Continuous random performance issues PTLE 8.0 MacPro quad core. Help!

[murph16]

I purchased my new Mac Pro Quad core and upgraded to PTLE 8.0 in May.

From day one and until recently the performance was nothing short of outstanding! Fast, powerful, amazing!!

In the last two weeks I have been experiencing random performance issues. Bad ones. Sometimes it takes up to 20 or 30 seconds to get response from a simple spacebar stop command. Sometimes it takes several or many seconds for the smart tool to change modes when moving the cursor into place. Sometimes when I try move a plug-in window across the screen it can take up to 10 seconds to respond. Even hovering over the File column with the cursor sometimes takes ten seconds or so to get a response before I can then go ahead and click on 'save' or 'save as'.

Needless to say these issues make it IMPOSSIBLE to edit and of course I have several projects I need to work on right now.
**As Murphy's law would have it these issues only seem to pop up when I'm working on something important.** ha

The most puzzling aspect of this situation is the complete randomness of it.

It has occured at all buffer settings, all session parameters, sample rates, window configurations, on sessions with two tracks, sessions with 32 tracks, sessions with and without virtual instruments, after trashing preferences, closing and reopening, restarting, etc.

And then all of a sudden out of nowhere it will revert back to working perfectly for an afternoon, or an hour. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

I am an advanced user and I am usually very intuitive about solving Pro Tools LE issues on Windows and on Mac systems. THIS HAS ME STUMPED and pulling my hair out!

I'm not able to locate any similar case studies or threads and I'm afraid that's because my platform and system are both so new, that it's difficult to find enough folks with similar rigs having similar issues.

I need to figure out if it's a computer issue, hardware issue or software issue and get on with solving it ASAP.

Here's all my info. (below)
Let me know if I need more details. Please Digi Tech Support, help me out with this. I also submitted a case at Digi Online Support that I'm waiting on.

-Mac Pro Quad-Core Nehalem processor (new generation)
-Mac OS X 10.5.7 (Leopard)
-8 GB RAM factory installed
-2x 640 G HD (one dedicated for audio of course)
-DIGI 002R
-Pro Tools LE 8.0
-Waves Platinum Bundle V6
-iTunes and QuickTimePRO installed.
-Absolutely no cracked or unauthorized plug-ins or software.

Thanks for your help. This has really got me concerned about my $3000 + that I decided to spend two months ago.

I just want things back to the way they were when first installed everything. I was extremely happy for six weeks!

Thanks you guys.

[AdamThompson]

Bill,

I hope your issue does not end up the same as mine. If you look at my post history you'll see I had this exact same issue and got no helpful response. Now the problem has only gotten worse as you can see in my current thread:

http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=250113

[murph16]

OK Adam, I guess we're in this together.

[mountainman]

Could it be hardware related?

From Apples website:
(http://www.apple.com/macpro/features/processor.html)
"Power when (and where) you need it.

The new Mac Pro introduces Turbo Boost: a dynamic performance technology that automatically boosts the processor clock speed based on workload. If you’re using an application that doesn’t need every core, Turbo Boost shuts off the idle cores while simultaneously increasing the speed of the active ones, up to 3.33GHz on a 2.93GHz Mac Pro.
The virtue of virtual cores.

The new Intel Xeon “Nehalem” processors support Hyper-Threading, which allows two threads to run simultaneously on each core. So an 8-core Mac Pro presents 16 virtual cores that are recognized by Mac OS X. Performance is enhanced because Hyper-Threading enables the processor to take better advantage of the execution resources available in each core."

Could this have something to do with your problems?

[guitates]

Hey Bill...I wouldn't give $.02 for an .002. I sold mine several years ago, after NIGHTMARES like you describe, and got the .003, which has NEVER had Any issues...noc on would ! I do have a G5 Quad...Whatever..

Just a thought, and I apologize to all the successful .002 users.

Now I want the Nahalem dual...God help us all !

jt

[djkiller]

I've been able to have luck with my Digi002. The harness problem happens every 3 months are so and it takes me 30 seconds to reseat it. i have a mac pro quad core 1stgen with 8gb on leopard and it works nicely. however i started using logic more with the Digi002 and it works smooth as smooth can be. for midi production and one man band stuff especially with the new guitar amps in logic 9 i work in there. i use protools for my older songs i made in protools and for when i'm doing a lot of miced up recording stuff and true audio. but i hear a lot of issues with the 002 and errors more rampant in protools 8 and people need to remeber to turn errors off in the when setting the processors and sample rate.