My last straw.

[ReachMusicProductions]

Windows 7, Pro tools 10.3.6 and 11.0.0

Focusrite saffire pro 40.

For the last 6 months I've been reinstalling windows on a monthly basis, checking, updating, removing and reinstalling drivers to try and find a damn culprit for my constant onslaught of issues with Pro tools. I haven't been able to come to my computer and work on a session ONCE in the past six months without some kind of error or a session needing to be restarted.

This is completely outrageous I look like a fool in front of clients and have to hold off on my work because of these tech problems.

I thought maybe the saffire pro 40 sample rate was changing between sessions and causing me to close and reopen the session at the desired sample rate. Well that wasn't it.

Tried trashing the pref's folder, not that either.

I've done all the recommended optimizations from Sweetwater and Avid and honestly my machine seems to run slower and has more errors than ever before. This is getting completely unusable.

Money won't allow me to switch platforms at this time. What do I do?

I've had waves and focusrite tech support on the case to no avail. I'm lost and honestly about to just leave PT alone until I can afford a mac.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Computer specs here - http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/rec...-computer.html

[guitardom]

The 1155 socket is an issue. All on board die graphics have always been a problem. Looking at your link it seems you are using the on board graphics and no vid card. That is numero uno imo.

400w PSU is a bit low imo. They never perform at peak power. Need overhead for this reason. I would not go below around 700W or so.

Also can not vouch for your ssd. There are some that are working much better than others.

Its not going to cause your problems, but, higher cache drives (your audio drive is 16 mb cache) do perform better. 32 or 64mb are your best bets.

There is also a lot of issues I have seen on the Focusrite drivers. Might do a search for them specifically as well.

[joesackic]

2 Major things stick out to me right away when looking at your specs.

1. I didnt see a graphics card listed. You should not be using on board graphics, This is just asking for it...

2. You have a PCIE add on firewire card. What kind of chipset is it based off of? You should only be running a card based off a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset. It will be printed on the card if it is one.

Also, I don't know what you have installed on your computer, but if you are running it in a professional environment there should be nothing on it except the OS, Pro Tools, your drivers and plugins. I wouldnt install anything else on there and keep all other files on a external hard drive.

[DJ Hellfire]

Definitely a hardware issue! As mentioned, dedicated graphics and and fw controller are two standouts. I just switched to a Mac Pro myself. Thinking of selling my Pro Tools PC build for a nice price if you're interested.

[Greg M]

In Summary:

The SIIG 3-port Firewire card uses a TI chip. I used one with my 002 with no issues. Should be OK.

WD Green for backup might be OK, but I wouldn't use a blue for the audio drive. WD Black 32 or 64 MB cache.

Socket 1155 works sometimes but not others. Socket 2011 is rock solid.

On board video often a no go.

400w Power supply probably too small.

Also, probably wouldn't hurt to make sure your memory is tuned up for your specific setup.

Greg

[zedhed]

Originally Posted by ReachMusicProductions

This is completely outrageous I look like a fool in front of clients and have to hold off on my work because of these tech problems.

Not sure why you'd have an attitude like this when clearly you didn't look at, or take any notice of this thread before jumping in and buying what is an average platform at best;

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=238426

[ReachMusicProductions]

Originally Posted by guitardom

The 1155 socket is an issue. All on board die graphics have always been a problem. Looking at your link it seems you are using the on board graphics and no vid card. That is numero uno imo.

400w PSU is a bit low imo. They never perform at peak power. Need overhead for this reason. I would not go below around 700W or so.

Also can not vouch for your ssd. There are some that are working much better than others.

Its not going to cause your problems, but, higher cache drives (your audio drive is 16 mb cache) do perform better. 32 or 64mb are your best bets.

There is also a lot of issues I have seen on the Focusrite drivers. Might do a search for them specifically as well.

What is wrong with the onboard graphics card? I figured the 400w psu would be underpowered but my roomate who designs computers said that it would be sufficient.

The Crucial M4 has got some great reviews and has been the most solid part of the entire build thus far.

I also mistakenly bought the WD Blue drive for audio without doing the proper research.

Definitely seen a lot of issues with Focusrite drivers and PT lately on both platforms which is sucks because they make great boxes for the money.

[ReachMusicProductions]

Originally Posted by joesackic

2 Major things stick out to me right away when looking at your specs.

1. I didnt see a graphics card listed. You should not be using on board graphics, This is just asking for it...

2. You have a PCIE add on firewire card. What kind of chipset is it based off of? You should only be running a card based off a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset. It will be printed on the card if it is one.

Also, I don't know what you have installed on your computer, but if you are running it in a professional environment there should be nothing on it except the OS, Pro Tools, your drivers and plugins. I wouldnt install anything else on there and keep all other files on a external hard drive.

Whats wrong with the onboard graphics?

The card I bought is a texas instruments chipset card and focusrite proclaimed it worth of use with the pro 40 and pt.

Definitely only the OS pro tools and plugins on this machine.

[ReachMusicProductions]

Originally Posted by zedhed

Not sure why you'd have an attitude like this when clearly you didn't look at, or take any notice of this thread before jumping in and buying what is an average platform at best;

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=238426

At the time I wasn't a pro tools user, I used reaper. It runs flawlessly on this system, but I am now a pro tools user, hence this thread and my dilemma. I don't think I have an attitude about it either. This was the first thing I built for my home studio and at the time I didn't have close to the amount of knowledge and resource material I do now. Live and learn.

[Craig F]

Originally Posted by ReachMusicProductions

Whats wrong with the onboard graphics?

everything, there like the disruptive kid in school