Fix for Pro Tools not responding/freezing on Windows 10

[dansei]

I've been having some trouble with Pro Tools 2018.12 (perpetual license) that's been driving me nuts.

Pro Tools would just freeze every couple of minutes or so, maybe 30 seconds at a time, making it completely unusable. While freezing it would say "not responding" at the top. It was not tied to a certain action, it could be just scrolling down the edit screen, managing plugins, even just sitting there idly, it would keep freezing. My computer is hi spec, and I'm using Windows 10.

My problem seems identical to these two posts, which didn't provide any solutions in my case:

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=406731

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=392267

Reinstalling didn't help, defragmenting and cleaning the registry of my computer didn't help, removing plugins, trashing preferences, etc.. nothing helped. The only thing that worked was completely formating my computer. After that everything worked fine for probably a couple of months - then, back to the same problem again. Formating and doing backups was quite time-consuming, so I wanted to find a better solution.

After some googling one article suggested to disconnect the computer from the internet. I decided to just put my laptop in airplane-mode, and suddenly everything worked perfectly! Great!

It was, however, a nuisance not being able to use the internet while working on a project, so I added a Windows Firewall rule so that Pro Tools and Ilok would not be allowed to connect to the internet. With this I was back to square one, Pro Tools freezing.

So, in conclusion, the only thing that works for me is switching on airplane mode. Does anyone here know why this works, and perhaps have a solution where I can go back online while working in Pro Tools?

EDIT: I use a physical iLok. That's why PT still works when disconnected, I guess.

Cheers!

[EGS]

1. Do each & every step here (don't skip any); https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...ndows-10-Guide
2. Get a physical iLok

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by EGS

1. Do each & every step here (don't skip any); https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...ndows-10-Guide
2. Get a physical iLok

Amen, especially to #2. Cloud iLok is notoriously dependent on a perfect internet connection and very few are(I sure don't trust it with a paying client)

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Amen, especially to #2. Cloud iLok is notoriously dependent on a perfect internet connection and very few are(I sure don't trust it with a paying client)

I can't see that OP is mentioning Ilok Cloud at all, so stop this mantra guys, please. I use iLok Cloud and it works, as long as you have a stable connection.
OP was talking about having internet while running PT.

[The Weed]

If your using Wi-Fi for your Internet Connection, use an ethernet cable and disable Wi-Fi in BIOS, Bluetooth too.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by EGS

1. Do each & every step here (don't skip any) ...

If you skip over a step, did you also skip two or more steps? For troubleshooting, I'd start by methodically doing ALL steps of Optimizations & also ALL steps of Troubleshooting - until the problem is found & fixed. Mantra? Maybe so!!! It's basic setup & troubleshooting, really. After (some) Windows updates get applied, might wanna zip through all the steps yet again, too. Once the problem is located and fixed, then you can experiment with NOT doing some of these steps. There are some that I skip on purpose, but not until after I got everything stable. My 2 cents.