Two jobs due and Pro Tools won't work!!!

[THStudios]

I have two sessions in Pro Tools that have been giving me a lot of trouble. One was due last night (I had to give it to the customer "as is"), and the other is due tonight.

The error messages I keep getting are: "Running out of CPU power. Remove some Native plugins... etc (-9128)." and the other is "Audio device buffer underflowed... etc (-6085)." At first I just assumed that it was only my computer (an HP Pavilion with an dual core Pentium E5300), and that a new system would fix all of my problems. Well, the job due tonight was for a friend of mine, so I moved camp to his place to use his 17" quad-core i7 Dell XPS laptop, with 8GB of RAM. After spending quite some time getting drivers, Pro Tools, and the whole shebang on his computer - there was absolutely no performance difference! It's doing the exact same thing.

On the Avid Forum someone said to put the audio/video files on a different harddrive than the OS to correct this. We tried that and it didn't work. I have increased/decreased the buffer size, and Pro Tools is set to use all four cores of the processor @ 95%.

The session that was due last night, was only a 17 second logo! The session was: 24 bit, 44.1kHz, the H/W Buffer was set at 512 samples (but I changed it up and down), and I'm using a Digidesign Mbox 2 as the interface for my monitors... if that matters.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks,
Joseph Santoyo

[TOM@METRO]

Dells and HPs both are notoriously unpredictable from model to model with Pro Tools. An approved self build PC or a Mac are usually safer choices.

Read the Help Us Help You thread and post a Sandra report on the offending machines so we might have a go at finding the roadblock here.

[SpinningDisk]

I'm not sure but I think you are supposed to use one less core when using PT.

[THStudios]

Sorry about the lack of info, I didn't even think to include that! I'm running Pro Tools 10 with, as I said before, a Digidesign Mbox 2. Here's the Sandra report for my system:


SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Dell System XPS L702X HuronRiver System
Chassis : Dell Portable
Mainboard : Dell 0XN71K
BIOS : Dell A14 11/11/2011
Intel vPro : 7.00.04.1197
Total Memory : 7.9GB DDR3 SO-DIMM

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2620M CPU @ 2.70GHz (2C 4T 6.48GHz/3.4GHz 90% OC Turbo, 6.46GHz IMC, 2x 256kB L2, 4MB L3)

Chipset
Memory Controller : Dell Core (Sandy Bridge) Mobile DRAM Controller 202MHz FSB, 2x 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM 2x 1.35GHz (2.7GHz), Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Samsung M471B5273DH0-CH9 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10700S DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Samsung M471B5273DH0-CH9 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10700S DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Video Adapter : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (12 SM5.0 650MHz/1.3GHz, 3GB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M (144SP 3C 1.18GHz, 3GB 1.8GHz)
Compute Shader Processor : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (12SP 650MHz/1.3GHz, 64MB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:) (D:)
Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (F:)
HL-DT-STDVD+/-RW GT32N (7.6GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 1MB Cache, 3GB Flash) : 7GB (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
OSDisk (C:) : 452GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
DATAPART1 (F:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
Recovery (D:) : 14GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST9500423AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
Hard Disk (Q:) : N/A
Pro Tools (E:) : 7GB (CDFS) @ HL-DT-STDVD+/-RW GT32N (7.6GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 1MB Cache, 3GB Flash)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Dell HM67 LPC Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : Winbond W83687THF
Audio Device : Dell Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Disk Controller : Dell Cougar Point Mobile 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
USB Controller 1 : Dell Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 2 : Dell Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
USB Controller 3 : Dell Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9


I hope that I didn't put too much irrelevant info. Thanks again, so much!!!

[albee1952]

Integrated graphics have rarely been cooperative with Pro Tools.

[THStudios]

@Albee1952:
Not to ask a stupid question, but is it safe to assume that there's nothing I can do about the integrated graphics... short of a new mobo/video card?

[serio]

Might not help with this system but at the very least, go through these recommended optimizations for your laptop:

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=349411

[Obsidian Dragon]

My first thought was to check the plugins. Out of date or incompatible plugins are the primary culprit when there are these problems. You don't have to be using the plugins. Simplying having them installed can cause the problems.

Secondly I would set the number or processor cores to one less that you have available. While it seems counter-intuitive, leaving a processor core free actually allows the system to handle non-realtime processes that are necessary.

Finally it is very important to NOT use you system drive as the audio drive still. This will almost always cause problems in the system getting data to and from the drive case enough. The second drive (not a partition of the same drive) must be 7200 RPM and ideally not USB. (eSATA or Firewire works well as do internal drives. If you are on Windows, then USB is the best you can do since there is a problem with Firewire on Windows 7.

Make sure bluetooth, wireless networking, etc. are turned off. This limitations have not been removed from Protools system requirements over the years. Yes, they should. But they have not.

[THStudios]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

My first thought was to check the plugins. Out of date or incompatible plugins are the primary culprit when there are these problems. You don't have to be using the plugins. Simplying having them installed can cause the problems.

Secondly I would set the number or processor cores to one less that you have available. While it seems counter-intuitive, leaving a processor core free actually allows the system to handle non-realtime processes that are necessary.

Finally it is very important to NOT use you system drive as the audio drive still. This will almost always cause problems in the system getting data to and from the drive case enough. The second drive (not a partition of the same drive) must be 7200 RPM and ideally not USB. (eSATA or Firewire works well as do internal drives. If you are on Windows, then USB is the best you can do since there is a problem with Firewire on Windows 7.

Make sure bluetooth, wireless networking, etc. are turned off. This limitations have not been removed from Protools system requirements over the years. Yes, they should. But they have not.

I am using a different drive for the audio/video playback.

How would I go about checking my plug-ins? I have not had the time/resources to buy any plug-ins, so all of them that I have installed, are the suite of plug-ins that came with Pro Tools 10.

How exactly do I turn off bluetooth, wireless networking, etc. and what exactly does "etc." entail? Are these absolutely necessary? I'm using a friends system right now (one that has many times more power than mine), so I don't want to disable a lot of things that he still wants. I also need the wireless to check the forum... =)

[derFunkenstein]

Is PT automatically setting your system in "high performance" power management mode? If not, try switching to that mode and try again. That's a beast of a laptop there - faster than my Dell Studio 17 - and I've never seen that kind of issue, but then again PT puts my system in "high performance" mode.

if it's a laptop you can check this by clicking the battery icon in the notification area next to the clock in the lower-right of the screen.

Temporarily turning off wireless networking adapters (which include WiFi, Intel WiMax if applicable and bluetooth) should be a matter of a Fn key-press combo. On mine, it's Fn+F1 turns off all wireless radios.