Studio CPU is Fried. Help!

[Harry Cronnick]

Hi. So I went to turn on my studio computer (Pro Tools LE 7.3, Mbox 2 Mini; Windows XP 2002) and it wouldn't start-up. Long story short, the machine is done for and I had to remove the HDD and put it into an external enclosure. I have to record ASAP and I need to know if I can find a machine running XP and plug in the external HDD through USB and record. If not, what DO I have to do to get my studio back asap?

Thanks, Harry

[mjslakeridge]

For Windows XP and Vista, you can successfully record to an external drive if it is connected via Firewire (I have test recorded 48 tracks simultaneously to an external Firewire drive). I don't think you are going to be successful via USB. Different story for Windows 7 and 8, the USB drivers are better than the Firewire drivers.

[Harry Cronnick]

Thanks for the reply. Forgive me for not knowing what Firewire is. What is the cheapest option short of buying a new computer? And if I do buy a new machine, would it have to be running XP? Would it be pretty easy to re-install Pro-Tools into it? I don't know what the limits are but my key should have only been used once.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by Harry Cronnick

Thanks for the reply. Forgive me for not knowing what Firewire is....

Say What?

[sw rec]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394

As stated earlier, Firewire is the preferred protocol for connecting an external drive in XP, but as of Windows 7, USB is the preferred external protocol.
Firewire on XP is EXTREMELY finicky...you have to have an Oxford chipset in your firewire controller. Were you recording all your sessions to your system drive, or was the drive you removed a secondary drive as recommended?

[mjslakeridge]

I don't know all of the technical details, but Firewire is another technology for connecting external devices to computers. Of course, the computer must have a Firewire port, usually on an installed PCI card, to connect the firewire cable to.

You won't be able to buy a "new" computer running XP, as Microsoft quit supporting (no security updates, etc) in April of this year. You might be able to find a used one with XP installed from a computer repair shop, or maybe on Ebay. I am still using XP with PT 7.4, but that machine is not connected to the internet, to avoid getting any virus or malware.

I think PT LE will run on Windows Vista, but that may also be hard to find nowadays. If you do find a computer with XP or Vista, installing Pro Tools should not be a problem if you have your authorization key.

Edit: Per the attached chart, http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...tibility-Chart, PT 7.3 will not run on Vista, only XP. PT 7.4 will run on either.

[Harry Cronnick]

No I removed the whole HDD. Should I just fix the machine I have? It needs a new motherboard and power supply.

[mjslakeridge]

If you can find the exact same motherboard, then you can install your old processor (or have someone help you if you have never done it before), then Windows XP "should" run on that computer. Windows usually recognizes any changes to the components in a system, and forces you to re-authorize Windows if it detects a change. Depending on how old the PC is, you may not be able to find a replacement motherboard. What processor is in the PC? Do you still have the Windows XP installation disk? Does it contain service pack 2? As SW Rec asked, was this your only hard drive, containing both Windows XP and your audio sessions? Not recommended (you may get by with it if your sessions are small, but a crap shoot.)

[Craig F]

an HP xw8600 will boot XP
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...ation&_sacat=0

[mjslakeridge]

How do you know if BOTH the power supply and the motherboard are gone? If the power supply failed, you wouldn't know if the motherboard was good or not (unless you took it somewhere and they tried a new power supply). There are Youtube videos on testing power supplies, but you need to remove it from the computer and have access to a multimeter.