Pro Tools Users - www.ProToolsUsers.Org - Home of the Pro Tools Community

I have been using Protools for over 10 years. I have 2 TDM Mix plus systems and have recently upgraded to HD. I have had nothing but trouble since setting it up.

I seem to get a little bit done every day and then bingo - the Mac crashes, no DAE error, just the "please restart" screen. It just seems so random. I've reformatted drives, Zapped P RAM and trashed prefs. Sometimes these things work for awhile and then, crash. I am using a few RTAS plug-ins. I am mixing a project whilst I'm trying to get this working. Yesterday it worked for awhile when I put the system to 4 processors instead of 8. Today, it doesn't like it.

Mac
8 core 2.8 GHz
OS 10.5.4

Tools
HD1 Accel
192 i/o
Legacy port - 888 x 2.

Any ideas?

Are you saving everything to a external drive?

No I'm working on a SATA drive. I stopped using the firewire when it was crashing a week and a half ago. I got a DAE error -4, yesterday after a series of crashes. I reformatted the drive - zero all data yesterday as it suggests on the digi website. It made no difference. Basically I don't think it's the drive?

What PT version are you using?

Pro Tools 7.4.2

I've noticed there is a new cs version on their site, but it does not mention any stability fixes, so I haven't bothered with it.

I guess I should also mention I'm using the Waves Native bundle (6.0.5) but there is also a heap of other plugs. They all claim to be Leopard friendly.

You should set the processors to a lower number, unless you're using a lot of RTAS stuff. I always use TDM over RTAS unless there is not a TDM version of a plug-in (like VIs and some conv. Reverbs). I find my system is more solid when I avoid the RTAS stuff.

The only thing I can offer at this time is that I would strip out any unnecessary apps, etc., do a clean uninstall and then reinstall PT without any additional (3rd party stuff) and see if it works and then add in other stuff one-by-one.

You could also download and run the "Tech Support Tool" from digidesign. It does all the stuff you've already done, but it will also create a report of versions of plug-ins etc. You and digi tech support (and you may need to call them) can use this info to help diagnose the problem.