PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Ok i knew i was happy too soon...

after working for about 2 hours straight, cubase sx froze (error message and it closed down)

after that i reboot my computer and blue screens all the time...

how come i can work for hours without any blue screen, and suddenly on every reboot i get a blue screen and even windows won't load successfully??

this leads me to 2 conclusions:

1. maybe the motherboard part that i accidently broke causes some sort of problem there that every now and then suddenly causes windows to halt?

2. heating issues? MB&CPU temperature are both 50 c degrees... thats pretty normal i would assume?

HELP WHAT SHOULD I DO I AM FREAKING OUT HERE...

i spent alot of money on gear and computer and audiocard&interfaces but it's all useless it's sitting here for 4 months, collecting dust.

i am so upset right now i don't know what to do.....

that's truely sad to read - and don't worry, noone is gonna talk you into a Mac right now
but:
write that mobo off, trash it and forget about it
ok, you'll loose some money - but not your mind (your girlfriend might leave you due to a constantly hanging face, health... etc)

take some comfort by me: I'm probably bound to pay upto 3 month double rent due to the fact I wanted THAT new flat - an offer one couldn't refuse - either sign the contract or forget it. Possibly need to trash next holidays to keep the balance... but it's worth the effort.

next point: be aware how much 'power' you really need - don't rely on numbers in spec sheets, that's all virtual stuff invented by marketing gurus.
then get the 'smallest' system that fits your needs - it WILL be more reliable.

manufacturers are all in a number rat race - verify this by an arbitrary issue of PC World or a similiar mag.
Have a look at the review tables where winning and loosing systems are compared.
Often the #1 on the list is just a few percent faster than the absolute looser - you need at least 30% to recognize an acceleration, anything else is prejudice

prefer a 2.5 Gig CPU instead of a 3.0, use memory with half the 'speed' specs (an 800 mem chip isn't twice as fast as a 400).

this will give you a reasonable system and spare a lot of cash.

since your using a Scope system you're likely to prefer the SFP effects - they usually sound better and spare CPU resources, hence you don't need to squeeze every bit of performance out of the processor.

this doesn't exactly cure your current problems, but hopefully helps to find an affordable and reliable solution - imho the strange reactions of your mobo indicate it's damaged. The broken connector could just be the top of the iceberg.

how many tracks do you need to record SIMULTANEOUSLY ?
how many will be used for playback ?
favourite VSTI's, native FX ?
have you thought about optimization strategies during recording (aux downmix etc) ?
all this helps to estimate your required resources.

good luck, Tom

On 2004-10-08 22:42, astroman wrote: don't worry, noone is gonna talk you into a Mac right now

Hubird -
there is a difference between what i NEED and what happens in reality.

in reality the computer just hangs when i'm playing something like 2 audio tracks, 1 midi track and 1 or 2 effect plugins...

and this is a P4 3.0Ghz processor.. the PERFORMANCE meter isn't even showing anything, so it's not like i've been working it out too much...

And i'm not gonna replace my whole computer right now since it is really costy... next month i'm sure gonna replace the motherboard to see if that helps in any way.

This morning i turned the computer on, windows boots normally (yesterday it got blue screens on every boot...) that's pretty weird this "random" behaviour..

until now i've been able to work normally... let's see how far can i keep this going.

replacing the motherboard will almost certainly help. afaik, the sata connector, being serial, must be terminated. my geuss is that the sata connector is self-terminating. it's broken now, and so it makes the bus unstable and prone to strange behavior. even if my supposition is incorrect, i still suspect the motherboard, as the type of problems you are experiencing look like the kind of problems a bad mobo will cause.

one thing to check before you spend money(so that you feel less random about your movements) is ram. find a friend with a working computer and try his memory in your computer. there are also software ram testing applications available if you want to search them out or i'll bet that someone in this forum has a good one to recommend....

don't feel too bad, though. your computer doen't work because the hardware is broken. all computers are subject to that ailment, even macs. normally, you should have a stable computer that is not just useable, but is also reliable.

i say that it is broken, because i assume that everything is properly installed and set up. only you know(i hope) if you have followed the directions in the tips and tricks forums and in the installation manuals.....

Garyb - that's what i was asking about - how can i test if lets say my RAM is faulty? or maybe my HD is broken in some way..?

or maybe even my Luna card got fried up somehow that it's acting strangely??

One thing only i know is that this system in its' current status is unusable... i can't get it working for more than 1-2 hours..

Been doing some experimenting here:

reformatting my pc now, installing fresh new winxp, this time i took out the Creamware luna card (for now) since the pc appears not to freeze when the card isn't installed....

what does that mean exactly?

1. the luna got fried in some way that is causing shortage/whatever inside the computer and cause freezing?

2. motherboard/luna combo not good together -> this leads again to changing mobo...

i'm not really sure

if anyone has any idea?

lysergide, I use Norton Utilities or Tech Tool to check the RAM or harddisks, they check things like file structure, directory structure, partitions, media drivers.
Don't know if these two names offer a pc version, but I guess they will.
Every now and then I run one of them, they always find some 'minor errors' like data incomatibilities or a bad sample structure.
Gary has right, it's good to be sure about what you have, before replacing anything
Good luck

(the zzzsleeping smiley just says 'I said enough, Ill shut my mouth now'. Of course you won't sell your computer ).

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2004-10-09 09:12 ]</font>

after installing winxp now and taking out luna
everything runs very well.

no evidence that this computer could ever get stuck or freeze up...

also note that i installed it in ACPI mode instead of the normal Standard PC that i've been using so far.

the luna runs the pci bus HARD. if there are problems, it will show them. i seriously doubt if it is broken, if the software runs art all....

To sum what i got going on now:

my Audio PC:

Installed fresh copy of Windows XP, ACPI mode. no Creamware card installed. computer working very well, no blue screens or hangs.

my 2nd PC (this one) for internet/general use:

This computer has almost the same Motherboard as my PC( Mine has Asus p4s800d, this one has p4s800)

both are SiS chipsets (which is big no-no from what i gather...)

installed the card in this PC in slot 2 and then in slot 5. computer running OK with card installed, but upon playing a little patch in Modular 3 (909 Groover) computer hangs after few minutes (every time). no blue screen - computer just stops responding.

Now i've gotta test the Luna under a different system (with Intel Chipset) to see how goes there....

Any conclusions from these testings anybody?

Lior

hey people

so the luna is in this computer for 2 days now.

computer working fine (acpi mode, asus p4s800 mobo) luna on its' own irq (17)

this leads me to some conclusions:

1. my other computer (asus p4s800d) and mobo are working fine without luna - nothing wrong with them.

2. luna card works here pretty flawlessly... so it is fine too.

3. luna card runs OK on this SiS chipset board. what does that say about replacing my audio pc's motherboard then?

anyone?

returned luna to my audio pc.
installed it
everything had its own irq
installed sfp 4.0
everything worked ok except modular3 didnt find dsp files....
turned off ht on bios and reinstalled scope.
played around - blue screens again...
damn it

anyone can offer any help here?

Sorry to see you have problems. I had a similar situation where I installed/ uninstalled everything untill I was ready to throw the PC out of the window. Untill Andre Dupke told me to it could be midi related. In the end I solved it by not connecting a master keyboard to the midi in but connecting the keyboard to an MT4 and connecting the MT4 to the Scope midi in. My system is running in ACPI with Hyperthreading on. (using the midi filter to avoid active sensing also didn't help). This simple trick did it for me, hope it's of use to you.

Good luck,

Andre Ettema.

That is: the MT4 is connected with USB to the PC and not via the Scope midi in. You could ofcourse try another USB midi device as well.

Actually i have a seperate midi interface, but anyway for testing now i haven't really connected anything to Midi yet...

I just reformatted, computer in Acpi MultiProcessor (HT ON)

Luna on PCI 4 - IRQ 17 by itself.
Things are pretty much OK now, no freezes so far.
I'll try installing SCOPE software tommorow and watch what happens.

Hello guyz!
I have a big problem like someone here. I have an abit ic7 with an intel p4 2,8 prescot with 1 mb cach, 1 gb od ram 400mhz in dual chanel mode and a pulsar 2. My system works really fine, but if I start the cubase I can work for nearly 10 min and my system freezes. Can you give me an advice???
Thanks

I can tell that there's pretty much nothing that i haven't tried yet
i'm still having freezes and can't work... going to replace the motherboard soon so i hope this cures my problem.

Could u describe your problem shortly? what sort of freezing u get? what OS are u using? the freezing occur only when using cubase?