pro tools keeps freezing

[richsorr]

PTLE 7.0 keeps freezing everyone once in a while and the light on my firewire drive will go steady red. I have to force quit PT. I also started getting the CNeolOBlock.cpp line 164 errors, but that was solved once I cleared thrashed my digidesign databases and volume. I also trashed my prefrences and all that good stuff. Any idea why PT keeps freezing, could my firewire drive be going? any help appreciated, thanks

[richsorr]

Update: "DAE can't get audio from the drive(s) fast enough. Your drive may be too slow or fragmented, or a firewire drive could be having trouble due to the extra firewire bandwidth or cpu load (-9073).

I've had this external firewire drive for a while and it doesn't have that much on it.

[richsorr]

anyone????

[Park Seward]

You haven't given enough info for anyone to really help. I don't even know what PT you are using or what computer and OS you have. From Digi:

To enable Digidesign Technical Support and other users to assist you with your problem, PLEASE provide a complete system profile as well as a complete description of the problem you're experiencing, including the exact text and error numbers in any error messages you're gettting.

At the very least, we need the following information:

Computer model and processor speed
OS version
Pro Tools version
Amount of RAM installed
Any attached peripherals (hard drives, video devices, other firewire or USB devices that may be attached, etc)
Number and type (firewire, SATA, SCSI, etc) of drives installed
A concise list of the troubleshooting you've already tried - please be as specific as possible! The first thing we'll ask is 'Have you done everything in the Setup and General Troubleshooting thread?', so we'll want to know that you've done ALL of it and, if you've not done everything, we need to know what you have or have not done, as this can have a huge impact on further troubleshooting.

Try this from tomdiek:

To trash preferences:
Mac Hard drive-users-users file folder-library-preferences. Drag all Digidesign preferences to trash.(com.digidesign.protools.plist,DAEprefernces ,Digisetup.OSX etc....)

To trash databases:
The database folders are easy to find........folders are alphabetically listed so go to the "D's" and trash those on both drives. Empty the trash and restart.

Repairing permissions:
Mac hard drive-Apps-utilities-open disk utility. Select first aid tab then select repair permissions. Apply to all volumes.

[richsorr]

PTLE 7.0
Dual 2GHz G5
512 MB DDR SDRAM

OSX 10.4.6

I trashed the Prefrences and Databases and repaired permissions.

[Park Seward]

512 RAM is the minimum Pro Tools can use. Adding more RAM will improve things greatly.

Total System RAM
512MB minimum required for Pro Tools LE 7.0/7.1 (Digi 002, 002 Rack, Mbox 2, Mbox 2 Mini, Mbox) - More Recommended
768MB minimum required for Pro Tools LE 7.1.2 (Mbox 2 Pro) - More Recommended
More RAM increases overall system and Pro Tools performance
More RAM suggested for sessions with high edit density, extensive use of plug-ins, or simultaneous use with MIDI sequencers

Low Buffer Size/Multi-Processor Issues with Pro Tools 7 on Mac OS X


There is a known issue with low hardware buffer sizes and the multiprocessor RTAS engine of Pro Tools 7 (HD, LE, and M-Powered). Specifically at buffer sizes lower than 512, multiprocessor setups of Pro Tools can show a marked INCREASE in CPU utilization as you enable more processors. While dual processor models also exhibit this behavior somewhat, it is more noticeable with 3 or 4 processors enabled on the Power Mac Quad G5.

Digidesign is aware of the problem, and is actively working on the issue. We have run a number of tests, and while we continue to investigate a fix, our tests have turned up a few situations where this problem is likely to manifest, and a workaround for those scenarios.

At buffer sizes 512 and higher, we recommend you use the maximum number of processors. More processors will give you more cycles to run additional RTAS plug-ins and more tracks with little additional overhead from Pro Tools' management of additional processors.

We recommend the following setting for existing or new sessions that require lower buffer sizes:
In "Setup/Playback Engine" lower "RTAS Processors" to "2 Processors".
If you still see errors, one or more of the following will reduce the CPU utilization below the error threshold:
- Make some plug-ins inactive
- Make some tracks inactive
If errors still occur, follow the same instructions with one processor enabled
Once you are mixing, you may use all processors, and restore any inactive tracks/plug-ins. You can then increase the HW buffer size to 512 or higher to prevent errors.

Try updating to 7.1.

[richsorr]

"DAE can't get audio from the drive(s) fast enough. Your drive may be too slow or fragmented, or a firewire drive could be having trouble due to the extra firewire bandwidth or cpu load (-9073).


for some reason one of the sessions I was doing was saving at like 75GB, why on earth would it do that? I bought a new external firewire drive and things seem to be working, but I would really like to get the old one working since the 300 bucks I spent on the new one isn't really in my budget...any ideas?

[Park Seward]

Try reformatting the drive.

Macintosh Journaled File System Recommended for Pro Tools

Mac OS X 10.4 incorporates a journaled file system, which will automatically log any file modifications. If your computer crashes badly enough to require a restart (or a restart from a power failure), the OS will then use the journal to aid in fixing any disk problems caused by the crash.

Mac OS X 10.4 ships with journaling on by default. Digidesign now recommends that customers format their media drives with journaling turned on. When using Apple"s Disk Utility program to format drives, Digidesign recommends choosing "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" format, instead of "Mac OS Extended."

Note: Mac OS 10.4 includes two new formatting options:
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)
Digidesign has not tested these new formatting options with Pro Tools, and therefore these are not recommended. Please choose the following option for drive formatting:
Mac OS Extended (Journaled)