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  #1  
Old 01-25-2010, 03:22 PM
Mattitude Mattitude is offline
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Default Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Hello everyone,

I am getting really annoyed at this. Pro Tools keeps on crashing, so it is taking me such a long time to record my music properly.

This is what happens:

I have my MacBook Pro connected via FW800 to my external hard drive's FW800 port. My external hard drive is then connected from its FW400 port to my 003 Rack's (Factory Bundle) FW400 port via a FW400 cable. I turn the external hard drive on, it appears on my desktop. I turn my 003 Rack on and open Pro Tools. I load one of my sessions, which is located in my external hard drive. It opens up fine. Now, sometimes when I'm recording my music, everything is fine... everything is running and there are no crashes, but I can guarantee it will crash at some point. I don't really get any error messages appearing. If I do, I can usually sort it out by changing the playback settings or something. But the thing that always seems to crash Pro Tools is the annoying spinning loading balloon (multicolored) that randomly appears, and never goes away. I can't click anything in Pro Tools. To close Pro Tools I have to right click the Pro Tools icon on the dock (when right clicked, it says "Application Not Responding') and click, 'Quit'. Pro Tools quits. The next annoying thing is because of the Pro Tools crash and quitting it.. my external hard drive usually won't let me open the files again, and it won't let me eject the external hard drive properly, resulting in having to disconnect it by just turning the switch off, which is not recommended because files can be lost or damaged without disconnecting it safely. There is the very rare occasion where the hard drive will disconnect safely.. but this is very rare. I then shut down my MacBook Pro and turn it back on.. and when I switch the hard drive back on.. most of the time it won't show up on my desktop, so I can't open my Pro Tools sessions. The 003 Rack recognises it though so I can open Pro Tools, I just can't open my sessions from inside the external hard drive, because I can't see it! To make the hard drive appear again, I usually switch the Macbook Pro and hard drive off and wait for quite a long time. I have to go and do something else for a while instead of repeatedly switching the hard drive on and off with it not working - This can't do it any good.

I don't have any other major applications, such as Graphic, movie applications installed or anything. I haven't even installed the iLife applications (i.e. iMovie). And I have removed many other applications that installed with OS X.. just to try and make things work better.

Here are some details you may need to know:

Kind of things I record:

I record electric guitar by plugging it into my effects pedal and then into the 003 Rack, so I have no need for any guitar amp emulators or anything.
I record bass guitar by using my MIDI keyboard. I usually use XPAND2 that came with Pro Tools 8.
I record drums by using my MIDI keyboard. I use Addictive Drums for this.

When I record electric guitar (direct). The Playback Engine settings are usually as follows:

H/W Buffer Size (when recording guitar): 256 Samples (Prevents latency. Any higher and I get latency)
H/W Buffer Size (when mixing): 1024 Samples
Host Processors: 2 Processors
CPU Usage Limit: 85%
Host Engine:
Ignore Errors During Playback / Record (may cause clicks and pops) - TICKED
Minimize Additional I / O Latency - UNTICKED

DAE Playback Buffer (disk buffer)
Size: Level 2
Cache Size: Normal

HARDWARE SETUP
Optical Format: ADAT
Footswitch Control: Record Punch In / Out
Clock Source: Internal

The crashes usually occur when I'm mixing. Usually happens if I click to play something, or just simply click anything. It rarely crashes when I'm in the middle of recording guitar.

I do have more than one track for my electric guitars. I double the guitars and pan them different ways (L and R) to get more of a wide, stereo sound. I rarely use plugins on guitars. Only your normal Compression, EQ and the odd delay if needed. But I do try and make most tracks inactive so everything can run better when I'm actually recording.

Other important details:


Computer model: MacBook Pro (bought around August 2009 from Apple)
OS version: Mac OS X 10.5.8
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
RAM: 2GB
Internal Hard drive: 160GB
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3MB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Digidesign hardware model: 003 Rack
Pro Tools version: LE 8 (updated to Version 8.0.1)

External Hard drive:
G-DRIVE 500GB (this is a compatible drive)
Kit Contents:
Universal AC Power Supply
1.6 Meter eSATA Cable (black)
1.8 Meter FireWire 800 Cable (white)
1.8 Meter FireWire 400 Cable (white)
0.6 Meter USB 2.0 Cable (white)

Interface:
1x 3Gbit, eSATA
2x FireWire 800 (9-pin)
1x USB2.0
(FireWire 400 via 800 to 400 cable)

Disk Drives:
Type – SATA II
RPM – 7200
Cache – Up to 32MB

Cooling System:
Integrated heat sink

Bridge:

Oxford 934 chipset

So that's about it really. If you need anymore information, please let me know. Like I said before, sometimes I can work for a while without it crashing and then other times it can crash within the first 10 minutes. And with all the restarting and everything I never seem to get anything done. I have put a clean install of OS X and Pro Tools LE 8 on and the same happens. This time I haven't even installed the extra plugins. I really want to get this sorted out. I have paid enough for it! Anyone who tries to help me out I really appreciate it and I would also really like DigiTechSupport to help!

One last thing that has just happened - I opened one of my sessions in Pro Tools and just double checked if the information I have given you is right. I have written this out in TextEdit before copying it into the Digidesign forum text box. I have been switching from the TextEdit window and Pro Tools to fill out information. Everything ran fine, no crashes. When I finished typing all the information down, I just went back to Pro Tools to find the multicoloured loading balloon there again - Pro Tools has crashed. When I right click the Pro Tools icon in the dock, it says "Application Not Responding".

Thanks,
Matt.
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  #2  
Old 01-25-2010, 04:18 PM
Obsidian Dragon Obsidian Dragon is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattitude View Post
I have my MacBook Pro connected via FW400 to my external hard drive. My external hard drive is then connected to my 003 Rack (Factory Bundle) via FW800.
Was this a typo or do you have your 003R connected to the external drive's FW800 port with a FW 800 to FW400 adapter cable? I just want to be clear. In theory the firewire buss should step down to the lowest speed device in the chain. In this case, the 003R which only has a Firewire 400 port would be the limiting device. Some folks have had issues when trying to mix FW800 with FW400 device from one port. What seems to work for most is if they run all devices as FW400 in the chain by using the FW800 to FW400 adapter cable from the MBP's FW800 port to the drive's FW400 port and then a FW400 to FW400 cable betweent he drive's second FW400 port to the Digi003R. The best solution seems to be for those with a 17" MBP to add an ExpressCard firewire port so you have two firewire busses. Unfortunately, 15" & 13" MBP's don't have an ExpressCard slot.

One more thing to set is to set you number of processor cores dedicated to RTAS processing from 2 to 1 to free up one to handle non-realtime plugins. This seems to have fixed some folks ability to connect to the firewire audio interface and firewire external drives.
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  #3  
Old 01-25-2010, 04:49 PM
Mattitude Mattitude is offline
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Posts: 58
Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Hi Obsidian Dragon,

thanks for your reply!

Oops my mistake! I have the 13" MacBook Pro and I connect a FW800 cable from the Macbook Pro's FW800 port to the external hard drive's FW800 port. I then connect a FW400 cable (this cable came with the 003R) from the external hard drive's FW400 port to the 003R FW400 port.

Is this okay? I'll edit the mistake in the main post.

Oo okay I'll try and set the number of processor cores from 2 to 1 and I'll see how it goes.

Thanks again mate,

Anyone else that would like to contribute is welcome to,

Matt.
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  #4  
Old 01-25-2010, 10:31 PM
oliarnalds oliarnalds is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Hi Matt. I'm (in some weird, but hopefully non-offensive way) relieved to see i'm not the only one having this problem.

My crashes happen exactly how you describe them (especially that last bit about going to text edit and then when going back to pro tools it has gone to not responding). Except that i don't have this problem with having to disconnect the hard drive, etc. I can just reopen pro-tools and everything is fine. Sometimes it says my hardware is in use and then i have to restart the computer, but usually it's fine to just re-open pro tools.

It seems to me that this problem has something to do with buffer-overload. As it happens more frequently if i've got a lot going on. But still, that makes it pretty weird that it goes not responding just by writing something into text edit while PT isn't even playing.

I'm on PT8.0.3 and Snow leopard. Digi002. Same settings and same computer except i've got 3gb RAM.

Please let me know if you have any luck.
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  #5  
Old 01-26-2010, 09:41 AM
Mattitude Mattitude is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Hi oliarnalds,

thanks for your reply!

Yeah it must be the buffer overload or something. I've just upgraded to 8.0.3cs1 and it still happens. You have 3GB RAM and it still happens! I was thinking I might need to max out the RAM to 4GB, do you think this will sort it out?


Also, to Obsidian Dragon...

Quote:
Posted by Obsidian Dragon: One more thing to set is to set you number of processor cores dedicated to RTAS processing from 2 to 1 to free up one to handle non-realtime plugins. This seems to have fixed some folks ability to connect to the firewire audio interface and firewire external drives.
Could you tell me how to set the number of processor cores from 2 to 1?

Thanks guys,
Matt.
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  #6  
Old 01-26-2010, 10:01 AM
oliarnalds oliarnalds is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

I'm very doubtful that upping the RAM to 4gb will help solve the problem... Before i went to PT8 and Snow Leopard i only had 2gb and i never had this problem, and Buffer overload errors were a rare sight.

I went up to 3gb actually in the hopes of solving this problem... (3gb is maximum on my Macbook Pro)




You can set the processors from 2 to 1 in the Playback Engine settings, if i remember correctly. I will also try this.

All the best,
Óli
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  #7  
Old 01-26-2010, 10:54 AM
L-Dogg L-Dogg is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Why daisy chain the drive/003 like that? Do you only have FW800? I have both on my 15" MacBook Pro. I would hook my ext. drive to the FW800 port and then hook the 003 to the FW400 port.

Can you do this on the 13" model?
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  #8  
Old 01-26-2010, 11:41 AM
Mattitude Mattitude is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Hey Oli,

Hmm so it's probably not the RAM then! I reformatted my hard drive hoping it may solve it. I have just recorded guitar for a little bit and used playback. Everything was fine. And then all I did was set my 1 mono track to record and I hit the space bar to start recording (like I had only just been doing before), and the multicoloured loading balloon popped again! It had crashed again! It's annoying because it runs fine for a bit and then suddenly, when nothing has really changed, it crashes!

Oo okay I thought that's what was meant about changing the processors, thanks man.

Thanks Oli and be sure to let me know if you sort it out! :)

----------------

Hey L-Dogg,

Yeah the new 13", 15", and 17" MacBook Pro models only come with 1 FW800 port, no FW400 ports.

Thanks,
Matt.
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  #9  
Old 01-26-2010, 01:45 PM
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Gothboy Gothboy is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

My recording drive is internal and I've been having similar problems with PT crashing at least 4 times daily while mixing my latest song. I've upgraded to 8.0.3cs1 and have that horrible midicoreserver.framework folder bouncing around and causing interferance with Automap.

Just while playing back the session and then stopping I'll get the stuttered prolonged sound of the track and then the spinning ball. At this point all I can do is force quit on PT, Automap and that blasted Midicoreserver and start over. I thought it was a plugin issue and went through all the steps Digidesign recommends to fix it but it's still happenning.

I've had occurances where I couldn't name a track or type in the comments area!?

I've had buttons on certain Digi plugins not responding to my Automap controller.

I love PT 8 but miss the stability of 7.
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  #10  
Old 01-26-2010, 02:59 PM
Zoduati Zoduati is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools LE 8 - Keeps on crashing. A lot of information has been provided.

Just a guess, but is TimeMachine turned off? I am not sure if it should be, but it would seem like a good idea.

Also, did you do a Disk Utility and 'Repair Permissions'?

All the best. I am also having continual crashes, but I think I am narrowing it down to the AIR drivers not finding their pref files.

I share your frustrations.

Geoff
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