Error 9073 + SANDRA Report + Problem Details...Need Help

[FierceBrew]

Hello all,


I have been getting 9073 errors for about that past month. I have already done all system/drive optimizations that I found on the DUC. My SANDRA report is listed at the bottom of this post.



ProTools LE 8.0.3

Digi03 Rack with Black Lion Audio Signature Mod
MOTU 896 mk3



Problem:


I recently got my Digi 03 rack back from Black Lion Audio. I had them do their signature mod. I am very pleased with result sonically, but have been getting this error quite a bit lately. At first I thought I might need to just defrag my hard drive so I did that first. I got the same error. When that didn’t work, I purchased a WD Velociraptor drive, installed it, and then went into my system and made every tweak and optimization I could find on the DUC.

Then I did a stress test at 16bit/44.1 with 11 mono tracks and 1 stereo (7 tracks were coming in via ADAT from a MOTU 896 mk3). I ran the whole thing for about 30 minutes with a sampler and drum machine running loops….ran 2 direct lines and put 11 mics on my PA speakers. I got no errors when I did the stress test so I thought that replacing the HD and making the system optimizations had done the trick.

I started recording my band yesterday and everything ran fine for about the first hour. This time I was recording 9 mono tracks and a stereo track. Then I got that same error. This time I noticed something really odd. Input 8 on the Digi was recording a mono synth (patched in direct) on several of the songs but when the error occurred we were playing a song with no synth. About 2 seconds before the error occurred and recording halted…that “blank” track started showing really strange looking waveforms. I zoomed in on the waveforms and played them back. Much to my surprise I could hear small snippets of all the other tracks spliced together seemingly randomly. It sounds like a small bits of the entire session played randomly….and it was crammed into the last 2 seconds of a track that was unused (though it was still recording).

I started recording again and got no more errors for the rest of the rehearsal. When we were done I tried to play back some of songs we recorded…and all I got was that same random spliced effect for all tracks. The waveforms looks normal, but the playback was just a mess. Then I listened to some of the stuff we recorded before the error…and those all had the same issues, random bits of the session just seemed to be stepping all over one another.

I closed the session, powered off the Digi, powered it back on, and re-launched PT. When I reopened the session I was able to listen to all of the music we recorded before the error with no problem; however, everything recorded after the error was still screwed up.

I am not recording to an external Firewire drive so I know it’s not the Firewire bandwidth. I use the Velociraptor as my session drive so all it has on it are session files and audio….no apps. That drive spins at 10000rpm and more than fulfills Digidesign’s specs for an audio drive, and has been formatted to be optimal for audio recording.

The only real difference between the successful stress test and the session where I got the error was the length of time that the Digi 03 was powered up and the number of tube amps and other equipment running in the room. I was actually recording fewer tracks during the rehearsal than I did for the stress test so I can’t imagine that the data stream was the central issue. I have heard from some people that the firewire connections on some MOBOs are pretty bad, but I thought that the MOBO I got (see Sandra report) was more than adequate. I have considered getting an internal PCI-E Firewire card, but that doesn’t seem like it would do much good since the whole thing seems to work fine for an hour or so and then it errors out. Seems to me that if were an issue of a bad 1394 connection or cable, the problem would occur very quickly after recording started. But I am not super savvy with these things so yeah...there's that :)


This makes me think that maybe the unit is overheating…b/c Black Lion Audio does install a second power unit so that you can drive the analog and digital section separately. I wonder if there is improper ventilation on the Digi and that excess heat is causing problems with the A/D converters.

Does anybody out there have any insight?

Until I get some insight from you smart folks, I am just going to give the Digi way more room in the rack and probably run a fan on it while recording our next rehearsal and see if that helps. Thanks.





Sandra Report


Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Speed : 2.40GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Internal Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, Inclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2x 4MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, Inclusive, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

System
Mainboard : Intel Corporation D975XBX2
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : 1 Processor(s)
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
System BIOS : AT/AT COMPATIBLE INTEL - aed
Total Memory : 3.25GB DDR2

Chipset 1
Model : Intel 82975X Memory Controller Hub
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 267MHz (1.07GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DDR2
Memory Bus Speed : 4x 200MHz (800MHz)

Video System
Desktop Monitors/Panels : 2
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Adapter : ATI Radeon X1050
Adapter : ATI Radeon X1050 Secondary

Physical Storage Devices
WDC WD4000AAJS-00YFA0 3.5" 400GB (SATA300, 7200rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 372.61GB (E:)
WDC WD2500AAJS-00VTA0 3.5" 250GB (SATA300, 7200rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 232.89GB (C:)
WDC WD3000HLFS-01G6U1 300GB (SATA300, 10000rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 279.46GB (V:)
LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1S (SATA150, 48x CD-R, 48x CD-W, 6x DVD-R, 6x DVD-W, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Storage 400 (E:) : 372.60GB (210.61GB, 57% Free Space) (NTFS) @ WDC WD4000AAJS-00YFA0 3.5" 400GB (SATA300, 7200rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache)
App Drive (C:) : 232.88GB (149.75GB, 64% Free Space) (NTFS) @ WDC WD2500AAJS-00VTA0 3.5" 250GB (SATA300, 7200rpm, NCQ, 8MB Cache)
Session (V:) : 279.46GB (271.65GB, 97% Free Space) (NTFS) @ WDC WD3000HLFS-01G6U1 300GB (SATA300, 10000rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
CD-ROM/DVD (D:) : N/A @ LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1S (SATA150, 48x CD-R, 48x CD-W, 6x DVD-R, 6x DVD-W, 2MB Cache)


Peripherals
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Keyboard : Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : HID-compliant mouse
Human Interface : HID-compliant device
Human Interface : Dynex Wireless Optical Mouse (HID)

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

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

Network Services
Adapter : Intel(R) PRO/1000 PL Network Connection

[Hotcrazyfruit]

sounds like either a) they screwed up your digi 003.

or b) you need to clear up your databases and preference folder. i know that iv had errors (not yours specifically mind you) after a cirtain section of the song.

What you described with the weird waveform thing seems to point towards a hardware issue, since you said u actually SAW the weird wave form on the track. try recording some sine waves of different frequencies, and see if they all show up. Good luck

Nick

[TOM@METRO]

I ran that same motherboard for a full year up to a couple of years ago. I remember it being very fussy about RAM and RAM timings, what installed RAM are you using and what are the timings and voltage?

[FierceBrew]

Hotcrazyfruit: Yeah, I'm leaning toward hardware issue myself. I've already deleted the Digidesign database folders and made sure my preferences were set to avoid the error...as well as increased all of my DAE settings. At this point, I'm pretty sure that the error itself is a false symptom since it is obviously not the hard drive and I don't run an external firewire drive. And like you said...the fact that I could see the whacked out waveforms....I'm just not convinced that harddrive throughput would result in such erratic behavior.

I also thought maybe it was just a corrupted session file or something like that. So I created a new session file from scratch...and after about an hour of recording....the issue popped up again. That's what makes me think it's might be an overheating/hardware problem. I can imagine the A/D converters would be very sensitive to heat.


TOM@METRO: Hi Tom...I am using the following memory sticks....Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz E.P.P. Memory x 2. this gives me a total of 3.25 usable. I'm not sure I know the voltages or even how to know. Any suggestions on how I can find out? The MOBO has been really reliable for the last 2 years, though I do admit that I have only started doing larger sessions over the last few months. I do use the Strike plug in for some of my personal sessions and I always seem to run into memory issues if I load one session with Strike and then load another with Strike...even if I dump my memory between sessions.


Additional info for troubleshooting: Also, I recorded a band a few weeks back (after I got the Black Lion mods) and did a session with 14 mono tracks at 24bit/44.1 and it ran for 12 hours straight with no issues. The only difference between that session and now is the location of my desk. When I did that session, the desk was in the middle of a well ventilated room but of late the desk has been against one of the walls with probably 4-6 inches of space between the back of the units and the wall...which makes me wonder if a lack of airflow could cause overheating in the unit.

Thanks for your help so far. Hopefully I can get this figured out and get back to doing what I love.

[FierceBrew]

Does anybody else out there have any suggestions? I contacted Black Lion Audio a few days ago and still have heard nothing back from them. Does anybody know what could be causing the scrambled tracks I am getting?

[TOM@METRO]

Run MemTest just to be sure about the RAM before we move on.

[browniespeaks]

one more thing to try before you write off the hard drive error would be new SATA cables (if you didn't do this when you replaced the drive). Since you have had this board for a while you may also want to check that your heat sinks (i see 2 in the pic i found) on the MoBo are clean and doing the job they are supposed to. I get all kinds of odd things happening in my home studio when the temp outside rises. I think the transformers on the street overheating cause most of it but who knows. My best advise is to assume nothing and start with the simple stuff. test everything (mem test was a great idea BTW) replace cheap cables. Then look to bigger things. I was a little unclear weather you stoped receiving the error when you cooled your BL003. Do you have a few cold beers you can set on foil or wax paper on top (to drink while your running all these test) that will prob help the most. Sorry about the issues when you get everything up and running would you start a thread on your mod? I'm looking for my next home investment and it was either going to be a BL003 or used HD2.

[FierceBrew]

Hi Tom - I will run a memtest this weekend and let you know the results. Going out of town until Sunday so I will do that when I get back. If you've had memory issues with that MOBO, that could be a possible reason for the issue.

Browniespeaks - I actually ordered some new SATA cables right before I logged into the DUC. Great minds think alike :)


Developments

So I went home last night and powered up my Digi. I started working on a drum beat in Strike and then decided to loop a guitar part to help me flesh out the beat. I recorded for about 30 seconds and then heard a pop in the audio. After the pop...all of my playback was the same as I described in previous posts. Seeing as how the unit was only on for a few minutes, I'm pretty sure it's not an overheating issue now.

I thought maybe the drivers I had were not playing nice with the modded Digi03, b/c of the different clock and such.....so i looked for an updated driver from Digidesign but like always, all of the drivers seem to be buried in their install files and their site just seems to be a series of circles that take the user nowhere. So I bit the bullet and decided to start over.

I uninstalled ProTools and then reformatted my hard drive completely. I figure it can't hurt to just wipe the OS clean and start from scratch. After waiting through an hours of Windows updates and about a dozen reboots, I reloaded PTLE 8.0.3 and started reloading most of my plugins. Now every time I try to load ProTools...it get's stuck loading Strike on the intial loading screen, the whole thing just stops and goes nonresponsive. So basically, I can't get into ProTools with Strike sitting in the plug in folder. So I guess I'll reinstall Strike and try to get ProTools back up and running (wondering if that is an ILok driver problem or something similar)

I also ordered a Belkin PCIe Firewire card and a couple new SATA cables. Starting to think I'll have a whole new computer by the time this SNAFU is all said and done.

[FierceBrew]

Hey guys,

I have installed a new Belkin PCIe Firewire card as well as completely reloaded my OS (Windows XP SP3), replaced a few SATA cables, updated every driver I can think of, and reloaded ProTools as well as all my plug-ins.

If this does not work, I will load PT on another computer and try another session.

At this point, I am honestly just trying to narrow down whether it is the PC or the Digi03.

I will try to get a big recording done in the next few days. And I will also do the memtest for Tom@Metro.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Craiger]

Fiercebrew: did you ever figure out the problem?

I am NOW having the same problem after using the same system with no mods for 2 years now. The only thing I have done is upgraded to PT 8.03.

Craig