buffer underrun...buffer overrun... omg save me!

[driveway]

Hello all,
I am running 7.0LE with a 002r. I am also using an RME Hammerfall with Nuendo. The RME has its own PCI firewire type card seperate from the firewire card that the 002r is connected to. I have done all the "tweaks" I could find on the digi site in terms of making sure "cool n quiet" is off, HDs are set to DMA etc. etc. etc. And as far as I can tell all my hardware meets the digi standards except for my firewire card (I have ordered a siig and am waiting for it to arrive). The problem I am having is I'll be in the middle of working and I get an error saying "buffer underrun try increasing buffer", which I do only to be insulted by "buffer overrun..." omg!! the digi drivers are like montey python!! i'm going nuts. I have seen this same post by other users and it seems like an epidemic. I read the posts carefully and try all the suggestions, I realize I need to get the SIIG firewire card but another guy posted that even after he got this card he STILL had the same issue so I aint holding my breath. Does anyone have anything fresh to add to this problem? I would really appreciate it. Here is my sandra info:

SiSoftware Sandra

System
Host Name : STEALTH
User : Studio
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Processor
Model : 1x AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
Speed : 2.01GHz
Model Number : 3800 (estimated)
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
Internal Data Cache : 64kB Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way set, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 512kB ECC Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way set, 64 byte line size

Mainboard
Platform Compliance : AMD LIVE!
Bus(es) : PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : 2 Processor(s)
MP APIC : Yes
System BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS M2N-E ACPI BIOS Revision 0103
System : System manufacturer System Product Name
Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. M2N-E
Total Memory : 3GB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Athlon 64 / Opteron HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 1005MHz (2010MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 3GB DDR2-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 251MHz (502MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Adapter : RADEON X300/X550 Series
Adapter : RADEON X300/X550 Series Secondary

Physical Storage Devices
Hard Disk : WDC WD800JD-60LSA0 (75GB)
Hard Disk : WDC WD800JD-60LSA0 (75GB)
Hard Disk : LEXAR JUMPDRIVE SECURE USB Device
CD-ROM/DVD : HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N (CD 48X Rd, 48X Wr) (DVD 6X Rd, 6X Wr)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 75GB (45GB, 61% Free Space) (NTFS)
Audio (E:) : 75GB (29GB, 39% Free Space) (NTFS)
CD-ROM/DVD (D:) : N/A
USB_DONGLE (F:) : 243MB (79MB, 33% Free Space) (FAT)

Peripherals
Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 1 COM / 1 LPT
USB Controller/Hub : Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Mass Storage Device
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Keyboard : Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : Logitech USB Wheel Mouse
Human Interface : Logitech USB Wheel Mouse

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : RME Hammerfall DSP

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

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : Win32 x86

Network Services
Network Drivers Enabled : No

Performance Tips
Warning 100 : Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Notice 5901 : CD 1x= 150kB/s; Exercise caution when comparing measured versus published ratings.
Notice 5902 : DVD 1x= 11.08Mbps Exercise caution when comparing measured versus published ratings.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[DJ FADE]

i am among the others who have experienced this problem. i wish i had received an answer or suggestion that has worked for me and fixed my problem, but i unfortunately have not. i have absolutely no idea what could be causing these problems. i'm almost to the point of just building a new computer, getting a fresh start.

[Bossi]

Set back the IDE ATA driver back to standard instead of the one deliverd with your chipset, fixed it for me.

Grtz

[driveway]

I just upgraded to 7.1 and since doing so I have only crashed once, which although unacceptable is a HUGE improvement. Perhaps I should try 7.3, but I'm a bit worried about making things worse right after they got a little better.

[DigiTechSupt]

Is the Hammerfall card in the same computer that you're using the 002R on? If so, that card could be causing conflicts - I've seen it happen before (not specifically with the Hammerfall card, though). You could consider pulling that card for testing purposes and see what happens.

[driveway]

Is the Hammerfall card in the same computer that you're using the 002R on? If so, that card could be causing conflicts - I've seen it happen before (not specifically with the Hammerfall card, though). You could consider pulling that card for testing purposes and see what happens.

Thanks for the response digitechsupt,
yes it's in the same computer. i have to be able to track using the hammerfall to reep the benifits of its better converters. typically i track in nuendo and then edit in PT, so I have to have both devices hooked up, pulling the hammerfall out is not an option at this point. Does my Sandra report look ok? Am I throwing away $45 on a SIIG firewire card or is this really going to help? In all honesty i'm using the 002r is a dongle to run PT. Could you guys develop a PT dongle for a USB port that would fit in my pocket? I would gladly pay $1000 for it if it's stable

[DigiTechSupt]

At this point, I don't know if the SIIG will help or not - it certainly *looks* like it could, but then again having that Hammerfall card in there may be the ultimate culprit and you'll have problems no matter which FW card you use.

Other than that, the Sandra report seems to be fine - as in I don't see anything else that's obviously wrong. If you can't pull the card even for testing to determine if it's problematic, then you may have to live with the system in it's current state, barring any possible improvements from using the SIIG card...

[driveway]

well... i have been defeated. I ordered the siig firewire card, waited 2 weeks for it to arrive from california (wasted another $50) installed it and voila! buffer underrun... there is nothing left for me to do other than the suggestion of removing my RME which begs the question, why doesn't my RME have any problems with my 002r? I could answer that question but it would only start a flame war. anyways i called the dealer where i bought the 002r and i'm returning it tomorrow for a refund. so long fisher price!

[jrode]

i've had the same problem for the past 10 days (since I got my gear) and just fixed it last night. my methods were iffy at best, so try it out and let me know. i am running LE 7.1/002r.

i did all of the following at the same time...pampered the prince for his big night, shined his dancing shoes in a last ditch effort to make him smile. all of the initial stuff (dma, disk formatting, etc) was already in place:

-reseated firewire ribbon on motherboard (my firewire port sits in a pci spot, not the actual slot, just plugs into the board and screws into the pci s(p)ot) and then switched the port i was using on the back of the rack. i know this is OCD but it would be careless of me to leave this out
-closed as many processes as possible (got it down to 271mb/2g)
-set protools scratch to external usb2.0 drive (not recommended apparently), saved session to same
-decided to move away from 44.1kHz/16-bit WAV and just try 48kHz/24-bit WAV (after the first underrun I immediately adjusted these to the lowest, but I realized...which buffer is being underrun? is this in the firewire interface, is this on my motherboard, on my write speed? dunno, no idea actually...so, my thinking was that although the mb/sec to the drive will go up, maybe the nuts and bolts of the software, hardware, or 002r's A/D encode 48kHz/24-bit better b/c it's native. total guess, i had no internet at the studio. the buffer setting was at the default 512

that's it. i recorded 4 mono tracks for over 20 minutes before i turned it off and went to sleep. before i could get 20, 40, or 60 seconds in with a single mono track before getting that nasty error...now it just works.

if i think of anything else i did i'll post but the good old wining and dining bulk method treated me just fine!

jrode

[PatrickJ]

We seem to need a sticky for this topic, as I just posted last night an almost identical problem. Like you I'm about ready to throw my computer out the window. I'm sure you feel the same in thinking that I don't want to have to Macgyver my way around this problem to get it to work, sweeping issues under the rug. I paid $2700 for my laptop and my Mbox, they should work properly together.

Please let us know if you have any progress on the issue.