Hi dwardzala,
The firewire card is a Digitus PCI 3 + 1 Port Firewire Card and its specs indicate that the Chipset: VIA VT6306.
Thanks for the input!..:)
 
Jim
 

Hi slartabartfast,
I purposefully activated Safe Mode and then purposefully ran Sonar and it worked normally (to the extent that it could operate within Safe Mode). And I agree that this indicated that is is likely a problem with a driver, process, service, etc. This is why I then very systematically removed these potential influences via msconfig as noted in my initial post.
 
Initially, Sonar was set to open with a template but at this point I have re-installed so much that none of that customization is still in play any longer.
 
I have also done a full memory check already....just forgot to include that step in my post.....it passed.
 
Thanks for your suggestions...:)
 
Jim
 
 

Run windows update several times.
You could go to the Intel driver update site esp to update your chipset drivers.
I would have no issues installing the latest BIOS update myself.
And if you are on a 32 bit OS get off it.
 
Cheers.

Hi karhide,
 
Yes, starting "as administrator" was a standard start option as I tested.
Thanks for checking.
 
Jim
 

For what it's worth, The two things that jumped out at me in your description was:
1.)  You are running Win 7 32 bit and not 64 bit. Like a highway, the more lanes to travel the better.  I will take 64 lanes over 32 any day.
 
2.)  You are only running 4 GB RAM.  Is your motherboard (aka mobo) maxed out or can you upgrade the RAM to the max the mobo allows? I use a system monitor program called AIDA-64 and it can display a number of system monitors including the RAM used and RAM remaining.  When I load up 5-6 soft synths with only a web browser and some other things like malware and antivirus software running in the background my 8 GB ram gets chewed up pretty fast to only around 2.9 GB remaining.  Using AIDA 64 I can watch the memory drain as I load new plug-ins into a cakewalk project.
 
Final thought.  Flashing the BIOS memory is pretty easy.  I believe that so long as you have the original BIOS flash file from the MOBO (check their support website) you might be able to flash it back to the original BIOS version if things turn for the worse.  Similar to a System Restore in Windows. 
 
Again these are just some thoughts.  I apologize in advance if I missed a detail. Hope this helps to ponder and that you get a final resolution.
 
Cheers.

We have to try and eliminate possible problem areas

Let's look at the FireWire card as a possible issue.

Don't connect the FireWire cable to your audio device. That eliminates the audio device and the FireWire card.

If you have a Sonar project with just recorded audio. Load it. Change your audio setting to MME drivers. Remember we want to get Sonar running even if poorly. Make sure to reroute all you outputs to the correct device and see if Sonar runs.

If it does it tells you that there is an issue with the FireWire card.

Also another thing I've not seen mentioned is Windows updates. Make sure to do them all. Not optional but recommended ones. This may require several goes and reboots before you get them all. I've had occasions where a windows update has caused Sonar not to run but not for quite a while.
I would do the eliminate the FireWire card first, but do the windows update anyway regardless of the outcome.

cazimer
Hi dwardzala,
The firewire card is a Digitus PCI 3 + 1 Port Firewire Card and its specs indicate that the Chipset: VIA VT6306.
Thanks for the input!..:)
 
Jim
 

That card may be the problem - mudgel above has some good advice to troubleshoot to see if it is.

Many companies recommend the TI chipset for FireWire.