What's up my fellow frustrated friends! I'm hoping this helps some of you out there that are having this issue. If you just got the bright idea like I did to update your firmware in Universal Control and found yourself with a blinking blue light afterwards and an unusable interface, keep reading. If you have an iPhone, I suggest airdropping this page to it as there will be a few restarts and you won't have to keep opening your browser to read the next steps.
For starters, I'm going to be as detailed as possible here so bare with me. Order of operations is key here, so make sure you follow step by step.
My fix in particular is based on a 2020 M1 16GB Mac mini running Version 11.6 of Big Sur. Your mileage may vary if your specs or OS are different than mine but this is what worked for me. All of my inputs and outputs EXCEPT SPDIF, Thunderbolt cable and power cable were all connected during this process. I did not have any SPDIF cables connected at this time.
Step 1: If you haven't done this already, you want to boot macOS in recovery mode to change the security settings of the startup disk. This sounds more complicated than it is, but just follow the instructions on this article from Apple here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchl768f7291/mac
On step 11 of that article, I had both of the following options checked off.
-
Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers: Allows installation of software that uses legacy kernel extensions.
-
Allow remote management of kernel extensions and automatic software updates: Authorises remote management of legacy kernel extensions and software updates using a mobile device management (MDM) solution.
Step 2: After you follow the instructions and reboot, make sure any programs you have open are closed out. In your finder bar at the top left of your screen, go to "Go > Applications". Find the Universal Control icon and drag it to your trash. **This seemed to be the biggest help in all of the uninstalls and re-installs I did that ultimately did the trick** This may prompt you with a message pertaining to extensions. Click ok to get rid of the extensions as you want to remove everything associated with the new version of firmware you have downloaded. Restart your computer.
Step 3: Head on over to the PreSonus downloads page here: https://www.presonus.com/products/Universal-Control/downloads Select "Mac OS 11.2 Big Sur" from the dropdown menu. After that's selected, click "Show Hide all versions of software downloads for Mac OS 11.2 Big Sur". You'll see several options but you'll want to download Universal Control v3.5.0.64605
Step 4: Once you've downloaded the firmware, open up the dmg, select "PreSonus Hardware Uninstaller" and follow the prompts. Once you've completed this, restart your computer.
Step 5: If it's not already on your desktop after rebooting, do a search in spotlight for UniversalControl. **MAKE SURE** that when you're searching for this, you confirm the one you're selecting is Universal Control v3.5.0.64605 and NOT another version you may have downloaded as you'll just re-install the version you had issues with. Once this is open, run the PreSonus Universal Control.pkg
Step 6: Follow the instructions and go through the installation process. DO NOT click the blue OK button if you get a security prompt saying the software is blocked. Open Security and Privacy in your settings, click the unlock button, enter your password if prompted and then click "Allow". This will prompt you to restart your computer once this process is finished. Restart your computer and you should be good to go. ** The main reason I was not getting re-prompted for the Allow button is that I never properly uninstalled the program in the correct order of operations listed above**
If you still have a blinking light after you restarted, try restarting one more time. If you have a solid blue light and things are back to normal -- You're welcome.
If you open Universal Control after this, do not update anything -- at least not for now.
