Recorded File - Just Loud White Noise?

Hey all!
I've been using Sonar X3e pretty smoothly for a while now, probably a little too smoothly because I've become a lot more lax about keeping a "pure" DAW computer...
Today I had a VO record session and twice (out of about 60 record start/stops) after hitting stop on the record, the audio file shrank a little in size on the timeline (about 5%) and was just a solid block of 0db white noise.  The actual file on disk is just noise as well, the recording lost.
This has happened once before a couple weeks ago, but I chalked it up to a freak glitch... now I'm getting worried!
So, I'm going to be doing some trouble shooting, but wondered if you guys have ever experienced this, or have any tips on common culprits/where to start looking?
 
Here's the specs/info that might be relevant - and thanks!
 
- New project created in Sonar X3e
- No plugins running (bypassed)
- Bad recorded clips about 30 seconds each
- RME Fireface 800, Texas Instrument FW card, FW400
- ASIO, 512
- Windows 7 64, Intel i7-3930K @3.20
- 32 GB RAM
- Recording to 1TB 7200 RPM SATA HD with 175GB free
- OS drive separate Solid State
- NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti Video Card
- Matrox MX02 Mini installed
- Canopus ADVC110 installed
- Adobe CC installed
- AVG installed
- USB Dongles plugged in (Steinberg, ilok)
- UAD Quad PCI installed
- Connected to internet via Ethernet cable
 
 

My guess would be that it's probably not a software problem, but more likely an issue with the microphone preamp, or conceivably the microphone itself.
 
If you're going straight into the RME, try switching to another channel for awhile and see if the problem reoccurs. If it does, it's possible there's an issue with either the microphone itself or the phantom power supply - assuming it's a condenser, of course. A dynamic mic won't exhibit that kind of problem.

Thanks for the responses guys!
To answer your questions, I was monitoring through Sonar (echo on track) with no plugins activated, and everything sounded fine.  Sonar's meters were normal and the waveform looked normal as it was drawing.
I was wondering if the fault could be connected to the Fireface as it's getting on in years (8 now!), the puzzling bit for me was that Sonar was drawing the waveform fine as it was recording, it was only after I hit stop that the length of the clip shortened, and the waveform showed solid noise.
The character of the noise is super harsh, a static white noise at a solid 0db - very jarring!
 

Anderton
 
Hmmm...that sounds like a digital issue to me.

Would it be possible for a clock/sync issue communicating with the Fireface to affect the clip after it's been recorded (just as you hit stop)?  I'm not sure exactly how Sonar records its files, whether the audio information is stored in RAM as it records and then committed to HD as a wav file only when the recording is complete?  It's something during this process that is causing the trouble it seems...

Thanks tlw!
Did you ever figure out the root of the cause?  I'll be sad to see the day when the the old FF800 dies, but I have my suspi cions...

As I said, I figured out the cause and fixed it, but I can't remember the exact details. It was just one of those things that Windows/PCs sometimes do where a setting gets altered by one thing and not reset by another. It stuck in my head because my first thought was that my then interface was shot, and it took me a while to track down the problem. I'm not sure I ever really got to the bottom of it because it never recurred but I couldn't reproduce it either. I uninstalled and reinstalled the audio driver, reset the relevant preferences in Sonar whether they needed it or not, rebooted and the problem never came back.

I'd previously installed a few media players and codecs, which I uninstalled at the same time and didn't reinstall. I suspect one of them had done something, but no conclusive evidence.

Sorry to be so vague, but it was a one-off years ago.

I should add that the project in question was a work in progress and already contained MIDI and audio from previous work. The glitch happened when I opened it the first time I tried to record a new track. For some reason playback of the existing tracks was OK.

I doubt you're having the same problem, though I would check that sample rate and clock source are set correctly in Sonar and stay that way, reinstall drivers etc.