Playback Stops Working After Sitting Idle

[peytontodd]

Whenever I load a PTF file into ProTools 8, it works fine at first, and - based on recent memory at least - it continues to work fine as long as I keep doing things in Pro Tools. However, if I let it sit idle for a while (e.g. a few minutes) and then go back to it, what happens is that the cursor moves as though it's playing the selected region but no sound us produced.

To be able to listen to what wanted to hear, all I have to do is close and re-open Pro Tools. But that's a rather time-consuming process to have to go through again and again throughout the day, since I never know when the progress of my work is going to require re-listening to a particular recorded sentence in the dialog I'm working with.

What could be wrong here?

Thanks for your help.

[Craig F]

Computer's Power Management would be my first guess, PT and Power Management do not mix well

[peytontodd]

Please forgive me for being so brief. I have placed a Sandra report after the double line below.
================================================== ====
SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : CyberpowerPC
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : OEM
Serial Number : To Be Fille***********
Chassis : Desktop
Mainboard : ASRock X99 Extreme4
Serial Number : E80-480********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) P1.30A 08/25/2014
Intel vPro : 9.01.02.1010
Total Memory : 15.9GB DIMM DDR4

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz (6C 12T 3.6GHz, 3GHz IMC/3.6GHz, 6x 256kB L2, 15MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA1150

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASRock Xeon (Haswell-E) DMI2 100MHz
Memory Controller : ASRock Xeon (Haswell-E) Integrated Memory Controller 0 Target Address, Thermal & RAS Registers 100MHz, 4x 2GB DIMM DDR4 2.13GHz 256-bit
Memory Controller : Intel Xeon (Haswell-E) Integrated Memory Controller 1 Target Address, Thermal & RAS Registers 100MHz

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : 8ATF51264AZ-2G1A1 4GB PC34100U
Memory Module : 8ATF51264AZ-2G1A1 4GB PC34100U
Memory Module : 8ATF51264AZ-2G1A1 4GB PC34100U
Memory Module : 8ATF51264AZ-2G1A1 4GB PC34100U

Video System
Monitor/Panel : LG E2350
(1920x1080, 23.1")
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (20CU 1280SP SM5.0 925MHz, 2GB DDR5 5.6GHz 384-bit, PCIe 3.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (1280SP 20C 925MHz, 2GB DDR5 5.6GHz 256-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (1280SP 20C 925MHz, 2GB DDR5 5.6GHz 384-bit)

Storage Devices
WDC WD5003AZEX-00MK2A0 (500.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 466GB (C:)
WDC WD1003FZEX-00MK2A0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (D:)
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSC0 (3.6MB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 512kB Cache) : 3MB (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
System Reserved : 350MB (NTFS)
Hard Disk (D:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1003FZEX-00MK2A0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Hard Disk (C:) : 465GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5003AZEX-00MK2A0 (500.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
SciconRD (E:) : 3MB (CDFS) @ HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSC0 (3.6MB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 512kB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASRock Wellsburg LPC Controller
Audio Device : ASRock Wellsburg HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi 0900
Audio Device : Pine Technology Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7700/7800 Series]
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASRock Wellsburg sSATA Controller [AHCI mode]
USB Controller 1 : ASRock Wellsburg USB xHCI Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : ASRock Wellsburg USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 3 : ASRock Wellsburg USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus
SMBus/i2c Controller 2 : Intel SNB/IVB/HSW-E XMB Ch 0 SMBus
SMBus/i2c Controller 3 : Intel SNB/IVB/HSW-E XMB Ch 1 SMBus
SMBus/i2c Controller 4 : Intel SNB/IVB/HSW-E XMB Ch 0 SMBus
SMBus/i2c Controller 5 : Intel SNB/IVB/HSW-E XMB Ch 1 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Amyuni Document Converter 400 (2400x2400, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)
Fax : EPSON PC-FAX driver (203x203, USB)
Printer : Brother HL-5470DW series (1200x1200)
Printer : EPSON Artisan 830 Series (360x360, Colour)
Fax : EPSON PC-FAX driver (203x203)
Printer : Adobe PDF Converter (4000x4000, Colour)
Fax : EPSON PC-FAX driver (203x203, USB)
Fax : EPSON PC-FAX driver (203x203, USB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V (Ethernet, 100Mbps)

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

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9

[mjslakeridge]

Your computer looks fine for ProTools. Have you done all of the Windows 7 optimizations recommended by Avid? Like Craig said in his reply, Power Management settings are important. Click on the link at the top of this page entitled "Software Updates, Drivers ..." and then click on "Computer Optimization Guides" and then go to the "Windows 7 Optimizations and Troubleshooting" and perform all of the recommended steps. Print out the document and read through it carefully and check off each step once completed. If you don't understand some of the steps, you may need to get some help from someone with computer savvy. It took me quite a few reads and attempts to get everything right. Then make a backup of your System Drive (I use Acronis True Image software). That way you can easily restore your system to a good working configuration if something goes wrong in the future.

Once you do all of the optimizations, you will be much happier with your setup.

[guitardom]

Power management as been stated above. System sleep, hibernation, letting drives shut down, screen savers, etc can all be isues.

2nd, can also be hardware driver related. You dont say what interface you use but some such as Eleven rack for instance, the drivers just dont play nice when they sit idle for a bit.