Playback skips and often stops, forcing buffer size change.

[whiteraven85]

Hi all. In the past I have been able to grind through the other threads on this forum to find solutions, but this time I am at an impasse.

My problem is whenever I move the slider to view other faders on my screen, or even relocate a plugin that is pulled up, the playback will skip and often stop. This forces me to constantly change the buffer size to reset it. Obviously not ideal for productive workflow.

My system usage is normal...well below some of the most intense sessions I've run without so much as a hiccup. I have disabled all startup programs and every service that isn't Avid or Windows related in the System Configuration menu (I recently sussed out a problem with the AMD External Events Utility that was causing massive slow downs), but nothing has helped.

The only things that have changed since Pro Tools was running like a boss are a Windows update, an AMD driver update (which I've tried rolling back to no avail), and some free plugins that I downloaded that I have since deleted. No change. My antivirus is off, but I had run it to make sure I didn't pick something up on those free plugins. Nada. I'm hoping that someone spots something glaringly obvious in my Sandra Report, or has had the same problem and found a solution.

Thanks in advance, and let me know if I can supply any other pertinent information.



SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : Kingston-PC
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : GigaByte GA-880GMA-USB3
Chassis : GigaByte Desktop
Mainboard : GigaByte GA-880GMA-USB3
BIOS : Award (OEM) F3 10/20/2011
Total Memory : 16GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor (3C 6T 3.52GHz/4.1GHz, 2GHz IMC, 3x 2MB L2, 8MB L3)
Socket/Slot : AM2r2/AM3

Chipset
Memory Controller : AMD RS780/880 Host Bridge 2x 1.1GHz (2.2GHz)
Memory Controller : AMD F15 (Orochi) CPU HT Hub 2x 1.1GHz (2.2GHz), 2x 8GB DIMM DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Crucial/Micron BLS4G3D1609ES2LX0 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (9-9-9-24 5-37-12-6)
Memory Module : Crucial/Micron BLS4G3D1609ES2LX0 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (9-9-9-24 5-37-12-6)
Memory Module : Crucial/Micron BLS4G3D1609ES2LX0 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (9-9-9-24 5-37-12-6)
Memory Module : Crucial/Micron BLS4G3D1609ES2LX0 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (9-9-9-24 5-37-12-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Samsung T22B350
(1920x1080, 21.5")
Monitor/Panel : Samsung T22B350
(1920x1080, 21.5")
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon R9 200 / HD 7900 Series (32CU 2048SP SM5.5 300MHz/1GHz, 3GB DDR5 600MHz/5.5GHz 384-bit, PCIe 3.0 x16)
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon R9 200 / HD 7900 Series (32CU 2048SP SM5.5 300MHz/1GHz, 3GB DDR5 600MHz/5.5GHz 384-bit, PCIe 3.0 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL : AMD Radeon R9 200 / HD 7900 Series (2048SP 32C 300MHz/1GHz, 3GB DDR5 600MHz/5.5GHz 384-bit)
D3D 11 : AMD Radeon R9 200 / HD 7900 Series (2048SP 32C 300MHz/1GHz, 3GB DDR5 600MHz/5.5GHz 384-bit)
OpenGL : AMD Radeon R9 200 / HD 7900 Series (2048SP 32C 300MHz/1GHz, 3GB DDR5 600MHz/5.5GHz 384-bit)
OpenGL : AMD Radeon R9 200 / HD 7900 Series (2048SP 32C 300MHz/1GHz, 3GB DDR5 600MHz/5.5GHz 384-bit)

Storage Devices
WDC WD10EZEX-00RKKA0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (C:)
WDC WD1002FBYS-18W8B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache) : 932GB (F:)
WDC WD1002FBYS-18W8B0 (1TB, USB3/SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache) : 932GB (H:)
Seagate ST2000DM001-9YN164 (2TB, USB3/SATA300/600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 2TB (G:)
HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH24NS90 (SATA, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
System : 499MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ WDC WD10EZEX-00RKKA0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
AudioFiles (F:) : 932GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ WDC WD1002FBYS-18W8B0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache)
NI_Files (H:) : 932GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ WDC WD1002FBYS-18W8B0 (1TB, USB3/SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache)
Games (G:) : 2TB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Seagate ST2000DM001-9YN164 (2TB, USB3/SATA300/600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
OSDisk (C:) : 930GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ WDC WD10EZEX-00RKKA0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Hard Disk : 851MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ WDC WD10EZEX-00RKKA0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH24NS90 (SATA, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller #1 : AMD IXP SB600/700/800 SMBUS Controller
LPC Hub Controller #2 : AMD SB700/800 LPC host controller
LPC Legacy Controller #1 : ITE IT8720F
Audio Device : Gigabyte IXP SB600 High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Audio Codec : 32768 0000
Audio Device : Pine Technology Tahiti XT HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7970 Series]
Audio Codec : AMD HDMI Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Gigabyte SB700/800 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
USB Controller #1 : Gigabyte SB700/800 USB OHCI0 Controller
USB Controller #2 : Gigabyte SB700/800 USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller #3 : Gigabyte SB700/800 USB OHCI0 Controller
USB Controller #4 : Gigabyte SB700/800 USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller #5 : Gigabyte SB700/800 USB OHCI2 Controller
USB Controller #6 : Gigabyte SB700/800 USB OHCI0 Controller
USB Controller #7 : Gigabyte SB700/800 USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller #8 : Gigabyte Etron USB 3.0 Extensible Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller #1 : TI TSB43AB23 1394a-2000 OHCI PHY/link-layer Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller #1 : ATI SB800 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft Software Printer Driver (300x300, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4 (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Print To PDF (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Peripherals
Media Player : Seagate Backup+ Desk (1.82TB)
Media Player : ATA WDC WD1002FBYS-1 (931.51GB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : ASUS PCE-AC68 802.11ac Network Adapter (802.11ac (VHT), AES-CCMP, 1.09Gbps / 877.5Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 10 Personal 10.0.17763
Platform Compliance : x64

Performance Enhancing Tips
Warning 2513 : TPM not detected. Some security features are unavailable.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[TOM@METRO]

Welcome to the DUC.

It would help to know...

The exact version of Pro Tools you are using.

What audio interface.

The session sample rate.

Thanks.

[Southsidemusic]

Hi

One pretty obvious thing is that the C Drive is a WD ”Blue” version which is probably causing issies due to power down functions and overall performance.

The other drive is WD ”RE3” drive which is 11 years old so I am a bit sceptical against but the OS drive is my first suspect.

[whiteraven85]

I am on Pro Tools 11.3.1 using an MBox 3 Pro and sample rate is 44.1kHz.

I hadn't thought about the age and power functions of my hard drives. Does it make that much difference? They are in good health, and I've had Pro Tools running properly on these hard drives for a while now. I'm not opposed to upgrading, but I don't think they're causing the problem here.

[whiteraven85]

Solved it. It was indeed the video card driver update. I rolled it back to the previous release instead of the version I had before updating. Smooth as silk she runs now.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by whiteraven85

Solved it. It was indeed the video card driver update. I rolled it back to the previous release instead of the version I had before updating. Smooth as silk she runs now.

Glad you solved the issue. Now don't ignore the other advise mentioned. Old drives WILL fail, its only a matter of time(so back it up now, as in today) Heck, I have had drives fail in less than 2 weeks from brand new.....

Re the WD Blue drive, I don't believe it uses any power management(which the WD GREEN drives do), but since its the cheapest drive they make, again, don't ignore a proper backup strategy(those that do, live to regret it). Personally, after seeing how much better ANY system runs with a decent SSD system drive, I would grab a Samsung 860 EVO(or better) and clone to it(you can always put the Blue drive in a drawer as a fail-safe backup drive)

BTW, saving a drive image(or making a clone) when the rig runs "smooth as silk" is the absolute best time

[whiteraven85]

I actually did a backup this morning because y'all got me thinking about my hard drives! Going to invest in an SSD when I can swing it financially. Thanks for the help!