Now the problems!, .

[srik]

I installed the new version 5.3.1, driver etc.
The first thing I noted was after loading, the cpu is always 100% in my task manager. The pc crawls.
I have p4,1.7 ghz, 256 mb of ram.
Why does this happen, I am not able to play even 4 tracks together. CPU power is running out.
This is a brand new DELL machine.

Any one with similar experience?

[citi]

check that your drives are set to dma, make sure you don't have things running in the background and if you have not already...setup a second hardware profile and take out everything that does not need to be used, like network cards and stuff. Also make sure that your bios is changed to remove pci parity....this stuff is in the pdf download

[Jayman#9]

Read the release notes. They explain everything. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[srik]

I created a new profile, took out NIC card, modem and other sounds cards.
disabled all unwanted services, Ultra dma is enabled.

Still same happens, I dont have the parity options in my bios setup.
I am running out of CPU power after 20 - 30 seconds. I have only 1 plugin running , there are only 4 tracks. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

This is a brand new pc that just came from dell 2 days ago.
[img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

Can anyone help.

[citi]

that is odd because...I have not even used my Audio only profile and it rocks. I don't even know if I will need it. Maybe digi can chime in here.

[JPS]

srik, you may have a brand new computer, but chipsets are still an issue. The new compatibility docs require and Intel chipset for a P4 computer and a "pure" VIA chipset for an Athlon. You need to find out which chipset came with your Dell computer motherboard, since it could be Intel, SIS or VIA, and the last two could be bad news.

However, I have the AMD/VIA chipset with my Athlon and it works fine.

[prosto]

According to Digi compatibility docs you should also have 384 Mb of RAM or more and yours is 256 [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[Rock_Artist]

It's not a memory issue.
However try this:
Get TaskManager.
Now close any application you're not using.
Close all IExplore, Anti-Viruses and disable and process (services & all) you don't need.
With 256MB You should start WinXP with about 80MB on startup. if you have more than 100MB wasted close any task that takes memory.

Now open up Pro Tools.
By making "space" for memory & shutting any "cpu taker" you SHOULD run PT freely. however, if the problem still presists call digidesign and check for updated drivers. the problem you're describing is related to some 3rd party components that "takes" the CPU from PT important process.

[QuikDraw]

I'm running just fine on 256MB. I could probably use more RAM, but so far 256MB seems to be okay here.

You can cut down on WinXP CPU and memory useage by disabling unneeded "services". There are many services that run automatically that you just don't need all the time. You can set them to "manual" or "disabled" if you want them to start only when you need them, or not at all.

You can control the Services by going to:

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

When you click on a service a nice pop-up description is displayed telling what the service is. If it's something you're sure you won't need disable it. If it's something you might need sometimes set it to manual. If things don't work the way you want after changing a service you can always go back and set it to Automatic again.

I found a pretty good site for WinXP tweaks. The information there is all submitted by users, so some of it is good and some is questionable. But I got a lot of my XP tweaking and optimizing ideas from there. Here's the link:

Tweak XP

Mike

[crs117]

I think many testers only ran with 256, i only upgraded 384 the other day (only cause i found an extra stick laying around).

Also the way the pt le runs it does use every cpu cycle possible, even when it doesnt need it. it will share, but instead of letting the cycles go to the system idle, it just uses them. i questioned that as well, and they said thats just how it is.

I would also recommend disabling many of the xp gui enhancements that will only slow down what you need to do (like shadows, sliding menus, display while moving windows etc).

it does sound like a hard drive problem. i know that digi was recommending us use fat 32 for the audio drive (with bigger clusters) but i dont think this should limit you by that much. Also are you using an audio drive seperate from your system drive...i dont know how much that effects recording in xp.

Unfortunately i do not think that pt le was compiled to take advantage of the SSE2 fpu instructions of the p4 so i think amd will still rule the roost for mhz per mhz power.

Christian