Low Mic Signal via Mbox2

Question

More frustrated n00b questions:
I'm getting a really low mic signal into Logic.....
So in trying to research why, I'm spending HOURS combing the web looking for "mbox2 low mic signal", "Logic Pro low mic signal", etcetera ad infinitum, trying to find information. FINALLY I find, buried in a mess of search results, a single sentence on the Digidesign site indicating that rather than select the mbox2 driver in Logic, I have to use DAE (and I also have to download an update to the DAE). So I download and install the update, relaunch everything (a few times), and now am asked to authorize all of Digidesign's various third-party Plugins when I start Logic. Except that I can't activate them because my Mbox2 didn't come with an iLok dongle (which the box said I'd need a USB port for -- I dunno if it was supposed to come with one?). So I click through 20 different third-party-plugin failed activation dialogues as Logic boots, only to be told at last that Logic doesn't recognize any hardware attached. !
So where it was recognizing the mbox driver before, now it's not. (I was able to get a mic signal and record audio yesterday; but the level was VERY low, to the point of having to pump the levels so high that it distorted.)
I don't know if this is a Mbox issue or a Logic issue or a mic issue. I'm leaning toward an mbox/Logic compatibility issue but I'm trying to figure out how the f* to fix it. And my eyes are beginning to cross.
Help!

Answer 1

Doesn't the Apple Store sell mbox????? I'm sure they
used to if they don't now. I wish they wouldn't
recommend a product that proclaims itself a viable
substitute for things as fundamental as a preamp that
are not sufficient to be. (I haven't looked at the
Store; maybe they stopped recommending it.)
Thanks for the info
They used to sell the original Mbox, that is why I bought
one. I saw it on their web site sitting next to and plugged
into my the same Titanium G4 laptop I had. They even
had this whole web page about how great Digi products
would work on Macs. They had me all psyched about
getting pro stools. It only took a few months to see
the way things really were. After that, I did not
swallow everything Apple fed me. After I decided to
to try Logic things got ugly. Digi has a seperate audio
driver for people that want to use their hardware and
not their software. It is almost like
revenge for rejecting them. If you update OSX ( which
you would be crazy to do, once you discover this)
you always need to update their audio driver or the stuff
does not work and lets just say they are not very prompt
on the updates to this driver. I will eventually be getting
another interface and like you,I dont care if it is the
industry standard. I will never buy any Digi products again.
The only thing that keeps me from letting it go on Ebay is
that it has got a pair of high quality Focusrite preamps
in it. Digi, I guess thought that they were not as good
as their own (yea, right) so that is what they put in
the Mbox2, those cheesy 50db gain preamps. Well sorry
you had to a lesson the hard way. I try and persuade
people against buying their stuff but if you had tried
to persuade me before I bought mine, I am not sure
you could have done it. That web page Apple made
sucked me right in.