Lenovo Thinkpad Interrupt Problems

[DJ Decryption]

Dear DigiTech,

Per your request in the "Interrupt Problems" topic, I am creating a new post here to avoid everything getting bogged down there. I've tried to fix this issue on my own (using a lot of your recommendations from other posts), but I'm at an impasse. I was about to bite the bullet and purchase a new computer, but I thought I'd give it one last try and see if you could see where potential conflicts would be arising. Anyone else who has thoughts, feel free to offer them!

Here's the scenario: I'm running a Lenovo Thinkpad Z60m (Sandra specs below) with the Mbox Mini and PTLE 7.1. Everything worked great for about 3 weeks, and suddenly I started receiving the -9092, -9093, -9094 interrupt errors anywhere from 1-5 minutes into a session during record and playback. I hadn't installed anything new or changed any settings that would have caused this problem. It occurs with the same frequency whether I use my external firewire drive or my internal system drive. I tried disabling all the recommended things (bluetooth, wireless, APCI battery control etc.), running in diagnostic mode, switching to standard IDE controllers, reinstalling PTLE several times... no luck. I'm stumped because many of the other Thinkpad models are compatible, and I can't find any components in this thing that aren't up to Digi specs. The chipset is fine. It's just weird that it was working for 3 weeks and then start having interrupt problems. I thought it might be the external HD (Western Digital seems to have caused problems for a couple of people), but the same thing happens with the same predictability when I record to the system drive. I appreciate any help you can offer - you're my last resort before I have to drop another couple grand on a new laptop. Thank you!

SiSoftware Sandra

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.13GHz
Speed : 2.13GHz
Performance Rating : PR2873 (estimated)
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Mobile
Internal Data Cache : 32kB Synchronous, Write-Back, 8-way set, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2MB ECC Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector

Mainboard
Bus(es) : PCI PCIe IMB PCMCIA CardBus USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : No
MP APIC : Yes
System BIOS : IBM 77ET54WW (1.14 )
System : IBM 2529RCU
Mainboard : IBM 2529RCU
Total Memory : 1023MB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : IBM 82915PM/GM/GMS, 82910GML Host Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR2-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Default Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Default Monitor
Monitor/Panel : ThinkPad MaxBright Display 1280x800
Monitor/Panel : Generic Television
Adapter : ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600

Physical Storage Devices
Hard Disk : HTS721010G9SA00 (93GB)
Hard Disk : WD External HDD Device IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device
Hard Disk : IC25N080 ATMR04-0 USB Device
CD-ROM/DVD : HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-4082N (CD 24X Rd, 24X Wr) (DVD 3X Rd, 3X Wr)

Logical Storage Devices
IBM_PRELOAD (C:) : 89GB (67GB, 76% Free Space) (NTFS)
Audio CD (D:) : 0 byte(s) (CDFS)
My Book (E:) : 298GB (176GB, 59% Free Space) (FAT32)
R51 (F:) : 75GB (5.4GB, 7% Free Space) (NTFS)

Peripherals
Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 1 COM / 0 LPT
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2658
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2659
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265A
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265B
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 265C
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Mass Storage Device
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
USB Controller/Hub : Digidesign Mbox 2 Firmware Updater
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
PCMCIA/CardBus Controller : Ricoh R/RL/5C476(II) or Compatible CardBus Controller
Infrared Device : IBM ThinkPad Fast Infrared Port
Keyboard : Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : ThinkPad UltraNav Pointing Device

Communication Device(s)
Device : ThinkPad Modem

Printers and Faxes
Model : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Model : Canon MP170 Series Printer

Power Management
AC Line Status : On-Line

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)

Network Services
Adapter : Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet

Performance Tips
Notice 5901 : CD 1x= 150kB/s; Exercise caution when comparing measured versus published ratings.
Notice 5902 : DVD 1x= 11.08Mbps Exercise caution when comparing measured versus published ratings.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[DJ Decryption]

Sorry to be persistent, but does anyone have any thoughts on this issue? My "do-or-die" time frame for having to make a decision about buying a new laptop is rapidly approaching. :-(

[DJ Decryption]

Bump

[DigiTechSupt]

PCMCIA/CardBus Controller : Ricoh R/RL/5C476(II) or Compatible CardBus Controller

Printers and Faxes
Model : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Model : Canon MP170 Series Printer

A couple things we're seeing here - first, that Ricoh controller has been known to be problematic in other systems, so I imagine that's very likely a cause here. Which cardbus controller are you using, exactly?

Also, I wonder if disconnecting those printers/faxes has any effect...?

[DJ Decryption]

DigiTech,

Thank you so much for your response... I really appreciate your help with this issue. Here is the exact Ricoh Controller I'm using:

***************

CardBus/PCMCIA Controller 1
Model : Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 CardBus Controller

****************

I disabled this controller in the Device Manager, restarted, and tried running PTLE again. The -9092/3/4 errors came up again after 4 minutes of playback in the program. (I also unplugged all my USB peripherals except the MBox Mini, per your suggestion.)

Is there something more I'd need to do to resolve any possible conflicts with the Ricoh controller aside from disabling the device?

I really appreciate your taking the time to help me out... I know how difficult these compatibility issues can be.

Thank you so much,
Blake

[DJ Decryption]

On the Ricoh note... I just found "Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller" and "Ricoh SD Bus Host Adapter" under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers. Should I disable those as well? The controller I just disabled was the "Ricoh R/RL/5C476(II) or Compatible CardBus Controller" under PCMCIA adapters.

Thanks again,
Blake

[DigiTechSupt]

On the Ricoh note... I just found "Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller" and "Ricoh SD Bus Host Adapter" under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers. Should I disable those as well? The controller I just disabled was the "Ricoh R/RL/5C476(II) or Compatible CardBus Controller" under PCMCIA adapters.

Thanks again,
Blake

I'm really not sure, to be honest - I don't know what that will do, exactly. You could try disabling them and see if anything changes.

What type of drive are you using for recording and playback of audio files?

One other thing - have you tried disabling the Microsoft APCI Method Control Battery?

[DJ Decryption]

DigiTech, thanks for your suggestions... here's what I tried.

I just did a full format and reinstall of my computer, and the first thing I installed was Protools. I didn't install any other programs/devices. I received the interrupt errors within the first 5 minutes, which blows my mind because last time I did a full format and reinstall, PTLE worked fine for 3 weeks (with lots of other programs etc. installed). I had trashed all the Digi Databases on all drives... I didn't install any plugins when reloading it this time. I tried running the sessions off both my WD 320GB External and my system drive - 4 tracks, no plugins, no recording, just playback, on both old and new sessions. I got the -9092/3/4 errors within 5 minutes on both drives (at all H/W Buffer settings).

I'm really stumped... could something have happened to the Mbox Mini or the interface because of an XP update or something to that effect? It seems to be a hardware conflict, obviously, but I've disabled pretty much everything imaginable short of crippling the computer, and nothing seems to help.

Thank you for any further suggestions or help you can offer.

-Blake

[DigiTechSupt]

I hate to make you do this, but can you list the specific troubleshooting steps you've taken, so that I can see if anything was missed and try to determine what the source of your problems are?

Also, one thing you may want to try is uninstalling the Primary and Secondary IDE controllers from the device manager and let Windows reinstall them - you may need to restart your computer a couple of times for the reinstall to complete, but I've seen this fix the problem on other laptops.

[DigiTechSupt]

One other thing - can you give me a clear idea of how everything is connected to the computer, including any other peripherals that may be attached?