PT8 -6101 Macbook Pro Error...Info and help.

[ElectricGhost]

Just thought I would share my findings with people.
I am using a 2.4ghz macbook pro with 4 gb of ram,
Leopard 10.5.5
Pro Tools 8
Mbox 2

I noticed that I kept getting -6101 errors and the cpu meter was not spiking or peaking at all, sometimes only playing back 1 audio track with no plugins and using a buffer of 64 samples which my machine is more than capable of doing. I am using the internal drive which is 7200rpm and partitioned, I know this is not recommended but I have done it for quite some time now without problems!After some messing around with recording very large session sizes it seems that the bluetooth mighty mouse is to blame for the -6101 errors. When bluetooth is turned off I am able to record 48 tracks with the buffer set to 64 samples for 3mins+ with no problems at all,as soon as the bluetooth is switched back on...-6101 error!So just a word of warning...even if you weren't effected by bluetooth problems with PT7x using Tiger (which I wasn't) it might not be the case with PT8 and leopard!
Anyway hope this might be of use to someone!

Just another quick note,
using the internal drive I am also able to play back at least 38 tracks whilst recording on another. Again I know internal drives are not recommended but it is possible to use them with good performance results...well at least using a 7200rpm drive it is.

[sysex]

I'm experiencing similar issues with this -6101 error.

I've been receiving -6101 errors repeatedly with very little audio/midi in a session.

3 Audio tracks each with 1 drum sample in a 2 bar loop, no plugins, no inserts, no instruments. Just a kick snare and a hat on seperate tracks.

The error suggests I increase my H/W Buffer size, however I have tried every option available and still receive the same problems.

Steps I have taken to troubleshoot the -6101 errors:

Disabled:
Airport, Bluetooth, FW Networking, Sudden Motion Sensor.

My Audio/Midi setup is set to use the OSX Internal Soundcard (however I have tried running Pro Tools with the Mbox selected as the internal output in audio/midi setup as well and still receive the same errors.)

I've repaired permissions from disk utility, as well as via the leopard install disk.

Adjusted my Playback Engine, Buffer Size, # of CPU's for RTAS.

I've tried nearly every troubleshooting step suggested in the Sticky Threads and Digi Support to no avail. Even running just a looped midi section results in the same error.

I get less than a couple minutes of playback before I receive the -6101.

Activity Monitor shows:
Pro Tools Reserved Physical RAM = ~560mgs
Pro Tools CPU (Idle, Empty Session) ~20-25%

My setup is as follows:
Macbook Pro 2.16 | 4gigs RAM | 320gig Internal 7200rpm
2x's (500gig Lacie Externals d4 [sata, usb, fw 400/800])
OS X Leopard 10.5.6
Mbox Pro 2 FW | Pro Tools LE 8 | Logic Pro | Ableton Live 7

I have the mbox 2 running into the FW 400 port.
USB Hub connected to the USB port on the right (mouse, cd/dvd drive, and lacie drives connected (usb) I've also had the Lacie drives plugged in via FW800 along side the mbox fw 400, and I am aware of the issues with the Firewire bus, which is why I've been trying it via USB. (altho I'm also aware of Digi's comments on using External USB... shrug)

The remaining usb port on the left side of the laptop is usually occupied with either a waldorf blofeld or virus TI.

Express 34 Slot is empty.

Ableton Live and Logic Pro run perfectly fine with the mbox selected as the Audio I/O, it's only with pro tools that I receive these errors.

It was mentioned that I should try using a FW 400-800 Cable, or purchasing an Express 34 Card with additional firewire ports.

I'm open to any suggestions or potential solutions in case I over looked any troubleshooting steps and have been watching the forums for similar issues.

Thank you for any and all help and assistance.

[ElectricGhost]

Have you got spotlight disabled?
And I also used to have problems where the screen saver was causing pro tools to give error messages. In the long run though strangely all my problems then were actually caused by using the mbox 1!As soon as I upgraded to mbox 2 all my problems stopped. Not sure what else to suggest?All I have been doing is using a process of elimination, but I have no experience of using an mbox 2 pro?Most will probably tell you that 10.5.6 is not actually qualified for use with Pro Tools 8. Then I dont think that 10.5.5 works 100% with it either!Stick with it though,I'm sure you will figure it out!I think most of us need to stop upgrading when we get a system that works perfectly, It only leads to headaches!10.4.11 and Pro Tools 7.4 was working great!but then it doesn't have all the nice new toys does it:)

[sysex]

I agree.

Yes, I've disabled Spotlight indexing on the external drives, but not on the OS Disk.

I think I have my screen saver set to 2 hours, but I can disable it.

I did run into the same issues on an older system with a 1st gen USB Mbox and ran into the same error, but not nearly as frequently as I am now.

I spose i'll try unplugging everything except the mbox and an external and see how that goes. however with the FW bus issue and the unsupported use of external USB drives, do I really need to go purchase an express 34 card to test this out?

[ElectricGhost]

I would also try including the os drive in spotlight's items to not index. I have done this with mine and used a terminal prompt to stop spotlight altogether. Other than that you need to keep trying different things. I know it gets really annoying so best advice is leave it for a bit if it gets too much!Sorry I cant help any more!Good luck and give me a shout...I will try and help if I can!

[sysex]

As much as I did not want to do this, I did anyway.

I CCC'd my drive to an external, did a clean install of Leopard.
Downloaded and installed OS X 10.5.5 Combo Update
Optimized System Preferences and Other settings according to Digibase suggestions.

Installed PTLE 8.

Did a few tests with 8 Audio tracks, 2-4 Instruments, and 6 Midi Tracks and haven't received any -6101 errors as of yet.

In fact after the re-install it appears that Pro Tools is reserving less memory now and idle cpu% is a little less than it was.

I'm under the impression there was a conflict with other applications I had installed. However, a complete re-install and reformat isn't the right solution for everyone, though so far so good for me.

Just wish I could have discovered what the problem was w/o having to start from scratch.

[tokolosh]

Oh, I'm getting the same -6101 issue is there a way to downgrade my OS without formating my drive?

[LUISMI]

I have a MBP 2.4, 4GB RAM, recording into a Lacie D2 .Leopard 10.5.5

I've got two pro tools systems: PTLe 7.4.2 Mbox 2, and PTMP 7.4.2 with a Firewire Solo.Both with 128 Buffer size.

Have disabled firewire,spotlight,screen saver,not sleep HD,Airport,etc...

Well, I get the same errors 6101 and 9128 in both systems, Le and MP.I have those messages in all my versions and Cs updates since my first purchase 7.3 in both Tiger and Leopard.

I have the opportunity to install same systems on a iMac 2.66 and even without disabling any of the above I didn't get any errors, so defietly is something related with the MBP itself.
Actually ,I've just send it to replace the logic board because the screen was blank, (no video) ,is a known issue among the MBP ,i don't know if that will affect in a possitive way to the performance of my MBP or that might not affect the performance at all.I'll keep you informed when I'll get it back. I will install PT8

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by tokolosh

Oh, I'm getting the same -6101 issue is there a way to downgrade my OS without formating my drive?

Yes, you can do an 'Archive and Install' from your Leopard install DVD, then get the Mac OS X Combo Update 10.5.5 installer from the Apple website.

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by LUISMI

I have a MBP 2.4, 4GB RAM, recording into a Lacie D2 .Leopard 10.5.5

I've got two pro tools systems: PTLe 7.4.2 Mbox 2, and PTMP 7.4.2 with a Firewire Solo.Both with 128 Buffer size.

Have disabled firewire,spotlight,screen saver,not sleep HD,Airport,etc...

Well, I get the same errors 6101 and 9128 in both systems, Le and MP.I have those messages in all my versions and Cs updates since my first purchase 7.3 in both Tiger and Leopard.

I have the opportunity to install same systems on a iMac 2.66 and even without disabling any of the above I didn't get any errors, so defietly is something related with the MBP itself.
Actually ,I've just send it to replace the logic board because the screen was blank, (no video) ,is a known issue among the MBP ,i don't know if that will affect in a possitive way to the performance of my MBP or that might not affect the performance at all.I'll keep you informed when I'll get it back. I will install PT8

Have you ever tried a clean install of the OS and your applications? We're seeing a lot of these kinds of issues on systems that were 'upgraded' from a Tiger OS. Installing a clean Leopard OS, rather than upgrading from Tiger, seems to fix many of these issues.