Hi,

I live in the UK and recently purchased a USA made Presonus Firebox
firewire sound interface, which I am having a couple of problems with.

On first installing the Firebox, I installed the drivers, connected the
Firebox to my desktop PC using a 6 pin firewire cable (without using a
power supply) and bingo, the device was recognised. All was going well
until I restarted my PC. After that there seemed to be no power
supplied to the Firebox (no lights on) through the firewire bus. I have
removed the firewire card and installed it into all different PCI slots
but still no power reaches the Firebox.

I know the device can be powered purely on firewire power, as I have
had success with the same Firebox when I connected it to an Apple Mac
at work.

I have taken out my firewire card and installed it into a different pc
but I get the same result. No power to the Firebox.

I know that the firewire card is working as it recognises other
devices, so why would it stop powering the Firebox?

The last thing that I can think of for me to check is if there are any
bios settings that may affect this. Any other suggestions?

Could the problem be that I'm trying to power a USA device on a UK
computer? Is firewire bus power output a standard worldwide?

My other question is about powering the Firebox using a power supply. I
successfully powered the Firebox using its original power adapter and a
USA to UK step down transformer. The problem with this is that the step
down transformer created a buzzing/hum noise even without anything
plugged into it. This buzzing came through into my records, so using
the transformer is a no-go. My question is, what type of power supply
do I need?

The original USA plug has the following information on it:

AC Adapter
Class 2 Transformer
Input: 120 VAC 60Hz 23W
Output: 16 VAC 1000mA

On the back of the power input on the Firebox it says:

12 to 24 VDC
Or 15 VAC

It has been recommended that I purchase a power supply with:

AC
15 V
2.5 amps

Would this be ok to power the Firebox in the UK? If not, what power
supply do you recommend I use?

Thanks for your time, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Myke