Random Bursts of LOUD White Noise

[LarsKatz]

Wow. This one is SO frustrating! In some of my sessions I'm getting completely random bursts of extremely loud white noise during playback and recording. I'm currently running LE 7.4 with a 002 Rack.

On two occasions that made this phenomenon more concrete, I was recording a track that was being bussed-to from another and when the static occurred it actually recorded the noise. It played back every time but I couldn't see it on the waveform until I really zoomed in on it and then it appeared (it was like the zoomed-out views wouldn't display it). The blasts are only about a second or two long but they are beyond startling and absolutely deafening if the volume is up or if I'm tracking with headphones on.

I can't describe how much this is destroying my creativity and my nerves! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Things I've tried:

1. Trashing prefs
2. Updating to 7.4cs2
3. Rolling back to 7.3 (I had the problem in 7.3 so I didn't think this would help)
4. Deleting tracks where static has been recorded
5. Removing ALL plug-ins in the session
6. Monitoring CPU usage (no spikes at all)
7. Soloing, muting, inactivating, arming/unarming tracks
8. Bashing my head on the table

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SiSoftware Sandra

System
Host Name : WIDEASLEEP
User : Owner
Workgroup : MSHOME

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
Speed : 2.21GHz
Model Number : 3500
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Internal Data Cache : 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 512kB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size

System
Mainboard : NF-CK804
Bus(es) : ISA PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
System BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG
Total Memory : 1.5GB DDR

Chipset
Model : AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 804MHz (1.61GHz)
Total Memory : 1.5GB DDR
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 201MHz (402MHz)

Video System
Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS (256MB DDR3, PCIe 1.00 x16, PS 3.0, VS 3.0)

Physical Storage Devices
WDC WD400BB-18DEA0 40GB (ATA100, 2MB Cache) : 37GB (C:)
ST3500630AS 500GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (D:)
WDC WD1200JB-00EVA0 120GB (SCSI100, SCSI-2, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 112GB (F:)
SONY DVD RW DRU-810A (ATAPI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 37GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD400BB-18DEA0 40GB (ATA100, 2MB Cache)
Local Disk (D:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ ST3500630AS 500GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
MUSIC 3 (F:) : 112GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1200JB-00EVA0 120GB (SCSI100, SCSI-2, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache)
CD-ROM/DVD (E:) : N/A @ SONY DVD RW DRU-810A (ATAPI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
3.5" 1.44MB (A:) : N/A

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Tyan nForce4 PCI to ISA Bridge
LPC Hub Controller 2 : Tyan nForce4 SMBus
Audio Device : Creative Labs CT4832 SBLive! Value
USB Controller 1 : Tyan nForce4 USB Controller
USB Controller 2 : Tyan nForce4 USB 2.0 Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : VIA VT6306 VIA Fire II IEEE-1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 2 : Lucent/Agere Systems (Was: AT&T MicroElectronics) FW322/323 IEEE1394 OHCI FireWire Contro
System SMBus Controller 1 : nVidia MCP2+ SMBus 1
System SMBus Controller 2 : nVidia MCP2+ SMBus 2

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Canon S750 (USB, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 100Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP (2002) Home 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : x86

Performance Tips
Warning 100 : Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[Kris75]

Are you using ANY IK MULTIMEDIA plug ins? If so have you changed any hardware lately?

[JMS40]

THAT AGGRIVATING WHITE NOISE!!!!!

[LarsKatz]

No IK Multimedia plug-ins whatsoever, no recent hardware changes except an extra internal drive that I'm not recording to.

[LarsKatz]

What?? I searched for "white noise" and that thread didn't come up! How is that possible?

Reading...

[DigiTechSupt]

You should really look at that link that JMS40 posted. All of those cases were related to incompatible hardware or software, bad/defective drives or drive formatting or incorrect configuration.

[LarsKatz]

Brilliant! I copied an offending session to a new drive I recently purchased and the problem appears to be completely gone.

If anyone's interested, the drive that was the culprit was the one listed as "WDC WD1200JB-00EVA0 120GB (SCSI100, SCSI-2, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 112GB (F:)" in my system specs above. I've been recording exclusively to that drive for years without a problem.

Good to know there's an easy fix! Thanks everyone.

[Keybeeetsss]

NO PROB....

[carlospaulgtr]

Hi LarsKatz,

I think I have sorted the issue as well by copying the sessions to a different drive. Now, what to do with the offending one?

Kind regards,

Carlos

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by carlospaulgtr

Hi LarsKatz,

I think I have sorted the issue as well by copying the sessions to a different drive. Now, what to do with the offending one?

Kind regards,

Carlos

Reformat it and stick it in a USB drive case so you can use it for backup drive images