Error 18 on MFC - before I even hit send on Fractal Bot

is9582

is9582

Power User
Error 18 on MFC - before I even hit send on Fractal Bot - Resolved

Hello all -

I could use some help! My MFC still has FW 2.15 on it, so I wanted to update to the current version of 3.07. I followed all of the bouncing balls (as best as I can tell). I did the following:

1. set MFC to MIDI as input
2. hooked a 5-pin MIDI cable from the MFC midi in to the AxeFXII midi out.
3. In I/O on my Axe I set Send Realtime Sysex to None.
4. in I/O on Axe I set USB adapter to On.
5. I connected a cat5 cable between the Axe and MFC, for power only.
6. I rebooted while holding switch 1 on the MFC.
7. in Fractal Bot I chose MFC Original/Mk2 on top line and Axe-FXII Midi in on the third line.
8. I chose the 3.07 original/Mk2 file I downloaded and unzipped.

I tried multiple times, rebooting the MFC between attempts, and the Error 18 shows up on my MFC's screen each time, well before attempting to send any data. In the manual it looks like this error is supposed to be relating to the image file not for the hardware you are attempting to send to.

I'd certainly appreciate any assistance. Hope I haven't forgotten to provide something that is of value to the discussion.

Cheers,

Lee
 
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what MFC model do you have?

it seems you did everything correctly, but here's a video i just recut with the same steps you just mentioned. perhaps go through with it once more to try?

otherwise it could be a bad midi cable.

 
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Hey Chris

Thanks for confirming my process. I guess I could have just said that I'd watched your video, to prime my actions, which I did. Haha. I certainly appreciate your time spent on it.

Oh, there is one thing I recall that hopefully might help diagnose my problem. After the midi cable and cat5 were both attached and the MFC was on, there was a timeout message on screen regarding the name(?). Since I'd already changed the MFC to midi communication, would this tend to indicate a bad cable?

Thanks agains,

Lee
 
Try download/unzip the FW file again and confirm you have the correct file for originaly/MkII. Perhaps something got corrupted in previous download
 
is9582 said:
Since I'd already changed the MFC to midi communication, would this tend to indicate a bad cable?
Click to expand...
not necessarily.

if you had the cable from Axe Out to MFC In, then the MFC wouldn't be able to control the Axe since it has to be MFC Out to Axe In. so you'd get a timeout message.
 
Mrguitarabuse- I'll be glad to do this, but since I never made it to actually sending data from factal bot, I'm not sure if the data set has at this point entered the scenario. I'm game to give it a try though. Anything at this point. Haha

Chris- Sorry, I wasn't more clear. The timeout in the name was on the MFC screen, so I wasn't saying there was control of the Axe. Again, I wasn't nearly as clear as I wish I'd been.

Cheers

Lee
 
As Sprint posted:

The sequence of events must be as follows.

1. Configure the Axe-Fx for use as a MIDI Interface as described above.
2. Power on the Axe-Fx II while holding footswitch #1 to boot the MFC-101 into Firmware Update Mode.
3. If you are using the Axe-Fx as a MIDI Interface to transmit the update, you must wait until after the Axe-Fx has fully booted before connecting a cable from its MIDI OUT port to the MIDI IN port of the MFC-101. Otherwise, the Axe-Fx will try to sync and cause “ERROR 18” in the MFC-101.

With the MFC safely in Firmware update mode, launch Fractal-Bot and perform the update.

MFC-101 Firmware Update Guide - Fractal-Bot - Powered by Kayako Help Desk Software
 
Chris - Forgot to include that I have the Mk2 MFC.

guitarabuse - I downloaded and unzipped again, but no change.

Sprint - I tried booting up with my Midi cable disconnected, and it entered the FW update correctly, but as soon as the midi cable was inserted, the Error 18 again was present. Again, didn't even have the opportunity to hit the send on Fractal Bot.

Perhaps I should just go pick up another midi cable. Anyone know a test I might run to validate the cable, before heading out?

Cheers,

Lee
 
dang when did the midi cable have to be plugged in after power up? i swear i did all connections first - as usually suggested with any gear - and it worked no problem.

looks like i'm re-editing and uploading the video again!


is9582 said:
Chris- Sorry, I wasn't more clear. The timeout in the name was on the MFC screen, so I wasn't saying there was control of the Axe.
Click to expand...

yup that's what i meant. because the cable isn't in the usual place for normal MFC-Axe use - MFC OUT to AXE IN - the name time out would appear because there's no connection there. when updating, the cable is in the opposite jacks.
 
Hubertus- Thank you! If it had been mentioned before, I'd completely missed it. I didn't know the Axe had to completely boot, BEFORE the midi cable was inserted into the MFC. I tried this and sure enough, worked like a charm. No more Error 18 and the update just completed!

Thanks again to everyone that was assisting. I truly appreciate the input.

Cheers,

Lee
 
Chris - Any chance the MFC Mk2 could behave slightly different than your Mk1? Just curious since your process worked on your MFC, and I think I recognized it was a Mk1.

Cheers,

Lee
 
Very interesting to note. To provide a bit more data on my specifics, my AxeFX II is a Mark I and was already updated to 18.01, and my MFC-101 is a MkII and had FW 2.15 at the time I was receiving the Error 18. Sounds like there must be some variables that don't raise their ugly heads most of the time, but are enough of a difference to cause this error on some while not on others.

At least there is a work-around, if in fact the basic hookup brings about Error 18 when a user attempts to upgrade, but luckily this error doesn't seem to (as far as anything I can see) cause any actual damage. It just prevents the communication from occurring.

Cheers,

Lee
 
Just want to put a note based on the problem I had when updating MFC Mark II with Axe-Fx II Mark II.

Before update, I already follow the firmware update guide (I just read this thread after the update done).
I use midi cable from Roland and power via Ethernet/EtherCon.

I got some error 6, 10, 14.
Error 14 when update to 3.0.5
Error 10 when update to 3.0.6, and
Error 6 when update to 3.0.7

The two things I did so the update runs smoothly:
- Lower the MIDI Buffer Delay below 150ms (default). 120ms works for me, but not sure for other combination and midi cable.
- Usually when I found error in the first place, I turn off and leave it for a minute or two, and start again. Well...not sure if this related but it works for me.

Hope this helps
 
This was just giving me hell this morning trying to update a MKIII MFC, kept getting ERROR 18, finally just rebooted the Axe XL and it just finished updating.

Just bought the MFC Editor so now to learn how to get up to speed with that..... Just finished reprogramming the MFC manually couple days ago when I see 3.08 so figured ahhhh I need to get with the program to speed MFC programming tweaks without doing it at the pedal on every rev. I guess I know what I'll be doing tonight lol \m/_
 
My Looper control was all messed up on MFC 3.07 and was trying to fix that this morning when I found 3.08, good news is after the 3.08 update the Looper controls returned to their rightful state and none of my IA switches changed like they did on 3.07, Bank range, Expression pedals all good.
 
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