why is my PC locking up?

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nlmd311
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why is my PC locking up?

Post by nlmd311 » Tue Dec 21, 2004 6:34 pm

Hey to the people on the block, everybody say HO!,
so, this isn't an issue that has been occuring for more than about 3 months, but it is driving me nutty enough to begin this topic.
My PC locks up after being idle for about 15-20 minutes. Anyone ever have this problem? It seems to only happen when I have SONAR 3.1.1 running, but then again when SONAR is running so is the MOTU 828mkII, so I don't know how to narrow it down. Is there some type of diagnostic check I could use to see if there is a conflict, or issue with the communication of the devices, or some other type of internal conflict? I am really lost and quite upset right now. Could this be a sign of the Hard drive taking a dump even though it is only/exactly a year old?
I don't have any of the "power saver" settings turned on, so it isn't the computer trying to go to stand-by, or kicking into hibernation or even a screen saver or anything like that.
The only way I can get the computer to shut down once this happens is to do the nasty and hard restart it. It just gets locked up.

Any help would be awesome.
Thanks just for reading this epic!

-Darrill
slowly panning across something kind of crappy...

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Mr. Dipity
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by Mr. Dipity » Tue Dec 21, 2004 8:43 pm

nlmd311 wrote:Hey to the people on the block, everybody say HO!,
so, this isn't an issue that has been occuring for more than about 3 months, but it is driving me nutty enough to begin this topic.
My PC locks up after being idle for about 15-20 minutes. Anyone ever have this problem? It seems to only happen when I have SONAR 3.1.1 running, but then again when SONAR is running so is the MOTU 828mkII, so I don't know how to narrow it down. Is there some type of diagnostic check I could use to see if there is a conflict, or issue with the communication of the devices, or some other type of internal conflict? I am really lost and quite upset right now. Could this be a sign of the Hard drive taking a dump even though it is only/exactly a year old?
I don't have any of the "power saver" settings turned on, so it isn't the computer trying to go to stand-by, or kicking into hibernation or even a screen saver or anything like that.
The only way I can get the computer to shut down once this happens is to do the nasty and hard restart it. It just gets locked up.

Any help would be awesome.
Thanks just for reading this epic!

-Darrill
Sounds pretty furstrating, and probably relatively difficult to resolve. I would suggest doing a ctrl-shift-del, and seeing what else is running. When you say 'freezes up' are you experiencing anything at all? IE Disk drive access?

You might want to do this: ctrl-shift-del to get your task manager up, and then let it sit till it crashes. This might give you an idea what process is freezing your computer.

Another important thing - this sound quite like some kind of hardware disk drive problem. Are you sure it only happens with Sonar? I have gott4en freezes all the time, when dealing with disks on their way to the big server in the sky.

Stop everything, right now, and take this time to copy >everything< you've written to a safe place, just to be sure. Friends don't let friends go without back ups. It might be completely unrelated. Do you want to find out the hard way?

Hell. All of you reading this message, go and back the fuck up.

You can thank me in the liner notes, and the naming your first children,

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nlmd311
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by nlmd311 » Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:44 pm

Thanks sserendipity.
I hadn't thought to try checking into the task manager. Good idea. Will do. I haven't backed up in about a two weeks, so after tomorrows lengthy backup I will sit back and watch. (why is it things never happen when you watch?)
I cannot gaurantee it only happens with SONAR, I just know it doesn't happen when that app. isn't running. That is the only thing I run on the computer aside from defrag and windows media player/real player to listen to some reference junk-o.
reporting back tomorrow

-Darrill


and about this naming my children liner notes, is it s serendipity, or just sserendipity? I think I need to clear that up... don't want to have ill labeled liners or little ones running some such. man.
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jmiller
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by jmiller » Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:28 pm

You may also want to invest in a diagnostic program like techtool or Fix It Utilities. It's always a good thing to have around. I've got fix it and it told me when my audio drive was about to take a dump, just in time to back it up- i was able to replace the drive and put everything back like nothing happened. It will also help with registry defrag, broken registry links, hardware diagnostics, etc. It will keep your pc in shape for a long time.

also, try updating your audio card drivers, or rolling them back if you're using the newest one. I've even had video card drivers cause issues with my audio programs before.

One other thing- i've noticed that 99% of every exclusively audio program related program i've ever had was related to a plugin. Check those.

hammertime
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by hammertime » Wed Dec 22, 2004 8:35 am

My suspicion is the hard drive, because the exact same thing used to happen to me when I had an old 5400 rpm drive. When I switched to a brand new 7200 rpm drive, everything changed -- no more problems. I could always tell when my drive was about to bug out, because I could hear a clicking noise. Then I'd have to cut the power, like you're doing. On the other hand, if it only happens on Sonar, and not other apps, it's probably a Sonar bug. 90% of problems are caused by plugins, so you should try opening and working on a project with out plugins -- if no problems, then that's it. Then you narrow the source, by finding the plugin that causes the problem. If you're in the mood, the way I've figured out how to solve my p.c. problems is two words -- Norton Ghost. Back up all your shit. Do a fresh install of windows, preferably reformatting your drive first. Update all your drivers. Make sure everything works. Load Norton Ghost. Do a backup image of your harddrive onto a couple of cds. From here on out, backup all your data and save your audio on a separate drive. Whenever you have a problem, just restore your system's drive to original -- takes about 30 minutes at most, and beats the hell out of troubleshooting the registry, or talking to tech support in Baghdanistan.

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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by spankenstein » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:05 am

Reboot the machine, go into the BIOS and check the CPU temperatures immdediately after it locks up. If they are 60C or higher it's too hot! Check all the fans in the case and on the processor heatsinks.

Also testing the memory with http://www.memtest86.com/ would be a good idea as well.

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nlmd311
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by nlmd311 » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:09 am

Thanks again guys. I am in the process of backing up so...
I don't know if it is the hard drive but I am probably going to wipe it clean and see what a fresh install of windows and SONAR and the MOTU drivers will do for me. The hard drive isn't making any noise (well, you know. No more than normal. When it freezes, it freezes. It is silent. The only sound is the sound of the fans inside the case.)
I also don't think it is a problem with plugins. I don't have many installed (I know quantity isn't necessarily the problem if one has a bug, but) I rarely ever use them, and the last few times the computer has locked up like this, I wasn't running any plugins at all.
Hopefully it isn't a conflict with the newest drivers for the 828mkII. I can't roll back because the old drivers were giving me some panning conflicts. That took me a while to figure out and now that the new drivers are in and have been since September/October or so, I am wondering if this could be the case!
It just sucks because this PC is clean!!! and I know it runs great other than this. This thing is a beast and I just want it to be back to where it was just a couple of months ago. :cry:
Dammmit. Why do these things have to get us so wrapped up.

-Darrill
slowly panning across something kind of crappy...

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nlmd311
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by nlmd311 » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:11 am

spankenstein wrote:Reboot the machine, go into the BIOS and check the CPU temperatures immdediately after it locks up. If they are 60C or higher it's too hot! Check all the fans in the case and on the processor heatsinks.

Also testing the memory with http://www.memtest86.com/ would be a good idea as well.
Be nice please...
How do I go into BIOS?
I am not familiar with this.

thanks though. This sounds like a good idea.

-Darrill
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spankenstein
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by spankenstein » Wed Dec 22, 2004 11:32 am

While the machine is booting (if it's a P4 it's booting REALLY fast) you'll press either the F2 to DEL key and you'll get a screen that allows you to cahnge some settings. Do not change any just look for something that says "hardware monitor" or something to that effect. In there it will tell you fan speeds and cpu temperatures (usually not all boards have this but most do).

hammertime
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by hammertime » Wed Dec 22, 2004 11:36 am

Not all motherboards allow you to check your temperature. That probably isn't the problem, unless you're storing your computer somewhere different (e.g., in a rack, or in an unventilated closet) from where you were a few months ago. Before reinstalling windows, which is a hassle, try rolling back your motu drivers. Go to settings/control panel/system/hardware/device manager; click on "sound, video, and game controllers" --find your motu device; double click ; click driver; and then uninstall driver. Then reload the old drivers that worked. That might solve your problem.

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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by hammertime » Wed Dec 22, 2004 11:42 am

To narrow your problem down. Try using the windows media player to play a nice long c.d. through your motu. Go to (start) settings/control panel/ click on "sounds and audio devices." Under "sound playback" select your motu device. Then plop in a c.d. and see if you get the same problem. If not, you know it's sonar; then you should go and roll back sonar to an earlier version. You can also download some free recording programs from www.download.com that you can use to test your recording. What I'd do is get one of these programs, real audio or whatever, and record you're radio for a couple of hours. If it works, you know there's no problem with your motu drivers.

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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by Everybody's X » Wed Dec 22, 2004 12:42 pm

Just throwing this out there to consider,

Have you turned off the 828 when sonar freezes?
My 896 would occasionally freeze up and I would reach over and turn it off and the computer would start responding again, then I could turn off whatever was bogging it down (usually a plug-in) and fire the 896 back up. They both use the same driver so maybe that's what you have happening to you.
Switching sonar to the wdm driver instead of asio made it stop doing that. Latency was MUCH better too

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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by hammertime » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:04 pm

One other thing I've learned about p.c.s, aside from Norton Ghost, is to never upgrade unless something's broken. I guess if you have a panning problem -- it's a close one. But you might have to make your choice between a panning issue on the one hand, which is where I assume you were at when your p.c. was working great, and a systems freeze on the other, and decide which you can deal with -- at least until another revision comes along to fix the problem. I'm still on Cubase sx 1.06, even though they're at 3.0 or whatever, and I'm never upgrading, because it works great. I tried upgrading from pro tools le 6.1 to 6.4, and nothing worked right, so I'll just keep 6.1, even though the asio drivers suck.

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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by spankenstein » Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:56 pm

Mos tof my work is on Linux so software issues aren't as big of an issue but lockups like this are in our case nearly always heat or memory. If I didn't work with it everyday and see that a slightly gunke dup fan running 200 RPM slower may make a 20 degree difference in processors temps.

We just had an RMA with a burned up Athlon 2200. And by burnt I mean it's black on the bottom all because the fan on the processor was spinning 200 rpm less than the other processor. The first processor was at 48C and the 2nd was at 90C. So regardless of moving fans fail... all the time. Check the temps and memory are non-destructive to your data and a VERY simple first place to look. This will save you re-install time as well.

Keep making the backup though :D

hammertime
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Re: why is my PC locking up?

Post by hammertime » Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:03 pm

Athlon's, from what I understand, run hotter than Pentiums. I've never had a heat problem, except back in the pentium 200 days, when I lived in a super hot apartment without air conditioning.

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