CPU holding off USB audio

[Walling1]

Ok, so I know this has been hashed out numerous times on this board, but this is driving me nuts, and I haven't a clue why I'm getting this error.

Here's my setup:
2nd gen. G4 powerbook 667
512 RAM
48gig internal drive - 5400 RPM
MBox plugged straight into the CPU

And here are the settings:
Disk Cache - 512k
Virtual Memory Off
Highest Hardware buffer
Highest CPU % - i also tried everything below that
DAE and PT each have 200 mb RAM, I also tried 100 MB each, and the origial settings

And here is the session:
4 stereo tracks, no plugs, no automation, 2-6 minutes
1 master fader w/ 1 Waves L1+ Limiter, also tried it without it

That's it. Nothing else.

I basically had 8 songs, each with 4 stereo tracks, just as described above, in seperate sessions, and I'd seemingly arbitrarily get the "CPU is holding off USB audio..." error whenever I bounced them. I wasn't listening to them much - it was kinda one of those 'throw 'em in a session and bounce it' sorta things, so I only got the error once or twice during playback. It happened much more often on some songs than others. Having extra regions in the bin that I wasn't using seems to make it happen more often - I'd remove them, and sometimes it'd go away. On one song, I had to bounce 2 sets of 2 stereo tracks each, then bounce the resulting two files. That one took about 20 tries until I finished it.

Here's the kicker, that last song I tried about 20 times with various settings without luck. I restored all my regular settings, tried again, no luck. I said "screw it, I'll try one more time," and with the exact same settings, I bounced it again, but I was too lazy and frustrated to type in a name, so I left it as "untitled." And of course, it worked. I'm sure that has absolutely nothing to do with it, but it sure annoyed the piss outta me.

I have a Digi001 system that I do most of my work on, and use the MBox with my Powerbook as a portable system, but it has never even come close to what my Digi001 can on my dual 500. I usually do pretty small stuff on the Powerbook, but I get that error all the time, since the day I installed it, and I've triple checked every setting. I know I'll eventually be getting an external firewire drive - would that help at all? That should not be the answer - there's no reason the internal drive shouldn't work just fine, but it's the only thing I can think of that I haven't tried.

Yes, I've trashed prefs, used base extension sets, am using the USB cable that came with it, defragged, etc., etc.

I'm at a loss. Help!!

-Dave

[lotus1]

It wants to see an external hard drive...get a nice firewire drive.....

[Walling1]

Lotus1 - with a 5400 RPM internal drive, I should easily be able to have 8 tracks without any plugs with no problems. I also don't have an external drive to try it with.

DaWhole9 - I just tried that, but it didn't help. But then I tried turning Airport off, since that is what I use for networking. The first time I tried to bounce, it worked, but the next 2 tries of the same session didn't work, so I don't think it's Airport either.

I forgot to mention that I have Energy Saver set to Never Sleep, except when closing the lid - it hadn't been to sleep, and processor cycling is off.

Maybe I should try to partition the drive and keep all my audio on the new partition?

Thanks for your responses!

-Dave

[chucknkd]

two VERY important things you might have already done but didnt mention:
1 - download and replace the the digi usb driver w/ version 1.01
http://www.digidesign.com/download/mbox.html
2 - make sure that youre running OS 9.2.2.
both of these things can have a huge effect on your system as they both deal w/ usb fixes.

[Walling1]

Yeah, I'm running 9.2.2 and I downloaded the new USB driver awhile back. Thanks though.

I dumped the "Be There" demo and played it back - I still got the error about once each time I played it through or bounced it. A lot less than the other project I was working on, but it's a much busier session.

I still dunno.

-Dave

[Joseph Grimm]

make sure processor cycling is turned off in the control panel. That was the culprit on my band's powerbook.

[DaWhole9]

Try this...Turn off the Apple Enet extension..then try....This was the culprit for me. I just got my TiBook 800, but was using a G3/500 and was getting 24 tracks playback and about 9 or 10 plugs....You should be getting more performace out of your 667 TiBook.

[Walling1]

Joseph - I think I mentioned earlier that I do have processor cycling turned off. Thanks though - it does seem to be something that a lot of people have problem's with.

I have Tech Tool Pro and Norton Utilities - I think I'll run every test known to man on my Powerbook this afternoon. Any other utilities I should pick up and try? I'm willing to try just about anything.

Is there any way to test or meter the relationship between the CPU and the USB bus? The System Usage Window shows zero on the PCI bus, about 1% on the system meter, and maybe 10% on the CPU meter, if that's of any importance.

Thanks for everyone's help thus far!

-Dave

[DigiTechSupt]

To eliminate the possibility of an extension conflict, create a Mac OS Base Extension set and enable the following extensions:
-DigiSystem INIT
-Digidesign Direct I/O
-Digidesign DSP Manager
-Digidesign Stream Manager
-Digidesign USB Driver
-Open Music System
-USB Floppy Enabler

Upon restart, you should open the Chooser window and make sure AppleTalk is disabled.

Brent

[DaWhole9]

Are you connected to the internet when this happens? Disconnected? Try turning your TCP/IP off. I had this problem with my powerbook. It worked flawlessy when connected to the network. When it wasn't it gave the error. It was so bad it would crash. Same projects I was using elsewhere...Figured out the only difference was at the office, I was connected to the network, at home I wasn't. So if I am not connected to the network, I turn my TCP/IP off. If I am connected, then it doesn't matter. You see if your Powerbook is not connected when it normally is, then it is constantly looking to connect, which interupts the USB audio stream. If it's connected, it stops trying to connect. So eithr connect, or tell it to stop trying to connect. Hope this helps....I would change my TCP/IP off so it won't try to connect via the airport or any other device. If you don't need to surf while using Pro Tools, then create a set of extensions that has JUST the Pro Tools stuff, label it that and while starting up hold the space bar, this will allow you to select which set of extensions you want to start up with....