Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Hi guys, I've scoured the existing threads on this forum and haven't found any solution yet to my problem. It started about 2-3 weeks ago. I can open Pro Tools 10, but literally any action I take is followed by around 30 seconds of unresponsive downtime. This includes opening a session, clicking on the timeline, changing a setting, etc. Pro Tools is often listed as "Not Responding" in task manager during this time. CPU Usage also jumps up to 90-100%.

Quick list of things I've tried:

Reinstalling from scratch (including using CCleaner to clear registries/misc files)
Reinstalling ASIO4All
Run as administrator, run in compatibility mode
Closing unnecessary programs
De-activating Internet Explorer
Moving all Plug-Ins out of the plug-in folders
Updating drivers from manufacturers' websites in Device Manager

Might be missing some others I've tried, but damn this problem is PERSISTENT. I'm running Windows 10 which I know is already a risk, but it was running completely perfectly for about 4 months on it, then all of a sudden this problem.

I'm running Pro Tools 10.3.5. If you guys have any insight as to what could've caused this, I would be extremely appreciative. Tech troubleshooting can be so frustrating. Personally, I have a small feeling that perhaps a Windows 10 update has caused this problem, but I don't really know how to pinpoint which. I could potentially rollback to a time when I knew Pro Tools worked fine, but I want to see if you guys have anything to suggest!

Thanks for any help guys. This forum is the best (first time poster, but I creep here often when I need Pro Tools help).

And finally, here's the beloved Sandra:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ID
Host Name : Matthew
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : Lenovo 20193 IDEAPAD
Serial Number : 100084*******
Chassis : Lenovo Notebook
Mainboard : Lenovo INVALID
Serial Number : YB002*****
BIOS : Lenovo 6BCN42WW(V2.02) 02/08/2013
Total Memory : 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMM

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (4C 8T 3.2GHz/3.4GHz, 3.2GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 6MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC PGA988 (G2)

Chipset
Memory Controller : Lenovo Core (Ivy Bridge) Mobile DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM 1.6GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Ramaxel RMT3160ED58E9W1600 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-12800SO DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Ramaxel RMT3160ED58E9W1600 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-12800SO DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : LG Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080, LP156WF1-TLC1, 15.6")
Monitor/Panel : ACR S230HL
(1920x1080, 23.1")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (2CU 384SP SM5.0 789MHz, 256kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (2CU 384SP SM5.0 789MHz, 256kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (384SP 2C 789MHz, 256kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit)
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (384SP 2C 789MHz, 256kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit)
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (384SP 2C 789MHz, 32kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit)
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (384SP 2C 789MHz, 32kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (384SP 2C 789MHz, 256kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (384SP 2C 789MHz, 256kB L2, 2GB 4GHz 128-bit)
OpenGL Processor : GeForce GT 650M/PCIe/SSE2 (2GB)
OpenGL Processor : GeForce GT 650M/PCIe/SSE2 (2GB)

Storage Devices
Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 (512.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, SED) : 477GB (C:) (D:) (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
LRS_ESP (E:) : 996MB (FAT32, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 (512.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, SED)
Windows8_OS (C:) : 260GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 (512.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, SED)
LENOVO (D:) : 8GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 (512.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, SED)
WINRE_DRV : 1000MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 (512.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, SED)
Hard Disk : 450MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 (512.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, SED)
PBR_DRV : 20GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 (512.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, SED)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Lenovo Panther Point LPC Controller
Audio Device : Lenovo Panther Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Audio Device : Lenovo GK107 HDMI Audio Controller
Audio Codec : nVidia GeForce 6800 LE [NV40.2]
Disk Controller : Lenovo Panther Point Mobile 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
Disk Controller : Lenovo Standard SD Host Controller
USB Controller 1 : Lenovo Panther Point USB xHCI Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : Lenovo Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 3 : Lenovo Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send to Microsoft OneNote 15 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4 (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Print To PDF (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Sensors
Location : Microsoft Visual Studio Location Simulator Sensor (Location, Unknown)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.30) (Ethernet, 100Mbps)
Network Adapter : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 2230

Power Management
Battery No 1 : LENOVO PABAS0241231 6.50Wh/0.53Ah

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 10 Home 10.00.10240
Platform Compliance : x64

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Try trashing preferences and databases.

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

What is on the partition labeled LRS_ESP?... that is formatted FAT-32, which is not supported by Pro Tools. Lots going on on that one 512GB SSD. Does things work OK on Windows 8 on the other boot partition? you have reisntalled Pro Tools cleanly on both the Windows 8 and Windows 10 partitions?

Remove any media from CD/DVD drives.

What changed 2-3 weeks ago?

Make sure any anti-virus software is uninstalled or completely disabled.

Trash prefs & DB as already suggested.

Does that whole SSD pass disk verify OK?

Any interesting warnings/errors in the Windows event log?

Roll back to a backup from before then if nothign else works.

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Hey Wizzoboy, I've already tried that! I knew I forgot to add some things to the list of stuff I already tried. But thank you for the suggestion.

Darryl --

My partitions are strange I know, this laptop used to have a regular HDD in it, but I replaced it with a SSD. That was long ago, and the cloning process left behind some strange partitions. I think there is backup/repair/boot information on some or all of them, so I'm reluctant to delete them. None of those were changed before or after this problem started occurring. The drive labeled Windows8 is actually my main partition, running Windows 10.

Laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive on it.

I honestly cannot think of anything that changed. I've gone through my list of installed programs and whatnot and I don't see anything that gives off a red flag to me.

Anti-virus was completely disabled, and I even tried uninstalling it and trying a different anti-virus. Also tried disabling Windows Defender/Firewall.

Already tried trashing prefs/db

As far as the "whole SSD" passing disk verify -- how can I do that? If I right click a partition>properties>tools>Check, is that sufficient? I've done that to all the partitions and no errors were found.

Checking Windows event log was a good idea, I forgot this existed. I found a lot of copies of the following error that are spaced out around every 30ish seconds during the time I was testing Pro Tools again last night. This must be related to what I'm experiencing, but I don't know how to read this to tell what's wrong. Here it is copied and pasted:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Faulting application name: ProTools.exe, version: 10.3.4.181, time stamp: 0x51330148
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000
Faulting process id: 0x23bc
Faulting application start time: 0x01d103e2223c4118
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Avid\Pro Tools\ProTools.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: a5b8ccd0-ff9f-4676-9d8f-8434e661edca
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is what's listed under the "details" tab of the same error:

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-10-11T05:05:36.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>14373</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Matthew</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data>ProTools.exe</Data>
<Data>10.3.4.181</Data>
<Data>51330148</Data>
<Data>unknown</Data>
<Data>0.0.0.0</Data>
<Data>00000000</Data>
<Data>c0000005</Data>
<Data>00000000</Data>
<Data>23bc</Data>
<Data>01d103e2223c4118</Data>
<Data>C:\Program Files (x86)\Avid\Pro Tools\ProTools.exe</Data>
<Data>unknown</Data>
<Data>a5b8ccd0-ff9f-4676-9d8f-8434e661edca</Data>
<Data />
<Data />
</EventData>
</Event>

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Pro Tools 10 and Windows 10? Windows 10 is not qualified yet. Not sure it PT 10 will even work on Windows 10.

Is there a floppy controller in BIOS? If so disable it.

Have you done all the Windows optimizations?

Cheers,

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Well the event log is capturing a ceious probvlem gbut I'm not sure what that is.

I could not decode what all those partitions are, but unmount any you are not using, or just verify each one individually, and be paranoid and unmount all you don't need. I'd generally want to understand what all those partitions are, recovery, BIOS images etc. you want to do that especially to be sure you are backing up needed stuff. Maybe reinstall the OEM Windows from Lenovo etc.

So where are you recording audio to? OK Avid's recommendations was you need a dedicated audio/session drive. Your SSD may or may not be suitable for recording audio to. Poor setup of that drive (not much free unused space), or some drive problem might cause this, but unlikely, but still a good test is to try running a session off a suitable external HDD or SSD.

Definitely disable any flooy drive that appears in the Windoes Device manage, yes even though you don't have a floppy drive (I forget Pro Tools 10 was affected by that problems as well)... but that won't magically start happening (unless say a previously disabled floppy came back to life).

I'd guess that having media in a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive is a more frequent cause of appearance of unresponsiveness, is A/V software updating/scanning, or disk indexing software running etc. (but normally on a HDD).

Windows Defender is antivirus software, just uninstall all this crapware while debugging. I'd never have installed it to start with on a Pro Tools system.

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Weed -- I've actually had Windows 10 running Pro Tools 10 for about 4 months until this problem began. It was totally flawless up until then, save for an occasional crash. And I've checked the BIOS and device manager, no floppy controller. Yes I've checked the Windows Optimizations and done everything.

Darryl -- If nothing else, you've at least directed me to the Windows Log where I found the error happening. So at least that is progress. I've cleaned up some of the partitions and my SSD actually had a pretty significant amount of unallocated space. I had a lot of problems transferring my HDD data to my SDD, that's why the partitions are so wonky. But that was long ago and seems irrelevant to this problem. Nothing in that area was changed before or after this problem began.

I'm recording audio to the same partition that I keep all my apps and programs on -- all in one partition. I know that's not optimal but it worked fine for the months leading up to this problem.

There's no floppy controller and no CD/DVD drive on this laptop. I've also disabled indexing for my C: drive.

And yes I've checked if Windows Defender was the culprit, but no luck there either.

Right now the best lead I have is the error in my Windows log. If there's any insight into how to read it (posted above, in my last reply), I think that would really help me out. Any other insights/tips to try would be amazing too. Just want to say thanks for all the help so far.

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Do you have an external ASIO audio interface to try besides using ASIO4ALL? Unfortunately I don't think there are rel ASIO drivers available for the onboard audio so you are stuck with ASIO4ALL there.

Set CPU=3 in the playback engine settings, sec buffer size 512, make sure ignore errors is not checked, trash prefs, try a new session.

Try an external audio disk.

Check the partitions verify OK, but I don't think that is an issue. and I'd not try to change partitions around now. that won't fix thigns and

I know there is no physical floppy drive, but did you check in device manager for any floppy drives listed there and disable whatever shows up there?

Failing all that, and if you don't have a backup to roll back to then bite the bullet and do a clean Windows install. Ideally on a spare bootable external drive.

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Yeah unfortunately it has to be ASIO4ALL for me.

I've tried messing with the playback engine settings, nothing really changed.

What do you mean by an external audio disk?

Partitions are all fine at this point, I did check them out.

And yeah unfortunately I may have to just dive into a clean install. I don't have a ton of stuff installed anyway, but still a pain in the butt for not even guaranteeing a fix.

I have a question though -- I have an external HDD that I'm not really using. Could I potentially install Windows 7 on that HDD and just run Pro Tools off of there? Haven't tried anything like that yet, but that might be a nice compromise for me.

edit: Also thanks again for sticking around and offering more help! I really appreciate it.

Re: Sluggish/unresponsive Pro Tools 10 on any action
 

Try using an external drive for your audio/session work. 7,200 RPM or faster or a good SSD, ideally a USB 3 drive on your laptop.

Yes, and that is exactly what I would do. But what spec drive is it? You can get pretty great performance with something like this one on USB 3 on your laptop... http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Portab.../dp/B00RWXVMRS. Really slow old HDD are a PITA even just for for a boot/system drive. With a fast USB3 SSD you should be able running a small test session on the external boot/system drive.

And then you can clone that to your internal SSD once/if it work OK.

Your laptop also likely takes a second infernal HDD (the second in place of the optical drive). It may make sense to look at that as well, to run two internal SSDs in future.