What am I missing???

[Ross Carlson]

Ok, so I just got my MBox tonight. After 45 minutes with it (just to figure out how to add 1 track and then add effects to it - but that's another thread) I'm VERY disappointed. I'm generally a PC guy, but I've been using Grageband on a Mac for recording for a while. Since I don't own the Mac, and an MBox was cheaper, I bought an MBox to go with my pc.

Ok, on to my huge issue. I'm running on a:

IBM T40p Laptop
1.7 Ghz P4 Mobile
1 GB Ram
80 GB 7200 RPM HD (65 GB free)

There are several problems:

1. CPU usage is ALWAYS 100% when running PT. So, my fan goes crazy and the laptop really heats up.

2. I can only assume due to the 100% cpu usage PT is VERY unresponsive. Just opening an existing session takes 30-90 seconds after launching PT

3. When just playing through the MBox, not recording, I get "pops" and "cracks" about every 3 minutes or so.

4. When recording I'm getting the dreaded buffering error. I'm recording on 1 track with an MP3 imported into a second (oh, and I had to spend $20 to use MP3's with an audio recording app, what the hell is that all about?!?!- again seperate thread)

So, so far I'm VERY VERY disappointed with my purchase. VERY. Help please?!?!

Thanks all,

Ross

[bigd]

Ross,

Welcome to the DUC, ...if there's one thing I've learned from the DUC and all the great advice is that there's a solution for most every issue. I've seen more success then any other forum...

What I would offer, get off the internet, shutdown your firewall, and turn off your antivirus...

There is hope. Hang in there!

After all is fixed you'll be set, big time!

[Bazzle]

Did you check the Compatability page before you bought. Compatability (http://www.digidesign.com/compato/xp/mbox/)

Read that page and see if your rig is supported.

[Ross Carlson]

Yes, I've checked that and I can find nothing that would be incompatible. And no, of course I didn't check the compatibility first, I mean come on, this is a $400 piece of hardware/software that "supports Windows XP" so why the hell would I check that before I bought? That is totally rediculious! This isn't rocket science, it's audio recording!

Any advice on what I'm experiencing? Do others experience this or is it just me?

Thanks for the quick responses guys, I do really apprecaite it! I can't wait to either get this all going or post it for sale on eBay ;-)

Ross

[Bazzle]

Checking compatability is a wise move before any purchase. .Do you have SP1 installed?

[Keith Owens]

Post deleted by Keith Owens

[Ross Carlson]

Again thanks guys...

Yeah, I'm still hanging in here, but no better yet. I couldn't find anything on my Thinkpad, I did search first. I also searched for CPU issues but the forums software here is really bad in the way it gives results.

And as for compatibility when is the last time you looked at that BEFORE buying something? NEVER. Seriously come on, if something supports Windows, it supports Windows. I am a software developer for a living, these *compatibility* issues are total BS. Now all that's beside the point so I don't want to start a flame war, I just want to get PTLE working for me on my Thinkpad...

Oh, and I'm running Win XP w/SP2 (before I installed PTLE). I'm running PTLE 6.7cs4 (upgraded right away to see if that would fix it.).

Any ideas anyone???

Ross

[Bazzle]

And as for compatibility when is the last time you looked at that BEFORE buying something?



With a program like Protools it is essential to be compatible..Some things will just not work.

When you search put quotation marks" " around your term and choose from all dates.

Do all the tweaks suggested in the Getting Started guide and also there are more XP tweaks you can do. XP TWEAKS (http://www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.php)

[spkguitar]

as for compatibility when is the last time you looked at that BEFORE buying something?

When professional audio equipment is invloved, always.

Welcome to the DUC.

As bazzle said, the search function of this forum works rather nicely. Search for:

CPU usage:
returns This thread (http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=708781&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1) (and many others)

mBox crackle:
returns This thread (http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=725348&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1) (and many others)
Many laptop USB ports can not provide enough power to run the mBox. A common solution has been to use a powered USB hub.

MP3 option:
returns This thread. (http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=580606&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1) (including an official answer from DIGI)


Being a software developer, you should know that compatibility is one of the biggest headaches when developing because of the vast array of peripherals available, the lack of knowledge of the end user's hardware installation, and the general lack of concern for standards from most hardware manufacturers. To keep costs low, "Good enough" seems to be the motto for most of the companies, and in some cases, especially when professional audio recording is involved, "good enough" just doesn't cut it.

Hell, even with web development you have to deal with "cross browser" compatibility issues because you have no idea which browser the user has chosen. Compatibility issues are rampant in the computer industry, and If you have never had compatibility issues with computers before, I would have to consider you one of the luckiest people on the planet.

I know your frustration, as I (and many others here) went through it too when setting up my pro tools rig.

[Keith Owens]

Post deleted by Keith Owens

[tele_player]

I doubt very few people here know all the options and how to proficiently use them in PT- I know I don't



Rail knows them all.

[skyking]

i did a print out of the compatability specs and brought it to the place that built my tower....i figured if it wasnt right then they were to blame...so far so good.......sorta

[Keith Owens]

Post deleted by Keith Owens

[Bazzle]

Rail,has developed a chip implanted in his brain with the reference guides uploaded to it.If his software company ever goes public, we all should buy stock and get rich.

[Sugarnutz]

It looks like you are trying to record to your system drive, although it will work, not the best way to do it. Get yourself an external FireWire (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-145-342&depa=1) case and slap a 7200rpm IDE drive of your choice in it. Use this as your audio "Record" drive, should make PT a bit quicker. If your laptop doesn't have a firewire port, go Here (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=15-124-014&depa=1) .

[tempest18]

As already stated, Protools is very annoying in the fact that every piece of hardware in your computer has to be compatible. I have no idea why it has to be like this as nothing else Ive ever had required so much attention.

You couldnt go away and buy a 002 for an average PC because 9/10 its not going to work properly. I researched the best desktops thread and built myself an allenstien machine up. Its good to look their because lots of people have already tested hardware so you know if its going to work good or not.

Also the audio drive issue. You could do a few windows tweaks for performance.

I never have any trouble using my 002r as hardware for real player or windows media.

I plugged everything in and it worked first time.

Satisfied!

C Tempest

[Ross Carlson]

Guys,

First off thanks for the many replies, so far I am very impressed with these forums!

Second, sorry for the delay, I've been out of town for New Years!

Third, let me sum up my main question. When you guys run PTLE on your *perfect* systems does the CPU run at 100% the whole time? That I think would tell me if I'm having a real issue or not.

Thanks,

Ross

[Straatocastoer]

When I first purchased my 002 I did successfully run it on my Sony Vaio laptop. I had shotty performace at first until I disabled networking functions and closed down all background programs. I then enjoyed good performance and a stable environment.

Are you measuring your CPU usage according to PT's meter or the Windows Task Manager meter? Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but I am under the impression that the PT meter will give you an accurate reading when using PTLE, I believe WTM will not. I would try shutting down all services and programs that are not necessary to run PTLE. I am not sure if your hard drive performance will affect CPU usage, but it would be wise to ensure it is up to spec.

[CHEEZGRITS]

i know i didn't check the compato deeply until after i bought my mbox. i was having serious SERIOUS problems with my PT working at all (couldn't record 1 track) but after I received advice (through someone else in this DUC) i bought a $40 usb hub from radio shack and it's been working absolutely flawlessly ever since. i'm using at least 4 waves plugins, reason, and sampletank on like 30 tracks and it's not even giving me a hiccup. i'm doing cartwheels now. i don't know if the usb hub would help your situation but just thought i'd throw it your way.

dell 8400, pent4 (3gig), 1gig ram, 160 gig hard drive 7200. xp serv pack 2

[macr0w]

let me sum up my main question. When you guys run PTLE on your *perfect* systems does the CPU run at 100% the whole time? That I think would tell me if I'm having a real issue or not.

Thanks,

Ross


I had a friend build me a system 2 years ago with a 001. He just built it according to compatability page. And I'm still on the same box today. After many software upgrades I have never had any real problems out of this thing. My cpu runs at maybe 20%-30% with both ptle and reason running and a 64 sample buffer. I have recorded 18 tracks for over an hour at a time. But I don't have an M-box. You can see my system at the bottom of this post.

[Ross Carlson]

Ok, so here's what I did...

I completely rebuilt my laptop from Scratch. Since I use it for work, I installed Windows in 2 seperate partitions.

Partition 1 (c:\)
Windows XP SP2 (and ALL my other apps - a ton of stuff)

Partition 2 (e:\ - that's just what it picked)
Windows XP SP2 and ONLY Pro Tools 6.7
(a few minor other apps like Winzip)

It still sucks. I get the "hardware buffer" error constantly, no matter what I set it to. 1024 is too high, 512 is too low. I can't even record for 2 minutes without it dying (and that's only 1 track from the MBox with NO effects and nothing else).

Anyone want to buy an MBox with less than 4 hours use on it???

I'm kinda of kidding. What the hell do I do now? There is NOTHING running at startup. I went through the tweaking guide above and turned almost everything off. I stopped almost every service there is. I'm totally at a loss. Oh, and I'm really pissed about it. After 4 hours of work resetting this all up I'm right where I started, which is exactally what I figured would happen.

Anyone got any other ideas? I'm sorry to sound so frustrated, but I am. I bought this to record my Sax for fun, not to endlessly go back and forth with it. Oh, and I installed it all on my Powerbook, guess what, it all works flawlessly. Another attempt by a company to take great Mac software and port it to the PC with TERRIBLE results.

Please anyone else help?!?!

Thanks again all for your speedy repsonses, if it wasn't for this forum I'd be done by now...

Ross

[bigd]

Hey man, I'm really rooting for you to be able to take wind with the MBox...

I had some serious CPU issues when I started and these 2 links hepled me a great deal... Being a IT guy myself helped tweaking XP along with these...

tweakXP.com (http://www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.php) They recommend not doing step 11 for obvious reasons... And I guess some don't do step 26 either...

Well used DUC thread on improving XP for audio... (http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB32&Number=594155&fpart=1&PHPSESSID=)

Hope it helps... I know it helped me a great deal.

[Ross Carlson]

Well thanks for your hope with me, it at least makes me feel better...

...but...

I've been through the first guide, and have manually stopped all the services listed in the other thread. Since I set this up in two partitions I set the Pro Tools partition so that basically only Pro Tools would work and I stopped everything else...

...so...

Next? Anyone else?

Again thanks all, man I just want to play my sax!

Ross

[Ciardhubhan]

I just wanted to say that I'm on a Dell Inspiron 8600 Centrino 1.8G 1G RAM and I'm having exactly the same problem - the cpu is running at 100% all the time the minute I load up Protools.

On top of that, I can't record any audio below a 512 sample buffer size, which I don't think is normal. I get some message saying the system was blocking interrupts for too long, increase buffer size.

Someone mentioned in another thread that it might be a problem with some ASIO driver? I can't believe it's a compatibility issue either - in fact, I got this machine because I consulted the "Best Laptops" thread, and a 1.7G 8600 Dell machine was deemed good with Protools.

I'm wondering because none of the threads about this 100% cpu problem seem to be older than a month.

Any insights would be much appreciated!

[Ross Carlson]

Yep, this is exactally what I'm seeing too, glad to know I'm not the only one, well that's not true, I wish none of us were having these problems.

Any ideas??? Man I just want to play my sax.....

Ross

[DigiTechSupt]

Hi,

Pro Tools (or the ASIO or Wave driver) does not require nor use 100% of the CPU, but it needs to prevent the CPU from going into low-power reduced-frequency mode so audio problems don't result. The mechanism we use to achieve this makes it appear as though ProTools is using 100% of the CPU on some machines even though it is not. Running Pro Tools may use more of a laptop's battery power, but it shouldn't cause any other problems. This activity happens on all PCs running Pro Tools 5.x and some systems under 6.x that have processor capable low-power reduced-frequency mode.

Optimal disk performance with Mbox and Pro Tools LE will likely be achieved by setting the Hardware Buffer Size to 512 samples.

If you are using a buffer size of 512 or higher and using a supported audio drive there is probably something else going on with the system. The DUC is a hard place to trouble shoot issue like this you may want to contact tech support directly to go through your system in real time with a tech. You can find or support policies and contact information here (http://www.digidesign.com/support/ts/policy/) .

Ross,

If you have a wireless network adapter in your system try disabling it when you run Pro Tools. If you are receiving crackling audio after installing Sp1 or Sp1 please try updating your Mbox firmware. Go to Program Files / Digidesign / Pro Tools / Pro Tools Utilities / Mbox Firmware updater. Double click on it and follow the on screen instructions. If this does not resolve. The problem with crackling in your audio ther may be a problem with one of the pieces of hardware installed. If you have access to another Mac or Pc you can confirm that the Mbox and USB cable are functioning properly by temporarily installing your Mbox on another system. If you are receiving an numbered error message when you get the buffer error please post it. You may also want to try searching for solutions for the error number in our Answerbase (http://answerbase.digidesign.com)
Thanks,

Digidesign Tech Support

[cakes]

you may want to contact tech support directly to go through your system in real time with a tech.



Ross,

Take the man's advice and call Digidesign. Your Mbox came with 1 year free tech support, so use it. The techs over there will be able to give you much more specific and directed help than those of us who can only make guesses based on your posts.

I hope you get up and running - as you can see, the people here are rooting for you.

Good luck,

cakes

[Ross Carlson]

All,

I'll take Cakes advice and call them today (if I can). I do greatly appreciate everyone's support, rarely have a seen a forum with just great users and activity.

I'll post back when I get it resolved (one way or another) and let everyone know...

Thanks again all,

Ross