1 Topic by SonicExplorer (edited by SonicExplorer 2017-12-16 16:12:05)

  • Registered: 2007-05-01
  • Posts: 104

Topic: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Hi,

I just rebuilt a DAW (PC with dual core Intel, Windows XP/SP3, Sonar 5 and FF400 via PCIe card w/TI chipset). For some reason Sonar will lock up occasionally when recording. It never does it WHILE recording but usually after recording stops.  I end up having to kill Sonar via Task Manager to get it to close.  A few times TotalMix has even crashed in the process.   And while I'm not certain, so far it seems once this happens the system will then remain stable until rebooted.

Anyone have any thoughts as to what might be going on or how to troubleshoot this issue ??   

     Sonic

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Does it make a difference whether you use ASIO or WDM in Sonar?

3 Reply by SonicExplorer (edited by SonicExplorer 2017-12-17 22:29:11)

  • Registered: 2007-05-01
  • Posts: 104

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Timur Born wrote:

Does it make a difference whether you use ASIO or WDM in Sonar?

I never used ASIO so I have no idea.   BTW, my previous system was a single-core P4 PC with W2K and all the same software installed, and this lockup never happened even once.  I am however now using a PCIe Fiwewire card instead of PCI, but both have TI chipsets.  I'm at a loss for where to even begin to troubleshoot the cause of the issue.  Given some of the clues it feels like a hardware or driver conflict (or load-order matter of some sort).   I'm also wondering if this might possibly be related to XP itself.

Sonic

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

I would begin with trying ASIO (easy to do) and then look at the Firewire card. What TI chipset does it use? What does the card look like (photo)?

  • Registered: 2007-05-01
  • Posts: 104

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Timur Born wrote:

I would begin with trying ASIO (easy to do) and then look at the Firewire card. What TI chipset does it use? What does the card look like (photo)?

It's the Syba PCIe card that seems rather common (SY-PEX30016 with TI Chipset XIO2213BZAY).
http://www.sybausa.com/index.php?route= … uct_id=119

Keep in mind this only happens randomly when recording, have not yet had a problem on playback.  And I've already done all the usual tweaks of raising up buffers, sizes, etc to make sure none of that sort is the problem.  It's not a drop-out problem, but a Sonar lock-up, Windows changes the mouse pointer to an hourglass and it just stay hung and unresponsive, requiring me to kill Sonar via task manager.   Very strange.

    Sonic

  • ramses
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  • Registered: 2012-10-14
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Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Maybe he could re-check with reaper which I regard as an efficient not overloaded DAW, good for testing.
By this he could try to isolate whether the problem might come from the application (Sonar).

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • Registered: 2009-11-25
  • Posts: 103

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

SonicExplorer wrote:

It's the Syba PCIe card that seems rather common (SY-PEX30016 with TI Chipset XIO2213BZAY).
http://www.sybausa.com/index.php?route= … uct_id=119

Keep in mind this only happens randomly when recording, have not yet had a problem on playback.  And I've already done all the usual tweaks of raising up buffers, sizes, etc to make sure none of that sort is the problem.  It's not a drop-out problem, but a Sonar lock-up, Windows changes the mouse pointer to an hourglass and it just stay hung and unresponsive, requiring me to kill Sonar via task manager.   Very strange.

    Sonic

I have that (Syba) card and am having issues with the firewire 800 which are you running 800 or 400? The latter seems to work well with my windows quadcore system.

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Those Syba design cards are quite common, yes, I own one myself. Startech uses the same design, but some larger capacitors.

It would be a good idea to test ASIO instead of WDM, Sonar is capable of using ASIO and you should at least check if it affects the hangups.

9 Reply by SonicExplorer (edited by SonicExplorer 2017-12-20 05:35:56)

  • Registered: 2007-05-01
  • Posts: 104

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Thanks for replies so far.  I'm running FF400 (not 800).

I prefer not to use ASIO since I know WDM should work fine and allows me backward compatibility with all the I/O settings in 100+ projects of mine.  I actually had a W2K DAW using WDM with all the identical software working for 10+ years without any problems.  I can't help but wonder if this is XP related somehow.  Or, it could be the multi-processor setting inside Sonar.  I just tried un-checking that and let's see what happens.

By the way, I got a lockup today when I wasn't even playing or recording, and I'm pretty sure that's happened before.  So this is just really strange. the only common denominator is that it seems to only happen when a track is armed for recording.  System resources are fine, not a memory shortage or anything.  I have no idea where to start to try and troubleshoot this further.

Sonic

10 Reply by Timur Born (edited by Timur Born 2017-12-20 08:52:02)

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

Start to troubleshoot by comparing with ASIO for one present project. It's for testing, not for switching all your old projects. Does it make a difference?

Next try WDM using your onboard sound or whatever other audio device you have access to.

Then try an empty or very simple project to determine if one of the effects or plugins is to be blamed.

  • Registered: 2007-05-01
  • Posts: 104

Re: Sonar With FF400 Randomly Locking Up When Recording

One thing I noticed is the FF400 Out1 LED blinks every time I stop playback or recording. Even if all tracks are muted. And it makes a pop sound.  Don't recall ever seing that before this DAW rebuild.  May be completely unrelated but just wanted to mention it.