Help with Dual-Boot Fresh Install

[kdubyou]

I have had PT 7.4, 8.0, and 8.0.1 running on a "multi-purpose" XP install for a while now, but it is getting increasingly difficult to keep it stable and it doesn't seem to like more than 5-6 mics on my drum kit without giving me buffer errors (four mics/tracks with no plug-ins at 128 works most of the time but 64 is virtually impossible even with one track.) So, I am trying a dual boot installation (which will probably eventually lead me to removable hard drives or a PT-only machine, but those options are not in the cards right now) to see if I can get PT and my system to be more stable.

I repartitioned my 500 GB system drive so that I can dual boot into a PT only partition. I have installed XP Pro SP3 in a new partition (214 GB) and am going through the digi recommended tweaks.

It seems that the general consensus on the DUC is that 8.0.1 on XP is the most stable for now so I will stay with PT 8.0.1 (should I do the cs1 update?)

I have a PT 8.0 disc and I have both the 8.0.1 and 8.0.1cs1 updaters that I downloaded from Digi (717 MB and 69 MB respectively.) What do I need to install? Can I start with 8.0.1 or do I need to start with 8 and then install 8.0.1?

Also, I am trying the advice of those here who do not let their PT machines on the internet. I have never done the PT and associated plug-in authorizations off-line. Any tips about this? (yes, I do have laptop that I can use online)

Lastly, I would like the setup that is in my signature to last me for a while (at least until PT, Windows 7, and 64 bit get sorted out and settled down) and am considering putting in a q9650 and perhaps more RAM (for the non-PT Win 7-64 partition that I will inevitably try.)

While I have had multi boot NT, 2000, and XP systems before, I have never done this with PT, so PT specific tips and opinions will be much appreciated. I can post a Sandra, if necessary.

Thanks.

Kevin

[Shan]

Originally Posted by kdubyou

It seems that the general consensus on the DUC is that 8.0.1 on XP is the most stable for now so I will stay with PT 8.0.1 (should I do the cs1 update?)

Yes.

Originally Posted by kdubyou

I have a PT 8.0 disc and I have both the 8.0.1 and 8.0.1cs1 updaters that I downloaded from Digi (717 MB and 69 MB respectively.) What do I need to install? Can I start with 8.0.1 or do I need to start with 8 and then install 8.0.1?

8, then 8.0.1, then 8.0.1cs1.

Originally Posted by kdubyou

Also, I am trying the advice of those here who do not let their PT machines on the internet. I have never done the PT and associated plug-in authorizations off-line. Any tips about this? (yes, I do have laptop that I can use online)

I authorize my iLok plug-ins online via my laptop. Works fine.

Shane

[kdubyou]

Cool!

Thank you very much.

Kevin

[kdubyou]

I need some help with this install please. I have tried to include as much information as I could, sorry if it is over-kill.

I have XP SP3 installed on a separate partition. The only applications installed are PT 8 (8.0, then 8.0.1, then 8.0.1cs1), Quicktime, and Sandra. While PT loads and plays various sessions (including the demo session) and loops from the Workspace at a buffer of 64 (I have not tried recording anything yet,) I am having problems getting PT to load with any degree of consistency.

I have done all of the tweaks in "General Troubleshooting" and "XP Optimizations" and have set the graphics bit depth to 16-bit. This machine has not been on the internet or the local network. Ilok drivers were downloaded (on separate PC) and installed yesterday.

Most of the time, PT won't load if I have turned on the 003 before the computer - it hangs at creating DAE. If I turn off the 003, then turn it back on, PT will usually load. When it doesn't, it usually hangs at "initializing globals." Then, some combination of trashing databases and preferences (using tech sup utility), restarting the 003, and restarting the PC will get PT to load. About half of the time, PT loads if I boot into XP and then start the 003.

I have not changed the browser from the default XP install so no IE8 here.


Boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Kevin 's PC on XP Pro" /fastdetect /3GB
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Pro Tools on XP Pro" /fastdetect /3GB /NoExecute=AlwaysOff


So, here is a Sandra report. The PT installation boots to the "G" drive (the "C" drive is still visible and boot.ini is on it). I have marked the devices that are disabled. The FW controller is an approved SIIG. I have disabled in Device Manager all but two of the USB controllers - one is for the mouse/keyboard and the other is for the two ports on the front of the case. I had planned to use those for the ilok but, for some reason, the ilok is not recognized in either of the two, but is recognized in the active port on the back of the PC.

Thanks.

Kevin



SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Gigabyte P35-DS4

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Speed : 3GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 2x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 6MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 24-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : Gigabyte P35-DS4 **Rev. 2.1**
BIOS : Award (Phoenix) F13 07/21/2008
Bus(es) : X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3.5GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3

Chipset
Model : Giga-Byte P35/G33/G31 Processor to I/O Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 333MHz (1.33GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 400MHz (800MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Mushkin 991587 996587 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-24-6-3) **Mushkin says these are 5-4-4-12**
Memory Module : Mushkin 991587 996587 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-24-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : Radeon X1950 Pro (PS3.0, VS3.0 573MHz, 256MB 688MHz, PCIe 1.00 x16)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ) : 466GB (C:) (G:)
ST31500341AS (1.5TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ) : 1TB (P:)
ST3120024A (120GB, ATA100, 3.5", 8MB Cache) : 112GB (S:)
TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-S203B (ATAPI, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (W:)

Logical Storage Devices
System (C:) : 251GB (NTFS) @ ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ)
ProTools (G:) : 215GB (NTFS) @ ST3500320AS (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ)
SATA1500 (P:) : 1TB (NTFS) @ ST31500341AS (1.5TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ)
Samples (S:) : 112GB (NTFS) @ ST3120024A (120GB, ATA100, 3.5", 8MB Cache) **Using a PATA to SATA converter**
Optical Drive (W:) : N/A @ TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-S203B (ATAPI)
3.5" 1.44MB (A:) : N/A

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : ITE IT8718F
Audio Device : Giga-Byte (ICH9) HD Audio Controller
Disk Controller : Giga-Byte (ICH9) 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
** Disabled ** Disk Controller : Giga-Byte JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
** Disabled ** Disk Controller : Giga-Byte JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID Controller
** Disabled ** USB Controller 1 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
** Disabled ** USB Controller 2 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
** Disabled ** USB Controller 3 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
** Disabled ** USB Controller 4 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
** Disabled ** USB Controller 5 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 6 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 7 : Giga-Byte (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Avlab Technology XIO2200(A) IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Network Services

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

[albee1952]

Samples (S:) : 112GB (NTFS) @ ST3120024A (120GB, ATA100, 3.5", 8MB Cache) **Using a PATA to SATA converter**
I am curious about this adapter. Maybe remove the adapter(leave the drive disconnected for now) until you get everything else working smoothly. Sometimes its best to strip things back and work on getting one thing at a time to work right(and have less things to confuse troubleshooting when things DON'T work right). In any case, dual boot and trying several variations feels(to me anyway) like over-complicating life. I suggest one of these:
http://www.datoptic.com/cgi-bin/web....115&detail=yes
and simply changing out between drives. Try to get one drive loaded up correctly(and showing itself as C:) as this might help things(one good install beats 3 bad ones). I wish I could say for sure but I can't, so am just offering an opinion. I would load XP on a C: drive and tweak it to Digi specs(in the Getting Started Guide). Then add the recording drive and install PT and test. If that works good, then move on with other hardware and software. If it doesn't work good, troubleshoot the simplest layout before adding other stuff(it may take longer at first glance, but it will be shorter in solving troubles).

Re. RAM timings, do you have BIOS set for auto on the RAM? If yes, maybe setting timings manually will help. Another thing to try(it helped my system) is to run 16 bit color.

[Greg M]

I agree with Albee on this except I would opt for iStar USA drive bays because they have better fans and a lot more heat transfering aluminum. The DAT Optics use fans with sleeve bearings and iStar uses fans with ball bearings. I have had to replace the fans on both of my DAT Optics drives, hence, swithched over to iStar USA T-7 model. If cooling is not an issue for you, then the DAT Optics are fine. Cooling was an issue for me and I lost a drive due to overheating. The price was about the same.

Hope this helps,
Greg

[kdubyou]

Thanks Albee and Greg. Stripping down to the essentials and removable drives makes sense. The Dat Optic looks interesting and easy since there are no trays. I have never had heat issues with my machine so it might be OK. I looked at the iStarUSA T-7 and even called iStar. According to the man I talked with, they do not have extra trays (I assume I would want two - one for each system drive) for the T-7. Their solution is to buy two T-7s. Not sure how that would really help me in this application. So...

I've been reading it here for a while now and have been in denial. It looks like I should probably move in the direction of a PT specific (and exclusive) machine if I want PT to run with a minimum of problems.

When I do pull the trigger on a new machine, I'll scour the i7 thread to find the parts that work.

Thanks.

Kevin

[Greg M]

kdubyou,

iStar does, in fact, sell just trays. I bought 3 extra trays. You have to order them directly from iStar USA and not a vendor or reseller. The trays are about $15 each.

In my rig right now I have two iStar bays and one DAT Optical bay. I use the iStar bays along with 5 trays to swap operating systems and PT session drives. I use the DAT Optical bay for doing backups but remove the backup drive as soon as the backup is complete.

Thanks,
Greg

[albee1952]

FWIW, I've been running that DatOptik cage for 3 years, and a triple version from newegg for over a year with no drive failures. These 2 units require no cage. Has anyone had a thermal problem with this type of drive mounting?

[Greg M]

albee,

I bought two of the DATOptik single bays (probably because I saw your link in a post) a while back. They worked great for me for about a year at most. Then they started getting loud (the fans were wobbling) and the fans finally failed. My mistake, and this may apply to me only, is that I thought I could run them without fans. I thought I had enough air flow from the front to the back of my PC as my chassis temps were fairly low and that enough air would flow through the drive bays to cool the drives. Not the case for me. The drives got really hot and the system drive failed. Obviously, you have had better luck with them. I will say that since I have replaced the original sleeve bearing fans with ball bearing fans that I have had no trouble with them. But, I don't keep a drive loaded in the DATOptik bay. I only use it for backup and pull the drive as soon as backup completes.

I have opted to go with the iStar USA bays because of the amount of aluminum used in the construction (good for heat transfer) and the ball bearing fans.

Drive bays are the way to go. I will never build another PC without them. The bays are so much more convenient than external drives and I much prefer using them to dual booting.

Greg