Hi,

In the middle of editing I was suddenly shocked by a dialog box telling me my license is invalid. Avid MC shut down.

I tried restarting MC and came to a screen asking if I wanted to run the demo or validate online or using a dongle. I chose dongle but was again told the license was invalid.

Restarting the computer helped, I am now up and running again. But I am worried. This has never happened before. And it must not happen again. Especially not in the next 2 days, since we are screening our independent feature comedy on Tuesday.

Does anyone know what caused this? Is it a common error? I could not find anything in the forums. And next time it happens (God forbid!), I want to know what it is I am dealing with.

I have a valid license, using a valid dongle. MC 5.0.3.8 on Mac OS 10.6.6. Mac Pro. The dongle was at the time attached to a simple USB 4-port hub, together with the iLok key for my ProTools (not running at the time). But using the USB hub has not been a problem in the last few weeks.

Anyone have any ideas as to what may have caused this?

/ Bjorn in Sweden

"... attached to a simple USB 4-port hub ..."

Powered or no?  Make & model?

"... But using the USB hub has not been a problem in the last few weeks ..."

As with investments, "past performance is no guarantee of future results".  I would avoid that hub, or choose a different/better one.

Hi Bjorn,

I have no idea what could've caused the problem, but in case it happens again, I'd suggest using MC in trial mode for a few days as an emergency measure until you can get the problem solved.  Trial mode is exactly the same as regular mode, and should allow you to continue working on whatever you're working on.

ciao,
Carl 

I just resolved a similar problem, I started up my computer recenlty and noticed a "installing new hardeare" dialogue box, even though I hadn't added anything new. Then to my surprise and dismay when I launched Avid MC I got the message that i needed to validate my license. Even worse when I tried to validate the licesnse I was told it was not valid!. I did some digging around on the forum here and couldn't find my situation being discussed,

Finally I found this thread and Bjorn's comment

Björn:

The dongle was at the time attached to a simple USB 4-port hub, together with the iLok key for my ProTools (not running at the time). But using the USB hub has not been a problem in the last few weeks.

This got me thinking about my own Dongle, which to my knowledge was working perfectly plugged nto a USB port on the back of my keyboard. I pulled the Dongle out and put it back in and that same dialogue appeared about installing new hardware.

 

This really frightened me, however, I dedided that the first thing to try was to see if there was any software on the install dsc that might help me. Long story short I dedided to just re-install all the software on the disc, and voila MC is working fine! Still don't know what caused this problem in the first place, but I thought I'd throw the solution out there in case someone else runs into the same situation down the road.

I have found that USB hubs are notoriously undependable in terms of whether or not the computer will see what connected to it. And it works both ways. At TPC, I restarted my computer one morning and it never got past the HP Invent splash screen. Why? Because the computer (HP Z800) suddenly decided the USB hub in my system was a bootable device. In your place, I would make sure the dongle is plugged directly into the computer, not through a hub.