Hey Paul,
Well, it seemed to be a combination of things. Somehow all my drivers and firmware and software got all crazy-- I'm really not sure how but it did. When I opened up Maestro and went to about, most of my version numbers came up as vx.xx...etc it was real weird.
- One of my main problems was that even though my external HD was OFF, the fact that it was plugged into my Ensemble was causing all sorts of weird issues. Unplugging anything chained was the first thing I thought of doing, but I figured turning it off was enough-- but it turns out it wasn't, the cable has to be completely disconnected from the ensemble. Once I took the cable out, the Ensemble Updater started working in a much more stable manner.
- First I ran the ensemble updater I had and although it couldn't connect to the Apogee servers, I ran the update off of local files.
- Then apogee tech support actually sent me some installer/driver from apple called "AppleFWAudio-2.1.0fc9-e2.pkg
- After installing that, I downloaded the NEWEST Ensemble Updater and same thing, installed from local files, and everything was updated correctly finally.
This fixed all the problems except it IS NOT perfect. When I chain my external HD into the Ensemble, it creates the same problem I originally had. I plug in the HD and suddenly System Pref. and my toolbar quit responding to volume changes done on the ensemble, and vice versa. The output knob still works and adjusts the output volume, but I cant adjust it via the computer or see the volume sliders change in sys pred or toolbar. I'll call Apogee tomorrow and let them know about this bug.
At least I know that everything DOES work for the most part, but Apogee/Apple still have a lot of little kinks to work out with their drivers-- especially in terms of firewire connectivity and using other devices. There is no reason Ensemble users shouldn't be able to daisy chain hard drivers and other necessary firewire devices to the ensemble and not expect them to work or cause weird little glitches.
That being said, I love my ensemble and have really seen them make it extremely stable since it first came out. If anyone has any ideas on getting it working perfect when I have a hard drive chained, I appreciate the input, likewise, if I need to buy a firewire PCMCIA card, what do all of you recommend?
Jordan