PT5 crashes constantly on MDD G4. Please Help!

[motord]

I’m running a 1.25Ghz MDD G4 with 10.3.9. I created a partition with an OS 9.2 system folder, and I frequently start up from this volume when I use ProTools LE 5.x, as many of my sessions use plug-ins that I only have for OS9. I created this drive partition specifically to run ProTools, and PT is practically the only application on there.

I store my audio files on an outboard firewire drive, with an Oxford 922 chip. My problem is that when I start up in OS9, the fan acts erratically (it spins up really fast for a while, then slows down, etc). Then, the machine inevitably crashes. I've heard the MDD machines are notorious for their loud fans, but I've not heard of this causing crashes.

Last night I worked for an hour before the first crash. The problem is that once it crashes the first time, no matter what I try, it just keeps crashing after one or two minutes working in a ProTools session. Often ProTools quits at the same time it crashes.

I’ve rebuilt the directories on my startup drive and my firewire with DiskWarrior, and I’ve run hardware tests on the Mac. My gut says that the drives are ok, though I’ve been wrong before.

I’m considering wiping the OS9 drive clean, and reinstalling everything. Is this what you guys would do? Are there steps you would take first, such as trashing the DAE prefs? I’m always nervous putting things in the trash. I have some Mac knowledge, but not enough to feel confident.

I appreciate any insight into this very annoying problem. I have much rock waiting to be mixed, and I’m in a holding pattern.

motord

[comprodman]

I know more of what happens on a PC than a Mac, but it must be very similar, it sounds as if you are over heating the chip if the fan is speeding up, which is a very dangerous place to be. This will cause the computer to crash then stop very quickly once it reboots as the chip cannot work over a certain temp.

That is why I am now on a Mac, I blew a pc up running Pro Tools with a few plugins. AMD and over 5 Waves plugins are not compatible, it let the blue smoke out and it never worked again.

[motord]

I know more of what happens on a PC than a Mac, but it must be very similar, it sounds as if you are over heating the chip if the fan is speeding up, which is a very dangerous place to be. This will cause the computer to crash then stop very quickly once it reboots as the chip cannot work over a certain temp.

That is why I am now on a Mac, I blew a pc up running Pro Tools with a few plugins. AMD and over 5 Waves plugins are not compatible, it let the blue smoke out and it never worked again.

Is there anything I can do to keep it cooler? What's the solution?

Thanks for your reply.

[comprodman]

The only thing you can do really is uprate the onboard chip cooling fan, they do make water cooled fans which are suposed to be very good, you can also add a couple of internal fans. The problem is I think the chip is over clocking which is causing it to over heat.

[motord]

Can stacking up too many plug-ins in PT cause the chip to overclock? I've heard of people intentionally messing with the motherboard to overclock a chip, but can it happen from "pushing it" too hard with the plugs?

The session I was crashing on repeatedly had many plugs running.

[comprodman]

Yes it can, that is how I blew a AMD Athlon 2.8ghz chip running Waves plugins on 12 tracks, it over heated and burned out taking the Motherboard with it. The only thing running at the time was Windows XP Pro and Pro Tools 6 I was mixing a track at the time.

If Pro Tools starts to judder then freeze, tell you it needs more memory for no reason at the same time the fan whines then it starts to scream, some blue smoke starts to come from the case you have cooked the chip and it is time to buy a new computer.

[motord]

This is some scary business right here.

I guess I should use less plugins in the meantime? In the past (on an older, slower G4), if the system couldn't handle as many plugins as I wanted to use, I would get a message to the effect of, "Remove some plugins to continue." It wouldn't crash, though.

Aren't G4's supposed to be able to take this kind of punishment? I don't know what to do.

I appreciate your help with this.