Really? Nowadays firmware updates are quite safe if you don't power off and read the instructions. The last issue I resolved via these very forums was done via firmware update (thank god it was done quickly otherwise the poor bloke would have been inundated with people telling him not to do it and his issue would never have been resolved). Again I would say drivers, windows update etc is the first thing to do of course. Firmware last. BTW please name an update that isn't done blindly.

Please can we have some constructive ways to resolve this issue from people who have sorted out these sort of issues before, rather than 'don't do it Pike'. I feel people just trying to help here are swimming against the tide and drowned in old school opinion after opinion and opinion rather than actually try to help resolve an actual issue.

If people have better ideas bring em on.

If you actually read his posts you will notice he doesn't use windows update.
Your .net issue would have effected some other software in your system as Sonar is not developed in .net. Microsoft release .net updates all the time so I suspect this would have been resolved by a further update. Either way a .net issue would have been reported in the windows event viewer. Moving on...


I'm gonna wait for actual feedback.

System working fine? Did you actually read the posts? Yup I must be so stupid to suggest firmware updates... They are only created for fun after all and never should be installed  

And I've now written three times firmware updates should be done last... Jeeze. 

Read this well (if you are able to):

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2767926

Again read the thread. The OP was asking about how to update BIOS and firmware and then I have suggested doing this last four times now. Nowhere did I say do this first. You are the one harping on about it. But I see what you are trying to do now, if you read the other thread properly you would have seen luck was nothing to do with it. I've been in the IT industry of and on since 93. I know what I'm talking about. I ask you politely please stop trolling me. Totally unfounded. We are here to resolve the OPs issue not to have yet another flame war.

Why are you two getting into an augment about really nothing. Just give your best advice and be done with it. No need to question the advice of another unless you know for a fact it will harm the OP. In this thread there is nothing to get upset about. 

Let it go. 

Trouble shooting an X2a system is difficult. I just built a new DAW and installed X2 on my new SSD. What a difference in load times. X2 is running quite smooth and I'm not even bothering with the X2a patch because it was not as stable on the old system.

Some things have not changed. Snap to grid is odd at times, clips don't always go where they should and the Plug-In manager is still acting stupid. So I move everything to a brand new system and it runs faster because of the SSD and higher quality hardware. I stuck with WIN 7 and skipped the X2a C++ libraries from WIN 8. 

Sonar is really sensitive to hardware and software environments. I was at a studio running Pro Tools on a PC recently and the engineer said it took weeks to get his DAW running reliably. I think that we are feeling the effect of having too many functions built into the DAW over an extended period of time. It's a ghost in the machine that only appears when your hardware and software environments are just so. I don't think Cakewalk can fix it because there's too much code and too many environmental variables.

tweed guy


Trouble shooting an X2a system is difficult. I just built a new DAW and installed X2 on my new SSD. What a difference in load times. X2 is running quite smooth and I'm not even bothering with the X2a patch because it was not as stable on the old system.

Some things have not changed. Snap to grid is odd at times, clips don't always go where they should and the Plug-In manager is still acting stupid. So I move everything to a brand new system and it runs faster because of the SSD and higher quality hardware. I stuck with WIN 7 and skipped the X2a C++ libraries from WIN 8. 

Sonar is really sensitive to hardware and software environments. I was at a studio running Pro Tools on a PC recently and the engineer said it took weeks to get his DAW running reliably. I think that we are feeling the effect of having too many functions built into the DAW over an extended period of time. It's a ghost in the machine that only appears when your hardware and software environments are just so. I don't think Cakewalk can fix it because there's too much code and too many environmental variables.

I can't help thinking that if the developers of Sonar are rocking a system/hardware setup on which Sonar works perfectly for them, then they could at least let us know what kind of hardware/OS/settings they're using! As hard as they try, they can't possibly make Sonar more stable than it is on the setup it's developed and tested on. So why not release a list of "ideal" conditions under which they have determined Sonar runs best? It might save those of us who have experimented with different gear to no avail a small fortune. 

sharke

I can't help thinking that if the developers of Sonar are rocking a system/hardware setup on which Sonar works perfectly for them, then they could at least let us know what kind of hardware/OS/settings they're using! As hard as they try, they can't possibly make Sonar more stable than it is on the setup it's developed and tested on. So why not release a list of "ideal" conditions under which they have determined Sonar runs best? It might save those of us who have experimented with different gear to no avail a small fortune. 

Hey Sharke ! 


Cakewalk does have recommanded computers .... 


Notice how it's pretty much all Intel chipsets. (not to start another intel vs. AMD war here)


Cheers ! 


V

ok, did the windows update, most of the updates were security related, a couple video drivers etc. Honestly, i didn't see anything that looked like OS update. In fact, it created new services that I had to find and shut of. So that's done! LOL! I found the bios update and will run that tomorrow after I backup the machine...just in case right!  I keep seeing the term "firmware", exactly what is this. If we are talking the firmware in my audio interface, I am, and have been up to date. is there anything else I should update or  check as well? 

TraceyStudios

Hi Tracey, 


Sorry to arrive a bit late in the thread.. 


I know you said X1 was running fine but .. I can't help to be suspicious about your sound card ..

not saying it's the source of all your X2 problems but:

If you have audio dropouts, and audio driver "unlocking" from Sonar, BSOD on shutdown, I would try another soundcard, 
Tascam are not the most pro-active on making drivers... and Firewire audio on Windows7 to me feels like a "compromise"
I assume you use correct ASIO driver with 256-512samples of latency... ?


re: waveform dissapearing, maybe there is something wrong with your picture cache ?
When I have waveform dissapearing, I re-process them, like applying Gain+1 it forces Sonar to redraw waves. you might want to try that unless someone has a better solution. 

as for the BSOD, you might want to focus on a MEMTEST (RAM memory test) before flashing your BIOS? 
(though BIOS upgrade usually involves better memory compatibility). Check out for a CD image of MEMTEST86
You could also check out in your Windows Event Log: see the BSOD errors, to what file they link to. 

I hope that helps ! Do not hesitate to ask if you need more help!

Cheers ! 

V

1. Dont update BIOS unless you know you have something to gain by it, Updating BIOS can have unexpected results. 
  
I once updated BIOS without good reason, it was easy to do alright, and i promptly lost the ability to disable my onboard network adapter in BIOS, i then had to disable it in Windows Device Manager, not a big deal but i would prefer Windows not see the device at all, so much for the 'update'
 
2. Let Windows manage Virtual Memory, were not in Win9x-land anymore. There is an advantage to moving your swap file to a 2nd HD, but besides that Windows does an excellent job of managing memory on its own.
 
as already stated...
- get all your critical OS updates
- update all your device drivers
- check Event Viewer logs
 
you can also try...
- from a command prompt run "sfc /scannow" (without qoutes), this checks the integrity of your system files
- Right-click on Hard Drive > Properties > Tools > 'Check drive for errors', this checks the integrity of the drives file system
- testing RAM by downloading and using this... http://www.memtest.org/
 
Imaging a healthy system is VITAL to getting back to business quickly
 
I avoid problems by imaging my system regularly, When i first built it i installed the OS, critical updates, and my audio hardware devices, that was my ALPHA image, and from that point forward, before any changes to the system are made, i do what i can to verify all is healthy and create another image before i make the change(s) to the system, i also keep a text file called SLB.txt (Since Last Backup) in MyDocs that outlines every change i make to this system and i copy this info into the comments field for the image so i have a record, i use Aconis TrueImage
 
I rarely have had system issues and when i did it was easy enough to revert back to a previous image, and the culprit will usually be found the changes outlined in SLB.txt
 
Good Luck

Sorry to harp on this, but could you confirm that you have updated to X2a ?

I don't see any mention from you on this. I believe X2 originally had some problems which may have been similar to what you're experiencing.
It would be good to at least get that possibility out of the way.

Paul, I have x2a, I double checked. The good news is, I worked on it straight for about 8 hours tonight, only one crash, and the crash was my fault. still some weird things like take lanes are not resetting after one is deleted. Anyway, I did do windows update, had to go shut off the new services which were installed or turned on by the update  Maybe the win update helped.  Didn't do the firmware, just don't feel good about it yet.

Ohgrant, I put the FW card in and made sure I got a TI chipset.

I was rendering/mixing/exporting, and I plugged in a usb drive into my computer while it was in the middle of an export. One second after I plugged it in, I just knew I shouldn't have. the computer seemed to lock and then...yep, there it was.... the blue screen of death!  LOL.  I rebooted and let it render/export without plugging anything in and it worked fine for the next few hours.  Note to self, when exporting, just be patient!

Just out of curiostiy, are you using X2 64bit? If so, try using only 64bit plugs. Ampeg SVX can be run under the Amplitube 3 interface and it will be 64bit. Without going back up the page to look, it looks like you had other 32bit plugs as well.

The reason I mention this is that bitbridge and/or JBridge are not the greatest for using 32bit plugs in a 64bit enviroment. I had issues as well untill I stopped using 32bit plugs.

There does seem to be a common thread regarding AMD cpus. If Sonar is getting and using direct access to stuff way down in an Intel based system I can easily imagine that causing problems with an AMD cpu and motherboard.

I've wondered why someone would go with something other than Intel, given their monopoly (this may be reason enough, but it's sort of asking for problems)