Troubleshooting Fractal-Bot Timeouts

This troubleshooting guide is for those who are experiencing chronic timeouts in Fractal-Bot when backing up banks.

Here are a few simple things to try first.

1. Try a different USB cable.
2. Try a different USB port.
3. Make sure that you're not using a USB hub to connect your Axe-Fx to the computer.
4. Make sure that the USB cable is not near any power cables.
5. Try the UPDATE AMPS DEFAULTS and UPDATE AMPS ALL PRSTS functions under UTILITY->PRESET on the front panel of the Axe-Fx. 
6. Make sure Axe-Edit is not running at the same time as Fractal-Bot.  
   1. Also, make sure there is no DAW running at the same time as Fractal-Bot.  A running DAW may intercept the MIDI data intended for Fractal-Bot.
7. Make sure there is no MFC-101 or other MIDI controller connected to the Axe-Fx.

If the above suggestions do not help the next step is to try backing up banks one at a time.  

If backing up banks one at a time does not work you may have a corrupt preset in one of your banks.

The first test for determining if you have a corrupt preset is to back up only the bank that is timing out.  For example, if you're backing up banks A, B, and C and a timeout occurs on bank C every time, then try backing up only bank C.  If the timeout still occurs when backing up only bank C then you can proceed with the Test for corrupt presets below. 

Test for corrupt presets

Note: Fractal-Bot does not validate preset data, it only checks to make sure that the expected number of messages were received.  If you can backup your valuable banks/presets individually you can try the following test.  

1. Backup valuable existing banks/presets, user cabs, and system data.
    You may have to back up only the essentials - individual banks/presets/cabs if Fractal-Bot is timing out on larger transfers.
2. Update to the latest firmware.
    The latest firmware can be downloaded here - http://www.fractalaudio.com/support.php
3. On the front panel of the Axe-Fx go to UTILITY->PRESET->ERASE ALL PRESETS and press ENTER.
    This will remove all presets from the Axe-Fx.
4. Launch Fractal-Bot and perform a full backup of all the banks now that the presets are empty.
5. If step 3 completes without issue, use Fractal-Bot to install the latest factory presets.
    Factory presets can be downloaded here - http://www.fractalaudio.com/support.php
6. Use Fractal-Bot to perform a backup of the newly installed factory presets.
    If you can backup without issues then there is most likely a corrupt preset in your original banks.

The process for locating a corrupt preset can be tedious.  All Fractal software products follow a client/server paradigm where the Axe-Fx II (server) is the only resource allowed to view and modify preset data.  This means that Fractal-Bot is not capable of viewing preset data and thus is not capable of locating corrupt presets.  As a result, the only means of finding a corrupt preset is to re-install your original banks and back up presets one at a time until you find the corrupt one.

Finally, if you cannot locate any corrupt presets and the timeouts persist, the next step is to connect your Axe-Fx to another computer (if you have access to one) and try Fractal-Bot there.