MBox 2 Phantom Power Issue

[mack]

Hey guys-

It's been a little while since I've posted. I searched for this topic, but couldn't find anything. So...here it goes.

I have a PowerBook G4 1.67GHz with 1GB of ram. Running Mac OS X 10.4.4. I got an MBox 2 in early February. Used it semi-regularly, but just started using it on a much more frequent basis. Basically, the MBox 2 signal was sometimes cutting out and in turn crashing Protools and/or my computer. I read about it on the Digidesign site and got the firmware update (assuming my problem was Phantom Power related, as it seemed to be). Now, if I turn on the MBox's phantom power the MBox lights noticably surge and cut off power for about 3 seconds. Sometimes, if i turn on phantom power with microphones requiring phantom power and with protools open, this does not happen. I have been toying with letting the power shut off after turning on phantom power and then letting it come back, then opening PT. This worked for me the other day. Basically, it has all become hit or miss... which is extremely annoying for hardware that is supposedly plug and play. Has anyone else dealt with this problem? I emailed digidesign and they told me that my computer does not support phantom power. They also said that I should try an external power source. The thing is, my computer does support phantom power, just not predictably. Does anyone know if an external power supply even exists? I couldn't find anything. I was thinking of using my M Audio DMP3 and running off of those pre's into the MBox so that phantom power would be off of the DMP3 rather the MBox. Would that work? It doubles the size of my mini-rig, so I'd like to avoid that as I want to try and be mobile. I appreciate any advice or ideas. This whole situation seems unbelievable. Thanks for your help.

Kyle

[DJ RELAX]

buy a usb hub that plugs into the wall, i remember reading about this on the duc. i even looked it up for you:
http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.php? ... 7%23888107
seems its apples fault, not digi's for once.

[mack]

thanks! i'll check it out