Having Issues With Slowness & No Marketplace.

[AutumnKat]

Hi everyone :)

I'm brand new to ProTools and was excited for 'First' as I was thinking of moving from Cubase.....however, I'm having big problems and can't seem to get things working right.

Before I start, I'm on PC, (i5 3.2 Ghz) with Windows 7 64bit and have 16GB of ram.

I have also installed all updates and tried reinstalling twice.

Firstly, since installing, my computer (PC) now takes 5-6 minutes to become usable once it reaches the desktop due to the iLok, Avid managers and programs that installed with PT First. They stop anything else (including other background services and drivers) from working until they have finished doing what they do. Once they have done their thing, my desktop finally becomes usable. Is this normal?!? Is this just me??

Secondly, I have not been able to download Xpand2 or anything else from the Marketplace. Eg, when I click Marketplace and load it up, I choose Xpand2 (which is free isn't it?) and the little pop up page freezes then comes up white with a message saying something like 'the page you are looking for is unable to be accessed due to scheduled maintainance'. It has been like that for 3 days. I am unable to download anything at all. Again...is this happening to others or is it just me?!?

I really want to love ProTools, but this is driving me crazy!

Any help or advice would be gratefully received!

[Easound]

If You are able to figure this out, please let me know. I have tried everything I can think of. Have spent about 12 hours now scouring every help page, and knowledge base I can find and cannot find a solution. Very frustrating.

[albee1952]

Step #1-make sure there is no disk in your optical drive(this is a known performance killer on PC). #2-my own i5 experience was awful for Pro Tools. If you post a Sandra report(see the Help Us Help You link at the top of the page), someone might spot a hardware issue. As for the marketplace, do you have a working internet connection?

[Easound]

jeffro posted a solution that worked for me on the marketplace issue. Just had to update my billing info. He posted a link on my thread if You need it.

[AutumnKat]

Thanks Eaasound, that sounds promising...I will have a look :)

albee1952 - I don't have a disc in the drive...I rarely do :) Also, my PC is still very quick on i5...I've really had a great performance with it in my Cubase 6/8 & Komplete 10U setup.
Once ProTools First actually loads, it's stable and smooth...it's just all the proctection/manager/ extra software that takes forever and makes my desktop screen unsusable until it's finished loading and 'checking'.

Yup, my internet is working fine too..so it looks like I'll have to keep trying.

Thanks anyhow

[AutumnKat]

SOLVED:

I can confirm that this worked for me:

For some reason my country was set to Albania in my billing/shipping address on my Avid Master account

I set it to Great Briton and it works as it should now!

Thanks!

[AutumnKat]

Ugh! Spoke too soon....now Xpand2 starts to download, but after the bar has filled it says 'Installation Failed'.

Will keep trying and will post a solution if I find one just in case any of you get this too.