Pro Tools 9.0.6 won't open - nothing at all

[rosindabow]

Hi all,

I went to open Pr Tools 9.0.6 and I'm getting nothing whatsoever. I can force quit it but it doesn't appear as an application. Nothing happens. I've repaired disk permissions - no change. Anything else I can try?

Thanks.

[Richard901]

Have you tried deleting plists and preferences.

This free program makes it easy to do:
ProTools Prefs & Database Helper

http://www.jcdeshaies.com/

There is a note on the site:
Known issues:
There can be more than one of these files:
Pro Tools xxx Preferences
com.digidesign.ProToolsxx.plist
com.apple.MIDI.xxxx.plist (in the By Host folder)

If it's the case they will not be deleted, backed up or restored.
You will have to clean up manually.

[rosindabow]

A quick note. If I re-install the application, it works. It takes forever to boot up the first time - but it eventually boots up and works. It seems to get hung up on Avid plugins, like AIRReverb and AIRSpringReverb - anything with a .dpm suffix. WHen I shut the computer down and restart, it won't open again. I have to re-install Pro Tools to get it to function. Everything else is functioning just fine - Digital Performer and Logic work just fine - it's only Pro Tools ... any thoughts?

[rosindabow]

ANother update - it is now hanging on: "Creating Dae Objects" It got through all the plugins and he stopped here ... Probably going to uninstall then reinstall ... will post back later.

[rosindabow]

Okay - now I've narrowed it down a bit more - it sill won't open - but here's one more piece to the puzzle. If I wait for about 5 minutes the application begins to load - so even though it looks like nothing is happening, something obviously is. However, it stops on "Creating DAE Objects" - every time. It won't go any further. So - I held down the 'n' ket at startup to select the playback engine and it was able to open using built-in input (which of course cannot be used.) The I tried to select my playback card which is a MOTU PCI 424 card - and it crashes. Even if I open a new file then try to change the playback engine - it crashes. And this is either with an old file or a brand new file with nothing in it. One other fact - this setup used to function perfectly ... as far as I can remember, I didn't "do" anything different to create this problem.

One thought - would uninstalling the re-installing Pro Tools do anything at all?

Thanks.

[Richard901]

I tried searching for creating dae objects freezes with Google.
There were a large number of hits going back to PT 6 and 7.
People seem to have had this problem with all sorts of set-ups/equipment.

I found this:
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...archOperator=5

Here's Avid's instruction for uninstalling Pro Tools.
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=351607

[rosindabow]

I've done everything you suggested and followed the links - nothing works. It will open using the built-in input - but not using my MOTU PCI 424 playback engine. Like I said, this once worked. I don't know what happened ... strange

This was good information though - thanks a lot.

[Richard901]

Found this:
http://duc.avid.com/archive/index.php/t-286718.html

One reply:
Guys, I did some testing and figured out exactly what the problem is. It is a serious bug in Pro Tools 9's Digital Audio Engine.

Pro Tools 9 will consistently crash if you select a CoreAudio device with more than 48 I/O as the playback engine. I think it has something to do with the way Pro Tools 9 enumerates available I/O via CoreAudio.

I have a MOTU PCI-424 system with a 24 I/O and two 2408mk3 interfaces, as well as a M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge.

No crash if I select the Lightbridge (this has 36 I/O) as the playback engine.

No crash if I select the PCI-424 system as the playback engine but turn off one of the physical interfaces, reducing the number of I/O available to Pro Tools on the PCI-424 CoreAudio device to 48.

If I have all three of my MOTU interfaces on and the total number of I/O visible to Pro Tools becomes 72, Pro Tools crashes every time I select the PCI-424 device as the playback engine.

If I select my aggregate audio device that combines all of my interfaces into a single device with 108 I/O, Pro Tools also crashes every time.

I also created another aggregate device using the Lightbridge and my Mackie d.4 Pro DJ mixer (which is a class-compliant FireWire device that doesn't use drivers). This device totals 54 I/O and selecting it as the playback engine crashes Pro Tools consistently as well. (Selecting the d.4 Pro mixer alone as the playback engine does not cause a crash.)

This is definitely a bug in Pro Tools - Avid, this is embarrasing. I submitted this as a case to Avid Support. Please fix it ASAP!


This was from 2010, so I'm not sure whether it still applies.

[rosindabow]

This seems promising. I have two MOTU 2408s and two MOTU 24i/os connected to my system. But two of them were at Black Lion Audio getting modified - I just put them back online about a week ago. And - I'm not 100% sure - I don't believe I attempted to open Pro Tools until a couple of nights ago. So, that would have been the first time I opened it with all 4 interfaces attached. Although, I believe PT was running when I had all 4 interfaces hooked up ... I'm not sure. Either way, I'll give it a go and report back. Thanks!

[rosindabow]

That is the answer - Digi/Avid/Pro Tools - does not support more than 48i/o. They may claim that Native does but it doesn't. As soon as I turned off two of my interfaces Pro Tools opened up. This is ridiculous - I just spent days trying to figure this out and it was an impossible task. Digi, you should just tell the truth and let your customers know this. Either fix this or be very up front and tell the public that Native will only support 48 tracks of i/o.

Thanks for all your help Richard901 - much appreciated.