Protools LE bouncing/recording/playback problem

S

skibummer

New member
I'm running Protools LE 6.8.1 on a PC with Windows XP. I have a 2.93 GHz processor and 990 MB of RAM. I would think that this would be fast enough to record, but I'm starting to think that it isn't.

My problem is an annoying one: whenever I try to record or play (on Protools) or bounce (no matter the settings), I get this crazy little popup that interrupts the play/recording/bouncing that says "The operating system held off interrupts for too long. If this occurs frequently, try increasing the 'H/W Buffer Size' in the playback engine panel. (-6086)"

At first I tried fixing it. Of course I tried increasing the "H/W Buffer Size", but the problem is is that it's maxed out as it is. I went all over Protools' help site looking for advice on how to fix this bugger, and still I have returned to helpful solution. I've tried workarounds, troubleshoots, you name it. Nothing can fix this problem it seems.

Lately, I've been trying to ignore it and just try to do the best I can with the problem. But it's really a crapshoot when every 3 seconds to 3 minutes, a popup stops all playback.

I really want to solve this problem, and I've been thinking that the problem has been with my computer speed. Do I need to buy a faster processor? Can I fix it somehow without spending any more cash? Does anybody else get this bug?

Thanks in advance.
 
This has happened to me in the past when I am using too many plug-ins for my system. Since upgrading to the 002 and a G5 I haven't encoutered this problem (yet). There are ways to still have effected tracks, but not use as many processor intense real time plug-ins.

1. How many plug-ins are you using when this happens?
2. If you don't use any plug-ins at all, does it still happen?
 
990MB ram...that's a little odd number

are you using a laptop? what kind of computer is it...do you have a link to your specs that I can check out?
 
i dunno, when i run dxdiag it says "Memory: 990MB RAM". I'm sorry, I don't know much technical stuff about hardware, I know about software and coding. Anyways... I'm running it on a PC.
What's a normal number for RAM?
 
990 MB does seem like an odd number. You usually see 128, 256, 384, 512, 786 and so on...I wonder why it says that.

On to your problem. So it happens with plug-ins too. Does it happen when only one track is there? Or just when multiple tracks are there?

Also, what is the bus speed of your laptop?

Perhaps there is something else running in the background causing there to be a conflict with system resources. I am not a Windows guy at all, so I am not sure how to troubleshoot the OS settings.

What Digidesign interface are you using?
 
it does it with only one track. i don't know what bus speed is, also, i'm not using a laptop. i thought that because stuff would be running in the background it might slow it down. i'll have to check it out some more (my recording computer doesn't have internet). i'm using mbox2 to interface digidesign.

again, thanks for the replys, i'm glad that i might be able to fix this problem.
 
yes, stuff in the background could definitely cause problems

also, do you know your hard drive rotation speed? That's a big factor as well.
Also, are you only using one hard drive? Typically you want to store all your sessions/audio files on a separate hard drive than Pro Tools is running the software on (the C:\)
 
You need at least a 3.6 GHz processor to do any audio work. Haha just kidding. Since the popup mentions interupts, I would have a look at your IRQs and see if there are any conflicts. See what is sharing an IRQ with your USB stuff. I guess you could try a different USB port, but I doubt it will help. If you are using the USB port on the front of your computer, try one on the back; or vice versa.
Make sure you have up-to-date drivers for your Mbox and whatever else.
Also see what kind of other processes you have running. Might try going into your System folder-Advanced-Performance and setting the advanced features to background services and system cache.

Dunno, that's a weird one.
 
hey guys, thanks for all of your help. bennychico, i shouldn't record onto my C:\ drive? why? i have a removable harddrive, but it's a USB port, so i thought that it would have extreme lag issues.

reggie, what's irq?
 
get an external HD. that should help alot, make sure its 7200 rpm or better.

i would also upgrade the ram, but thats not the problem here.

i took it the wrong way and bought a new computer and that didnt help...
 
skibummer said:
hey guys, thanks for all of your help. bennychico, i shouldn't record onto my C:\ drive? why? i have a removable harddrive, but it's a USB port, so i thought that it would have extreme lag issues.
Click to expand...


because streaming data information from your audio files and trying to stream information of plugins/Pro Tools software information at the same time can bog down the pipline. A separate hard drive helps this. Put all audio and session files on the other hard drive and your software on the system drive.
I wouldn't trust USB so go with firewire if you can.
 
in addition, i believe that with protools, only a certain drive works. i went through hell getting the right HD. It wouldnt work right for some reason...

from my research, the drive has to have a "911 Oxford Chipset". i found that only the FANTOM drives, firewire only, no combi drives or anything, where compatible. i think they are the "titanium" series or something like that.

i had a WD drive, which didnt work, and then a MicroNet Drive, but they sent me the wrong one that time, not my fault. It was a USB drive (?)...
 
just read the digi compatibility section.
many different hard drives work fine with Pro Tools that they don't mention on the site...but the site gives you the exact stuff you can buy and have Pro Tools work flawlessly when you buy it.

I've used Samsung, Maxtor, EZQuest, Western Digital, Seagate....with Pro Tools (although I recommend against using EZQuest...those drives' fans get louder over time)
 
From http://answerbase.digdesign.com

(I searched for the error code and picked a few that might be related to your trouble)

http://answerbase.digidesign.com/detail.cfm?DID=30530

Disabling Intel SpeedStep in the system BIOS has been shown to fix this problem. SpeedStep has been known to be used in Dell Laptops - specifically we have seen this on the Dell 8500.

http://answerbase.digidesign.com/detail.cfm?DID=28764

Disable CPU throttling. One way to disable CPU throttling is to use the Power Management control panel (Start > Control Panel > Power Options > Power Schemes tab). Selecting the "Always On" power scheme should disable CPU throttling. However, we have seen at least one laptop (Sony VAIO PCG-GR300) where this "Always On" setting does not disable CPU throttling. On other laptops (e.g. Sony VAIO PCG-F490) there may be a BIOS option to make the CPU always run at maximum speed.

TECH SUPPORT, may be able to help with manual registry and bios entries in order to address this issue.

http://answerbase.digidesign.com/detail.cfm?DID=28943

Check the chipset of the PC. If it is a Pentium 4 processor, running at a speed of 3GHz or greater, chances are it is the unsupported 9.x family Intel Chipset.

Digidesign does not support, and has seen errors with, Intel 9.x family chipset. This includes, but is not limited to, the Intel 910GL, 915G, 925 and 925p chipset.



I love the answerbase. Very handy. :)

Good luck!
-Chris
 
skibummer said:
reggie, what's irq?
Click to expand...

It is kind of like, how your computer organizes "interrupts" for feeding the processor numbers to crunch. Go to Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Information - Hardware Resources - IRQs.

Although I'm leaning towards some of the other possibilities...(harddrive, unsupported chipset, etc).
 
i think it's the irq, then, because the error message screams at me "held off interrupts".

you guys have given me so much help thanks a million.

chris, i've tried the answerbase, and nothing there has really helped me. i've tried messing with the bios, but i'm really not sure how to. it gives directions, but i'm still lost. i'm not a hardware genious as i've said.

also, i don't think that i can firewire my portable harddrive, it's a WD by the way.

if it was an unsupported chipset, what would i have to do to correct it? i don't even know what a chipset is.
 
it's a zxr, or at least that's what it says on the case, and it has a celeron processor. i'm really sorry, i must sound like an idiot, but i'm really not a hardware person... thanks for giving me the link, though. it has some good stuff on it.
 
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