Very Unhappy With Continuing LE Problems - MBox 2 Pro

[FOX digital]

Hi Goodbye.....sort of a contradiction here

I use a Buffer size of 256 with processor percentage of 90-95 depending on how many tracks and so on.
Did you use the 'Activity Utility' to see all the processes running parallel with PT? Did you turn your Network and Bluetooth off?
There must be an activity disturbing PT and causing hickups and our favourite -6085.
I find it sad having to be a forensic analyst instead of just making music. Fortunately we don't have to turn our computer off first to make PT run
Let me know if anything worked. I know how frustrating this can be. Went trough it too......

All the best

Claude

[Alan Brownstein]

I thought I would chime in on this subject as well. I've been a Mix 24 TDM user for years (using that system for music) and only recently purchased an MBox 2 Pro so that I could use the expanded features of PT7 for post work (via the DV Toolkit option). I too have been suffering the dreaded -6085 errors running PT7.3.1cs3 on my Mac Pro 2.66, although from the sound of it, not nearly as bad as some. My experiences have been relatively sporadic, happening only occasionally, but still, they should not be happening at all.

I was very careful when setting up my system to follow Digi's recommendations to the letter -- supported computer, supported OS version, supported hard drives and formatting, making sure all my plug-ins were Universal Binary, updating to the latest 7.3.1cs3 release. My initial tests of the system were excellent, and I saw no errors, although I hadn't fully "road tested" it yet.

A few nights ago I began my first serious session using the system, and after about an hour or so, the first of the 6085 errors popped up. Thinking it was an anamoly, I continued working, and within a few minutes came another. After about five or six in the course of an hour, I started doing some research on the DUC, and came across all the usual troubleshooting tips (trashing preferences and Digidesign Databases, trying the front/rear FW ports, etc.). After a bit more reading, and trial and error, here's what has pretty much eliminated the errors for me:

1) FW cable from MBox 2 Pro connected to REAR FW port of Mac Pro.
2) Disabled Spotlight per Digidesign's instructions (I thought I could pass on this step but it really is important).
3) Disabled Dashboard per Digidesign's instructions (I thought I could pass on this one too, but nope).
4) Increased DAE Playback Buffer from 2 to 4. (CPU Usage Limit set to default of 85% and RTAS Processors set to default 4).
5) Turned OFF all File Sharing options in System Preferences.

I also partitioned my startup drive with two separate MacOS X boot partitions, one for Pro Tools (10.4.8), and one for everything else (10.4.10). I have not updated a single component of the 10.4.8 partition using the Software Update feature (which is turned OFF in System Preferences). It's basically stock straight from the install disc. I can freely update my 10.4.10 partition for use with other apps, and it does not interfere with the proper operation of Pro Tools running on the 10.4.8 partition.

My setup is as follows:

Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Xeon
MacOS 10.4.8
Pro Tools 7.3.1.cs3
3GB RAM
2 x 250GB Western Digital WD2500KS Internal SATA-II Drives for Recording/Playback (separate from boot drive)
Boot Drive: stock Seagate 250GB SATA-II drive.
NO other external FW drives connected. Single 12' cable from computer's rear FW port to MBox 2 Pro.

At this point the system is pretty stable and the 6085 errors are gone. Of course, now 7.3.1cs4 has been released and I'm nervous about the "upgrade". Has anyone had any new problems surface since moving to cs4?

[goodbyeboy]

I checked my activity utility and inactivated all other programs except pro tools and reason. I tried 256, 512, jumbo, mini, EVERYTHING. and i'm still getting -6085. hahaha this is funny because right now my setup is at 64 samples and mini buffer size, and its STILL asking me to decrease buffer size...although i'm already at my lowest.

Come on digi......what's up with this?

[DigiTechSupt]

lol. so i guess im not the only one who was suffering..its just insane that nothing seems to work even after all those troubleshoots and tips. seriously this has been driving me nuts. I made my account at duc just because of -6085. that's it. nothing else. all i ever posted were about -6085.

and dear digi. i know you guys are working hard - well i'd certainly hope that you guys are working on this. however, no one is demanding anything here. in fact, all of us paid good cash on this system, and with firewire drivers (which also was $$$$$) and all the little things that we had to follow (updates, combo updates, guidelines etc) JUST TO WORK WITH PRO TOOLS THAT WE PAID FOR. i think we have rights to speak our voice and get some help. telling your customers to call the company directly if we want faster help" is not gonna do anything but get us more frustrated and disappointed.

Don't get me wrong. I think PT is really great overall. it's just that it ain't so great when I can't record/playback/bounce what I worked on just because of one problem. Thank god I had logic.

How often are you getting the 6085 error messages? Can you post a list of all installed plug-ins and their version numbers? Have you tried this without the drive in the chain? Are you absolutely sure you're on the latest version of Pro Tools (Get Info on the Pro Tools application - what does it say next to Version)?

[FOX digital]

Hi Goodbye

i found this one on the DUC. It was something i totally forgot, because it helped me a lot too.
This ones coming from DigiTech Support in another thread.


'Limit the open ended Rec allocation found in the Setups> Preferences > Operations tab > limit to 10 mins '


Tell me if it helps. Otherwise i would also suggest to list all your plugs. Maybe one of them is causing the trouble.

My system now works so far. Hope it stays that way.......

All the best

Claude

[vibrolux40w]

So, I went through my activity monitor and turned off everything that was running in the background that wasn't needed. I have been stable for a few days now. I also took the suggestion and removed dashboard from the dock.

A big process that was running was slimserver. I don't know if this had anything to do with it, but it was choking a lot of ram. This is probably the biggest pain in the ass in dealing with this, because now to stream my music I have to turn it on manually.

[vibrolux40w]

Problems are back. Just four tracks. Overload errors are happening every 3-5 minutes. The only thing I did diffrently was add BFD Percussion Expansion and TL Space. The errors happen without instances of those plugs in the session.

[DigiTechSupt]

Problems are back. Just four tracks. Overload errors are happening every 3-5 minutes. The only thing I did diffrently was add BFD Percussion Expansion and TL Space. The errors happen without instances of those plugs in the session.

Have you been able to test this with another computer?

[vibrolux40w]

Yes Macbook Pro 2.16 Intel Core Duo.

1gb Ram

Same hard drive setup.


Since I installed TL Space and the BFD Percussion, I will repair permissions and retry. I am also going to try new firewire cables and chaining drive and mbox pro.

[vibrolux40w]

O.K. I have followed all of the troubleshoot guides to a T. From my experience using two different Protools LE interfaces with 5 different Apple machines over the past 5 years, all have had buffer issues. I am now convinced that PT LE is not optimized to run at a reliable performance standard. I started thinking about the 7.4 rumor of DAE improvement. Hopefully Digi is working on this problem. I assume they have known all along, and have just let LE customers in the dark. They assume that for most LE users, performance is "good enough", which I suppose it is.