Trying for about 2 months (!) to get this running

[jon superdeath]

I am at my wit's end. Pro Tools 10 is ruining my life. I have sought help on this forum and on others. I have received a number of very helpful suggestions, none of which has ultimately solved my problems. I am getting a variety of error messages, the most prominent of which being the "ASIO device properties changed" error. I have done every optimization recommended by the Avid knowledge base. I have also implemented every trouble-shooting suggestion on same. I am currently downloading the recently released 10.3.3 version of PT. A Sandra is posted below. I really just want to return the software to the vendor at this point, but I've been working on getting this program to work for a couple months (yes, really). I'm afraid that they won't accept a return, and I've just thrown a lot of money down the drain. Good Lord, somebody please help me!

Bah, I will post the Sandra a little later. It's taking forever, and I think I did something wrong anyway. Thoughts?

[jon superdeath]

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : JonSuperdeath
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : ASUS N61Vg
Serial Number : 101728******
Chassis : ASUS Notebook
Mainboard : ASUS N61Vg
Serial Number : BSN1234567**********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 207 08/31/2009
Total Memory : 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz (2C 2.67GHz, 3MB L2)
Socket/Slot : FC µPGA (Socket P)

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS PM45 Mobile Controller Hub 4x 267MHz (1GHz), 2x 2GB DDR3 SO-DIMM 802MHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Hynix (Hyundai) HYMP125S64CP8-S6 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : Hynix (Hyundai) HYMP125S64CP8-S6 2GB DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-6-6-18 3-24-6-3)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Samsung Generic PnP Monitor (1600x1200, 160AT06-A01
, 15.9")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GT 220M (4CU 32SP SM4.0 1.35GHz, 1GB DDR2 1GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 220M (32SP 4C 1.35GHz, 1GB DDR2 1GHz 128-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 220M (32SP 1.35GHz, 1GB DDR2 1GHz 128-bit)
CUDA GP Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GT 220M (32SP 4C 1.35GHz, 1GB DDR2 1GHz 128-bit)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST9320423AS (320.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache) : 298GB (C:)
TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633C (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
System Reserved : 100MB (NTFS)
Hard Disk (C:) : 298GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST9320423AS (320.1GB, SATA300, 2.5", 7200rpm, 16MB Cache)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633C (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS (ICH9M) LPC Interface Controller
Audio Device : ASUS (ICH9) HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Disk Controller : ASUS (ICH9) Mobile SATA AHCI Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 4 : ASUS (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 6 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 7 : ASUS (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 8 : ASUS (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send To Microsoft OneNote 2010 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Wireless Adapter : Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (802.11n (HT), 65Mbps)

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

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.3

[jmitchell1532]

Your Sandra lists one harddrive. Do you have a seperate drive dedicated to your sessions? If so, what type? Avoid green drives. WD Caviar Black are great.

[jon superdeath]

Originally Posted by jmitchell1532

Your Sandra lists one harddrive. Do you have a seperate drive dedicated to your sessions? If so, what type? Avoid green drives. WD Caviar Black are great.

Yes, I have an external hard drive as my recording volume. It is a 5400rpm 1T drive. I don't not know what is meant by green or black drives. Could you elaborate?

[jmitchell1532]

Hi, Jon. You're not gonna want to hear this, but 5400rpm is usually a show stopper. At least 7200rpm is the way to go.

A "green" drive is any drive marketed as eco-friendly or power-saving. While it sounds good as a marketing term, slowing down speed or shutting off will not help audio performance.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by jmitchell1532

Hi, Jon. You're not gonna want to hear this, but 5400rpm is usually a show stopper. At least 7200rpm is the way to go.

A "green" drive is any drive marketed as eco-friendly or power-saving. While it sounds good as a marketing term, slowing down speed or shutting off will not help audio performance.

He's right^^^ Your recording drive MUST be 7200 rpm. Then there's the connection for that drive. Since you are on Windows 7, you can use USB2(not sure on USB3) and eSATA. Windows 7 users cannot use FW drives.

You should also got to Device Manager and disable the wifi when running Pro Tools(at least until things start working well, then try leaving it on and see if it hurts performance).

If you get things to a point where you are happy(fingers crossed), then you might consider doubling up on RAM(4GB is bare minimum), but; A-get exactly the same as what you have because RAM should all be matched, and B-don't spend any money on RAM until the machine proves that it will run Pro Tools with decent performance(no point in investing in a computer that doesn't work). Laptops can be a crapshoot with Pro Tools

[sw rec]

Also remember that a SEPARATE recording drive is a MUST here. Recording to a partition on the system drive won't work reliably.

[jon superdeath]

Originally Posted by albee1952

He's right^^^ Your recording drive MUST be 7200 rpm. Then there's the connection for that drive. Since you are on Windows 7, you can use USB2(not sure on USB3) and eSATA. Windows 7 users cannot use FW drives.

Wowza, you realize Avid's requirements for a hard drive are 5400 rpm? It's pretty frustration to buy one at that speed and then have someone else tell me it's not fast enough.

So you're saying, also, that Pro Tools functions with a FW interface, but not a FW recording drive? I guess I should be able to use the external with USB. Why in the world should this be so? I am having a hard time wrapping my head around all this seemingly arbitrary stuff. Is Pro Tools just a program unlike every other program or something?

Getting back to the OP, though, are any of the suggestions you guys are making likely to solve the "ASIO device properties changed" error? Because that is the single greatest barrier to getting things going right now.

[sw rec]

I can't remember AVID ever recommending (insisting on?) anything other than a 7200 rpm drive. Maybe it's a typo. It's a throughput issue.
On XP they recommended FW externals, but the rumor is that Win 7 handles USB better than Firewire, so the protocol did in fact change as of Windows 7.

[sw rec]

Just did a hard drive requirement/PT 10 search, and it says:

Avid-approved Audio Hard Disk Drives for Pro Tools 10 Systems

The following disk drives have been tested and approved by Avid for use with Pro Tools HD 10.0 and Pro Tools 10.0 as Audio Record and Playback drives. Drive speed of 7200rpm or higher required.