Possible for Pro Tools 11 to crash entire computer?

[JChance]

It's entirely possible that it could be something else in my computer, but I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this since Pro Tools is the only program that I've had the incident with.
Running latest version (11.1.3) with all plugins (including 3rd party) meticulously updated on Mavericks 10.9.2.
Computer is a mid-2010 Macbook Pro with a 240 GB SSD, 2.66 C2D, 12 GB RAM, a dedicated 2nd internal drive (OWC Data doubler, no more optical drive)for audio, newest version Apogee Duet (Mac & iPad) with latest firmware, an Apple Cinema display, and an OWC external firewire drive for samples.

Granted, the machine itself is a little long in the tooth, but should be plenty capable of running the type of sessions I'm working with. I'm primarily a musician, producer, and editor, but not a mix engineer... so I typically don't run many plugins while editing & overdubbing outside of a VI here & there and maybe an amp sim or two. Sessions are normally fairly standard commercial rock, pop, and country material with no more than 24-32 tracks, give or take.

Two or three times in the past week, I've had Pro Tools not only crash, but actually crash the entire computer where everything just completely shut down in the middle of an edit/overdub session and the computer started to reboot. Pretty weird. Anyone else have this happen?

[crizdee]

Hi,

Its hard to say if PT is the cause but i would think you would get the black curtain of death saying you need to restart your computer and to hold the power button? but if yours is just rebooting itself without any massage or any crash log when it re boots i would say its something hardware related. ram/drive/externally connected devise etc.


Chris

[musicman691]

Can you get another power supply for the MacBook Pro? Barring other hardware problems I'd give that a shot. I'm thinking the power brick is straining with the load on it and may be finally going south.

[Rich Breen]

Originally Posted by JChance

...
Two or three times in the past week, I've had Pro Tools not only crash, but actually crash the entire computer where everything just completely shut down in the middle of an edit/overdub session and the computer started to reboot. Pretty weird. Anyone else have this happen?

Smells like hardware to me.

[Darryl Ramm]

Apple has had a number of issues that can cause these black screen crashes. You can try debugging things, including removing as much third party hardware as possible, booting and running off a separate pristine OS X image (not an upgrade), looking for warnings/errors or crash reports (may not be created in this case) in the System Console (Console.app). But I would not spend a lot of time on that before getting the laptop to a Genius Bar or calling Apple Support. You want to check/make sure they check for nvram firmware updates and also do nvram/pram resets etc. there have been specific bug fixes in firmware updates for some MacBook Pros of around this vintage to address black screen issues.

The power supply would be way down my list, power supply related instabilities should be pretty easy to catch with a standard kernel panic. If that is not happening something (e.g. no panic message) then deeper is sick with the hardware/firmware/OS.

"Meticulously upgraded"??? I am not sure what that means, and major or minor upgrades, but you should not be doing major updates to OS X, e.g. To go to Mavericks you should have done a full clean OS X install, as Avid clearly recommends. Insitu upgrades can break so much stuff. Never use the migration tool except for user data, you need clean OS X installs and clean full reinstalls of Pro Tools and ideally any plugins at each major OS upgrade.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Apple has had a number of issues that can cause these black screen crashes. You can try debugging things, including removing as much third party hardware as possible, booting and running off a separate pristine OS X image (not an upgrade), looking for warnings/errors or crash reports (may not be created in this case) in the System Console (Console.app). But I would not spend a lot of time on that before getting the laptop to a Genius Bar or calling Apple Support. You want to check/make sure they check for nvram firmware updates and also do nvram/pram resets etc. there have been specific bug fixes in firmware updates for some MacBook Pros of around this vintage to address black screen issues.

The power supply would be way down my list, power supply related instabilities should be pretty easy to catch with a standard kernel panic. If that is not happening something (e.g. no panic message) then deeper is sick with the hardware/firmware/OS.

I've had power supplies go south without putting up kernel panics.

I don't think taking an old machine like the op has (it's a C2D) to a genius Bar will help any. It's long past any AppleCare.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I've had power supplies go south without putting up kernel panics.

I don't think taking an old machine like the op has (it's a C2D) to a genius Bar will help any. It's long past any AppleCare.

The Genius Bar and Apple support absolutely can help check error messages, check firmware, reset PRAM/NVRAM. And if they suspect a hardware fault they can give you a repair quote (which may not be good news), or Apple phone support can recommend 3rd party repairers that may be cheaper than Apple support. And for known Apple hardware faults etc. I've had Apple support replace motherboards on 4+ year old MBPs well outside warranty or recall program dates. You have to know your facts, be persistent and polite and know how/who to ask for escalation.... (actually Apple provided parts and paid third party Computercare to replace my last old 17" MBP motherboard -- it is sometimes easier/faster for Apple escalation support to use a third party service provider than get you into an Apple store).

Start with checking Console.app error messages, and then check firmware versions, reset NVRAM/PRAM if comfortable doing that.