing this post.  I changed the presets on the Helix via HX edit and all seemed well.  I'm not considering the issue solved just yet as  i'm waiting to see if it disconnects or becomes unreliable at any point in the next week.  But at this point i'm way less worried about having to send the unit back for service.