soens
Here's some tips that really helped me reduce these issues:
 
1. Defrag monthly
2. Clean Picture Cache routinely
3. After saving 10+ versions of a project, start over with a new one
4. Turn off the internet (no connection - no antivirus)
5. Keep the OS hard drive free space @ 20% or greater.
6. Cake's Windows Optimization Guide ***They really should advertise this one more!***

Some Windows Optimization Guide tweaks are needed for Windows 10:
 
The Windows Optimization Guide not only needs to be advertised more it needs to be updated for Windows 10. Except for disabling automatic updates, I was able to accomplish all the recommended changes, but, in some cases, the steps and methods are different for Windows 10. For example, high performance power mode was not available in my version of Windows 10 Pro v1511 x64 and had to be added. Also msconfig isn't the best way to find startup options. I think Task Manager is.
 
As for disabling automatic windows updates, I did that for my Surface Pro by making a registry edit to enable the updates settings change. Also, the change I made doesn't seem to disable Windows looking for and possibly downloading updates. It just stops the updates from being installed. However, I've had cases on the Surface Pro where an Updates are required notification shows up and it doesn't seem possible to stop their installation and a reboot.
 
Bill

The Windows Optimization Guide not only needs to be advertised more it needs to be updated for Windows 10

 
 
I agree

One thing I discovered is that even with the USB Selective Suspend option disabled in the Advanced Power Options, IF you end up adding an additional USB hub, it will STILL start off with ITS Power Management option set to allow Windows to turn it off to conserve power.  It's like that Advanced Power USB Selective Suspend option only gets applied to devices present at the time that option is set.
 
Sooooo, what I did was to go into Windows Device Manager for the new USB hub I had added, opened up its properties, and go to the Power Management tab and remove the check from the box labelled: Allow Windows to turn off this device to save power.
 
The above took care of the new hub, so IF you add a USB hub, just try to remember to go in and look in Device Manager and get rid of the check as needed.
 
I actually didn't bother with hardly any optimizations for my last 3-4 computers I ran/run Sonar on, and have no performance or stability issues.  I DID do: High Performance power option, turn off USB Selective Suspend, made sure nothing will ever go into sleep/hibernate mode, exclude Sonar paths from my antivirus, and set up hard drive distribution to have Windows and applications on the primary drive (SSD), User data and Sonar content/projects on a separate HDD, and then 2 more drives with all of my sample libraries on them.  That's about it for me, and all works well.  My computers all have 32 GB of memory, so I never worry about freezing or that sort of thing.
I access the web all day long when not in a Sonar session, and keep everything up to current maintenance levels.
 
Bob Bone

Thanks Bob.
 
Bill

Jesse G
 No matter what I do in Sonar, I can't get it to freeze.

Clearly something's wrong.  Keep trying. 

Jesse G
Today, I recorded three sessions all CRASH FREE!!!   I read a posting from Craig Anderton from his Tip of the week 35.   There was a driver which came with my computer on board sound card for the motherboard that was interfering with Sonar some how.  I deactivated, started the computer  and played 2 song that always crashes and whalah!!!  no crashes.   I recorded more midi instruments into the song, changed midi notes, hit play and pause on my MCU several times and no crash at all.   (Most of the times with crashes I was using Midi )
 
Once you are directed to the page from the link, scroll down to Tip 35
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Friday39s-Tip-of-the-Week-93-Convert-PRV-MIDI-Controllers-to-Track-View-Automation-m3074655.aspx
 
Thanks everyone who kept telling me to dig deeper, giving me advice and holding my hand as I shared tears over my baby (DAW) while it was sick .

Jesse G
Today, I recorded three sessions all CRASH FREE!!!   I read a posting from Craig Anderton from his Tip of the week 35.   There was a driver which came with my computer on board sound card for the motherboard that was interfering with Sonar some how.  I deactivated, started the computer  and played 2 song that always crashes and whalah!!!  no crashes.   I recorded more midi instruments into the song, changed midi notes, hit play and pause on my MCU several times and no crash at all.   (Most of the times with crashes I was using Midi )
 
Once you are directed to the page from the link, scroll down to Tip 35
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Friday39s-Tip-of-the-Week-93-Convert-PRV-MIDI-Controllers-to-Track-View-Automation-m3074655.aspx
 
Thanks everyone who kept telling me to dig deeper, giving me advice and holding my hand as I shared tears over my baby (DAW) while it was sick .

 
Interestingly, disabling the Tool of Satan Driver didn't change stability on my system, it just cut the latency waaaaaay down. 
 
BTW a note of caution - when Windows does an update, it will likely "do you a favor" and re-enable the driver.
 

skitch_84
There's been some talk of performance improvement in the early release of the June update. It's worth a shot before doing a full clean install. Just "Rollback" Sonar in CCC and you'll see an option for the early release.

Thank you Chris
I attempted a rollback to the early release but it never saw the light of day. My PC decided enough was enough and I had a day or random BSOD which resulted in startup repair and took out every install of the early release.
 
In the end...and it really was the end...I went for the clean install.
 
Here goes the long road of re-installation, I'll be gone for some time :(
 
PS Despite a second ticket to Cakewalk support, still no answer. I submitted my first ticket on 8th May. Poor show indeed. I've continued to get those tempting, "go on, buy lifetime updates...go on, do it!" emails though :(

Hi, Merwyn.  
 
Is your Windows maintenance and all drivers up to current levels?
 
If you open a project that has been repeatedly failing in Sonar's 'Safe Mode', skipping the loading of all plugins, does the project load OK?  (Don't save it like that, it's just to see if it opens OK with no plugins)
 
Is it possible you have a mix of 32-bit and 64-bit effects or synths loaded into these failing projects?  A LOT of issues can happen due to the instability of the 'bridging' required to have 32-bit stuff run in a 64-bit Sonar installation.
 
Are there any specific Windows Event Viewer errors around the timeframes of any of your crashes?  If so, please list the reported details for one or two of those.
 
Thanks - this certainly seems to be local to your system - maybe hardware, maybe application software, maybe plugins, maybe a lot of things BUT the good news is that then there should be a way to ferret out what the issues are, and it is most likely fixable.
 
Hang in there, and remain engaged, and hopefully between everyone, we can find a way to get you fixed up. :)
 
Bob Bone
 

Merywn,
 
When I updated to the 2016.05 early release, all of my freezing issues just jump out of the window.   I haven't had another Sonar freeze issue since I installed it.  I have now installed the Full 2016. 05 full update and it's working fine.  I did, however, switch from the Tugsten GUI back to the Mercury GUI, because of the ability to have full track and console view channel colors, you will see when you install the update.  
 
I've been using the new update quite hard and no freezing yet.   Go for it when you get your PC up and running again, it may resolved your problems.
 

I'm having the same issue: Sonar X2 Win7 64 Bit.  I don't think its a hardware or driver issue, because the BSOD is followed by a DOS screen (after Windows has crashed) that says something about Locked Pages.  Could it be Windows' pages, or Sonar's buffer pages?  I don't know.
 
An odd thing happened - maybe not related, but worth a mention in case it might be - the last time I opened Sonar.  I was editing the same file previously and Sonar crashed.  When I opened it this time, half the Track View graphics of the Audio Track - from the beginning to about the middle of the file.  From that point out to the end, the graphics were there.  The audio was poresent for the entire track, just its graphic was missing.
 
TDinDC