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Please help! Schiit Modi 2 not being recognized anymore by Windows?

jsrtheta

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Wow.

Years ago, I bought a PS Audio Ultralink II DAC, new but a demo (which the store was more than happy to offload). Brought it home, eager to hear it, wired it up, plugged it in, and turned it on. Nothing. Not even crickets, just dead silence. After a vigorous bout of profanity, I took the top off (as if I would be able to tell if anything was wrong!). Got tired of staring at the circuitry, so I put the top back on. Plugged the thing in and turned it on: It worked perfectly.

A year or so later I was in a different shop, when I saw someone talking to a salesman with a PS Audio preamp sitting on the counter between them, and the salesman was desperately saying he couldn't understand why the preamp would not work. I wandered over and asked if the preamp would not work at all. The customer and the salesman both agreed it didn't.

"Take the top off," I said. So they did, and then looked at me as if I knew something they didn't. "Now put it back on," I said. The salesman screwed the top back on. "Now try it" I said. The salesman, looking quite dubious, nonetheless wired it up to an amp and a CD player, then fired it up.

It worked perfectly.
 

Soniclife

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I took the top off (as if I would be able to tell if anything was wrong!). Got tired of staring at the circuitry, so I put the top back on. Plugged the thing in and turned it on: It worked perfectly.
This let's the evil spirit out, they get in sometimes when they are attracted to the smell of the smoke in the capacitors, once freed the device can come back to life.
 

jsrtheta

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This let's the evil spirit out, they get in sometimes when they are attracted to the smell of the smoke in the capacitors, once freed the device can come back to life.

Ah. Now I get it. I think.
 

Fackernarmee

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This reminds me of a time years ago in another life when I worked as a car salesman in a Ford dealership and Ford were just starting to put computers into their cars. Our mechanics had to go to a school on this. The Ford technician at the school told them that computers work on smoke and if you let the smoke out, they don't work anymore.
 

Julf

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This reminds me of a time years ago in another life when I worked as a car salesman in a Ford dealership and Ford were just starting to put computers into their cars. Our mechanics had to go to a school on this. The Ford technician at the school told them that computers work on smoke and if you let the smoke out, they don't work anymore.

Smokekit2.jpg
 

Wilza

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So I'm a little late to the party here, but I had the same issue and I just found a solution (for me). I have a Modi 2 and Magni 2, working fine for a couple years, then suddenly one day they weren't recognised by Windows.

If this sounds like you, try this - go into Task Manager, and find the task "Realtek HD Audio Manager" (or something similar), and end that task. My Modi 2 was instantly picked up by Windows after I did this.

No idea why this worked, I've had this Realtek software on my PC for ages and it's never been an issue until now. Perhaps a Windows update or something. Anyway, best I disable that crap from start-up. Hopefully this helps anyone with this problem!
 

the_otherguy

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heat the Modi 2 with a heater such as a hairdryer, it must be HOT.

I've been looking for a fix to this problem for my Modi for maybe 2+ years since it died.

I put it down to a windows issue as i'm pretty certain that it died after a Windows 10 update. But it seems that more than likely wasn't the case, it just coincided with the hardware issue cropping up.

I tried the hairdryer trick and BAM! working again.

Would be nice to know what exactly it is causing it, and why this "fix" works.
 

amirm

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Would be nice to know what exactly it is causing it, and why this "fix" works.
It is a common fix for surface mount devices. Sometimes the pads are not soldered correctly and heating them causes them to "reflow" and make a connection.
 

marshaul

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It is a common fix for surface mount devices. Sometimes the pads are not soldered correctly and heating them causes them to "reflow" and make a connection.

No, we aren't heating them nearly enough to reflow the soldier.

Bad solder joints may still be at fault, but I manually reflowed (with an iron) every joint on all the ICs on mine, with no change.

I actually think it might be a bad bond wire connection in one of the ICs, or something else at that level. The symptoms are way too consistent to match the vagaries of cold solder.
 

Wilza

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So I'm a little late to the party here, but I had the same issue and I just found a solution (for me). I have a Modi 2 and Magni 2, working fine for a couple years, then suddenly one day they weren't recognised by Windows...

As a follow-up to my last comment, it wasn't a permanent fix unfortunately. Sometimes my Modi would be detected by Windows, in which case it would continue to work until the next start-up, but most of the time it wouldn't be detected at all. So I figured it must be a hardware issue, and sent it to Schiit for repair. When they confirmed it was repaired, I asked what the issue was, and he told me "it was the DAC not detecting windows, the reason for this likely being that the computer power spiked the Modi, wiping out the chip".

So yeah, if people are experiencing the same issue and have tried everything, it may well be a hardware issue that you'll have to get repaired.
 

CDMC

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The Modi 2 is prone to having the input receiver go bad. Had one and while Schiit charged a reasonable $20 or so to fix it, outside of the warranty, after it died the second time, I sprung the $99 for a Modi 3.
 

vanhuan

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The one and only solution i found after long researches on the internet is this, reported by ONLY ONE user on another forum:

heat the Modi 2 with a heater such as a hairdryer, it must be HOT.
Then plug it in your PC and voit-la.

I solved my issue after having my Modi 2 closed in the drawer for 6 months
my modi2 has the same problem, and miraculously the hairdryer method work like a champ. Thank you for this, i've been desperate finding for a solution.
Two days ago, i suddenly got a weird idea and try plunging the modi2 in every USB port of my mainboard. My PC instantly recognized the DAC if i plug it in the USB port mean for my mouse and keyboard, the one right beside the PS2 mouse/keyboard port, all the other USB port only work if i pre-heated the DAC .My modi2 working fine since then.
So my advise is try the DAC in all other usb port that your mainboard has, it may fix the problem.
 

nishtall

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The one and only solution i found after long researches on the internet is this, reported by ONLY ONE user on another forum:

heat the Modi 2 with a heater such as a hairdryer, it must be HOT.
Then plug it in your PC and voit-la.

I solved my issue after having my Modi 2 closed in the drawer for 6 months

I registered on this forum just to confirm that this solution works!

I use my heat gun rather than a hairdryer but the effect is the same.

Own two original Modi units that I thought were dead until I tried this trick.

If you look around the net you'll find many Modi owners with similar issues (usb connection issue) that can be fixed by:

Plugging and unplugging until it somehow works
plugging into different usb outlets until it works
reinstall drivers and it works
reboot computer and it works

However, and I'm not an expert by any means, a soldering issue could also explain why all these tricks work for some people. It would also explain why direct heat (I've done it 3 times in a row already) is so effective at resolving the issue.
 

Shaun01

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I was having this issue with my Bifrost Multibit, so I started to troubleshoot it. Whenever I plugged my Bifrost into my laptop it worked fine but when I plugged it into my desktop pc it wouldn't recognize it. I reformatted my desktop pc and still had the same issues. I plugged it into my laptop again and it recognized it right away and that's when I noticed the port that I was plugging into on my laptop was a USB 3.0 blue port and the one on my desktop was 2.0. As soon as I plugged the Bifrost into one of my desktops 3.0 ports it came right up and I've no issues since.
 

JustifiedAndAncient

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Created an account to say thanks and verify the heat gun trick worked to fix my 2015 Modi 2 Uber. You have to (slowly) get the case too hot to touch. I had to try twice, I didn't heat up the case slowly enough the first time so I suspect the heat didn't build up inside. Using a hair dryer instead of a heat gun may have made this easier/safer or taking the case off and blasting it for a short time with the heat gun might have also done the trick.
 

maxxwizard

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my Modi 2 was working for almost 2.5 years. i unplugged from a computer to move to another one, and Windows 10 did not detect it anymore even though the power light was on. i used a hairdryer to heat the case up until it was uncomfortable to touch (you can't touch it for more than a few seconds) and sure enough, we're back in business.
 

rjp

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Just joined to say that the heat fix worked for me to. I heated the USB chip mentioned a couple pages back over a light bulb for about 30 seconds and then plugged in the USB cable and it was immediately recognized by the computer. After about another 30 seconds it was too cooled off to get recognized again. Heated it back up and sure enough, worked again.

Is there any way to fix this permanently? Can the chip be replaced? There are an awful lot of tiny pins. Surprised that this was the largest IC in the entire product. I would have thought the DAC chip would have been largest.
 

maxxwizard

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Just joined to say that the heat fix worked for me to. I heated the USB chip mentioned a couple pages back over a light bulb for about 30 seconds and then plugged in the USB cable and it was immediately recognized by the computer. After about another 30 seconds it was too cooled off to get recognized again. Heated it back up and sure enough, worked again.

Is there any way to fix this permanently? Can the chip be replaced? There are an awful lot of tiny pins. Surprised that this was the largest IC in the entire product. I would have thought the DAC chip would have been largest.

yeah, i'm running into the same issue. the Modi isn't recognized when i restart my computer.
 

MLTB

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Hey guys, i'm following this thread also for a while; cause i'm having the exact same issue.. ( and get frustrated about it )

I discovered some new thing and pin-pointed where the issue is coming from. You can make the device work if you make contact with some little resistor, i think it's making mass or get's some minor 'pulse' or something when touching it (?).

It works everytime!

You can use your finger, or some random piece of thin metal ( other end of this metal has to touch nothing.. weird i know ).

Don't have the time or motivation right now to search for the exact partnumber and it's function on some blueprint or something. But it's better then nothing :)
---
Made some pictures, see below :

ezgif-6-0a11325a8608.gif
 

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HunkaBunka

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I have a Schiit stack with a Modi 3. It wasn't being recognized by my computer. I tried different USB ports and still nothing. I was getting a clicking sound through the headphones when it was plugged in. I tried other cords, some had the clicking, some didnt but none were recognized by the computer. I tried removing realtek, looking through the device manager and updating drivers and nothing. After finding this form i tried a hair dryer to warm the Modi up and after replugging the usb it showed up..... So happy to come across this form, saved me a lot of time and anguish. Thanks everyone.
 
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