Clicks and pops when playing back audio

[Anders C]

Hi everybody,

I bought an Mbox mini together with PT10 about a year ago and from the beginning I've had noticeable clicks and pops when playing back audio from the device thorugh Pro Tools. Earlier, I could get around it by changing the H/W buffer or number or processors used in the playback engine dialog (it didn't matter whether I increased or decreased the settings - it would disappear for an amount of time). But now (maybe after upgrading to v. 10.3.2) I have clicks and pops no matter what I do.

My PC is an Asus K93S with windows 7 and Intel i7 Processor. I really hope some of you have some advise for me on this issue. I was pretty astounded to see that Avid charges money for direct support online... Anyway, I hope you guys can help and please let me know if I've left out any vital information about my setup!

Cheers!

Anders

[albee1952]

Can't help much with so little info, but I would bet on one of two possible things going on. 1-did you do ALL the required system tweaks? And 2-are you recording to a separate and approved hard drive? The link below will explain how to post a Sandra report, which helps show important details you left out.

Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!

[Anders C]

Hi Albee,

Thanks for the reply! I've just completed the system tweaks... All except for the Network driver update (I couldn't locate the driver) and the Turbo Boost C-State transition thing (Which didn't show up in the BIOS). Unfortunately, I am still experiencing the same problems with clicks/glitches in sound in Pro Tools.

Here is the Sandra report as requested. I hope this helps!

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : Anders-PC
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : ASUS K93SV
Serial Number : B7N0CJ4********
Chassis : ASUS Notebook
Mainboard : ASUS K93SV
Serial Number : BSN1234567**********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) K93SV 205 05/27/2011
Intel vPro : 7.00.10.1203
Total Memory : 7.91GB DDR3 SO-DIMM

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz (4C 8T 2.8GHz, 2.8GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 6MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC PGA988

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS Core (Sandy Bridge) Mobile DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Samsung M471B5273DH0-CH9 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10700S DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : CMO Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080, N184H6-L02
, 25.0")
Video Adapter : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (12CU 12SP SM5.0 650MHz/1.1GHz, 1GB DDR3 1.33GHz/2.13GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (96SP 2C 1.34GHz, 128kB L2, 1GB 1.8GHz 128-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (12SP 650MHz/1.1GHz, 1GB DDR3 1.33GHz/2.13GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (96SP 1.34GHz, 128kB L2, 1GB 1.8GHz 128-bit)
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M (96SP 2C 1.34GHz, 128kB L2, 1GB 1.8GHz 128-bit)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (C:) (E:)
Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (D:) (F:)
SlimtypeDVD A DS8A5SH (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (G:)
DTSOFT BDROM () : N/A (H:)

Logical Storage Devices
OS (C:) : 401GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm)
SDATA1 (D:) : 233GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
DATA (E:) : 506GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm)
SDATA2 (F:) : 233GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
Hard Disk (Q:) : N/A
Optical Drive (G:) : N/A @ SlimtypeDVD A DS8A5SH (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
Optical Drive (H:) : N/A @ DTSOFT BDROM ()

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS HM65 LPC Controller
Audio Device : ASUS Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Disk Controller : ASUS Cougar Point Mobile 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 2 : ASUS Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
USB Controller 3 : ASUS Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : HP Deskjet 3050 J610 series (600x300, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Scanners and Cameras
Scanner : Hewlett-Packard HP Deskjet 3050 J610 series (NET) (Scanner, USB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : Atheros AR9002WB-1NG Wireless Network Adapter (802.11g (ERP), AES-CCMP, 54Mbps)

Power Management
Battery No 1 : TOSHIBA PA3533U 57.72Wh/4.62Ah

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9

[albee1952]

Not positive, but it looks like you have a single hard drive with partitions. That is even worse than just a single drive(in any case, you NEED a separate physical hard drive for your sessions). With Windows 7, you should be good with a USB2 drive, but make certain it is 7200 rpm. eSATA is better, but not every laptop has that feature. Your computer has integrated graphics, which is often a show stopper for Pro Tools(but don't give up just yet). the Wifi needs to be disabled when running Pro Tools(at least until things start working well, then you can try leaving it on and see if it causes problems). My 2 cents here, but I would double your RAM by adding another matching stick(I mean exactly the same make and model).

You might also want to check on Core Parking to see if some of your cpu cores are being allowed to park(robbing you of horsepower). Search youtube for "core parking with intel i7" for help on that.

If you are more concerned with playback than recording, setting the buffer to 1024 might help too.

[Anders C]

Thanks for the feedback! It sounds like my computer isn't really geared for it. I might just have to install it on my macbook instead... Although I actually thought that I had 2 separate harddisks in my laptop with 2 partitions each. I don't know if the Sandra report indicates something else?

[Darryl Ramm]

You do have two physical drives....

Storage Devices
Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (C:) (E:)
Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (D:) (F:)

And you should be using one drive for system/boot (partition C: I assume) and the other drive for sessions. Which would mean you sessions are either on the D: or F: partitions. Any VI samples should be on partition C: as well. Partition E: should not be being used by anything, neither should whichever of D: or E: does not contain the audio sessions.

Darryl