Error message (-9073) Cutting me off in the middle of recording!

[thatguy22]

My setup (I know it's ancient) :

Dell Latitude D531 Laptop with 1.79 GHz and 3.37 GB of RAM, Windows XP Pro, M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Pro Tools 7.4 M-Powered, Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB (USB) : 932GB (E:)


I keep getting the error message "DAE can't get audio from the drive(s) fast enough . Your drive may be too slow or fragmented, or a firewire drive could be having trouble due to the extra firewire bandwidth or CPU load. (-9073)"

I know I have a old computer and a old system of pro tools. I've been running it on here because my new computer ( a HP TrueVision HD Pavilion dv6 with beatbydreaudio) won't accept the version of protools that I have saved to a disk. Do I just need to buy a new version of protools for my new computer??

In the meantime though I'm trying to record music still everyday so this sucks. I put all the information I could about my computer. Even though my configuration is old it had been working pretty solidly until now. I can't record without protools giving me this error message every 40 sec now. I would appreciate any help. Thanks,

My Sandra Report:

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : Dell Latitude D531
Workgroup : MSHOME
Host Name : jspencer-f373dc
User : JSpencer

Processor
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-55
Speed : 1.6GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Type : Mobile, Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 2x 64kB, Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 Cache : 2x 256kB, ECC, Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way, Exclusive, 64 byte line size

Computer
Mainboard : Dell 0XM006
BIOS : Dell A02 08/13/2007
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB PCMCIA CardBus USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3.38GB DIMM DDR2

Chipset
Model : Dell RS690 Host Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 200MHz
Channels : 2

Chipset
Model : AMD Athlon 64/Opteron HT Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 800MHz (1.6GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR2
Channels : 2
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 333MHz (666MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Micron 16HTF25664HZ-800H1 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Micron 16HTF25664HZ-800H1 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : ATI Radeon X1270 (4 PS2.0, 2 VS2.0 395MHz, 192MB 400MHz, PCI)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
WDC WD2500BPVT-22ZEST0 (250GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, 8MB Cache) : 233GB (C:)
Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB (USB) : 932GB (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
Loc Disk (C:) : 233GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD2500BPVT-22ZEST0 (250GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, 8MB Cache)
External (E:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB (USB)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 SMBUS Controller
LPC Hub Controller 2 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 PCI to LPC Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : SMSC ECE5021-NU
Audio Device : Dell IXP SB600 High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Sigmatel 76A0h
Audio Codec : Conexant 2C06h
Serial Port(s) : 2
Disk Controller : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 SATA Controller
Disk Controller : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 ATA Controller
USB Controller 1 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI0)
USB Controller 2 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI1)
USB Controller 3 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI2)
USB Controller 4 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI3)
USB Controller 5 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (OHCI4)
USB Controller 6 : Dell IXP SB600/700/800 USB Controller (EHCI)
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : O2 Micro Integrated OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller
CardBus/PCMCIA Controller 1 : 65025 OZ711EZ1 MemoryCardBus Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : ATI SB600 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver (200x200)
Printer : Canon MP250 series Printer (USB, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet, 100Mbps)
Network Adapter : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card - Packet Scheduler Miniport (Ethernet)

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

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

[Darryl Ramm]

Both 5400 rpm hard drives so neither drive meets the Pro Tools 7200 rpm (or get an SSD) drive spec for an audio/session drive.

That will cause this problem. Purchase a suitable external USB drive and also make sure you apply all standard Windows systems optimizations recommended by Avid for Pro Tools.

Edit: oops missed the Windows XP thing. The other more expensive option would be to upgrade the laptop, get a new one with Windows 7, but that will also require upgrading to Pro Tools 10. As with Albee, if it was mine I'd upgrade, and gets you a much faster processor and more memory as well. At some point its just not worth continuing to invest money in an old system.

Darryl

[albee1952]

USB drives are not supported on Windows XP. Does the old beast have an express card slot? If yes, maybe an approved FW card and FW drive might save the day(but I'd be looking at updating the whole rig)

[thatguy22]

Darryl and Albee thank you so much. Im going to investigate upgrading my entire system, and how much putting Pro tools 10 on my new hp pavilion will be. Its a much better computer. Im in the process of completing a free ep so I want to do everything i can to finish. I will check out to see if I have an express slot. I know I need to upgrade and will but is there anything that will buy me a week and allow me to finish my ep on my present system??

[dave911]

Turn off the wireless adapter and defrag all the drives (with PT closed).
Also, if you installed the software that came with the free agent drive I would lose it.
Might help enough to get through.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by thatguy22

Darryl and Albee thank you so much. Im going to investigate upgrading my entire system, and how much putting Pro tools 10 on my new hp pavilion will be. Its a much better computer. Im in the process of completing a free ep so I want to do everything i can to finish. I will check out to see if I have an express slot. I know I need to upgrade and will but is there anything that will buy me a week and allow me to finish my ep on my present system??

Increase your playback engine buffer size. Make it as big as you can if you are not tracking.

Are you running any VIs ... print those VIs to audio tracks and disable the instrument track. VIs put a big load on everything.

Darryl

[thatguy22]

I purchased a Lacie rugged triple external hard drive 500 g 7200 rpm that supports firewire up to 800 usb 2.0 and usb 3.0. I realize my computer has a firewire 400 port so I got a 9pin to 4pin cable to connect. When I connect the drive by usb as I believe was mentioned earlier the drive is recognized but still gives me the same (-9073) error message when trying to record in PT. When I connect the drive by the firewire cable the computer doesn't recognize it. I looked online and saw this was a seemingly common prob w/ PC's and Mac's. Went to Lacie.com and they said to look under Start/Run/Diskmgmt but the only drive that appeared was the C drive. Any clues on how to make my system recognize my firewire drive so I can at least attempt to see if it works with my PT?? Truly appreciate any help in advance

[Darryl Ramm]

Did you reformat the drive to NTFS? Do you have a usb3 port to try on? When you put a session on the drive make sure all the media is consolidated in that folder.

[albee1952]

Does the Lacie have its own power supply? The tiny laptop FW port doesn't have the bus power that the larger port has, so the Lacie needs its own power supply to run with the cable you have(USB ports do carry power).