Right to the source of what's happening for those who loose internal sync when connected to a computer using your Firewire cable. This insidiously irritating flaw starts with 1 second long drop outs as early as 5 minutes after first powering up the device, (sometimes takes an hour or so to develop at other times) and continues in ever increasing frequency until the 24D totally mutes. No solution I have found except to turn the unit off and let it sit and then power it up again.
Sound familiar? The problem is HEAT... specifically an overheated 'Wavefront' chip.
This is how I arrived at this conclusion.
First of all I've let this unit run for 24 hours straight, (twice) in stand alone mode powered by the AC adapter, signal in from a SPDIF cord and listened to music from the audio outputs on channels 3&4 with zero drop outs, not even one that I’m aware of.
With the unit warm after 24 hours running I connect the firewire cord and a laptop or desktop and sync is immediately lost and unrecoverable showing "No Reference" from the TC Near Control Panel, (yes, SPDIF cord disconnected).
Unplug the firewire cord and reconnect the SPDIF cord in stand alone mode and sync is back in seconds and sound now appears at the outputs and will continue to do so for another 24 hours, (as I found out).
I have played with my 24D reading up here and there on the net for possible solutions trying different computers, cables etc., everything always results in the same outcome, loss of internal sync with a firewire cable connected to a computer after a short period of time with total muting the final outcome, always.
Tonight I took the 24D apart and then powered it up with the firewire cable connected to my computer and listened to music until it started to drop out. I then gently used “Dust Off� , (compressed gas in a can) to cool the Wavefront chip and the drop outs immediately stopped.
I let the chip reheat to the point of almost loosing sync totally, turned the unit over and again gently blew canned air on this chip again. Internal lock comes back immediately with no loss of sync as long as I keep this chip cool. The amount of heat developed is minimal, I am able to place my thumb on this chip and my thumb will drain away the heat being developed within the chip to the extend that the 30 minutes or so I kept my thumb on this chip, no drop outs occurred.
I’m going to buy a heat sink and attach it to this Wavefront chip, I expect this irritating problem that has dogged this great unit will be a thing of the past.
Note:
When the Aluminum body is removed there is another stamped steel cover that seals in the unit from the bottom as well. To keep the heat that is generated in when I’m testing various components to see how warm they get I turned the unit right side up and set it down on carpet to keep this minimal heat in. Upside down with the internals exposed the unit seems fine for the 20 minutes or so of my patience with no drop outs occurring, turning the unit over right side up and about 5 minutes later drop outs start.
read more...