HW Buffer Size Issues (sorry, another one of these threads)

[denniswilson]

Hi, starting this thread as a last resort because I have done everything i can think of.

Ive spent all day today and yesterday trying every possible fix mentioned on forums and the avid website. I have also followed all the "optimising your windows xp system for pro tools steps .

Some background - I have ran protools with little problem on this laptop for the previous 3 years before running into serious registry issues which meant having to wipe the entire laptop. I also installed a new hard drive as the old one was causing the laptop to shut down randomly. It now works really fast, pro tools loads really quickly as do the songs but the damn buffer thing never stays away for more than 2 minutes even if I put the playback setting at the max 2048.

I have windows xp media edition installed but just learned that digidesign dont guarantee support for it however it worked fine before so I dont see why it doesnt now. Its a dual core machine and a lot of people have mentioned disabling one core (due to some xp pro tools bug) but when I do that the problem is even worse. I also tried using my external hard drive for recording and my internal hard drive for playback but that did not work. Its not a firewire drive but loads of people are saying the usb drives work fine but are just not recommended by protools.

Set up is Pro Tools LE 7.3.1 with Mbox 2 with midi axiom 25 keyboard and xpand plugins + velvet and structure.

Here is my sandra report

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Toshiba Satellite A105
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Processor
Model : Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2050 @ 1.60GHz
Speed : 1.6GHz
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 : 2MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

Computer
Platform Compliance : Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
Mainboard : Intel MPAD-MSAE Customer Reference Boards
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies LTD 1.90 07/05/2006
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 : 3GB DDR2 SO-DIMM

Chipset
Model : Toshiba 955XM/945GM/PM/GMS/940GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DDR2 SO-DIMM
Shared Memory : 8MB
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 266MHz (532MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Micron 16HTF25664HY-667E1 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-5300U DDR2-666 (5-5-5-15 3-20-5-3)
Memory Module : Micron 16HTF25664HY-667E1 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-5300U DDR2-666 (5-5-5-15 3-20-5-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family (8 SP 250MHz, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
SAMSUNG HM160HI (160GB, SATA150, 2.5", 5400rpm, 8MB Cache) : 149GB (C:)
MAT[bleep][bleep][bleep][bleep]ADVD-RAM UJ-841S (ATA33, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
SQ004126P01 (C:) : 149GB (NTFS) @ SAMSUNG HM160HI (160GB, SATA150, 2.5", 5400rpm, 8MB Cache)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ MAT[bleep][bleep][bleep][bleep]ADVD-RAM UJ-841S (ATA33, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Toshiba 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T1 35-03
Audio Device : Toshiba Toshiba Satellite A100-796 audio (Realtek ALC861)
Audio Codec : Realtek Semiconductor 861 High Definition Audio
Audio Codec : Lucent/Agere Systems (Was: AT&T MicroElectronics) TOSHIBA Software Modem
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Toshiba 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M) Serial ATA Storage Controller
Disk Controller : Toshiba PCIxx12 SDA Host Controller
USB Controller 1 : Toshiba 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : Toshiba 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : Toshiba 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 4 : Toshiba 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : Toshiba 82801G (ICH7) USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Toshiba PCIxx12 OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller
CardBus/PCMCIA Controller 1 : 65280 PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver (300x300, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 54Mbps)
Wireless Adapter 1 : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection - Packet Scheduler Miniport (802.11g (ERP), AES-CCMP, 54Mbps)

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

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

Any help appreciated. Thanks

[albee1952]

Using a separate approved recording drive is really important for anything more than 4 tracks. There's always someone that has some unsupported system working, but that doesn't mean its going to work for anyone else(sometimes its just dumb luck). Besides, you can't record to one drive and playback from another(it just doesn't work that way unless you are recording all your audio and then moving the session folder to another drive). Wifi and networking should be disabled for running Pro Tools. Get an approved firewire card and an approved firewire drive, or consider moving to Windows 7(and PT9), which does make USB2 drives usable(better USB drivers is the reason for that). Having said all this, I owned an A105 and actually never got Pro Tools to work on it, so you already did better than me. 7.3.1 won't work with WIn7, so any updates will cost you some $(sorry its so easy for ME to spend YOUR money). If you had imaged your old system drive, it would have been easier to get back to the working configuration that you lucked into

[denniswilson]

Thanks Albee, I have a firewire card which seems to be compatible so will need to fork out for a firewire hard drive I guess. A few 2nd hand ones on the local ebay might do the job. Really dont wanna spend much as its just for demo recordings (8 to 10) tracks max.