Return of the Buffer Size Error - Part III -9092

[DiAngelo]

First off, thank you to the people who take the time to read this post and the other posts I have had in the past.

I bought an MBox2 and installed Pro Tools LE 6.8.1 (some weeks ago).

I noticed something that since then hasn't been solved:
I can't monitor an input with HW buffer size at 128, because I hear frequent sound cuts, and whenever I try to play/record at that value, I get a maximum of 2 seconds of playback/record until it gives the error message:

"The operatin system held off interrupts for too long. If this occurs, try increasing the "H/W buffer size" in the Playback Engine Dialog. (-9092) "

"Bummer", I thought the first time. I select 256 and it plays/records!... For 2 minutes aprox....

This is when I realised it couldn't be normal. I thought it was because I was using the internal laptop Hard drive, and I bought a Digidesign supported enclosure + 250 GB Hitachi hard drive (7200 RPM, 8 MB cache) and created a new session to run on that drive. Nothing changed. The same error.

Since then I've been asking questions in the DUC, I turned off all services and startup programs, all unnecessary hardware (I mean ALL), trashed DAE Prefs, removed plug-ins, created new sessions without Mac/PC compatibility, went to the Digi answerbase and did everything I found about this error. I even reinstalled Pro Tools.

Nothing.

It just stays there, reacting the same way everytime, expecting me to monitor/record at 512 to be able record a 4 or 5 minute take. And that's not what I spent 800 dollars for (Mbox2 + external HD).

I've been having a lot of personal problems and I'm moving to the US soon, and I NEED to get one more song pre-produced before I go, so this is killing me slowly and I need help. C'mon this can't be so hard to solve. Digi has good technicians right? =(

Laptop: Acer Aspire 1694 WLMi

My present Sandra system summary is in a post below. Please help me. Thank you in advance.


Bruno DiAngelo
====

[DiAngelo]

SiSoftware Sandra

System
Host Name :
User :
Domain :

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 2.00GHz
Speed : 2.00GHz
Performance Rating : PR2394 (estimated)
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Mobile
Internal Data Cache : 32kB Synchronous, Write-Back, 8-way set, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2MB ECC Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size

Mainboard
Bus(es) : ISA PCI PCIe IMB CardBus USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : No
MP APIC : Yes
System BIOS : AT/AT COMPATIBLE
Total Memory : 1023MB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Acer Inc 82915PM/GM/GMS, 82910GML Host Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 1GB DDR2-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 4x 99MHz (396MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Default Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Default Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Default Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Adapter : ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700

Physical Storage Devices
Hard Disk : ST9100822A (93GB)
Hard Disk : Macpower OXFORD IDE Device 1 IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device
CD-ROM/DVD : MAT****A UJ-845D (CD 24X Rd, 24X Wr) (DVD 3X Rd, 3X Wr)

Logical Storage Devices
1-winxp (C:) : 14GB (6.2GB, 45% Free Space) (NTFS)
1-prog (D:) : 20GB (12GB, 59% Free Space) (NTFS)
1-data (E:) : 60GB (35GB, 58% Free Space) (NTFS)
Pro tools le (G:) : 316MB (CDFS)
2-protools (H:) : 59GB (42GB, 71% Free Space) (NTFS)
2-data (I:) : 99GB (56GB, 57% Free Space) (NTFS)
2-storage (J:) : 61GB (46GB, 76% Free Space) (NTFS)
2-transfer (K:) : 15GB (15GB, 100% Free Space) (FAT32)

Peripherals
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2658
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2659
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265A
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265B
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 265C
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
USB Controller/Hub : Digidesign Mbox 2 Firmware Updater
USB Controller/Hub : Digidesign Mbox 2 Firmware Updater
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
PCMCIA/CardBus Controller : Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
Infrared Device : IrDA Fast Infrared Port
Keyboard : Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : PS/2 Compatible Mouse
Mouse : HID-compliant mouse
Mouse : HID-compliant mouse
Human Interface : USB Human Interface Device
Human Interface : USB Human Interface Device

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : Conexant AC-Link Audio

Communication Device(s)
Device : SoftV92 Data Fax Modem with SmartCP

Printers and Faxes
Model : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Model : Macromedia FlashPaper
Model : Adobe PDF

Power Management
AC Line Status : On-Line
Battery No 1 : 100%

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Professional (Win32 x86) 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)

Network Services
Adapter : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

...

[CHORDZ]

I dont have anymore problems with PT because I stopped using that piece of SHYT...I use the mbox 2 with nuendo 2 and guess what? Is like butter...I tracked 20 songs in 4 days compared to 1 in PT...Why they have all those stupid tools is beyond me...Do a search for buffer size error and you will find that you are not the only one having those issues...I have a 3.0 pentium 4 and 2 gigs of ram but I cant track for 5 minutes in PT...what a piece of crap. Digi, get your minds correct...

sincerely yours

[DiAngelo]

I dont have anymore problems with PT because I stopped using that piece of SHYT...I use the mbox 2 with nuendo 2 and guess what? Is like butter...I tracked 20 songs in 4 days compared to 1 in PT...Why they have all those stupid tools is beyond me...Do a search for buffer size error and you will find that you are not the only one having those issues...I have a 3.0 pentium 4 and 2 gigs of ram but I cant track for 5 minutes in PT...what a piece of crap. Digi, get your minds correct...

sincerely yours

Problem is, I used Cubase for a long time and I prefered Pro Tools right when I ran it for the first time. I love Pro Tools interface and I don't want to return to steinberg just because pro tools is not very well built (programing wise).

Please Digidesign, help me. I don't want to return to that dark place called Cubase.

[DiAngelo]

Hello? DigiTechSupt? Anyone?

The only thing I haven't tried is installing Pro Tools 7. Will I have to reinstall all plug-ins? Should I do it?

SOmething tells me it won't solve anything. Has Digidesign solved incompatibility problems or something like this, in version 7?

[DigiDudeski]

I wouldn't say that Pro Tools isn't well written. It's the strict requirement that the software has of not dropping samples. Yeah, I thought it was great when I could record for several minutes in Samplitude using ASIO but I had hundreds of dropped samples. I fixed up the hardware configuration and I have no problems anymore.

[DiAngelo]

What did you do?

[DigiDudeski]

To also address your post, to solve my problems, I disabled the battery in the hardware profile. That eliminated the same problem that you are experiencing. BTW, I am recording to my system drive 16+ tracks simultaneously with plug-ins and all at 64 sample latency and not a hiccup. I have a 1.8Ghz Pentium M with 1024MB of RAM.

There was one point in time that somehow the computer got screwy again even though the batter was disabled. At that point, I removed the "ACPI-Compliant Computer." This causes all of your devices to disable and get redetected on start up.

[DigiTechSupt]

In two cases, disabling the "Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery" in the device manager solved the problem.

1) Go to Windows Control Panel.
2) Click on "System".
3) Click on "Device Manager"
4) Expand "Batteries" to view ACPI driver. Right Click "Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery" and select Disable to disable the driver

If that doesn't do it, can you be more specific about what you have and have not done as far as other tweaks go? Did you disable all network devices, including any wireless controllers? Did you use MSCONFIG to disable all startup items? Are all background/system utilities turned off, etc?

[DiAngelo]

To also address your post, to solve my problems, I disabled the battery in the hardware profile. That eliminated the same problem that you are experiencing. BTW, I am recording to my system drive 16+ tracks simultaneously with plug-ins and all at 64 sample latency and not a hiccup. I have a 1.8Ghz Pentium M with 1024MB of RAM.

There was one point in time that somehow the computer got screwy again even though the batter was disabled. At that point, I removed the "ACPI-Compliant Computer." This causes all of your devices to disable and get redetected on start up.

OMG.... I don't wanna talk too soon but... it just recorded 1 minute straight at 128 after I did that!

When did your computer got screwy again? What did you do to solve it? I didn't understand that part.

Do I have to DISABLE the battery or I can just remove it from the notebook? Please keep in touch! I think I'm deeply in love with you!