Bome box died suddenly after Osmose firmware update

Bome Products
1

My Bome box has suddenly died. I had just updated my Osmose to the latest 2.3 firmware (directly from the computer, bypassing the Bome box). Then after I plugged the Osmose back into the USB hub connected to the Bome box I noticed the osmose froze until I unplugged its USB port. After doing a bit of plugging and unplugging to test it, I noticed that all the lights of the Bome box had gone off except for the occasional flashing of the ethernet lights. The Bome box is powered through PoE, which works. I also tried powering it through USB. When I plug the PoE in, the Bome box lights flash briefly then it goes dead again. What happened? Is my Bome box bricked?

2

Update: I unplugged everything from the Bome Box before repowering it with PoE and it has come back to life. So far it hasn’t lasted very long though, and the connection goes stale (and the lights go out) shortly after I plug the USB hub into it, even without any of the devices powered up and the Osmose completely unplugged.

But at least it dioesmt seem to be bricked. Will need more testing tomorrow.

3

You might want to try a different POE port or POE adapter. Also try powering it by USB (with no devices attached). Finally a different ethernet cable to POE In port of the BomeBox.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
4

I have tried multiple cables including brand new ones, and USB power. I have discovered in the process that my PoE injector is faulty but only as far as not passing data (which is fixed by using both Ethernet ports of the Bomebox), and is able to provide a good power supply to the Bomebox. I also discovered that my USB C to Ethernet dongle was also shoddy, and have replaced with a much more solid Belkin Thunderbolt 2 docking station and a Thunderbolt 2 to USB C adapter - and so far this is working and stable with no ‘Stale connection’ errors (fingers crossed).

Now regarding the Osmose, there is definitely an issue after the latest firmware update (2.3). This update now expands the USB connection from 2 ports to 5 ports, including a ‘DAW control’ port that by all accounts is not MIDI data. Connecting the USB port of the Osmose to the Bomebox consistently results in the Osmose freezing. The Bomebox remains stable now, not sure what caused it to be incapacitated previously. So I have connected the Osmose to the Bomebox through its DIN port using a generic USB-MIDI interface cable plugged into a hub connected to the USB Host port of the iConnectMIDI 4+. Quite a roundabout way to do things but I am out of DIN ports on all the interfaces connected to the Bomebox. So far it is stable but I haven’t done extensive testing of the MIDI clock timing etc.

5

I’m glad you got it working!

BomeBox will only process MIDI through the USB port. The controller shouldn’t crash the BomeBox though. It should just ignore any USB ports that are not MIDI. I think indeed it is likely a firmware issue with your Osmos.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
6

My understanding so far is that 4 of the 5 virtual USB midi ports are now sending midi. Maybe that could be overloading the Bome Box (equivalent to plugging 4 Osmose’s on previous firmware into BomeBox at once, since only 1 of the 2 pre-existing ports was sending data before).

My Osmose is two updates behind and I will hold off on updating firmware to the current until either Expressive gives us an option to toggle unused ports off on the Osmose end, or another solution is reached.

7

I don’t think it is overloading BomeBox. I think there is something else going on. I’ve seen BomeBoxes running 20-30 ports with no problem.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz
8

You certainly would know more about the BomeBox’s capabilities, but I am just wondering if this is outside parameters of the test cases that have been proven before, with 4 ports of active MPE data.

Unfortunately the combo of Osmose and BomeBox is likely not very common, and if OP is opting to bypass the concern by using the DIN midi as an alternative path - sorting out what is actually happening might be a challenge.

9

And as I mentioned in my other post, the Osmose is not the only device plugged into the Bomebox. I have about 25 machines all interconnected through USB hubs, 4 different iconnectivity boxes, and a Midronome pumping two streams of MIDI clock that are distributed to most of the devices. And it works, but only if I keep the Osmose (with its 5 weird USB ports) and the Kronos (with its famously dodgy USB port) out of the USB network and hook them in only through DIN ports.