Freezing problems using Pulsar 2 on new P4 DAW

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 8:21 pm

First the DAW Specifications:

Pulsar 2 on

ABIT IC7-G
P4 2.8 GHz 800 MHz
Maxtor 40 GB 7200 rpm (System disk)
Seagate 120 GB 7200 rpm (Audio disk)
512 MB RAM
GeForce 2 MX GFX Card
Cubase SX 2.0
Windows XP

--------

Now the freezing problem.

Everytime i use the SFP ASIO drivers the computer freezes (could take 5 mins up to several hours). This problem does not occur when I'm not using ASIO drivers. Strange thing, huh... this is the strangest thing. I've never had this problem on my old PIII DAW, and I have tested to put the Pulsar card back in the old DAW to exclude the possibility that the soundcard is non functional. This sh*t is driving me nuts... please if anyone could help me regain my music creativity back. The CW folks have not replied my mail that wrote them months ago... anyone, pleaze?

thanks for a nice forum!

Post by **garyb** » Thu Apr 15, 2004 10:11 pm

cubase is pretty touchy about midi. every freeze i've seen around sx involved midi. try without midi connects....

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Fri Apr 16, 2004 4:38 am

Thanks dude, I will test without MIDI. But if that seems to be the problem it would be difficult creating music without MIDI.

Anyone else having this problem?

BTW, are ABIT MOBOs a good musicians choice? (i875p chipset)

Post by **garyb** » Fri Apr 16, 2004 2:06 pm

that mobo is probably fine. if the prob is midi then you may need to use a usb midi interface(steinberg midex3 is about $150 or less). you may also be able to turn *off* active sensing in your controller or you may be able to delay limit or turn off sysex as some keyboards(especially roland) can fill midi buffers on your card with lots o garbage causing freezes.

the midex3(or similar) solution is a slam dunk.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2004-04-16 22:33 ]</font>

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Fri Apr 16, 2004 7:18 pm

Thanks Gary, I will try the MIDI thing soon, but the thing is that the Pulsar worked just fine with my old PIII DAW.

I use noname RAM, could that be a problem u think?

Post by **garyb** » Fri Apr 16, 2004 9:33 pm

mmmm could be.....
but i'd say since it's cubase sx,the problem is midi.....

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 6:26 am

The problem is everytime I use ASIO Drivers. For instance, when I run Native Instruments in stand alone mode, this problem is still there.. It freezes my computer....

Thanks again Gary!

camed · Post by **camed** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:02 am

Hi keyhan,

I'm having similar problems with a similar mobo (IC7-MAX3)..

I spent the last 10 days hacking everything I could think of, to no avail (yet)

That kind of problem can be very difficult to resolve, and I will just tell you what I did, it didn't work for me, maybe it will do it for you?

- Update your BIOS and drivers
- Remove ALL the other PCI cards
- In the BIOS: disable USB, hyper-threading, native audio, ethernet, ...
- Try to ensure your Pulsar card is not sharing its IRQ
- Test your RAM (I used the program from http://www.memtest86.com)
- Just an idea, I didn't try it yet: raise the ASIO latency, it should decrease the load of the pci bus
- Search planetz for other tips...

Maybe you did some of this already, good luck anyway!

Then for me, I just don't know what to do. Three weeks without music, it's becoming very frustrating!!

If you can make it work, please tell us what you did!

Thanks

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:43 am

Hi Camed,

I've already tried the most of the things you just described, and with no good results. I've turned hyperthreading off, upgraded the BIOS, the drivers etcetera. Just havent turned the USB off and didn't checked the RAM (will try the software you wrote about immediately). I only use one PCI slot and one AGP. I didn't find any IRQ conflict in the Windows devide manager.

The thing is that I first had another DAW (P4), a Shuttle barebone system, It was the same shit there. No good results with the Shuttle at all. This thing is really killing me, same here. No music in 3 weeks.

I'll tell you as soon as I solved this problem (hopefully there must be someway to fix it).

Sincerly yours,

Keyhan

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:58 am

USB can be really nasty on some situations. Try that too.

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 10:14 am

Hi Alfonso,

That means I can't use any USB device? My keyboard and mouse are both using USB

Jngaelin · Post by **Jngaelin** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 11:47 am

On 2004-04-17 11:14, Keyhan wrote:
That means I can't use any USB device? My keyboard and mouse are both using USB

Mannen!!!!

Jag har skrivit en heel del post om hur USB är oanvändbar i vissa system. Jag kan inte överhuvud taget använda USB. Min DAW bara bootar om och kraschar utan förvarning.

Jag kör ett P4 system också.

My specs. (But not for long)
CPU: Intel Celeron 1,8GHz (400MHz rambus)
MOBO: MSI 845E MAX
Memory: 1GB (just installed)
HD 1: Fujitsu MPF3204AT /40Gb (Main drive)
HD 2: IC35L120AVV207-0 /115GB
(additional data storage on server)
GRAPH: Point of view Geforce4 MX 440 SE
CD-ROM/Writer: Plextor 8/4/32a
Network: Telix Pro. 2000
"Creamies" =): Pulsar2 and Powersampler2

OP: Windows XP pro
Soft's: SFP 3.1c and Cubase SX.
Additional soft: SoundForge 6.0 and Recycle 2.0

Med detta sytem funkar inte USB alls.

Men du har altså problem med asio....??!!?

Jag tror också att det kan vara länkat till både midi och USB.

M-stad saknar dig !!!

---------------------------------------------
Translation
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Ive written alot of post about how my DAW is being "bullied" by USB. My system crasches and reeboots without warning etc etc..

I have a P4 system also

My specs. (But not for long)
CPU: Intel Celeron 1,8GHz (400MHz rambus)
MOBO: MSI 845E MAX
Memory: 1GB (just installed)
HD 1: Fujitsu MPF3204AT /40Gb (Main drive)
HD 2: IC35L120AVV207-0 /115GB
(additional data storage on server)
GRAPH: Point of view Geforce4 MX 440 SE
CD-ROM/Writer: Plextor 8/4/32a
Network: Telix Pro. 2000
"Creamies" =): Pulsar2 and Powersampler2

OP: Windows XP pro
Soft's: SFP 3.1c and Cubase SX.
Additional soft: SoundForge 6.0 and Recycle 2.0

With this setup i cannot use USB.

But you have a problem with ASIO....??!!?

I think this could possibly be connected to both MIDI in SX and USB related issues.

Your hometown misses you !!!

_________________
Love to you all =)
(I Praise JAH)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jngaelin on 2004-04-17 12:49 ]</font>

Post by **garyb** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 1:27 pm

the usb dongle is no problem. the kb/mouse? maybe,but there are users with those things working.

asio is solid here with sx,sonar3 and logic 5.5.1 . if it's not an irq conflict,usb problems(kb/mouse) midi or other mobo related trouble, then it's possible you are using a third party vst plugin that has triggered the p4 normalization bug. http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.p ... &subItem=6

but i'd still bet on the midi situation. i'd guess your controller or external sequencer spit out something your cw card hates. i'd try midi usb....

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 6:06 pm

Jakob, GaryB & others,

thanks all for your kind help.

Gary, i use the same pulsar card and same external midi controllers & software as I used with my fully working PIII DAW, so I don't think thats the problem. There must be something with the new DAW system or P4 systems(?). Since I've tried the pulsar with 2 different P4 DAW systems, and with bad results I really dont know what It could be.

I've tested the RAM and it seems to work properly.

I'm so f*cking tired of hardware problems.

Sincerly yours,

Keyhan

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 6:20 pm

Don't overlook the USB thing.
Some people really solved their problems.
get two usb-ps2 connectors and try your mouse keyboardb there.

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:12 pm

Thanks Alfonso,

I'll try the USB connectors soon.

How is USB connected to freezing problems, ASIO and such things?

Sincerly yours,

Keyhan

Jngaelin · Post by **Jngaelin** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:58 pm

Hello old friend !!!

I quote alfonso.
Do not overlook the USB thing.

It is a known issue.

What happens exactly when your DAW freezes ?
Is there a classic "blue screen" or does screen go black or does it just freeze mouse keyboard and all ??

This info could be helpfull. Different computer glitches have...how should i put it.....different graphical "freeze modes".
yeah!

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:02 am

After you changed Keyb and Mouse connections, disable the usb controllers and ports in the device manager. If they are more than one you can try to disable all of them to see if the problem is solved, and then enable each one alternatively to see if it's one in particular, so you know wich can you use if you need usb connection.
In any case is good to keep Keyb and Mouse on ps2 inputs and disable ANYTHING you don't need.

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:29 am

Thanks guys,

I will try to fix myself usb-ps2 connector for the mouse/keyboard. Hopefully it will work.

(waiting for the sfp 4.0, maybe it includes a newer asio driver?)

Cheers,

Keyhan

Keyhan · Post by **Keyhan** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:31 am

Sorry, I forgot.

Jngaelin:
No bluescreen, the desktop freezes and there is nothing to do about it... the sound is fucked up 2. It sound like a looped bassdrum in 240 bpm everytime the computer freezes.

kisses