APPcrash & Co.

[korkman]

Hello -

My newish PC (win 7 32 bit) has problems with pro tools, and I was hoping you could tell me where to look.

A week or so back, I got numerous DAE erros messages that often seemed related to insufficient memory, with the suggestion that I remove plug-ins.

Two days ago, I got screen problems, the mix screen or plug-ins screens would smear all over the screen when moved, plus many more problems in just three hours of work.

Yesterday: I'd changed the screen resolution back to small, and had ne screen draw problems. Two hours of redording and everything seemed ok. Then:

1) DAE 7401 on opening Trilian, but I though, well those come and go ...
2) Runtime Error! This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Well .... cold boot, try again ...
3) "Some of the inserts could not be made active" and pro tools crash (was trying to open Izotope Nectar). Hmphm ... cold boot, cold sweat ...
4) On opening Mini Grand (no other plug-in active) I get the runtime prob and the Appcrash (not my first), could not close PT and had to force close the PC.
5) I reduced the session to minimum components (four tracks or so) to get a rough draft of the song to my client ... get this: "The MP3 option cannot be enabled ..." Freeze, cold boot ...

Well, you get the picture. I later succeeded in bouncing a partial mp3 but then in the middle of that pro tools exited to a DOS-lookin black screen with OMP abort message, something about KMP Duplicate.

Today, I tried using Sandra, but it complains that it cannot get in touch with my computer. Mmm.

I would very much appreciate any suggestions you guys can give me. I do have clones of both my hard drives from a few weeks back, but things were not problem free back then, either, so I'd rather go through some ideas about what my problems stem from first. Thanks in advance!

best,

Petter

ADD: I have recently gone through the tech guideline again to tweak my msconfig etc, but turning back on the ones I did not know what they are for seemed not to help, just had windows freeze and stop responding in the middle of a bounce, and the mp3 option still reports the same as above. Brr.

ADD2: Can work with another session and bounce to mp3 without problems, but even opening yesterday's problem session leads to an OMP warning and a crash. My problem is that everything works part of the time and then pretty much everything suddenly seems not to work - what can it be that goes so wrong? Why does a session look fine for two hours and then suddenly I get DAE errors aplenty - or worse? I'm lost here, please lend a hand, somebody?

[Obsidian Dragon]

First off, this sounds like a RAM problem. I can not say for sure but that is similar to a problem that I had a while back on a Windows PC running Protools 8. It was one of those home built system that I threw together for cheap and just installed some RAM I had lying around unused. It might have been a another hardware problem like motherboard, chipset, or video card problem also but I would start with the RAM. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not implying your system is cheap. I'm just saying it might have faulty or mismatched memory.

[korkman]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

I would start with the RAM. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not implying your system is cheap. I'm just saying it might have faulty or mismatched memory.

Thank you Dragon. I had a set of blue screens when I first got this machine and I sent it back to the guy who built it: he replaced the ram, which he thought might be faulty. I can't know for sure what he put into the slot, could have been leftovers, so to speak.

I have a three year warranty, but before I use it, I'd like to be sure the ram is the problem. Is there a test one can run? I've now reinstalled Sandra, and it works, so I'll add a Sandra report in a sec, but is there e.g. in Sandra some way to test how well the ram performs?

best,

Petter

[korkman]

Here's the Sandra report:


SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : System manufacturer System Product Name
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : X-Audio-PC
User : X-Audio

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz
Speed : 3GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L2 Cache : 4x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing
L3 Cache : 8MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size, 16 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : Asus P7P55D-E
BIOS : AMI 1404 10/29/2010
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3.5GB DIMM DDR3

Chipset
Model : ASUS Core (Clarksfield/Lynnfield) DMI
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.41GHz (4.82GHz)

Chipset
Model : Intel Core Desktop (Lynnfield) UnCore
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 2.41GHz (4.82GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR3
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 670MHz (1.34GHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Apacer 78A1GC69H10C 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Apacer 78A1GC69H10C 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Video Adapter : ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series (80 SM5.0 650MHz, 1GB DDR3 800MHz 64-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
Compute Shader Processor : ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series (80SP 650MHz, 1GB DDR3 800MHz 64-bit)
STREAM GP Processor : ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series (80SP 2C 650MHz, 1GB DDR3 800MHz 64-bit)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (C:) (E:)
Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (D:)
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C (503.8MB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 480MB (F:)

Logical Storage Devices
WINRE : 300MB (NTFS)
Sessions (D:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
sounds (E:) : 853GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
X-Audio (C:) : 78GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Audio CD (F:) : 0bytes (CDFS) @ TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C (503.8MB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS P55 LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 B3-53
Audio Device : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 High Definition Audio
Audio Device : ASUS Manhattan HDMI Audio [Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series]
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS 88SE91A0 SATA-600 Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : ASUS P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : ASUS uPD720200 USB 3.0 Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : ASUS VIA VT6308 1394 OHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet, 1Gbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x86

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 3.7

[korkman]

Hey folks, please,

... I have done all the tweaks and troubleshooting ops recommended ... one session still gives me one set of problems, another throws another set at me ...

... if it were indeed ram, then what's the best way to check?

best,

petter

[korkman]

Ok, now my computer cannot communicate with the Steinberg MR-816X that I have for interface ... weirder and weirder ...

[korkman]

trying to run on internal sound card, but no luck, succeed in opening one simple session, then appcrash ... then restart, open another, ends in C++ Visual basic error R6025 + appcrash.

[LesPaul2550]

I don't know the solution but did notice a possibility. Your Sandra report on the CPU says:

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz
Speed : 3GHz

The same lines of the report on my system say:

Processor
Model: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz
Speed: 2.67GHz

I only recently started to use Sandra so I don't know if I'm reading this correctly but it looks like your CPU is overclocked (from 2.8 to 3ghz). Since the CPU appears to have been designed for 2.8 instead, maybe that's the problem. I'd set the motherboard to run the CPU at its intended speed and then see what happens. Especially since you had mentioned BSOD problems after the initial PC build. I gave up on overclocking years ago since that's just one more issue that can complicate troubleshooting. Stick with the intended clock speeds just to play it safe. I've told my computer consulting customers for years, "If you need it faster, get the faster CPU".

Again, I don't know if this is an issue but at least you can rule out one more potential culprit.

L8r

[korkman]

Thanks LesPaul, I'll ask the guy who built this. In fact, I emailed him yesterday explaining my troubles and he - obviously, perhaps - thinks the issues are completely unrelated to the pc: pure pro tools problems, in other words.

I'm pretty close to the point where I try to cancel the deal and buy a power mac instead.

best,

Petter

[Obsidian Dragon]

Originally Posted by korkman

I'm pretty close to the point where I try to cancel the deal and buy a power mac instead.

Apple hasn't made a power mac for many years. Did you mean Mac Pro? That is not a bad idea if you have the money. I went Mac and have not looked back. Although with Windows 7, I'm hearing many good things especially with Protools 9.

It still sounds like RAM issues to me.

Another possibility is that it is heat related. I had a processor fan go out on one system and didn't know about it (back in the Pentium 4 days) and it started having strange problems after the machine was running for a while (5-10 minutes). A similar situation happened on a notebook that was sitting on the bed and the blanket covered the vents on the back. The system started acting up and eventually cooked/fried the processor. It was never stable again.