You are running out of CPU Power! Error message (-9128), I have tried everything!

[thatguy22]

Didn't mean to post same thread twice

[Darryl Ramm]

Please post a Sandra report as described in the "help us help you" link at the top of this page.

Are you recording to audio drives separate from the system disk? We need to know the specs of that and other disks. Sandra is very helpful here.

What anti-virus software are you running and how did you disable it?

What exactly are all your settings on the playback engine dialog screen.

Whether you "should be able to record" or not depends on if your system meets the technical needs for running Pro Tools. Improper disk configuration/selection is a leading cause of problems and probably the first one to suspect for what you have described.

Darryl

[thatguy22]

Hey Darryl,

First off thank you for responding. I downloaded the Sandra Lite and copy and pasted the computer overview that processed. I am not recording to another audio drive beside the system disk. I purchased a USB 3.0 external hard drive but have not set it up or saved anything to it yet. I have Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus right now. I recently downloaded it after I was told the Spyware Terminator and the Avasti anti virus I previously had needed to be uninstalled and taken off my computer which I did. My settings on the playback dialog engine screen are H/W Buffer Size 512 samples, RTAS Processors are selected for 2 Processor, CPU Usage Limit 75%, Under DAE Playback buffer (disk buffer) size: is 1500 ms level 2 (Default), Cache size is Normal


SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Dell Latitude D531
Workgroup : MSHOME
Host Name : jspencer-f373dc
User : JSpencer

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-55
Speed : 1.8GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Mobile, Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 2x 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 Cache : 2x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size

Computer
Mainboard : Dell 0XM006
BIOS : Dell A02 08/13/2007
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 : 3.38GB DIMM DDR2

Chipset
Model : Dell RS690 Host Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 199MHz
Channels : 2

Chipset
Model : AMD Athlon 64/Opteron HT Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 796MHz (1.6GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR2
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 333MHz (666MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Micron 16HTF25664HZ-800H1 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Micron 16HTF25664HZ-800H1 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : ATI Radeon X1270 (4 PS2.0, 2 VS2.0 395MHz, 192MB 400MHz, PCI)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
Hitachi HTS541660J9SA00 (60GB, SATA150, 2.5", 5400rpm, 7MB Cache) : 56GB (C:)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM DW224EV (ATA33, DVD+-R, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 56GB (NTFS) @ Hitachi HTS541660J9SA00 (60GB, SATA150, 2.5", 5400rpm, 7MB Cache)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ CD-RW/DVD-ROM DW224EV (ATA33, DVD+-R, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 SMBUS Controller
LPC Hub Controller 2 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 PCI to LPC Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : SMSC ECE5021-NU
Audio Device : Dell IXP SB600 High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Sigmatel 76A0h
Audio Codec : Conexant 2C06h
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 SATA Controller
Disk Controller : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 ATA Controller
USB Controller 1 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI0)
USB Controller 2 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI1)
USB Controller 3 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI2)
USB Controller 4 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI3)
USB Controller 5 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI4)
USB Controller 6 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (EHCI)
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : O2 Micro Integrated OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller
CardBus/PCMCIA Controller 1 : 65025 OZ711EZ1 MemoryCardBus Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : ATI SB600 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver (200x200)
Printer : Canon MP250 series Printer (USB, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 100Mbps)
Network Adapter : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

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

[Darryl Ramm]

Your problems are likely caused by you doing exactly what you are not supposed to do -record to the system drive. Which is a slow 5400 rpm drive to begin with. Your sessions should be be on a separate 7200 rpm or faster drive.

Your computer is likely underpowered to run Pro Tools to start with, slow CPU, slow system drive, and slow graphics and will be fairly limited in what it can do with Pro Tools.

Darryl

[thatguy22]

Thank you Darryl. Do you think recording and saving the sessions to the external hard drive I just got might be a possible solution? If not, do you have any tips besides getting a new computer (which I can't afford at this moment) that would allow me to record? Maybe replacing the drive or reinstalling something etc.? I just want to work on my music man.

[Darryl Ramm]

Try the drive. I don't know anything except you said its a USB 3 drive - which will be connected to USB 2 on your computer and hopefully its a 7200 rpm drive and one without silly power management/green features. It would have been nice if you had the drive connected when you posted the Sandra report.

Connect the drive and put your sessions on it and try. Make sure you do as many of the systems optimizations recommended for Windows computers as possible. See this link. Really make sure that any craplet software that runs at startup is removed, WiFI is off, all anti-virus software is disabled (or uninstall it if you are not sure), any file/disk indexing software is removed, and you are not running anything else when using Pro Tools.

On a slow dual core machine having both cores allocated to RTAS and having a limit at 75% may be a bit much, but should not be a problem if you are not running RTAS plug-ins. With no other info but I'd drop it to 50% if you cannot set the it to use 1CPU. Once you have this working you may want to play with sample rate and playback engine settings later, either to improve stability or reduce latency.


Darryl

[Darryl Ramm]

Oh yes and I'd also definitely ditch the O2 Micro Firewire controller for one based on a TI chipset as recommended by Avid. e.g. this one.

Before buying or upgrading anything else you really need to get on top of the recommenced Windows PC config/components.

Darryl

[thatguy22]

Wow, Ok that sounds like a lot, lol, but I'm going to do everything you suggested. I appreciate it and hopefully something clicks soon. Thank you Darryl. I'll report back to you.

[thatguy22]

Darryl thank you I appreciate your help, I got my ProTools running again. I went back and re-configured my computer, and saved and ran my sessions on my external drive. I also disabled the internet, and anti-virus while running PT.

I have had a recurring problem of distortion/clipping/popping of audio played through my interface and through my m-audio bx5a reference monitors. It happens when I'm in PT or simply just playing audio (ex. mp3's saved to a folder on my external). I had my monitors checked out at a music store where they hooked them up and they played fine. I've had thoughts this was due to my slower drive or latency settings in PT but I'm really not sure of the cause. Any ideas?

[dairyman3833]

Don't know if anyone answered this yet but it's because your computer is to slow and your running too many plugins. You will have to get a better computer!
Try craigslist! It's more work but hey.

To see how your computer is doing via PT bring up your System Usage tool via Window/system usage...Don't know shortcut.

If it's more than 70% you might get pops and distortion that will track like that as well(if you record to a stereo file).

In the playback engine you can mess with sample size processors Cpu Usage Limit playback buffer streaming buffer to compensate somewhat.