Protools 10 constantly freezing (Windows 7)

[NickBe]

Hello everyone,

My Protools 10 has been constantly freezing up. My computer starts making a lot of sound and I always have to d a hard reset.
It seems to happen randomly. Sometimes it's 2 times in half an hour, if I'm lucky 1 time in a few hours. During playback or editing, small projects, large projects,...
One thing that changed was when I set my Plugin Buffer to maximum. Instead of completely freezing, it would sometimes start lagging really hard where it would normally completely freeze (though I still couldn't do anything except moving my mouse really laggy, still have to reset)
The whole system is only 2 months old.

Anyone have an idea what it might be? It really ruins my workflow.

Sandra report:

ID
Host Name : NickDesktop
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : GigaByte
Serial Number : To be fille***********
Chassis : GigaByte Desktop
Mainboard : GigaByte F2A75M-HD2
Serial Number : To be fille***********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) F4 03/18/2013
Total Memory : 7.21GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : AMD A10-6800K APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (2M 4T 4.4GHz, 3.6GHz IMC, 2x 2MB L2)
Socket/Slot : FM2 (PGA904)

Chipset
Memory Controller : AMD F15 (Trinity) APU HT Hub 200MHz, 2x 4GB DIMM DDR3 1.6GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Kingston 99U5584-003A00LF 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)
Memory Module : Kingston 99U5584-003A00LF 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-12800U DDR3-1600 (11-11-11-29 5-40-13-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : LG 22EN43
(1920x1080, 21.5")
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon HD 8670D (6CU 384SP SM5.0 844MHz, 768MB DDR3 1.6GHz/2.13GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : AMD Radeon HD 8670D (384SP 6C 844MHz, 768MB DDR3 1.6GHz/2.13GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)
Compute Shader Processor : AMD Radeon HD 8670D (384SP 6C 844MHz, 768MB DDR3 1.6GHz/2.13GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Storage Devices
Samsung SSD 840 Series (120GB, SATA600, SSD) : 112GB (C:) (D:)
Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 (2TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 2TB (H:) (M:)
SanDisk Ultra (32GB, USB2) : 30GB (F:)
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224DB (392.6MB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) : 374MB (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
System : 350MB (NTFS)
Media (M:) : 750GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 (2TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Removable Drive (F:) : 30GB (exFAT) @ SanDisk Ultra (32GB, USB2)
Windows (C:) : 111GB (NTFS) @ Samsung SSD 840 Series (120GB, SATA600, SSD)
Hard Disk (D:) : N/A @ Samsung SSD 840 Series (120GB, SATA600, SSD)
HDD (H:) : 1TB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 (2TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Audio CD (E:) : 0bytes (CDFS) @ TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224DB (392.6MB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : AMD Hudson LPC Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : ITE IT8728F
Audio Device : ATI (AMD) Trinity HDMI Audio Controller
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Audio Device : Gigabyte Hudson Azalia Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Gigabyte Hudson SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
Disk Controller : Gigabyte Hudson IDE Controller
USB Controller 1 : Gigabyte Hudson USB XHCI Controller
USB Controller 2 : Gigabyte Hudson USB XHCI Controller
USB Controller 3 : Gigabyte Hudson USB OHCI Controller
USB Controller 4 : Gigabyte Hudson USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller 5 : Gigabyte Hudson USB OHCI Controller
USB Controller 6 : Gigabyte Hudson USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller 7 : Gigabyte Hudson USB OHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : ATI SB800 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Printer : HP Photosmart B8500 series (1200x1200, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Peripherals
Media Player : SanDisk Ultra (29.81GB)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : NETGEAR WNA3100M N300 Wireless Mini USB Adapter (802.11g (ERP), AES-CCMP, 48Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 6.7

Audio interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

Thanks in advance!

[albee1952]

AMD and integrated graphics are not a great idea for Pro Tools these days. AMD was king when LE 7 and 8 were new, but not so much now.

You mentioned the computer makes noise, so that might be the big concern here. Assuming you use the SSD as the system drive(C:), does it only make the noise when you are running Pro Tools? If so, that would make me worry about the recording drive(remember, there are 2 kinds of people here; those that have had a drive fail, and those that WILL have a drive fail). Start by backing up all your sessions now(and I mean today, don't wait unless you don't care if all that data is lost). Then, pick a smaller session and copy it to the C: drive. If that sessions runs fine and you don't have noises or freezing, I would buy a new recording drive(and I would only buy a WD BLACK series drive).

[NickBe]

Originally Posted by albee1952

AMD and integrated graphics are not a great idea for Pro Tools these days. AMD was king when LE 7 and 8 were new, but not so much now.

You mentioned the computer makes noise, so that might be the big concern here. Assuming you use the SSD as the system drive(C:), does it only make the noise when you are running Pro Tools? If so, that would make me worry about the recording drive(remember, there are 2 kinds of people here; those that have had a drive fail, and those that WILL have a drive fail). Start by backing up all your sessions now(and I mean today, don't wait unless you don't care if all that data is lost). Then, pick a smaller session and copy it to the C: drive. If that sessions runs fine and you don't have noises or freezing, I would buy a new recording drive(and I would only buy a WD BLACK series drive).

Thank you for your response!
The "noise" the computer makes, is basically the fan starting to work hard from the moment the system freezes. Besides that moment it's always quiet. So you suggest copying a session to the C: drive (which indeed I use as system drive), working from there and seeing if the problem reoccurs?

Some more info/problems that might be of use here:
- It has also happened a few times when Protools was open in the background and I was browsing the internet.
- What happens often now in the session i'm working on is that the audio suddenly becomes a loud sine of around 10kHz. I have to close the session and re-open it.
- In the same session sometimes only the vocal tracks (which were recorded on another day) don't play anymore. I also have to close the session and re-open it.

I really appreciate the help!

EDIT: 1-2 hours ago I tried checking the "Ignore errors during playback" box. Could it be that I traded in the system freezes for these high pitched audio freezes?

[albee1952]

I would not check that box for "Ignore errors..."(personal choice). So has this setup ever been stable with PT? Test-running a session from the C: drive is simply a way to tell if the separate recording drive is maybe the issue(but if the rig has NEVER been stable and solid, it may just be a poor choice of components for Pro Tools use). Are there any 3rd party plugins working? Maybe you have a bad(corrupted) or outdated plugin? There is a trick to open a session with all plugins disabled(hold the SHIFT key while opening the session) and if your session runs fine this way, that would point towards a bad plugin.

[ron_from_RIFAS]

I'm having this issue and have just concluded (right now actually) that setting the engine to 4 processors causes my freezes. Setting it to 3 processors lets me work without issue. Try it.

[jeam25]

Hi Which interface you are using ?

Try this..

1. Update chipset driver , make shure video drivers are updated

2. Update ilok software and driver

3. Upadate quicktime

3. Delete PT preferences

4. Make shure all the windows system tweaks are on where they should be

Hope this help a little !

[albee1952]

One more thing, if the fan spins up a lot, do you have an overheating problem? Time to check temperatures

[NickBe]

Hi everyone,

I finally solved this problem, and given the amount of unsolved topics on this same issue (and views on this thread alone) I'm happy to share what worked for me.

I found the simple solution in this small thread after looking for many hours:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music...akt-4-5-a.html

The problem was being caused by Kontakt 5. In the Options menu in Kontakt go to the tab Engine, and set "Multiprocessor support" to Off.

That's it! I hope this works out for anyone facing the same issue.
Thanks to everyone that replied to this thread.

[albee1952]

Interesting! Good detective work