Pro Tools First crashes on startup

[Bones3010]

Hello everyone... I apologize if this is an issue that's been addressed before, but I've yet to find a solution and figured this would be the best place to ask.

I've downloaded and installed the latest version of Pro Tools First 12 on my Alienware laptop and cannot get it to run consistently. I've registered with iLok and have only been able to get it to fully load up once. What happens is the splash screen comes up with drivers loading, etc. and a popup says:

"Welcome to Pro Tools First. Before you get started you will be directed to the Playback Engine. Please be sure that the proper audio playback service is selected." Then, when I click OK, the program crashes and another popup shows:

"Pro Tools First Application has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available." I click OK, the program closes entirely and no solution comes.

This happened on my first run, then after a few tries it loaded only one time the next day and seemed to be functioning fine. Then every time since I've had this same crash and haven't been able to run it since.

As mentioned, this is running on a brand new top of the line Alienware laptop with only a couple of other programs installed since I've gotten it, so there shouldn't be a conflict with any other programs. Also, this being a gaming computer, it's got plenty of processing power and memory. I can't imagine it being a hardware issue. All of my drivers have been updated, and being Windows 10, all updates are installed (whether I want them or not). I've tried disabling non-essential background apps to see if that works, also with no effect. I tried running the program in compatibility mode, also with no effect.

I'm very frustrated because part of the reason I got such a powerful laptop was specifically to get in to the world of digital recording and running Pro Tools in particular. In order to learn some basics I figured I'd start out with First and then upgrade to the full paid version of Pro Tools, but if I can't even get this version running I'm happy I didn't go right for the paid version. Can anyone think of what's going on here and how I can fix the problem?

Thank in advance for any/all suggestions!

[Southsidemusic]

Hey

Welcome to the Community,

This is unfortunately user error and would have happened with full version or free First version.

On PC computers without external interfaces you need to download an asio driver in order to use theonboard soundcard.

Its free and you can download from www.asio4all.com

Install restart and hold downthe Nkey while launching PTFirst and choose the asio4all as sound option and you should be golden

[Bones3010]

Thank you so much! I'll give this a try and will check back in with the results... Fingers crossed! ;-)

[Bones3010]

Ugh...

No luck with this. Same exact issue as described after installing asio4all. I installed this driver, restarted, and held down the 'N' key while trying to run PT without luck. No option to change the audio driver came up or anything of the sort. I tried holding the 'N' key before, during, and after clicking the PT icon to be sure I wasn't doing it at the wrong time to no avail. I'm not sure if there's a way to set asio4all as the default driver for PT in some other way, but doing it this way certainly didn't work.

Any other suggestions? ...And thank you again for the help!

[Southsidemusic]

If installed correct the N KEY should work on all computers ...

Something is not right with the asio installation.

What happens if you let PT launch all the way and then goto settings and then playback and choose asio4all as your playback audio engine there? Does PT start up now or no?

[Bones3010]

I can't get PT to launch at ALL. Just as described in my first post, I click the PT icon and the splash screen shows, along with the progress bar initializing drivers, scanning plugins, etc. When it gets to 'initializing audio engine' for the progress bar, an Avid pop-up comes up welcoming me to Pro Tools, and that I will be directed to choose the playback engine. I click 'OK', and then another Windows pop-up comes up stating that PT has stopped working and that "a problem caused the program to stop working correctly", with a button to close the program. I cannot get PT to launch at all beyond this, so I cannot choose an engine, driver, or whatever. I've fiddled around with my audio drivers through Windows/control panel, device manager, and even tried installing my USB interface in the hopes that the drivers for this would somehow cause PT to start acting right, but to no avail. Getting really frustrated. Something tells me it's a simple cause/solution, but I can't figure out what it could be. :-/

[Southsidemusic]

You need PT to recognize a audio interface. You said you have a USB interface, which do you have and why haven't you installed that with correct drivers? PT will NOT launchj or wirk without either a correctly setup asio4all driver or a dedicated audio interface.

[Bones3010]

I have a focusrite scarlett 2i2 interface. All drivers, etc. have been installed for it and it seems to be working just fine on its own. As far as I know I have all the necessary drivers for PT to run at this point, and I've restarted the PC more times than I can count in order to get things to reset and play well together but nothing is having the desired effect. I'm out of ideas... What's especially weird is that PT did open up and run appropriately just that ONE time, and that was prior to me installing the interface, so it must be something not cooperating with PT on my computer.

[Southsidemusic]

Well you should have mentioned the 2i2 in your replies as you wont need asio4all if you alreadyhave an interface. Make sure you install the latest drivers of the interface and restart PT and see if the N key works with that setup instead.

[Bones3010]

If you re-read my earlier posts you'll see that I didn't install that interface when I started this thread. I only installed it after your initial suggestion to run asio4all failed to work. I've tried both your suggestion and then running setup for the 2i2 and related drivers. Neither have done the trick. And again, pressing 'N' during startup does nothing either. PT crashes without responding to anything I press.