Error message: PCI bus too busy........

[el biciclista]

I have HD2 running Pro Tools 5.3.1 on a Mac G4 867, OS 9.2. I have one 192 I/O, one 192 Digital I/O.
I have 3 separate internal data drives, in addition to my system drive.

I am getting an error message:
"The PCI bus is too busy for the DAE to communicate reliably with the audio hardware (-6042)."

What do I do to solve this problem?

The data drive I am using is only 45% full, and I am using only a few plug-ins (I process the tracks externally in hardware).

Thanks.

[Touchwood Studios]

What happens when you set your CPT to 85% and your buffer to 4 or 8

[TVPostSound]

The video card is usually the culprit. Especially if its an nVidia, switch to an ATO 9000 or higher.

[el biciclista]

(1) I changed the DAE settings to playback buffer of 8 and CPU usage of 85%. I continue to get the same error message, so this didn't seem to solve the problem.
(2) The video card is a GeForce2 MX, which I have had since I bought the G4 originally. It has never caused this problem, so it is unlikely that it is the culprit.
(3) I copied the session folder to another data drive, to see if there might be a problem with the data drive. I opened the session on the new data drive and I promptly got the same error message.

So, there seems to be something else going on.
Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

[M2E]

I don't have an HD but, maybe I can help. I have a Mix Plus++++.
Anyway, Have you checked the cable? I had this same problem and I could not figure it out for nothin. Check both ends of the cable from your Mac to 192. Make sure all the pins are ok and not bent. Mine was bent and I had to rebend it back into place. Luckily it worked and I was off and running.
Have you also turned off your cpu and unplugged it and reset the Logic Board on your Mac? Then plug it back up and see if that works. The Mac Logic Board may need resetting.
How many cards do you have in your Mac-meaning PCI Cards? Disconnect everything and just use the Core Card in your Mac and the 192 to see if that works right. Then slowly start adding HD Cards or any other cards you have until you get that message.

Hope This Helps....

M2E

[Lee Blaske]

The video card is a GeForce2 MX, which I have had since I bought the G4 originally. It has never caused this problem, so it is unlikely that it is the culprit.

Is this the stock card that came with that particular computer? If it's not, and you have the original card, go back to it. The idea is that lower performance video cards are less likely to cause -6042 problems.

Something is putting too much pressure on your PCI bus, and you need to find out what it is. Are you using one monitor or two? One thing you might try doing is reducing the color resolution of your monitor card. Set it to thousands (on both monitors if you're using two), rather than millions. If you're using two monitors, also make sure that there are no open windows that span both monitors. Keep open windows solidly on one monitor or the other.

Are the cards in your machine in the proper slots as per the Digidesign set-up guide?

You might experiment with running your audio on FireWire drives. In the past, with certain computer architectures, I've found that FireWire drives will solve the -6042 errors, because the data traffic to and from FW is separate from the PCI bus. At any rate, it's something worth experimenting with.

You might also consider upgrading to the most recent version of PT on OSX. Some versions of PT and operating systems were just more prone to the -6042 problem.

Are there any other PCI cards in your machine besides the ones you mentioned?

Lee Blaske

[DigiTechSupt]

Also - Verify the Disk Cache is set to 512 or less (virtual memory off, Ram Disk off).

Lee's suggestions and questions are good - if you can reply to them, it will help us track down the problem.

[el biciclista]

Thanks for trying to help!

Answers to your questions:
(1) The video card is the original card.
(2) I am using one monitor.
(3) The color resolution is set to thousands already.
(4) The PCI slots are (top to bottom):
(a) video card
(b) Digidesign card
(c) 2nd Digidesign card
(d) space
(e) SIIG Ultra ATA 133 PCI Interface card for the three internal data drives (all IBM Deskstar 80GB, 7200 RPM drives).

(5) I have two external Firewire drives I use as backup drives (Western Digital WD2500JB, 250GB, 7200 RPM). I have never been able to use one of these as the primary data drive when in a PT session. I don't know why, but the access rate wasn't sufficient. I was unsuccessful at solving this problem. It is not a big problem (I easily backup data on these drives), so I gave up on solving it. (Too many problems!)
(6) PT 5.3/OS 9.2 works fine for me (until now), so I have been avoiding upgrading. I can't really see any big incentive since I use very few plug-ins (although this problem may push me).
(7) Disk cache is 512, virtual memory is off, ram disk is off.

I have an unusual number of edits to two tracks in this session, so I am guessing this initiated the error message. But with no plug-ins operating, I wouldn't think I'd be anywhere near some kind of a limit.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[Lee Blaske]

Definitely remove the SIIG card, and test without it. Such a card is not tested, or approved, and could easily be causing problems.

Do your Firewire drives have have an Oxford 911 bridge chip? You should try experimenting with some different FW drives. FW works very well. If the FW drives you have do have Oxford 911 bridge boards, you should check to see that they're flashed with the latest firmware.

Lee Blaske

[el biciclista]

Lee,
(1) I don't see how I can remove the SIIG card and test the operation. The three data drives are connected via the SIGG card. So, w/o the card, I would have to put the session file on the system drive. That isn't really a practical long term solution, since I don't have enough capacity on the system drive. So, I need some kind of card for this purpose.
Am I confused about this?

(2) The external Firewire drives are both connected with ComboDocks:
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/ComboDock.php

These units have "...the OXUF922 bridge. Provides best FireWire compatibility with latest firmware."
These were recommended to me as the best option for docking units, which I want because I want to be able to easily change external drives. Are these OK?

Thanks.