Expanded Systems Guide
2
Pro Tools with an Expansion
Chassis
You can use a Digidesign-qualified expansion
chassis to increase the number of PCI card slots
for your Pro Tools system. Expansion chassis
will use only one PCI card slot in your computer
and provide up to 13 additional PCI card slots in
the chassis itself.
Expansion chassis consist of a chassis (providing
additional PCI slots for your Digidesign cards), a
host card (installed in your computer), a con-
troller card (installed in the chassis), and an ex-
pansion chassis cable that connects the host
card to the controller card. Some newer expan-
sion chassis have a built-in controller card that
does not need to be installed.
13-slot expansion chassis support up to ten
Digidesign cards (which can include a maxi-
mum of seven Pro Tools|HD-series cards).
7-slot chassis support up to seven Pro Tools|HD-
series cards. Refer to the Digidesign Web site for
the latest compatibility information
(www.digidesign.com/compato).
Powering Up Expansion Chassis
Make sure to have the expansion chassis cable
connected to both the expansion chassis and
the computer before powering up. If the cable
becomes disconnected from the computer while
the system is powered on, shut down power to
the computer and then the expansion chassis
before reconnecting.
When powering up, turn on the expansion
chassis before the computer, and turn it off after
powering down the computer.
Compatibility Information
For maximum track count with
Pro Tools|HD Accel systems, 64-bit PCI is re-
quired. If using a CPU with mixed slot types,
only the 64-bit slots should be used.
Digidesign can only assure compatibility and
provide support for hardware and software it
has tested and approved.
For a complete and current list of supported
configurations of computers, expansion chassis,
and hard drives, visit the Digidesign Web site
(www.digidesign.com/compato).
6-foot expansion chassis cables are not sup-
ported.
See Chapter 3, “Expansion Chassis” for
more information about card slot order and
installing Pro Tools cards in an expansion
chassis.
Before you connect your expansion chassis,
or install cards in it, make sure to turn off
both the chassis and your computer.
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