PLEASE HELP! PT 8 -- "running out of CPU power" at <15% of CPU usage

[jsbeeth]

Having a continuous problem where PT is crashing w/ the "running out of CPU power" error message, though my CPU usage in the system usage window is quite low (hovering around 10-15%), and the sessions in question are quite small and sparse at the moment. I'm running OSX 10.5.8 on a 2.66GHz Imac w/ 4 GB ram, and my CPU usage limit in the Playback Engine is set to 95%, so this shouldn't be happening, and has never happened before. I'm working with a H/W buffer size of 128 samples -- anything higher renders tracking unfeasible due to latency.

Trashing prefs didn't help. One strange thing is is that there's a single isolated dash way to the right of the rest of the "solid" meter in the CPU meter. It's this dash that erratically spikes to the peak of the meter and causes the crashes.

This problem started occurring within the past week or so, though I haven't updated my PT, my OS, or anything else.

Any ideas? Further work is essentially impossible til I sort this out, so I appreciate your input. Thanks!

[albee1952]

What plugins(outside of the stock stuff) do you have installed. On my system, TL Space will cause that little flashing dash and can choke the system. If I delete any TL SPace from the session, it gets much better. Some plugins that need updating or cause problems, can actually wreak havoc just by being installed(and not used in a session). Dragging plugins out of the plugins folder can sometimes reveal which are causing trouble9it takes a lot of patience though).