I need some help getting Pro Tools working again

[mmorgan31]

I have been trying to get Pro Tools working on another laptop, I have Pro Tools LE with a Mbox 2. My computer specs are below and I am getting the "held off interrupts too long increase buffer size" error usually followed by an error “Audio processing is conflicting with other CPU tasks" when I increase the sample rate to high. I have followed the optimizing instructions. I have a second profile with minimal services running just for Pro Tools and I still can't get the error to go away. I have also tried each buffer size option, chose the single or dual processor, I have gone into the task manager and set the priority and affinity for the Pro Tools process and have had no effect on the message. I have searched for answers and I seem to be at a road block. I just want to be able to record some simple tracks again.

Thanks for any help I can get.

Computer
Model : Dell Precision M65
Workgroup : MSHOME
Host Name : home-d953cd1df9
User : Administrator

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz
Speed : 2GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Mobile, Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 2x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 4MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

Computer
Platform Compliance : Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
Mainboard : Dell 0JF242
BIOS : Dell A10 10/16/2008
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB PCMCIA CardBus USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3.25GB DDR2 SO-DIMM

Chipset
Model : Dell 955XM/945GM/PM/GMS/940GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 333MHz (1.33GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DDR2 SO-DIMM
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 666MHz (1.33GHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Wintec 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-5300U DDR2-666 (5-5-5-15 3-20-5-3)
Memory Module : Wintec 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-5300U DDR2-666 (5-5-5-15 3-20-5-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA Quadro FX 350M (4 PS3.0, 3 VS3.0 1MHz, 256MB DDR3 2x405MHz, PCIe 1.00 x16)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
Hitachi HTS541660J9SA00 (60GB, SATA150, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 7MB Cache) : 56GB (C:)
SONY CDRWDVD CRX880A (ATAPI, DVD+-R, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 479MB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 56GB (NTFS) @ Hitachi HTS541660J9SA00 (60GB, SATA150, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 7MB Cache)
Pro Tools LE (D:) : 479MB (CDFS) @ SONY CDRWDVD CRX880A (ATAPI, DVD+-R, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Dell 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : SMSC FDC37N769
Audio Device : Dell 82801G (ICH7) High Definition Audio
Audio Codec : Sigmatel 9200 HD Audio Codec
Audio Codec : Conexant HDAudio Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP
Serial Port(s) : 2
Disk Controller : Dell 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M) Serial ATA Storage Controller
USB Controller 1 : Dell 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : Dell 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : Dell 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 4 : Dell 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : Dell 82801G (ICH7) USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Dell Integrated OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller
CardBus/PCMCIA Controller 1 : 65025 OZ711EZ1 MemoryCardBus Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Network Adapter : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 54Mbps)
Wireless Adapter 1 : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card - Packet Scheduler Miniport (802.11g (ERP), WEP n-bit, 54Mbps)

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

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 3)
Platform Compliance : x86

[albee1952]

Start by disabling all networking and wifi when running Pro Tools. Next, what drive are you recording to? If its the system drive(or a partition of it) then you won't get much in the way of performance. You can try recording to a USB2 drive, but its not supported with XP(it IS supported with Windows 7). If you have an eSATA port, that would be a great choice for a recording drive. Some laptops will allow you to remove the optical drive and add a second hard drive with the appropriate drive caddy(check with Dell on that one). You need to record to a 7200 rpm or faster drive and avoid any drive that uses the word "green" in its title or description (power saving features are something you DON'T want in a recording drive). Dell's in general(with a handful of exceptions) are a crap shoot when it comes to Pro Tools compatibility

If you only work on small sessions, you might get away with recording to the C: drive if you replace what you have with a 7200 rpm drive(no SSD for recording). Use a drive cloning program to make that swap simple(Acronis True Image is my choice).

If Dell loaded up a bunch of "bloatware" as they often do, you might help by going to Add/Remove programs and uninstalling some garbage