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Hello:
I am having a very similar issue to a recent post, but since it was all Mac stuff, I thought I should start a new post as this is a PC version.

I am having trouble just playing tracks back and trying to do some mixing (2 plugins at this point) of Vinyl tracks I converted on my mac rig. I think I know part of the problem is that I am using a USB Drive (I know it is not supported/recommended for recording - but thought I might get away with it on playback/mixing). I am only trying to use it for playback of these tracks that I transferred from my Mac rig. I am wanting to use the PC workstation for this particular project. The PC I have has the following specs:

HP Pavillion ZV6000
AMD 64 Processor 1.9 MHZ
1.25 Gig RAM
And - The USB drive which I know is only 5000 RPM (again, just trying to use it for playback and mixing - so I thought I might be ok).

I get this error:

Audio processing is conflicting with other CPU tasks. If this occurs often, reducing the "H/W Buffer Size" in the Playback Engine Dialog may help prevent the problem (-9129).

If I reduce it - I get another error message:

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

So, I am not sure if it is because the PC isn't beefy enough (can't seem to find anything on Digi about minimum Processor speed - I think I am ok on RAM - again, just wanting to do small mixing projects). Or, if it is the drive, if I go out and spend the coin on a 7200 firewire drive, will it even work or will I maybe get the same errors? I only have one firewire drive at the moment that is Mac formatted or I would test with it.

Any insight from you all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

It is WinXP SP 3.

Also forgot to list it as LE Ver 7.3.1... Thnx

I had similar issues when I first started a few years ago using a Pentium 4 3.0 GHz Laptop running XP - laptop hard drives typically spin at 5400 rpm. I managed to get to about 6 tracks with plugins/inserts when I attached an external 7200rpm USB drive and 1 GB memory in laptop.
I was consistently told then that my PC was too low spec - in the end I upgraded to a Intel Core Quad running XP with 4 GB memory and 2 internal hard drives and have never looked back. I tested it with a DAW with unlimited track count (Sonar) and with 160 tracks with 2 plugins/inserts on each all 4 CPUs never reached more than 60% usage.
I suupose the one rule is not to have your programs and audio on the same hard drive - have a dedicated audio drive, I've found there is little to chose between either USB 2.0 or firewire and that it spins at at least 7200 rpm.

Thanks for the feedback. I know the PC I have is weak by todays standard, but was hoping to just do small mixing projects on it if I can squeeze some life out of it as I can't purchase a new one anytime soon. I guess before I bought the additional drive, I wanted to make sure it is going to work with my specs, or if I will still be SOL. Thanks