PT not stable

[DRickard]

I am relatively new to Pro Tools (3 1/2 months) but not new to digital recording having used Samplitude, Sonar, Calkewalk, Logic, Reaper, Cubase and my DAW of choice Nuendo.
I was asked to do a recording project starting in October that required my using Pro Tools. The client agreed to put up with my learning curve and I thought it would be a great opportunity to really learn Pro Tools. I have had LE for many years for importing projects, learning only what I needed to get the files into Nuendo.
As the project has progressed, Pro Tools has become more and more unstable. I get crashes constantly now from C++ runtime errors to access violation errors to not enough memory errors to not enough CPU errors. I also get crashes with no messages or warning. It now happens several times a day. The talent sometimes gets noise blasts, accompanied by not enough CPU errors (this error doesn't crash PT but it is loud and annoying to put it kindly).
If I do a mixdown after recording anything, I am guaranteed a crash after the mixdown completes. This crash was there from the beginning but I put up with it because the mixdowns were always successful and I just made sure I saved beforehand.
The other errors are not acceptable and I've been trying everything I can think of to get rid of them. I have done all of the optimizations Avid has recommended (most were done already as they are standard DAW practice). I have tried turning off every plugin. All with no luck.

I am running PT HD with no hardware on Windows 7 64bit with a 2.8 gig i7 and 12 gigs of RAM. I am using a Lynx AES16 and a Lynx 2C together. This system is very stable with Nuendo, running projects with more than triple the track count and more than triple the cpu usage of the PT sessions I am running.
I have the highest buffer, 1024 samples.
6 out of 8 processors ( I've tried playing with different settings with no luck).
85% CPU limit
Delay comp is at the max
I have assigned 6 gigs disk playback cache to PT.
Plugin streaming to level 4 (500 ms)

I get the low memory error with only 1.2 gigs assigned to Pro Tools in the task manager and 3-4 gigs still available. I am using between 15 and 25% CPU on the PT meters, depending on the song and yet I get "running out of cpu" errors (error 9128).

As the project gets bigger it seems that PT can't handle it and complains through crashing.

I am wondering if my workflow, borrowed from Nuendo, is contributing to the problem. This is a typical session: I have many clips on playlists (sometimes a dozen or more on many of the tracks). I have several sessions with 30 or more takes. As takes are chosen I will narrow this down to what is needed but for now I want to keep them all available. I usually have about 100 or more tracks with 80 audio tracks.

When I first started, Pro Tools was reasonably stable but as I said, it has regressed as I have added to the sessions. I haven't even started mixing yet!

I hope someone can offer some guidance.

Thanks

Dean

[teo726]

Access violations usually have to do with dll file types. Typically these errors occur to users that have a pirated copy of PT 10 (I heard they cracked it). Try repairing the installation and see if this works. My guess is a corrupt pro tools.dll

[TCM]

Access violations can also happen when plugins are incompatible.
Make sure you have got the latest versions.

[JamesClark1991]

Pro Tools for Windows is quite unstable in general from what I've experienced in my use.

I've used it on Macs once a week at university for the last year or so, only ever had 1 error once in the studio. Bought a Windows copy for personal use at home and I was SWAMPED with errors to the point where I couldn't install it. Now it's installed (after arduous guessing as there's very little help online surprisingly) I get different errors and bugs popping up all the time. Loading sessions, changing session etc. They happen randomly as well which is the really annoying part, there's no clear correlation between most of the bugs.

Unfortunately it's just the Pro Tools program. It's clearly been designed for Mac as priority, which is a shame as they aren't great value for money and generally try and monopolize what you do.

[cwsand]

Originally Posted by JamesClark1991

Unfortunately it's just the Pro Tools program. It's clearly been designed for Mac as priority, which is a shame as they aren't great value for money and generally try and monopolize what you do.

Not true - I run Pro Tools solidly on a pc. It does take a bit more fine tuning to have it run smoothly on pc than it does on a Mac.

The best way to install it is on a freshly installed Windows 7 system. Do ALL the Pro Tools Windows 7 Optimizations before installing ANYTHING else except for basic video/chipset drivers, and make sure it works before installing anything else. That way, if and when you start getting errors, the culprit is most likely the last thing you installed.

[smoothbassman]

Originally Posted by cwsand

Not true - I run Pro Tools solidly on a pc. It does take a bit more fine tuning to have it run smoothly on pc than it does on a Mac.

The best way to install it is on a freshly installed Windows 7 system. Do ALL the Pro Tools Windows 7 Optimizations before installing ANYTHING else except for basic video/chipset drivers, and make sure it works before installing anything else. That way, if and when you start getting errors, the culprit is most likely the last thing you installed.

I would agree. I have been running PT on a windows machine since version 8 with very little issues. If you set the computer up properly you shouldn't have a lot of problems. I hand built my last 2 protools rigs with AVID compliant everything. Day one zero issues even upgraded to 10.2 a month or two ago and it's rock solid with massive track / playlist counts.

Just remember PT is funky. If your machine is not optimized properly you are going to run into bugs even on a Mac.

[DRickard]

I was getting some crashing from early on and I've reinstalled it twice because I couldn't get certain sessions to open up at all, but it was working reasonable well once I got optimizations straightened out. But gradually it became more and more unstable as this project got bigger. The track count and playlist count went up quite a bit but the plugin count didn't go up as much as I have left most effects as they were from the start. It feels like I am overtaxing Pro Tools.
I am just not getting the feedback I need from Pro Tools to figure out the problem.

Dean

[teo726]

I'm not sure if this is accurate info but it might also have to do with the processor socket.

I don't know what u got but I heard 1155 is not so suitable for pro tools. Most solid socket is the LGA 2011

[DRickard]

I have a gigabyte P55A-UD4P with the 1156 Socket.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by JamesClark1991

Unfortunately it's just the Pro Tools program. It's clearly been designed for Mac as priority.

Initially possibly but it's more of a Mac is less hassle for everything not just PT

IMHO

And I'm not sure u will have to check but. I thought the 1155 socket was good and the 1156 socket was not really compatible - search the DUC and u can find out quick enough