Receiving error -9128 in Pro Tools LE 8.0.5 (Win 7x64)

[Flowman]

I have a custom built rig that's barely two years old running a Core i7 860 CPU and 16 GB of DDR3 RAM. I've been using Pro Tools 8 LE on this machine for roughly a year and have never had any issues of any kind. Now, as of the last week and a half, everytime I attempt playback or recording using my Mbox Mini at anything other than 4096 buffer size I keep receiving -9128 errors stating that I am running out of CPU power and should remove RTAS plugins. I've monitored Pro Tools' system usage window and Task Manager and CPU never goes above 25-30% even when I'm running dozens of plugins. Even when I've taken every single plugin and placed it in the Plugins (unused) folder the same error occurs during playback and recording, making the program virtually unusable whether plugins are being used or not. I went through all of the optimization steps suggested in the documentation and even a complete uninstall and reinstall of Pro Tools to no avail.

So what's the deal? To pre-emptively answer questions, I haven't installed any new hardware, applications, or Windows updates before this problem started occurring. I even did a System Restore back to a month ago and the problem still occurs. I'm tempted to completely reformat my system drive and install from scratch, but at this point, I'm not convinced that it would work.

Any thoughts or tips? I've scoured every thread I could find on this error on this site and others and literally NOTHING has worked.

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : DEIMOS-II
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer

Mainboard : ASUS P7P55D LE
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 0605 09/24/2009
Total Memory : 16GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz (4C 8T 3GHz/3.46GHz, 2.41GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 8MB L3)

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS Core (Clarksfield/Lynnfield) DMI 2x 2.41GHz (4.82GHz)
Memory Controller : Intel Core Desktop (Lynnfield) UnCore 2x 2.41GHz (4.82GHz), 2x 8GB DIMM DDR3 1.34GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL9-4GBRL 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL9-4GBRL 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL9-4GBRL 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : G.Skill F3-12800CL9-4GBRL 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192 SM5.0 1.9GHz/1.8GHz 5% OC, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192 SM5.0 1.9GHz/1.8GHz 5% OC, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 4C 1.9GHz/1.8GHz 5% OC, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 1.9GHz/1.8GHz 5% OC, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit)
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 4C 1.9GHz/1.8GHz 5% OC, 1GB 4.36GHz 192-bit)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (F:)
WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache) : 466GB (D:) (E:)
WDC WD3200AAKS-00V1A0 (320.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache) : 298GB (C:)
WDC WD5000AAJS-22TKA0 (500.1GB, USB2/SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache) : 466GB (I:)
Seagate ST2000DL001-9VT156 (2TB, USB2/SATA300, 5900rpm) : 2TB (H:)
Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (G:)

Logical Storage Devices
ECLIPSE (D:) : 346GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache)
System Reserved : 100MB (NTFS)
ALPHA-HOTEL (I:) : 466GB (FAT32) @ WDC WD5000AAJS-22TKA0 (500.1GB, USB2/SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache)
TITAN (H:) : 2TB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST2000DL001-9VT156 (2TB, USB2/SATA300, 5900rpm)
VICEROY (F:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm)
AURORA (E:) : 120GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 298GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD3200AAKS-00V1A0 (320.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
Optical Drive (G:) : N/A @ Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS P55 LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 B3-53
Audio Device : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 High Definition Audio
Audio Codec : VIA 4441h
Audio Device : EVGA GF116 High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : nVidia 0015h
Audio Codec : nVidia 0015h
Audio Codec : nVidia 0015h
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS JMB361 AHCI/IDE
USB Controller 1 : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
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)
Printer : Amyuni Document Converter 400 (2400x2400, Parallel, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)
Printer : Adobe PDF Converter (4000x4000, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (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

[WorshiperDj]

I'm having a very similar siduation myself...was hoping to see a response with a solution! CPU and memory not even breaking a sweat and still getting this error. Anyone?

[albee1952]

Any time a system goes from working well, to NOT working, start by analyzing what is new or what has changed. Are you connected to the internet with this computer? If yes,, then it could be a virus, trojan or some other malware. If no, then have you imported sessions from another person/studio? They might have had a virus on their drive. Windows automatic updates turned OFF? Are any drives almost full? I recommend at least 15% empty on any single drive. What is drive H: doing? I see its 5900 rpm so its not fast enough for recording.

All that said, sometimes the best solution IS to start over with a clean install. Drive imaging would have saved you tons of time and effort here. If you don't have Acronis True Image(or similar), get it now and save images as you rebuild, so you don't suffer this fate in the future(and don't count on System Restore to be a substitute for imaging because it isn't). Once you have backup images, you can turn system Restore off. For those that use System Restore, if you get a virus or other malware, your restore points will be infected as well.

[Darryl Ramm]

Flowman:

Lots of nice looking disk drives there, which is usually a good thing, but can you explain what partitions are used for what. (e.g. system, samples, audio/session files, backups etc.).

One of those drives is a WD5000AADS aka WD Caviar Green, which is extremely problematic as an audio drive (only 5400 rpms with very bad "green" spindown and headparking behaviors). I personally would not want one of those on my system used for anything, system, audio or samples. Its suitable as a backup drive only IMNSHO.

Which hard drive is your session on? - go double check in case it accidentally is on the system or sample drive. (EDIT: that's an easy way for a well workign computer to suddenly develop problems, done it myself several times and you feel really stupid when I discovered it.).
What are all the settings in the playback engine dialog panel?
What plugins are used in your session? How many tracks?
What happens if you create a new empty session? (EDIT: I now notice it looks like you already tried good plugin debugging by removing plugins).
Are all plugins up to date? (EDIT: I now notice it looks like you already tried good plugin debugging by removing plugins).
Have you tried trashing preferences etc. - usual trouble shooting steps. Start with the "Help Us Help You" link at the top of this page and see links there.

---

Can people please not pile onto threads with "me too" type posts. Please create your own thread and report your problem there, with Sandra reports etc. and other standard things as asked in the "Help Us Help You" link, it gets very hard to keep track with who is replying to what questions etc. when multiple people pile their problems into one thread.

Darryl

[Darryl Ramm]

Since Albee1952 touches on viruses. Of course you are not supposed to have antiviurus software running on a DAW PC while using the DAW, so check that any anti-virus has been disabled while you are working in the DAW. If you have antivirus software installed on the PC, shutdown all apps, update your antivirus database and then run a full system scan and then make really sure any antivirus software is turned off, before trying Pro Tools again. Or if unsure fully uninstall the antivirus software (you can always reinstall). Best to take a full backup/system image before hand.

In Windows Task Manager are any other apps running, or any unusual processes running? (they dont' necessarily have to be hogging all the CPU or memory to cause problems).

[EDIT: BTW the reason for mentioning antivirus is largely because it is something that people can believe is disabled/turned off, but accidentally is on and then problems suddenly start to happen]

Darryl

[albee1952]

Good point re antivirus, but you might get away with going into Services and setting the antivirus to run manually only, and STOP it(assuming its running already).