newer macbookpros + mavericks + 6101 & 6104 errors = headaches

[brodeur1209]

same deal as alot of others here – classic constant cpu overloads & H/W buffer issues: errors 6101 and 6104

after countless searching through threads and google I haven’t found much completely similar to our situation
running on late 2013 model Macbook pro retina 2013 model, brand new from apple (no firewire ports, only two thunderbolt ports) with Mbox 3rd gen & Protools express – this is intended to be our live rig.
The computer shipped with Mavericks – so I cannot revert back to mountain lion, leopard or lion etc…
Internal flash drive is 256 GB. External is Glyph drive GPT50 500GB 7200rpm. 8gb ram also.
We connect the external through thunderbolt port and convert to firewire 800 with the apple thunderbolt to firewire800 adapter.
Configuration with the ports is – ilok on the usb port closest to the screen. Then mbox on the port on the other side further away from the screen. (ive heard retina display can cause issues on the closer port)

Every session – even with one single audio track with nothing recorded we can’t go more than say 2 minutes of playback without a 6101 or 6104 error.
Once we load a software instrument plugin (we installed complete 9 on this system) we can record midi for anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 minutes without error. And playback about 2 minutes or so before another error.
Tried doing just audio stuff – same deal – 1-2 minutes of recording and about 1-2 minutes of playback before another error.

I troubleshot with a different harddrive with our main studio’s external drive to see if the external drive was the issue and still got the same problems (this external was an OWC drive – also using thunderbolt to firewire800)

We know the basics – changing buffer sizes back and forth, I brought host processors down to 1 and then 2 and back and forth. Usage limit I usually leave at 85% and ofcourse experimented with that as well.
Turned off spotlight, airport, wifi etc… did all of the optimizing for protools recommended changes.

Tried reinstalling the operating system and doing a clean install of pro tools and same results essentially.

I don’t have the laptop infront of me so I cant do a Sandra report , don’t know if that’s helpful or not at this point.

Is this just a mavericks thing cause its not supported or is this something else? I know everyone has these errors but usually its someone using a 5400rpm external drive or using the internal os drive, etc…
Is there no way to troubleshoot further? And has anyone heard anything regarding mavericks support with pro tools express?
And furthermore, if we upgrade this system to protools 11 does that even solve the problem (since i heard that now protools 11 is supported with mavericks)?

I just cant honestly believe we wouldnt be able to atleast have a minor session open with a 2-3tracks maybe one software instrument and some audio recordings and not be able to record or playback for awhile. even with mavericks and the incompatibility issues. On our older system we had Mountain Lion on a mac mini going with pro tools 10.3.5 for months before it was officially supported - we some little issues here and there but for the most part i could conduct a session.
Any help is greatly appreciated as we need to have this live rig going in time for upcoming shows and we are at a complete loss.

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by brodeur1209

same deal as alot of others here – classic constant cpu overloads & H/W buffer issues: errors 6101 and 6104

after countless searching through threads and google I haven’t found much completely similar to our situation
running on late 2013 model Macbook pro retina 2013 model, brand new from apple (no firewire ports, only two thunderbolt ports) with Mbox 3rd gen & Protools express – this is intended to be our live rig.
The computer shipped with Mavericks – so I cannot revert back to mountain lion, leopard or lion etc…
Internal flash drive is 256 GB. External is Glyph drive GPT50 500GB 7200rpm. 8gb ram also.
We connect the external through thunderbolt port and convert to firewire 800 with the apple thunderbolt to firewire800 adapter.
Configuration with the ports is – ilok on the usb port closest to the screen. Then mbox on the port on the other side further away from the screen. (ive heard retina display can cause issues on the closer port)

Every session – even with one single audio track with nothing recorded we can’t go more than say 2 minutes of playback without a 6101 or 6104 error.
Once we load a software instrument plugin (we installed complete 9 on this system) we can record midi for anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 minutes without error. And playback about 2 minutes or so before another error.
Tried doing just audio stuff – same deal – 1-2 minutes of recording and about 1-2 minutes of playback before another error.

I troubleshot with a different harddrive with our main studio’s external drive to see if the external drive was the issue and still got the same problems (this external was an OWC drive – also using thunderbolt to firewire800)

We know the basics – changing buffer sizes back and forth, I brought host processors down to 1 and then 2 and back and forth. Usage limit I usually leave at 85% and ofcourse experimented with that as well.
Turned off spotlight, airport, wifi etc… did all of the optimizing for protools recommended changes.

Tried reinstalling the operating system and doing a clean install of pro tools and same results essentially.

I don’t have the laptop infront of me so I cant do a Sandra report , don’t know if that’s helpful or not at this point.

Is this just a mavericks thing cause its not supported or is this something else? I know everyone has these errors but usually its someone using a 5400rpm external drive or using the internal os drive, etc…
Is there no way to troubleshoot further? And has anyone heard anything regarding mavericks support with pro tools express?
And furthermore, if we upgrade this system to protools 11 does that even solve the problem (since i heard that now protools 11 is supported with mavericks)?

I just cant honestly believe we wouldnt be able to atleast have a minor session open with a 2-3tracks maybe one software instrument and some audio recordings and not be able to record or playback for awhile. even with mavericks and the incompatibility issues. On our older system we had Mountain Lion on a mac mini going with pro tools 10.3.5 for months before it was officially supported - we some little issues here and there but for the most part i could conduct a session.
Any help is greatly appreciated as we need to have this live rig going in time for upcoming shows and we are at a complete loss.

Hi,

Unlikely it will ever work right with Mavericks! it needed an update to work with ML so as long as your using Mavericks you're on your own really. i haven't seen any working express on Mavericks.


Chris

[brodeur1209]

right but will they release an update for mavericks to work PT express?

and are you also saying that its most likely a mavericks issue?

if we have to spend more money, thats fine, we just need to know where to spend it to get the rig working.

i love how you can spend 2grand on a brand new macbookpro and brand new mbox3 and it still don't work.

[JoelG]

PT Express is based on Pro Tools 10, which is not supported on Mavericks. I'm not sure if there will be a new version of PT Express that is based on PT11 or higher code that would support Mavericks. If you cant roll back to an older version of OSX, then you'd have to look at getting PT 11.

Joel