All The Hype - I'm Paying for it Now...

[austin_mathis]

I recently paid for the $150.00 upgrade to PTLE 8. I've been running LE 7.x ever since I bought my DIGI002 Rack a few years ago. Everything runs great. I can load up my FX (mostly digirack and Waves), VI's, no problem. I've been recording on this system without a hiccup since I bought it.

But... thanks to the persuasive nature (and flashy demonstration) of a certain sales rep at a well know and reputable music shop (G----r Center), I was convinced to go ahead and upgrade to 8.0. Grab some extra tracks, new GUI, latest and greatest, right? WRONG!

I read up on the upgrade first, obviously. Uninstalled everything. Installed the upgrade... great... perfect. And then, on the first launch, I find that my CPU usage is pegged at 100% PERMANENTLY! It's un-be-f&$*ing-lievable! I mean, I'm an IT professional. I've been working on computers my whole life! I've NEVER seen an application do this before. And that's just the APPLICATION. It doesn't matter how I start it up... DIGI002 connected, or not... no plug-ins... NO CHANGE! As soon as I launch the application, it pegs the processor with the "SYSTEM" (not to be confused with "System Idle") process.

I've read some other forum posts and checked out the possibility of IRQ conflicts, faulty drivers, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! It's RIDICULOUS! Maybe theres something I'm not understanding. Maybe this is how its SUPPOSED to work, right? Not.

When I try and do ANYTHING else on the computer, its like a SLUG!

When I CLOSE Pro Tools down, IT'S STILL STUCK!

Power down the DIGI002? Same story.

End every process in Task Manager that I possibly can... SAME PROBLEM!

I have to RESTART the machine all together.

I can't explain it. I've tried everything I can possibly think of to resolve this problem. I've included a PC Wizard System Summary below...

Please help... if you can...

PC Wizard 2008 Version 1.871
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Owner:
Organisation:
User:
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3
Report Date: Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 18:08
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<<< System Summary >>>
> Mainboard : Asus A8N-SLI SE
> Chipset : nVidia nForce4
> Processor : AMD Athlon 64 3800+ @ 2400 MHz
> Physical Memory : 3072 MB (3 x 1024 DDR-SDRAM )
> Video Card : RADEON X850 Series
> Hard Disk : HPT (2000 GB)
> Hard Disk : ST350083 (500 GB)
> Hard Disk : WDC (120 GB)
> Hard Disk : WDC (250 GB)
> DVD-Rom Drive : SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615
> DVD-Rom Drive : LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1H
> Monitor Type : X223W - 22 inches
> Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3
> DirectX : Version 9.0c (October 2008)

[sunburst79]

Did you uninstall 7.x first?

I had PT 8.0 running on 2 AMD Athlon64 systems with 3xxx Processors and it ran just fine. I know MatttP had 8.0 running on a similar system 3xxx/nVidia nforce chipset with no real issues either. I would completely uninstall PT and then reinstall it.

Make sure you delete the Prefs and Database.

[TOM@METRO]

..and don't turn on the interface until asked to do so.

[JMS40]

Unfortunately, the Athlon 64 seems to fit pretty squarely into the range of AMD processors that Digidesign now finds are in conflict with 8.0.

[austin_mathis]

Yes, I did uninstall completely. First thing I did was run the Uninstaller application that came with the upgrade. It does an outstanding job of searching and destroying all previous versions, drivers, as well as extra files. I also cleared out the databases and preferences ahead of the install. I've already uninstalled PTLE 8.0 and gone back to my 7.x installation. Everything goes right back to working normal. Then I uninstall my 7.x and run the upgrade install, CRASH! My next step is going to be to load up a dummy HD from scratch... only OS and PTLE 8.0. Just to eliminate the variable of a registry key foul or possibly an application conflict. Any other ideas?

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by austin_mathis

Yes, I did uninstall completely. First thing I did was run the Uninstaller application that came with the upgrade. It does an outstanding job of searching and destroying all previous versions, drivers, as well as extra files. I also cleared out the databases and preferences ahead of the install. I've already uninstalled PTLE 8.0 and gone back to my 7.x installation. Everything goes right back to working normal. Then I uninstall my 7.x and run the upgrade install, CRASH! My next step is going to be to load up a dummy HD from scratch... only OS and PTLE 8.0. Just to eliminate the variable of a registry key foul or possibly an application conflict. Any other ideas?

Yeah, only load the Digrack plugs at first and see if it works. Save the AIR plugs and the Creative Collection untll later.

3800+ is going to be socket 939 correct? I tested socket 754 stuff.....I still have the 754 machine in a box here ready to ship to a buddy that I'm getting into PT. The last I checked PT 8.0 was running just fine. I wonder if its some type of Socket 754 vs Socket 939 thing.

Oh and dont do any Cs updates yet.....

[idylldon]

Well, they're working on the problem but I haven't seen the fix yet.

Digi? When do you expect a cure for this illness?

Cheers,
--
Don

[JMS40]

According to this post and at least one other, it's not something they believe they can fix.

We did - we have several AMD machines that this works fine with. It appears the problem is with certain AMD processors (we didn't test ALL of them - just not possible) that claim to comply with SSE specs, but that actually don't. The problem isn't with Pro Tools - it's with processors that do not do what they claim to.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by JMS40

According to this post and at least one other, it's not something they believe they can fix.

Interestingly enough the poster in the other thread and the OP in this thread both had nForce 4 chipsets.

I had it running with VIA K8's
MattP had nForce3
Allbee1952 is/was using nForce5.
You have K8.

Is possibly the nForce4 another factor here?

EDIT: The fact that I can quote other peoples system specs from memory means I need a break...............

[JMS40]

Digi seem to be convinced it's the SSE issue.
It was restated in the other thread I mentioned (but can't lay my hands on.)

Yeah, we both need a beak. :)