new D8B user have some issues

[arjepsen]

First of all - check this database:
http://www.sonido-7.com/d8b/index.html
There's oceans of very valuable information in there.

If you go there, and look at the right side, there's a link to "d8b OS downloads", where you can download images for the OS and the plugins.
You have to download them to a pc with a floppy drive, then run each image (a small program that helps write the floppy disk).

Then you edit that one file on disk 1 of the OS installation, to enable formatting the harddisk during installation.
After installation of OS and Plugins, you probably want to use Munkustraps hack, to enable the 5.1 OS and all plugins.
Check here:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1634&start=40#p12374

Alternatively, another guy also made hack - check here:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1634&start=150#p15134

[billyg]

Thanks Arjepsen, just seeing your post now. I will definitely give this a shot tomorrow. Really appreciate all of your feedback. I think the only plug ins that I have are the stock fat channel? How do I tell if I have any others? Really new with this console.

[arjepsen]

Originally, you had to buy a license to version 5.1 of the OS for the desk, and also for the seperate plugins.
However, since Mackie abandoned the desk some years back, and were of no help to those who had paid for the license, but lost the serial number, some people figured out how to hack the software, so everyone can use 5.1 and all the plugins.
Read the posts I linked - they will tell you how to do it.
Also I put a link to where you can find the files used to make the installation floppies for both the OS and the plugins.

[captainamerica]

I had similar issues when my board was on for many hours. I had to "anchor" or replace my connectors. As Arjepsen suggested, see http://www.sonido-7.com/d8b/index.html

Loose Or Dirty Connections

Many problems have been solved by:

Removing, cleaning and reseating the d25 and huge circular connectors between the d8b CPU rack and console.
Removing, cleaning and reseating the edge connectors on all I/O, MFX, UFX and Clock cards in the console and the MIDI card in the CPU rack.