Need help with getting a DELL 1537 up and running!

[sidoZe]

Hey, I have a dell studio 1537 and have had problems with tons of dae errors, even when only playing back 2 tracks, and thats with the buffer maxed! I looked online and it says the 1535 is unsupported..scary...so I'm hoping there is something I can do to get mine to work better. Attached is the sandra report I hope someone has an idea of what to do? Thanks so much!

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Dell Studio 1537
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : Studio
User : Rob

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz
Speed : 2.26GHz
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 : 3MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 12-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

Computer
Platform Compliance : Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
Mainboard : Dell 0P132H
BIOS : Dell A02 09/02/2008
Bus(es) : X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3GB SO-DIMM

Chipset
Model : Dell PM45 Mobile Controller Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 266MHz (1GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB SO-DIMM
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 399MHz (798MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Nanya NT2GT64U8HC0BN-AD 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Nanya NT2GT64U8HC0BN-AD 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series (SM4.1, 256MB DDR2, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Storage Devices
Hitachi HTS543232L9A300 (320GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 7MB Cache) : 298GB (C:) (D:)
ST3750630AS (750.2GB, USB/SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 699GB (F:)
Optiarc DVD+/-RW AD-7640S (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 298MB (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
RECOVERY (D:) : 10GB (NTFS) @ Hitachi HTS543232L9A300 (320GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 7MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 288GB (NTFS) @ Hitachi HTS543232L9A300 (320GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 7MB Cache)
IPITP_63 (E:) : 298MB (CDFS) @ Optiarc DVD+/-RW AD-7640S (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
New Volume (F:) : 699GB (NTFS) @ ST3750630AS (750.2GB, USB/SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Dell (ICH9M) LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : Winbond W83687THF
Audio Device : Dell (ICH9) HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Integrated Device Tech 7675h
Audio Device : Dell RV620 Audio device [Radeon HD 34xx Series]
Disk Controller : Dell (ICH9) Mobile SATA AHCI Controller
USB Controller 1 : Dell (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : Dell (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : Dell (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 4 : Dell (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : Dell (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 6 : Dell (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 7 : Dell (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 8 : Dell (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Dell R5C832 IEEE-1394 Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet (Ethernet, 100Mbps)
Wireless Adapter 1 : Dell Wireless 1510 Wireless-N WLAN Mini-Card

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

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows Vista Home 6.00.6001 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x86

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 4.0

[sw rec]

Your secondary hard drive says USB/SATA. How do you have it connected? USB drives do NOT work for recording Pro Tools sessions. It would also help to know which interface you're using.
Problem two is that four-letter word, DELL.

[sidoZe]

I am using the mbox 2 mini. Currently i have a USB drive connected but usually use an eSATA connected drive to record.

[sw rec]

USB drives are "problematic" so that's problem number one. Go back to your e-sata.

[sunburst79]

Disable the networking adaptors while running PT- Both of them.

Which specific DAE errors....

[sidoZe]

Ive disabled the network adapters and done all the other optimizations listed and it makes no difference, its mostly -9093 hardware buffer, where it tells you to increase the size, then later says to decrease the size -9129

[TOM@METRO]

Also the system drive you are using is slow and has a very small cache. If you are trying any virtual Instruments from that drive you will see problems.

[sw rec]

And if you insist on recording to that USB drive, you're gonna have problems.

[sidoZe]

Hmm, yeah i see that it is only a 7mb cache. can you get new hard disks for laptops? however this isnt happening when im using virtual instruments, im just trying to play back 2 tracks at once. Using virtual istruments or reason rewired in is impossible because i cant reduce the buffer to improve the latency.

And yes I know USB drives are problematic, but trust me, this isnt due to a USB drive. And have any of you tried using USB drives and have actually had problems? Because I know a bunch of people that I work with who use usb drives on huge sessions and have had no problems at all.

anyways Thanks for all of your help its very appreciated...so is that the only thing you can see, is that the C:\ is slow and too small of a cache?

[sw rec]

AND you can't record reliably to a USB drive. Just sayin.
"Hmmm....USB drives aren't supported, I'm SURE it can't be that, so I won't try something else, but it still doesn't work...."
Straight from the Digi compatibility page:

USB 2.0 Hard Drives
USB hard drives are NOT recommended or supported for use as recording drives. Limited testing has shown that performance with USB drives is inferior to that of FireWire drives.

Thing is, if you go against the recommendations, it MIGHT work for awhile, then it just stops working for no APPARENT reason; but the reason is, you're attempting to get reliable performance from a configuration that they've told you ISN'T reliable.