[solved] FM3 won’t connect to computer & FM3-Edit

PickerPelletier said:
Appreciate that! And you!! I’ll try that
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How old is your FM3? I had one of the first batches without a headphone jack and it went bad a little after a year. I sent it in for repair and FAS sent me a brand new unit with HP jack! It did cost me $90 + ship because it was out of warranty I didn't care I was stoked to get a brand new unit.
 
Well this feels like a kick in the balls if I have to send this out and pay out the ass....just received mine today, secondhand though still in like new condition. Messed around with it for a couple hours using FME Edit then needed to get busy trying to migrate all of my song presets from my AX8 so swapped the USB cord and worked on that for awhile. Went back to the FM3 and you guessed it, no f*****g connection!
All this after getting scammed on another FM3 last year....
 
Kev324 said:
Well this feels like a kick in the balls if I have to send this out and pay out the ass....just received mine today, secondhand though still in like new condition. Messed around with it for a couple hours using FME Edit then needed to get busy trying to migrate all of my song presets from my AX8 so swapped the USB cord and worked on that for awhile. Went back to the FM3 and you guessed it, no f*****g connection!
All this after getting scammed on another FM3 last year....
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If it was working and then stopped, why assume immediately that you'd need to send it in?

Try another USB cable, try another port on your computer.

Try powering FM3 and Computer off. With the USB disconnected, turn the computer on. Then connect the cable and then power on the FM3.
 
unix-guy said:
If it was working and then stopped, why assume immediately that you'd need to send it in?

Try another USB cable, try another port on your computer.

Try powering FM3 and Computer off. With the USB disconnected, turn the computer on. Then connect the cable and then power on the FM3.
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Yes.

USB can be insanely finicky.

Power off the computer, unplug every USB device except the keyboard and mouse, if they’re USB, and then power up the computer. Plug in the USB cable used for the modeler in the first USB port on the computer, wait 10 seconds, then plug in the modeler and power up. Wait for it to finish booting and start the editor. Let it run for a few hours.

If it’s still ok, add another device to the USB if you have additional devices. If something causes the modeler to lose it’s connection then you will know the culprit.

If you are on Windows, confirm that you have the latest OS and drivers for the modeler.
 
unix-guy said:
If it was working and then stopped, why assume immediately that you'd need to send it in?
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That seemed to be the general consensus from the forum browsing I did. First thing I did was restart my 10 year old turd of a mac, then switched USB cables. FM3 Edit and Fractool would not show a device, Fractal-bot acted like it could send/receive files but sat at 0% for far too long. Same cable went right back to the AX8 and Fractool recognized it immediately.

After that frustrating troubleshooting, I found another tip somewhere on the forum and even though I'm 99% positive the outlets are on the same circuit, I moved the FM3 power to the strip my Mac is plugged into. Voila! FM3 Edit is back....

...until...I get the bright idea to update firmware from 6.00 to 6.02 annnnnnnd bye bye USB connectivity after the requested restart.:tired:

I have had a few flakey issues on the HX edit program but nothing anything like this nonsense.
 
Kev324 said:
That seemed to be the general consensus from the forum browsing I did. First thing I did was restart my 10 year old turd of a mac, then switched USB cables. FM3 Edit and Fractool would not show a device, Fractal-bot acted like it could send/receive files but sat at 0% for far too long. Same cable went right back to the AX8 and Fractool recognized it immediately.

After that frustrating troubleshooting, I found another tip somewhere on the forum and even though I'm 99% positive the outlets are on the same circuit, I moved the FM3 power to the strip my Mac is plugged into. Voila! FM3 Edit is back....

...until...I get the bright idea to update firmware from 6.00 to 6.02 annnnnnnd bye bye USB connectivity after the requested restart.:tired:

I have had a few flakey issues on the HX edit program but nothing anything like this nonsense.
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A 10 year old mac might have an issue with the USB itself. Do you have access to another computer? If so give it a shot. I had an issue like this with a CNC machine using an old mac where the USB was really intermittent some devices would connect others wouldn't, I changed machines and no more problem.
 
Kev324 said:
That seemed to be the general consensus from the forum browsing I did. First thing I did was restart my 10 year old turd of a mac, then switched USB cables. FM3 Edit and Fractool would not show a device, Fractal-bot acted like it could send/receive files but sat at 0% for far too long. Same cable went right back to the AX8 and Fractool recognized it immediately.

After that frustrating troubleshooting, I found another tip somewhere on the forum and even though I'm 99% positive the outlets are on the same circuit, I moved the FM3 power to the strip my Mac is plugged into. Voila! FM3 Edit is back....

...until...I get the bright idea to update firmware from 6.00 to 6.02 annnnnnnd bye bye USB connectivity after the requested restart.:tired:

I have had a few flakey issues on the HX edit program but nothing anything like this nonsense.
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You aren't by chance running standalone FractalBot and the editor at the same time?

If so, shutdown FractalBot - they are exclusive of each other. It's built-in to the editor now, so you mostly don't need the standalone.
 
I just got a second-hand FM3 myself - also an OG unit with no headphone jack - and was running into similar issues this morning on my 2018 Win10 PC. A combination of reinstalling the latest USB drivers, rebooting my PC, power-cycling the FM3, and - I think this is the real kicker for me - switching to a different USB port - seems to be doing the trick for right now. I agree that USB can also be inherently finicky. Happy to be back in Fractal Land again though. While some plugins can be nice when you're just sitting at your PC, it's not the same experience for me personally as the Fractal stuff.

EDIT: nope, I'm still having USB problems. I opened a ticket with Fractal and am praying they'll be able to address it.
 
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Chris Naish said:
I just got a second-hand FM3 myself - also an OG unit with no headphone jack - and was running into similar issues this morning on my 2018 Win10 PC. A combination of reinstalling the latest USB drivers, rebooting my PC, power-cycling the FM3, and - I think this is the real kicker for me - switching to a different USB port - seems to be doing the trick for right now. I agree that USB can also be inherently finicky. Happy to be back in Fractal Land again though. While some plugins can be nice when you're just sitting at your PC, it's not the same experience for me personally as the Fractal stuff.

EDIT: nope, I'm still having USB problems. I opened a ticket with Fractal and am praying they'll be able to address it.
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Also, I'm now also trying to see if it's a USB bus bandwidth issue by seeing if disconnecting other USB peripherals helps. I'll let you know what I discover...
 
Well...son of a gun...disconnecting a separate USB 3.0 hub that I wasn't actively using appears to be doing the trick so far...looks like I need to be careful about USB bandwidth usage on my computer...
 
It's been a real issue for me lately. No problem on my macbook but my PC is my go to computer at home. My FM3 connected flawlessly for 6 months or so. Now I have to go through some song and dance (rebooting FM3, unplugging USB while edit is running, while its not running, yadda yadda, etc.) I eventually get it with no rhyme or reason. It takes a while just to get a connection, then I get a "communication timeout: query_sys_info" crappola a bunch then it finally works. I don't understand what's happening.
 
Was that question for me? Of course I'm using the correct port. As my post said, I haven't had a problem connecting since I purchased this 6 months ago. Seems like a firmware or FM3-edit update issue.
 
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