Intro and some trouble

[PT_n00b]

I'm trying to figure out something. I needed some recording software that did more than 4 tracks. ProTools is way overkill for what I'm doing right now, but I opened the box and it's now mine.

So after several attempts I got it loaded and it seems to work. I read about the USB drive deal, which is where I originally wanted to store work, and I still can store it there, just not while PT is active. So I cleared about 30 GB off my secondary IDE HD, giving me 50 GB free space which should be sufficient for what I'm doing.

I was on the phone with Sweetwater yesterday and we were checking motherboard compatibility and stuff and my motherboard, processor, memory, drives, etc., are compatible. I'm running a Athelon 64 2800+ processor (ancient) 1.85 GHz, WinXP Home SP3, PT 7.4 cs8, with an upgrade available to PT 8 (but I'm waiting a bit on this -- I've got my authorization code). I followed the instructions on running PT with my meager 1 GB of RAM, and tried to upgrade the size of the RAM but they didn't have any Kingston PC3200 -- they had PNY and the two don't mix systemwise on this beast. My interface is a Black Box (drivers updated on Friday with the help of M-Audio with the knowledge that I have M-Powered ProTools). ProTools recognizes my interface. I can't afford a new PC. So I've got to make due or buy a new PC which I really can't do until April. So I close everything that would be running except for PT.

PT loads fine. It runs fine. I've tested out some stuff with it. Problem: Sometimes when I exit the program it closes but my processor sits there at 100% usage forever until I just give up and reboot. What's the deal here?

[PT_n00b]

So now I open the Task Manager. Program loads fine, then watch after a couple minutes while the processor usage maxes at 100%. I called Digidesign today, and they told me to make sure my drives aren't set to compress. One was. So tonight I try it again and it is just as bad as before, except that when it does run I don't get the stuttering. I also was told to turn off my Soundblaster, and that made it worse. So I turned it back on and the freeze ups are intermittent now rather than every single time. I have no idea what is going on. This is the only program with which this happens.

[DigiTechSupt]

Can you please post a Sandra report, per the info in the General Troubleshooting thread?

It also has some optimization instructions that may help with the problems you're experiencing.

[PT_n00b]

And I just learned I got one of them Firewire things on the back of my PC. I was wondering what that funny looking thing was. When I got this thing I had no use for it. And the report says the processor runs a bit hot, but back when I got this thing it still ran way cooler than the INTEL Pentium 4s. Temperature really hasn't changed.


Sandra Report:

SiSoftware Sandra

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 2800+
Speed : 1.81GHz
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Internal Data Cache : 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 512kB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size

System
Mainboard : MS-7030
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
System BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG
Total Memory : 1GB DDR

Chipset
Model : MSI nforce3 CPU to PCI Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 804MHz (1.61GHz)

Chipset
Model : AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 804MHz (1.61GHz)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 201MHz (402MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Kingston K 512MB DDR PC3200U DDR-200 (3.0-3-3-8 2-11-0-0)
Memory Module : Kingston K 512MB DDR PC3200U DDR-200 (3.0-3-3-8 2-11-0-0)

Video System
Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (128MB DDR3, 299MHz/2x900MHz, AGP 3.00, PS3.0, VS3.0)

Storage Devices
ST380011A 80GB (ATA100, 3.5", 2MB Cache) : 75GB (C:)
IC35L060AVV207-0 61GB (ATA100, 3.5", 7200rpm, 2MB Cache) : 57GB (D:)
WD 6400AAV External 640GB (USB) : 596GB (H:)
Maxtor 6L200P0 204GB (USB, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache) : 190GB (G:)
LITE-ON LTR-52327S (ATAPI, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (E:)
JLMS XJ-HD166S (ATAPI, DVD+-R, CD-R, 512kB Cache) : N/A (F:)

Logical Storage Devices
System (C:) : 75GB (NTFS) @ ST380011A 80GB (ATA100, 3.5", 2MB Cache)
IDE Files (D:) : 57GB (NTFS) @ IC35L060AVV207-0 61GB (ATA100, 3.5", 7200rpm, 2MB Cache)
CD-ROM/DVD (E:) : N/A @ LITE-ON LTR-52327S (ATAPI, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
CD-ROM/DVD (F:) : N/A @ JLMS XJ-HD166S (ATAPI, DVD+-R, CD-R, 512kB Cache)
3.5" 1.44MB (A:) : N/A
USB 500GB (H:) : 596GB (NTFS) @ WD 6400AAV External 640GB (USB)
USB 250GB (G:) : 190GB (NTFS) @ Maxtor 6L200P0 204GB (USB, 3.5", 7200rpm, 8MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : MSI nForce3 CPU to ISA Bridge
Audio Device : MSI nForce3 AC'97 Audio Codec Interface
Audio Device : Creative Labs SB0090 Audigy Platinum (EX)
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : MSI nForce3 250 Parallel ATA Controller
Disk Controller : MSI nForce3 250 Serial ATA Controller
Disk Controller : MSI nForce3 250 Serial ATA Controller
USB Controller 1 : MSI nForce3 OHCI USB Controller
USB Controller 2 : MSI nForce3 OHCI USB Controller
USB Controller 3 : MSI nForce3 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Creative Labs Audigy 2 Firewire Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 2 : VIA VT6306 VIA Fire II IEEE-1394 OHCI Link Layer Controller
System SMBus Controller 1 : nVidia MCP2+ SMBus 1
System SMBus Controller 2 : nVidia MCP2+ SMBus 2

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver (300x300, Colour)
Printer : HP Deskjet D4200 series (1200x1200, USB, Colour)
Printer : hp deskjet 5100 series (USB, Colour)
Printer : EPSON Stylus Photo R220 Series (360x360, USB, Colour)
Printer : Epson Stylus COLOR 400 ESC/P 2 (720x720, Parallel, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 100Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Home 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 3)
Platform Compliance : x86

Performance Tips
Warning 100 : Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[PT_n00b]

PS: I did those system optimization things and I started getting blue screens. So I started rolling back the optimizations until I stopped blue screening, one optimization at a time. Luckily it was the first one -- I'm not turning off system restore. Forget that. I was in IT way too many years to know better.

So I've monitored ProTools with the task manager while I've been using it. It goes along fine with the processor spike to 90% on loading but it drops to under 10% when recording or on playback. However, then when I go to do something like "Save" sometimes it spikes to 100% never to return until I reboot.

I'm getting real disgusted right now. I'm thinking of just putting this thing on the shelf as an expensive lesson learned and leaving it there until I actually do get around to upgrading my computer.

See, because of the demands of having to have two IDE drives, and not supporting USB drives, it drives up the cost of a system. Then all the new systems come with Vista 64 and I need to buy a copy of Vista 32 or stay with XP Home and do all the downloads to SP 3, but if I do that, I've got go somehow go and fish out all my stuff from this computer. So that means buying a new OS for the new PC, since stores like Best Buy won't do a downgrade on the packages, and all but the very expensive PCs have room for only one internal HD.

How long is my upgrade to version 8 good for? Unless we can fix this in the very near future on my existing machine, it is going to be a very long time before I use it.

[PT_n00b]

The problem is solved. I called Digi-design tech support and spec'd out a new PC that is built of components known to work well together for PT. I decided to provide some stimulus to the local economy. This should see me through PT v 9 -- and we know there will be a 9 at some point in the future.

I got the list of components and brought it down for a custom built machine. $950 + a better monitor. I just hope they do it right. I'm going to have the tech do the optimization for Pro Tools so I can just do the install when I get it home, but I've been in the computer side long enough to know it's never that simple.