Pro Tools crashing at exponential rate

[satis5d]

I've been using Pro Tools for a few years now. Yes, occasionally it crashes. Usually when I overload something. It's been my experience that I experience a crash about once every 8 to 10 hours of use, no biggy.

But last week it started crashing about every 10 minutes. Okay, save often, and roll with it. But it's been getting worse and worse. Earlier today I worked on a 1-hour radio show with only 7 tracks and it was crashing every 5 minutes or less. So I checked for an update and found that 2022.7 was available. It didn't help at all.

This evening I went to edit a mashup I had been working on a few weeks ago (no crashing issues with the file back then) and I can't even play half the file without a crash. At this point the program is unusable.

Has anyone else out there had a similar experience? And if so, is there a cure?

I'm using a Windows 10 machine
64 bit ProTools
64 GB RAM
11th Gen Initel i7 processor @ 3.6 GHz

[satis5d]

I should also mention that only Pro Tools Studio is crashing. All of my other software seems to be working just fine these days. The old version that I upgraded was 2021.7.

[nednednerb]

Yes I've experienced crashes. I replaced my computer this year due to exponentially onsetting crashes. My computer was a Mac.

So, yes, people have crashes.... That's what we know for sure.

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=300050

[sw rec]

Hard to say without COMPLETE system specs.

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=300050

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by satis5d

Has anyone else out there had a similar experience? And if so, is there a cure?

Have other users experienced a similar problem? Similar to what? Since you don't give any useful description of what is happening. An error message? What exactly happens on the screen? You want opinion based on people guessing?

You think Pro Tools never has an error or crash? I mean you are actually posting to a forum with many hundreds of thousands or posts, many of them about crashes and problems...

But before even posting here you should have done standard troubleshooting described under "Help us help you" up the top of every DUC web page. And you should have made sure your computer is fully optimized. Do all that now.

And if you don't find the problem then when you do post here provide the expected info described under that link, including for Windows machines a Sisoft Sandra report. And describe clearly what is going on, pretend we are not sitting with you and are not clairvoyant and like you actually have to clearly describe stuff, and describe what troubleshooting you have tried and the results.

[satis5d]

My apologies for wasting your time with sparse detail. I wasn't aware of the "Help Us Help You" prerequisite, so I will avail myself of that knowledge now.

Had there been an error code, I would have figured that was important to share, but the program simply quits rather abruptly and often starts right back upon quitting. But in doing so it doesn't take me back to where I left off, it waits for me to tell the software what I want to open as if I started the program up normally.

[Darryl Ramm]

OK great.

Unfortunately folks use "crash" to mean all kinds of stuff, including sometimes even confused between a Pro Tools crash and an operating systems crash/panic, or an AAE Error or ASSERT.

Some things to focus on:

Do crashes happen if you start with a complete empty session?

Make sure you start with the basic of trashing prefs. I would buy the Trasher app to make trashing prefs easier. http://www.pro-tools-pc.us/category-s/1514.htm

Always suspect plugins. Especially the test of removing .aaxplugin files from the plugin folder (since even an installed but unused plugin can cause all sorts of problems including application crashes).

Create a new administrator account and try testing from there.

The Pro Tools Log files in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Avid\Logs might occasionally provide a clue, like is the same thing logged there before each crash. They tend to be too cryptic for users, but sometimes give a clue. Avid support will want them if you end up creating a support case.

[satis5d]

Trashing the prefs seems to have made a big difference. Only one crash since doing that. Thank you for the help!

[The Weed]

Have a look at Processor Affinity as well. Threads here and YouTube. Solves some issues for me.

[[email protected]]

Which settings exactly did you delete so that it no longer crashes?