CPU Spikes in Pro Tools 8.0.5 with consistant symptoms

[geetar777]

My problem is as follows. The system usage meter starts spiking after about 16 minutes of recording 16 tracks....I mean erratically spiking. 24bit, 44.1khz. The constant CPU usage seems to be really low....around 7-11% the whole time. When it reaches 16 or so minutes, the little line to the right starts spiking. Once this spiking starts happening, it is amplified when I zoom into the edit window view as the tracks are recording. Any mouse move I make is mirrored in the CPU usage meter spiking severely. After this point, its anyone's guess as to to when the CPU overload message pops up. Once, this spiking starts, it continues until I save and close the session or delete the tracks I just recorded and close the session. But when I open the same session again and start recording, it's fine until around the 16 min mark again. It's as if there is some kind of usage buildup that is cleared out by closing the session. ?????

Seems nitpicky, but going from a mac mini dou core running PT7 with 2 gb ram ( the most stable PT system EVER BTW) to an 8 core w 10 gb and having more problems than ever is a royal pain in the ass.

Any idea's suggestions etc? YES, I have optimized, defragged, updated, set cores to one less than i have.... etc and am still having this consistant problem.

Thanks in advance for any help.





Mac Pro dual quad core 2.8ghz (8 core)
10gb ram
PTLE 8.0.5
DIGI002R
Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 10 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.25f4
Serial Number (system): G88042W4XYK
Hardware UUID: B4AEFA03-88F8-53A3-8900-2E264CD3DBFF


Serial ATA BUS
Intel ESB2 AHCI:

Vendor: Intel
Product: ESB2 AHCI
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.10 Supported

WDC WD3200AAJS-41VWA0:

Capacity: 320.07 GB (320,072,933,376 bytes)
Model: WDC WD3200AAJS-41VWA0
Revision: 58.01D01
Serial Number: WD-WCARW3379935
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Medium Type: Rotational
Bay Name: Bay 1
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk0s1
Earthtones System Drive:
Capacity: 319.73 GB (319,728,959,488 bytes)
Available: 151.21 GB (151,210,360,832 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s2
Mount Point: /


FireWire Bus:

Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec

Unknown Device:

Manufacturer: OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro
Model: 0x0
GUID: 0x23A409E011C9B3
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
Unknown Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x113
Product Revision Level: Pro
Sub-units:
Unknown SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk4
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk4s1
Benjy 2010 Work Drive:
Capacity: 499.76 GB (499,763,888,128 bytes)
Available: 305.79 GB (305,787,686,912 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk4s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/Benjy 2010 Work Drive

OWC Mercury Elite-AL 1:

Manufacturer: Other World Computing
Model: 0x0
GUID: 0x1D202009C2ABA
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
OWC Mercury Elite-AL 1 Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x102
Product Revision Level: 3.AA
Sub-units:
OWC Mercury Elite-AL 1 SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 250.06 GB (250,059,350,016 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk3
Partition Map Type: APM (Apple Partition Map)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Capacity: 32 KB (32,256 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s1
Capacity: 29 KB (28,672 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s2
Capacity: 29 KB (28,672 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s3
Capacity: 29 KB (28,672 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s4
Capacity: 29 KB (28,672 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s5
Capacity: 262 KB (262,144 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s6
Capacity: 262 KB (262,144 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s7
Capacity: 262 KB (262,144 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk3s8
Native Instruments Sample Library:
Capacity: 249.92 GB (249,924,190,208 bytes)
Available: 31.44 GB (31,438,655,488 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk3s10
Mount Point: /Volumes/Native Instruments Sample Library

OWC Mercury Elite-AL 1:

Manufacturer: Other World Computing
Model: 0x0
GUID: 0x1D202009C162D
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
OWC Mercury Elite-AL 1 Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x102
Product Revision Level: P22O
Sub-units:
OWC Mercury Elite-AL 1 SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 164.7 GB (164,696,555,520 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk2
Partition Map Type: APM (Apple Partition Map)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Capacity: 32 KB (32,256 bytes)
Writable: No
BSD Name: disk2s1
ET Digi 002 Audio Drive:
Capacity: 164.56 GB (164,562,296,832 bytes)
Available: 31.23 GB (31,229,022,208 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk2s3
Mount Point: /Volumes/ET Digi 002 Audio Drive

d2 quadra (button):

Manufacturer: LaCie
Model: 0x4136
GUID: 0xD04BB2070495E7
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
d2 quadra (button) Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x484944
Unit Spec ID: 0xD04B
d2 quadra Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x120
Product Revision Level:
Sub-units:
d2 quadra SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
Writable: Yes
BSD Name: disk1s1
Earthtones FW 800 Audio Drive:
Capacity: 999.86 GB (999,860,912,128 bytes)
Available: 998.43 GB (998,432,186,368 bytes)
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk1s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/Earthtones FW 800 Audio Drive

Built-in Hub:

Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec

Digi 002Rack:

Manufacturer: Digidesign
Model: 0x2
GUID: 0xA07E0000A40000
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
Digi 002Rack Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x1
Unit Spec ID: 0xA4

[DigiTechSupt]

YES, I have optimized, defragged, updated, set cores to one less than i have.... etc and am still having this consistant problem.

Can you be more specific about what you've tried?

Do you have any plug-ins in the session?

Are ALL installed plug-ins compatible?

Did you view the entire General Troubleshooting thread?

[geetar777]

Thanks so much for the response. I'll also get you a plug-in list. I am not running any plugs when this happens. I have tried defragging all drives, boot and audio. I have verified and repaired permissions on all drives. Even tried booting from a firewire boot drive with a 16 mb cache instead of the internal sATA with 8 mb cache, thinking maybe the cache size was the problem, and still no luck. The drives dont seem to be taxed in the usage meter, just the spiking of the CPU.

I have updated all plug-ins. I have NI Komplete 7 and just went through a major overhaul of all those. My samples for all those are on a seperate drive also. I also have the Waves producer packs CLA and Maserati and am at version 7 of both those which say compatible with PTLE. Bought the $150 upgrade from Auto Tune 5 to 7 thinking obviously that was it but to no avail.

And to my knowledge I have tried every part of the general troubleshooting guide. I just dont understand why the length of the session or how long it is open would make the system run unstable after a certain amount of time..??

As I raise the HW buffer size, the system will run a ton of plug-ins and sometimes get an error message but over all things get weird around 64 and 32. I use these settings to track live bands as anything above that gets a little wacky latency-wise in the headphone mix.

[geetar777]

UPDATE

OK, so I've narrowed down what's causing the issue BUT need to know even where to start. While I was running another test this A.M. I inadvertantly minimized the edit window while PT was in record mode......and.....voila, spikes stopped, system usage smoothed out and recorded 16 tracks at 64 buffer for 32 minutes before I stopped it myself and no errors. But as I maximized the edit window multiple times during this, spikes resumed and spikes were mirrored by mouse movement, zooming etc, but all in edit window while recording. All moves in just mix mix window with edit minimized never showed spikes at all.

NOW, what in PT or my video settings could be causing my CPU to spike or not to like the edit display while in the edit screen while recording?

[geetar777]

bump

[DigiTechSupt]

That is odd. Sounds like either a bad video card, corupted drivers for the video card, though it certainly could be something else - we don't want to rule anything out until it's been verified.

Do you have any other cards installed in the computer? If so - does removing them help? Or moving them to a different slot?

Are you using more than 1 monitor? If so, does disconnecting the 2nd monitor help?

Have you tested from a new administrator account yet?

What happens if you move ALL plug-ins from your plug-ins folder to plug-ins unused, trash preferences, restart and test again?

[geetar777]

I will try all of these and let you know asap.

[geetar777]

OK DigiTech Support. I have a report back.

Issue not solved, but I have found out a little more detail. I have tried all suggested fixes in your previous post, but making a new admin caused me to get a Waves DAE issue upon launch, so I didn't get a true launch in a new admin. Any help with that would be great.

CPU spiking Problem still persists at or around 17 minutes even with all plug-ins out of folder. BUT, I have looked furhter into the Edit screen gtraphics issue. It seems if I can resize the Edit window to get the "pink" recording audio out of screen, the spikes level out. SO, it still seems to be a graphics issue in the edit screen but particularly when the screen is drawing while recording. The workaround is to basically minimize the edit window. The problem being long voiceover sessions and having to drop markers in.

Ideas?

[geetar777]

humpty bumpty

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by geetar777

humpty bumpty

I'd love to help, but you haven't answered all of my previous questions.