choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

I'm experiencing slow choppy graphics in PT HD 8, which had been working fine up until a particular event (which I'll explain in my next post).

Now when a session is playing, if I'm zoomed out far enough to see the whole song there seems to be no issue. As I zoom in (or out) the meters and counter slow right down, almost to a halt, until I'm done zooming - maybe that's normal? OK.

The main problem is once I've zoomed in, the meters and counter are no longer reliable... they seem to struggle to keep up. This is most evident on the click track, which becomes quite sporadic.

It's the same during either playback or record. I have window scrolling set to 'page'. It's not specific to any one session, and it occurs without any plugins in use (except click).

If I'm to zoom in even further to the point the wav becomes just an outline (I doubt I'd ever work like that during normal playback...) the scrolling jerks and then stops, and I have to zoom back out until the playback head is visible before it scrolls again.

There doesn't seem to be any other symptom - no audio glitches, error messages, or other sluggishness.

This was occurring on PT HD 8.0.3. After searching online I've tried disabling bluetooth, disabling airport, calibrating the monitor color profiles and using the defaults. I uninstalled Pro Tools (safe option, retaining plugins and settings), re-installed 8.0.3 and tested, then updated to 8.0.4 and tested, then to 8.0.4cs2 and tested, with no change.

The system:
OSX 10.5.8 Leopard
Late 2007 Mac Pro
dual-core Intel Xeon 2.66 (2 processors, 4 cores)
4GB RAM
separate SATA system and audio drives
GeForce 7300 GT with
1x Cinema HD 30" @ 2560x1600
1x Cinema HD 23" @ 1920x1200

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

As for when this first occurred...

I arrived at the studio (first day of a session with new clients!) and the Mac wouldn't boot. It was freezing on a pale blue screen after the grey loading screen. I was able to boot it in safe mode, so I tried a few suggestions I found online - mainly trashing preference files, but nothing helped.

Eventually I had to give in and rush it to the local Mac service centre, where they were able to determine that the graphics card had fried. They were good enough to lend me an identical graphics card from their 'spares' bin to get me through the session, while a replacement card was ordered.
This is where the aforementioned problem first appeared. Despite the graphics chugging slowly I was able to get through the session without any other Pro Tools issues.

Recently the brand new card arrived and was installed (again identical to the original), but the problem persists.

I have ran TechTool which came with the APP, and all hardware passed the scan without issue (including the replacement card).

Basically I have no idea if the problem is OSX or Pro Tools related (perhaps due to my initial attempts to get the system to boot), hardware related (maybe something else failed when the gfx card did), or just a combination of the gear I'm using (which I refuse to believe as it's been working fine for 3 years until now).

FWIW the only other recent change: I upgraded/crossgraded to a PT9 license which I've been using on a laptop when not at the studio, but the studio computer has remained on PT 8 HD and 10.5.8 (see previous post), which the PT9 license on the iLok seems to allow for.

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

try booting from the OS install disk
run Disk Utility form the install disk
run Verify Disk or skip to Repair Disk

I have a rig that is doing something similar and Repair Disk finds miss matched file and folder counts
I fixes them and all is well

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

been there done that
same problem that logs a graphics card error but
once it turned out to be RAM ( pulling all but 2 sticks fixed it )
and second was a core card ( or accell ) failure
but the card passed all digi-test but once out out every 20 tests it showed a failure
in fact it only failed after the card got hot after repeated testing
I'll bet it only affects protools operation no other functions or apps have the clunky feel do they ?

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

Thanks Craig I'll try that this afternoon.

Yeah dude, it only seems to affect Pro Tools. But to be fair there's not much else that computer gets used for. Don't tell me it's a core/accel card failure!

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

until your ready to accept this possibility keep looking around till all other conclusions fail to present

in your case failure to accept any possibility...no matter how remote you think it may be will likely result in you not finding a conclusion to your issue at hand

I can only tell you that the same exact problem you have now was fixed prior
by either bad ram or a HD card
it doesn't mean the entire ram stick or HD card is bad but merrily one component of it, that only shows up when that component on that
card is used

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

Thanks dude, that comment was lighthearted desperation - not a dismissal. :) I appreciate the suggestion.

I guess I could remove the Accel cards one at a time and test, but I have no idea how I could test (without) the Core card?

I have 4 sticks of RAM, should I try removing each one and testing with the remaining 3? Does it matter which RAM banks are populated? (ie. if I remove #1, do I have to shuffle all the others along 1 place?)

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

A quick update to say that I tried booting from the install disk, running repair disk and repair disk permissions, but the problem still remains.

I also ran the DigiTest; the Accel cards passed, and the Core card failed only on the Digital Loopback test which is apparently normal behaviour for non-Digi/Avid interfaces (I'm using 3x Rosetta 800).

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

in my case both times
everything passed time after time and after like an hour of just replaying the tests it finally failed ( sometimes what will expedite the failure is heat )
in one case I actually put a towel over the Comp chassis and when it got hot it finally failed but again I tested it 20 times

the best RAM test is the app,e hardware test disk
if you have the original disk from the box when you got the computer
the disk will have the hardware test boot partition on it
on the disk it explains how to boot to the hardware test
( it can take hours if you have a lot of ram )
or just take out all but 2 sticks and see if you have the problem still

Re: choppy graphics (meters, counter) after a HW failure
 

This morning I ran the Digitest about 10 times, same result each time.
I'm not prepared to wrap the computer up and deliberately overheat it, then stress it out - although I'm sure it would yield an error.... Thanks for the suggestion though. :)

I ran the Apple hardware test (extended test) from the original installation disc. It reported no trouble found.

I'm now waiting while OSX installs on a fresh new hard drive, then I'll install Pro Tools and see what happens.