Cannot create new session

[Archie Gates]

I posted this 10 days ago, and did not receive a response from Digidesign. Please help me solve this problem!
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When I try to start a new session, the computer always hangs and I have to restart. It crashes right when I hit the "Save" button in the New Session dialog box. It crashes regardless of the location I attempt to save the new session (ie, C: or D: drive).
However, I am able to OPEN the demo session just fine and get into the program that way. I ended up making a template from this and have to open this template every time I want to start a new session.

My system:

Intel brand SE440BX-2 motherboard
PIII 500
128MB RAM
Maxtor 20GB system drive C:
Promise Fasttrack66 card - virtual drive of 64GB
Also installed: DVRaptor card, Modem, G400 Video, AWE64 Gold (which is disabled in the device manager). My Windows98 is first edition, but I have installed all of the updates from Windows Update.

Archie Gates

[Digi Engineering]

Archie,

I don't think we've seen this problem before. I'm also not very familiar with the "Fasttrack66." That's a RAID controller, correct? What controller is your C: drive on? If you haven't already, try creating a new session on a drive connected to the standard IDE controller on your motherboard.

Could you describe the "hang" a bit more? Does the mouse move? Do the keyboard LEDs toggle? Does there appear to be disk activity? How long have you waited before rebooting?

Eric Day
DAE Engineer


[This message has been edited by Digi Engineering (edited July 06, 2000).]

[Archie Gates]

After I hit the "Save" button in the new session dialog box, I hear hard drive activity for about 2 seconds. Then it stops, the mouse freezes, and the system is locked up (I don't get a blue screen or error message of any kind). Control-Alt-Delete won't restart me - I have to use the reset button on the computer.

The C drive is on the motherboard's Primary IDE controller. The audio drive is actually two drives attached to a PCI card - the Fasttrack66, which gives me one large virtual drive D. However, it locks whether I try to save on C or D. I have waited for several minutes, and nothing happens, so I'm sure it is frozen.

The thing that gets me is that I can open a session perfectly, and everything else in PTLE works great. So I don't have a clue as to what it could be, unless it is because I have Win98 first edition. However, I do have all of the updates from the MS web site - I don't know if this is the same thing as having Win98SE or not.

AG

[the_foo]

Archie,
Having all of the updates from the Microsoft website is not the same as upgrading to win98SE. When I first got my digi I was running my digi with win98 first edition I would have an occasional crash, but since I installed the second edition software I haven't had a crash yet. I wasn't having the same problem as you are having but never the less if I were you I would try installing second edition and try that. It's only 20 dollars from Microsoft so it's not that big of a deal.

the_foo

[Digi Engineering]

Archie,

I don't think having all the MS updates to Win98FE is the same as having Win98SE. Although there are a few users reporting success with Pro Tools LE on Win98FE, it remains an "officially" unsupported configuration. An upgrade may be advisable, although I obviously don't know whether it would solve the problem you're having.

My usual advice in a situation like this is to start disabling non-essential devices and software components. I don't think we tested with you RAID controller, so you might try temporarily disabling that (even though I understand that it doesn't have to host the session drive).

Eric Day
DAE Engineer

[Archie Gates]

Okay, but is getting the Microsoft CD for $20 bucks going to get me to SE? From my understanding, it just has a bunch of stuff like IE 5.0 and Netmeeting, along with the same updates available on the website. And, to be honest, there's not a chance that I'm going to re-format my hard drive and start all over with a fresh copy of SE. I have way too much stuff that I'd have to re-load.

I will try disabling the hardware devices, but it remains puzzling that I can open a session fine, but can't create a new one. You'd think that if there was a hardware conflict that it would present itself when opening a session as well.

AG

[Digi Engineering]

You should be able to upgrade to Win98SE fairly painlessly, and certainly without reformatting your drive(s).

I'm also puzzled by the fact that you can open and save sessions just fine, but get a system hang when creating a new session. There's nothing concrete I can think of which would cause that. It doesn't immediately sound like a hardware or driver conflict, but these can be surprisingly subtle and indirect.

Eric Day
DAE Engineer

[Archie Gates]

Well, I disabled all of the devices in my system except for the basics, hard drive, CD-ROMs, and the Digi001. The problem still occurs. I tried disabling the Promise Fasttrack66 too, but then Windows wouldn't load up (I had to boot into safe mode and re-enable the Fasttrack). I could try to upgrade to Win98SE, but I don't truly think this will solve the problem, in light of the fact that other users are using first edition and not having the problem.

I am truly stumped on this one. I've never had an experience like this where the problem could not be traced.

To make things worse, yesterday I attempted to mix down my MIDI composition in Cakewalk, and I could not for the life of me, record with the Digi001's wave driver. It kept locking up my system. So I decided to open Sound Forge and try to record the audio in there, but then I got an error message saying that the Digi001 was already in use. I even tried to record in ProTools, but then I lost all MIDI functionality in Cakewalk. It seems that the wave driver can only be used by itself in one single program, not in conjunction with other software.

Also, anyone notice that playback with the Digi001 wave driver is extremely slow and crash-prone? It's like the only thing the Digi001 does right for me is run Pro Tools. This might be fine for non-MIDI people who just want to record audio, but for MIDI musicians, I don't know if this is turning out to be such a good choice. I hate to give up the Pro Tools software, but in light of all of the problems I'm having, I'm considering going with a more Windows multimedia-friendly solution, i.e. Delta1010 or Mona. Anyone able to convince me otherwise? I'd love to have the Digi001 as part of my happy ending!

Archie Gates