Massive Static/Fuzz on Playback/Record

[djl62490]

I'm getting a massive amount of digital static/fuzz through Pro Tools. I only hear it when there is any output, so I know it must be coming from Pro Tools itself.

I spent a few hours on the tech support line, and the problem disappeared after the operator turned off Microsoft Defender. However, the problem returned the next day, and remains even when I disable Defender.

Every 3rd or 4th time I open Pro Tools the static will disappear, but there is no real rhyme or reason to why it changes. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? It's impossible to use Pro Tools with this going and this Mbox/software is brand new. Worked fine for 1 day then this started happening, and it's driving me crazy!

[cwsand]

Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!

Hi, you need to go through everything in the link, including the Windows 7 Optimizations, and post a SANDRA report.

[djl62490]

Originally Posted by cwsand

Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!

Hi, you need to go through everything in the link, including the Windows 7 Optimizations, and post a SANDRA report.

Hi, thanks for responding.

I haven't had any luck with searching the forums yet, but I'll keep trying. In the meantime here is the SANDRA (this is a computer I built):

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : Blue
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : OEM
Serial Number : To Be Fille***********
Chassis : Desktop
Mainboard : ASRock H61M-VS
BIOS : AMI (OEM) P1.10 03/03/2011
Intel vPro : 7.00.04.1197
Total Memory : 8GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz (4C 3.49GHz/3.7GHz, 3.5GHz IMC, 2x 256kB L2, 6MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA1155

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASRock Core (Sandy Bridge) DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 4GB DIMM DDR3 1GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-10666CL9-4GBRL 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-10666CL9-4GBRL 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : ACI ASUS VH242H
(1920x1080, 23.4")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (4CU 192SP SM5.0 1.9GHz, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 4C 1.9GHz, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 1.9GHz, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit)
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 4C 1.9GHz, 384kB L2, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit)

Storage Devices
WDC WD5002AALX-00J37A0 (500.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)

Logical Storage Devices
System Reserved : 100MB (NTFS)
Hard Disk (C:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5002AALX-00J37A0 (500.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASRock H61 LPC Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 B0-73
Audio Device : ASRock Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : VIA VT1708B/1702S/1708S HD audio codec
Audio Device : EVGA GF116 High Definition Audio Controller
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASRock Cougar Point 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASRock Cougar Point 2 port SATA IDE Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASRock Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 2 : ASRock Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send To Microsoft OneNote 2010 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Wireless Adapter : TP-LINK 150Mbps Wireless Lite N Adapter (802.11n (HT), AES-CCMP, 150Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9

[CattleRoyale]

Hi, first time poster here, sounds like exactly the problem I'm having. The playback quality is fine for a while, then for no apparent reason it sounds awful... fuzz and static is a good way to describe it.

I've been trying to work out what triggers this, and so far I can't find any pattern - it will work fine for a few minutes but then it happens again. Sometimes restarting Pro Tools fixes it, but sometimes it doesn't. Then I will re-open some time later, and the sound is fine again - very frustrating.

I have reinstalled Pro Tools 10, and updated to the latest Mbox Mini drivers.

Sandra report:

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Samsung 700G7A

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
Speed : 3GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 On-board Cache : 4x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L3 On-board Cache : 6MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 12-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size, 8 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : Samsung 700G7A
BIOS : AMI 01FF.M002.20110818.SCY 08/18/2011
Bus(es) : PCI PCIe USB i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : No
Total Memory : 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMM

Chipset
Model : Samsung Sandy Bridge DRAM Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 1x 100MHz (100MHz)
Total Memory : 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 667MHz (1.33GHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Samsung M471B5273DH0-CH9 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10700S DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Samsung M471B5273DH0-CH9 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10700S DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon HD 6970M (SM5.0 680MHz, 2GB 900MHz, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL Processor : Barts (960SP 12C 680MHz, 800MB)
Compute Shader Processor : AMD Radeon HD 6970M (2GB 900MHz)

Storage Devices
SAMSUNG HN-M101MBB 1TB (SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 932GB (C:) (D:)
SanDisk iSSD P4 8GB 8GB (SATA300, 1.8", SSD) : 7GB
SAMSUNG HN-M101MBB 1TB (SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 932GB (E:)
TSSTcorp DVDWBD TS-LB23D (SATA150, BD-R, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (F:)
DTSOFT BDROM () : N/A (G:)

Logical Storage Devices
SYSTEM : 100MB (NTFS)
2ndHDD (E:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ SAMSUNG HN-M101MBB 1TB (SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache)
Hard Disk (D:) : 545GB (NTFS) @ SAMSUNG HN-M101MBB 1TB (SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 362GB (NTFS) @ SAMSUNG HN-M101MBB 1TB (SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache)
SAMSUNG_REC : 24GB (NTFS)
Optical Drive (F:) : N/A @ TSSTcorp DVDWBD TS-LB23D (SATA150, BD-R, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
Optical Drive (G:) : N/A @ DTSOFT BDROM ()

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Samsung Cougar Point LPC Controller
Audio Device : Samsung Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semiconductor High Definition Audio
Audio Device : Samsung AA88h
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Disk Controller : Samsung Cougar Point 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
Disk Controller : Samsung 5209h
USB Controller 1 : Samsung Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 2 : Samsung Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
USB Controller 3 : Samsung 1042h
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Network Adapter : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Wireless Adapter 1 : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6230 (802.11g (ERP), TKIP, 54Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line
Battery No 1 : 100%

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9

Anyone have any ideas?

Many thanks in advance.

[cwsand]

What kind of Mbox is it? USB/Firewire? If it's Firewire, you could try the other drivers like legacy and see if that works better.

Did you do all the Windows 7 Optimizations? Are you recording to a second hard drive at least 7200 rpm?

CattleRoyale - all three of your hard drives listed are 5400 rpm. Avid requires at least 7200 rpm hard drives. Doesn't mean it won't still work, but it won't be optimal. It may be the source of your problem too, depending on the size of your sessions.

[CattleRoyale]

Hi cwsand, many thanks for the response. I will try with a faster drive.

[djl62490]

Thanks for the reply.

Originally Posted by cwsand

What kind of Mbox is it? USB/Firewire? If it's Firewire, you could try the other drivers like legacy and see if that works better.

Did you do all the Windows 7 Optimizations? Are you recording to a second hard drive at least 7200 rpm?

CattleRoyale - all three of your hard drives listed are 5400 rpm. Avid requires at least 7200 rpm hard drives. Doesn't mean it won't still work, but it won't be optimal. It may be the source of your problem too, depending on the size of your sessions.

I have done all the Windows 7 optimizations, using an mbox mini connected through USB, storing on a 7200rpm drive. It's the same drive I have my OS on, but I'd like to exhaust all possible options before spending another $50-100 on a new drive just to make this work.

What confuses me about this issue is that it sporadically works, then will not work, then works again without any change to my system, interface, programs running, etc. It worked fine all of last Friday but I came home tonight to edit some work and I hear fuzz with some music barely audible underneath.

I really want this program to work consistently so I'll pay for a new hard drive if absolutely necessary, but I would hate to spend that money and have Pro Tools still output static.

[djl62490]

For anyone else who may have this issue, temporary but not permanent fixes have included:

- Disabling all network adapters
- Disabling all sound cards (mine is integrated into the mobo)
- Running windows for optimal performance (makes your system look like Windows 98)
- Disabling Turbo Boost in the BIOS - this made it work for about 2 days straight, but I'm getting fuzz again today
- Disabling Microsoft Defender
- Disabling Windows' ability to throttle power of usb devices


I'm on hold for technical support now, will update with any other fixes.

[CattleRoyale]

I'll be picking up an external hard drive this weekend, will update with progress.

[djl62490]

I installed a WD Caviar Blue 1 TB internal hard drive for Pro Tools use only yesterday, unfortunately the problem persisted.

I was also told by tech support that they don't know what else to do on the computer end, his only suggestion was buy a new usb cable and if that doesn't work, install it on a new system to see if the computer hardware is the issue.

I'm really !@#$%ing bummed about this. I saved up for a while to buy this program and it's essentially unusable on a computer that in every way should be compatible. I'm not even sure if they'll let me refund for my money.

Best of luck CattleRoyale, I hope you have more success than I did.