Win7 64 - Usual 'Noise' Issues But With Random Quick Solves

[Enjoyed]

First of all, I really do apologise if this has come up before. Unfortunately, as you can probably tell by the title, I have a lot of difficulty trying to describe what the problem is, let alone decipher a collection of searchable terms.
Nevertheless, here I go.

I've had my legit (paid for) copy of Pro Tools M-Powered for over a year now. Most of the time I was running 8.0.3 but I've recently upgraded to 8.0.4 and, just last night, 8.0.4cs2. This is all irrelevant really as the problem has persisted throughout every version I've been running.

Essentially what happens is this - I open up a session, let's pretend it's a new one, and I start working by choosing a loop point and constructing various layers, adding in new audio tracks, instrument tracks and plug-ins as I go. For a while things are fine, then I start getting the old 'pops & clicks' (though it's closer to the distortion a lot of people write about). This continues until I change the H/W Buffer size or the Host Processors (normally both). I can normally then continue to work until it happens again and I'll change the settings back to what I usually have it at (6 Processors, 2048).
Now before anyone suggests that I simply have too much going on, I can suffer the exact same problems when I have just one stereo audio track in a new project. So I don't think it's got anything to do with number of plug-ins or anything. Plus, I'd have thought that 6gig of RAM should be capable of coping with the number of tracks I normally work with (around 30 tracks - audio/instrument/aux).

Here is the weird part. I'll be working in a session that I've battled to construct say half a song in. I can be playing a random section of it and it will start making the noises (worth noting that the noises are normally distorted busts of the track at different speeds depending on the buffer size). I then have to find the part in the session which, as I call it, 'works'. By this I mean, I have to click through different areas of the song until it plays back normally. This could be a section with a new MIDI part, or a tiny clip of a cymbal that is being sent to a reverb. It is never the same across different sessions, but it normally becomes one of a few places in a single session.

For example, a recent session I have been working on was a song I wanted to finish a rough demo of to send out to people. 60% of the structure was finished but I wanted to get the whole thing done.
There were essentially 7 sections (verse, chorus, breaks, bridges what have you) and I was working on the last section. When the noises occurred, I had to click back to some audio I had a few bars before the beginning. If this didn't set things right, I had to move to a bar which began with a reverbed Crash. If this failed, I tried a bar or two in the breakdown. One of these would fix it. I would then continue working on the ending for say 20 seconds before it happened again. I'd then have to hunt out the bit that works and would be back and forth like this all evening.

What baffles me is not the cause of the noise. It's that some parts of the session seem to play fine. But not all the time. I can be playing the breakdown section, it can start making noises. I can jump to the start and it will play fine. Then that can stop working and I have to find another section that works. Sometime even the 'broken' sections seem to rectify themselves momentarily before braking again. And the sections which work or don't work, seem to alternate randomly without any sort of reason.

As I say, I've had Pro-Tools for over a year now and have ALWAYS had problems. I thought that it was the hardware driver for a long time and just kind of got on with it. As Windows 7 was supposedly in BETA, and I had read hundreds of posts claiming that Pro Tools was not working AT ALL, I figured I was lucky to be able to even open the program. Now though, with 8.0.4 claiming to have full Windows 7 support (have I miss read something?) and a new driver for the Fast Track (again, does it fully support Win 7 or not?), I can see that there is something seriously wrong.

I've tried a number of 'fixes' so far. Including all of the optimisation techniques - running as administrator, disabling start up processes, turning off AERO, providing priority to background services etc. I've run DPC and no ducking occurred. And I'm not running audio off of my main drive. I've trashed databases and preferences and (as far as I can remember) nothing happened. It was a while ago though, and I intend to try it again once my Sandra Report has finished. I don't have much hope either way.

I tried the plug-in updater but nothing seemed to happen. I'm pretty sure it's not a plug-in issue though as I had problems even with just the default digi plug-ins (I have Waves and Soundtoys now but they are all up to date)
I also tried the Support Utilty thing but it claimed I didn't have a licensed version of Pro Tools (I updated it to 8.0.4cs2 last night so I obviously do...).

I've also installed the latest Fast Track driver, though when I double click the tray icon and go to the 'About' tab it says Audio: 5.10.00.5133, should that not be 6.0.6.xxxx?

I realise there are hundreds of other bits of information you need. I will post my SANDRA report when it has finished (16%...). But I really want to know if it can be fixed or whether I should just give up and get a new laptop or something. I have wasted so much time clicking around my sessions, restarting and having to bounce out things in parts, I think it's high time I find a definite solution.
If I was to dual boot in XP is that likely to help? Or should I get an Oxygen 49 (they are fully supported aren't they?) Or do I need to change my BIOS or something? (not sure how to go about that)

I apologise for the length of this post. I'm trying to be as specific I can with something that seems to be completely random.

Thanks for reading,
Peter.

[Enjoyed]

SiSoftware Sandra

System
Host Name : STUDIO1747
User : Peter
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 820 @ 1.73GHz
Speed : 1.73GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Internal Data Cache : 2x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 On-board Cache : 2x 256kB, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L3 On-board Cache : 8MB, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, 64 byte line size, 16 threads sharing

System
System : Dell Inc. Studio 1747
Mainboard : Dell Inc. 0J509P
Bus(es) : ISA PCI PCIe USB FireWire/1394
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : 1 Processor(s)
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : No
System BIOS : AT/AT COMPATIBLE DELL - 6040000
Total Memory : 5.99GB

Chipset 1
Model : Dell ??? (D132)
Front Side Bus Speed : 1x 1.33GHz (1.33GHz)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Generic PnP Monitor
Adapter : ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650
Imaging Device : Canon MP620 ser Network
Imaging Device : Integrated Webcam

Physical Storage Devices
ST9500420AS 500GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 465.76GB (C:) (E:)
ST9500420AS 500GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 465.76GB (D:)
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GA11N (SATA150, 24x CD-R, 24x CD-W, 3x DVD-R, 3x DVD-W, 2MB Cache) : N/A (F:)
YJYTWP UVSD67GXY3 (SCSI) : N/A (G:)

Logical Storage Devices
OS (C:) : 451.07GB (75.34GB, 17% Free Space) (NTFS) @ ST9500420AS 500GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
Files (D:) : 465.76GB (135.97GB, 29% Free Space) (NTFS) @ ST9500420AS 500GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
RECOVERY (E:) : 14.65GB (4.76GB, 32% Free Space) (NTFS) @ ST9500420AS 500GB (SATA300, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
CD-ROM/DVD (F:) : N/A @ HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GA11N (SATA150, 24x CD-R, 24x CD-W, 3x DVD-R, 3x DVD-W, 2MB Cache)
CD-ROM/DVD (G:) : N/A @ YJYTWP UVSD67GXY3 (SCSI)

Peripherals
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3B34
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3B3C
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
USB Controller/Hub : Generic USB Hub
USB Controller/Hub : Generic USB Hub
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)
Keyboard : Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad

Printers and Faxes
Model : Microsoft XPS Document Writer
Model : Fax
Model : Dell AIO 810
Model : Canon MP620 series Printer

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

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows Vista Business Media Center 6.01.7600
Platform Compliance : Win64 x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 4.3

Network Services
Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Adapter : Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card

[SSE4.2]

Your problem may simply be incompatible hardware.

Running PT8 on a laptop PC is probably the option most likely to cause problems due to the very nature of PC laptops. If you must go laptop, go with a compatible apple laptop. Why apple? Because they are one company one design, whereas PCs are made by many companies, and consequently many designs, and more importantly many possible areas of incompatibility. As you can see in the numerous previous posts. PT8 and previous versions are very hardware picky. This is why a lot of folks build their own PCs.

You could also investigate the hardware requirements of PT9.

[Enjoyed]

Thanks. I think you're probably right.
I really cant afford a new laptop though. Especially a Mac.
The upgrade to PT9 is a lot more than I can really afford as well. And if I run into the same problems and end up wasting even more money...

Is there nothing I can do to get it working even slightly better on my system?
What is the deal with changing the Bios?

Also, how can I find out whether my laptop is compatible with PT8? I found lists for laptops running Vista and XP but even they were very limited. Is the idea that if it's not on the list, it wont work? It'd be nice to see a comprehensive list of laptops that do work with Pro-Tools 8 on Windows 7.
I guess if it really came to it, I could invest in a half decent desktop...

Thanks,
Peter.

[scenicrecords]

Do all of this:

Windows Guide - Windows 7 Optimizations and Troubleshooting

[Enjoyed]

Originally Posted by scenicrecords

Do all of this:

Windows Guide - Windows 7 Optimizations and Troubleshooting

I have done. Nothing worked.

[scenicrecords]

Also, are those physically separate hard drives, not just partitions? If so, how is the second one hooked up on your laptop? If it is the same physical drive, you will have nothing but problems.

The only way I have had success with Pro Tools is connecting my laptop to a approved Firewire Drive (Glyph in my case) with the approved SIIG Firewire Card (see my signature for details). I have a similar laptop, and the only way I was able to get it running smoothly was with the configuration below.

Also, disable network cards in BIOS. Remove the fax and the printers. Disable the Webcam.

[scenicrecords]

I'm also seeing in your Sandra report that you are running 64 bit Microsoft Windows Vista Business Media Center. Is that correct? On Avid's site it says:

Not Supported:
Windows Vista 64-bit (any version)

[Enjoyed]

I thought they were separate. When I bought the laptop it was listed as having 1tb of Hard Disk split into 2x500 and I always assumed that the laptop couldn't take a single 1tb disk so it had 2 500gb ones.
Looking at my Sandra report though, they appear to all have the same serial number. So maybe that is it.

In the mean time, I'll definitely give the BIOS stuff a try. I'm afraid I don't know how to edit it though. Could you point me in the direction of a good walkthrough?

Thanks a lot,
Peter.

[EDIT] I've just had a look at the ExpressCard you mentioned. Can I confirm, the actual choice of hard drive isn't that crucial, as long as it is Oxford 911 and 7200rpm?
And in your sig you say you run your fw410 from your onboard fw400 port (the smaller one yes?). Is there a reason you don't use the spare fw800 port on the pci card?

[Enjoyed]

Originally Posted by scenicrecords

I'm also seeing in your Sandra report that you are running 64 bit Microsoft Windows Vista Business Media Center. Is that correct? On Avid's site it says:

Not Supported:
Windows Vista 64-bit (any version)

The laptop came as a Vista laptop but I immediately installed Windows 7 Ultimate on to it. Are there still remnants of Vista64 floating about? Can I get rid of them or is my laptop a Vista Machine at it's heart?