Network clock not locked??

[bdangler]

Hello,
Both audio rooms here have been experiencing a weird issue that engineering can't seem to solve. When starting playback, an error message pops up that says "Pro Tools cannot start playback. The network clock is not locked." It's pretty intermittent, and after a few rounds of OK-spacebar-OK-spacebar, it starts to playback again, but it sure is annoying. Has anyone else seen this? Suggestions? I'm running OSX 10.7.5 PT HDX 10.3.3 Thanks!

[mix109]

Do you have a Server on your facility that Handles NTP,so that the (2) Mac's need to sync onto it?

[bdangler]

We do have a NTP here. Engineering is checking it out today. They hadn't thought that might be the issue.

[dford]

Originally Posted by bdangler

We do have a NTP here. Engineering is checking it out today. They hadn't thought that might be the issue.

Did Engineering look into it?

Is this the problem?

Thanks,


Dev

[bdangler]

Hello,
They have looked into the issue, but it is still not solved. Now both of our audio rooms are seeing an issue where Pro Tools stops recording during laybacks. What is strange is that no error messages pop up, it just stops. Unlinking the video satellite seems to help sometimes, but not always. Puzzling.

[Bob Brown]

Hi,

This is an issue I'm actively debugging and working with several of our beta testers to help track down.

The Pro Tools network clock is a specialized clocking system to help the various Pro Tools systems perform sample accurate play starts. This clock is not related to the NTP or other traditional computer network clocks. The Pro Tools network clock is related to the different Pro Tools systems sample counters.

There are certain types of conditions and errors that can cause the clock to reset. This happens, it should relock within a few seconds (typically 1 to 3 seconds). When the clock is not locked the little dots on the big Satellite Link button will blink.

There is a trick to force reset the clock. You can hold down the control-option-command buttons and then click on the main link button. This will force a reset of the network clock.

I'll post again later when I have more information about the root cause of the current network clock issue I'm investigating.

Bob Brown
Audio Video Collaboration Architect
P&S Creative Professional

Avid
2001 Junipero Serra Blvd
Daly City, CA 94014
United States

We're Avid. Learn more at www.avid.com

[bdangler]

Oh man. That's good news, Bob. We were going crazy here trying to figure out what the issue was. Thanks for the clock reset tip. Do you know when this issue first popped up? Is it related to 10.3.3? Thanks.

[Pirate Post]

Originally Posted by bdangler

Oh man. That's good news, Bob. We were going crazy here trying to figure out what the issue was. Thanks for the clock reset tip. Do you know when this issue first popped up? Is it related to 10.3.3? Thanks.

Definitely pre 10.3. My symptoms are totally different. Before the clock gets whacked my session goes LoFi on me. All the audio sounds like its 6bit or less. I then reset the Playback Engine to a different Disk Cache size and usually after that I'm presented with endless messages about the Network Clock.

[PhilyG]

I've been having this issue ever since upgrading to HDX.

Before, when I was running 10.3.2 with the old HD hardware, I never saw the error once. Only after upgrading to HDX have I started to see this error.

Hope it's resolved soon, can really get aggravating after awhile but I appreciate you guys looking into it.

[Bob Brown]

I believe Peter's issue is very specific to Pro Tools having a SWOD (spinning wheel of death) after changing playback engine settings.

Are people seeing this issue primarily with HDX and HD Native?