SONAR 8.53 Producer crashes daily

Hello,
 
I am experiencing almost daily crashes in SONAR 8.53 Producer Edition. At seemingly random times during any given project, whether I've been in it for 5 minutes or 5 hours, it will just crash, and error below appears in the Application event log:
 
---
Faulting application name: SONARPDR.exe, version: 17.5.3.282, time stamp: 0x4b7b37d2
Faulting module name: ole32.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5be01a
Exception code: 0xc000041d
Fault offset: 0x000000000015d43b
Faulting process id: 0x918
Faulting application start time: 0x01cb6e4ccd333e9d
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.5 Producer\SONARPDR.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\ole32.dll
Report Id: bd2ab94f-db80-11df-965b-bdfa61b05dbb
---
 
I am running SONAR on a clean install of Windows 7 and on a dedicated machine. Nothing else runs on the machine-- it doesn't have network connectivity or AV, and I turned off everything I could through the selective startup. Without SONAR running, there are 36 Windows processes running and very low resource utilization even when it is running.
 
If anyone has any suggestions, I'd truly appreciate them.
 
Thanks!
Jason
 
 

Sorry - system details below...
 
I do not have any other applications running, so whatever it is must be related to SONAR or one of the third-party plugins I am using, I would imagine...
 
Thanks!
 

I have had some very random Sonar lockups when using my M-Audio Fastrack Ultra 8R.  Sonar just quits responding and I have to use the Task Manager to close it.  I have never had Sonar crash when using my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 interface unit. 

The most likely culprit, at least in my case, would appear to be the M-Audio drivers.  I am using the latest Win 7 64 bit drivers.  Another possibility is USB, but I'm not having any problems with any other USB device.  The Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 is Firewire connected.

I am experiencing almost daily crashes in SONAR 8.53 Producer Edition.

So?
That's what it does. Save often.

You either have a bad driver for your soundcard or a bad memory chip. Download memtest, burn it to a CD, boot from it and let it run overnight. In the morning you'll know if you have a bad memory chip.

The original module that I reported failing was ole32.dll... the most recent (and utterly consistent) is tempodelay.dll, which is most definitely not part of Windows. A while ago, I tried removing the fade envelope on the bus using the tempo delay and added a new bus with a Sonitus delay. Surprise surprise, if I start playback in the section where it is active, same error. Maybe I need to remove that effect from the project altogether? Strange, as it works flawlessly in other parts of the song.
 
I'd say that over the past few months that I've really been working a lot, I lose about 20% of my studio time (and a lot more creative/emotional energy) to technical issues either with or apparent in SONAR. I suppose it could be an issue with the M-Audio Fasttrack Ultra, though that is a very common device to use with SONAR and I have always been using the latest drivers. The Dell tower that I am using is less than two months old (plus time spent on the floor at Best Buy) so the HD could be failing but not likely. There are no other warning signs. I will attempt to run the memtest, as recommended, but I don't feel that the type of issue I am experiencing lends itself to faulty memory issues.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions... Hopefully I will know more tomorrow.
 
As an aside-- if I had around $2500 to spend and wanted to build the most rock-solid DAW that I could, any suggestions as to what it would include? Ideally it would run SONAR, as that is the only program I really know how to use, but I just want something that works!

timidi

I am experiencing almost daily crashes in SONAR 8.53 Producer Edition.

So?
That's what it does. Save often.

Bit of a tangent this, but what on earth are you guys doing to your poor computers? I don't think I've had Sonar crash on me for about three years. I've had other bugs and whatnot, but an actual crash, haven't seen since version 7.0-ish.

el_nuncio
 
As an aside-- if I had around $2500 to spend and wanted to build the most rock-solid DAW that I could, any suggestions as to what it would include? Ideally it would run SONAR, as that is the only program I really know how to use, but I just want something that works!

I think I would go to a pro DAW supplier.  I've had various systems over the years, but the one that caused me least problems was a laptop some years ago that came from a DAW supplier. There are just so many variables in parts that the extra cost of a proper DAW would soon pay for itself in terms of reliability and support if anything did not work as advertised.


My current DAW is a Boot Camped Mac, (needed a Mac for work and couldn't afford new Mac and PC) and it has not been too problematic at all, but if I could afford it I would get a properly formatted DAW in a shot.


Andy

Thanks to all for their input and suggestions!

lorneyb2 - Your idea has ultimately lead me to a workaround. What I found was that even with the sync turned off on the delay and feedback set to zero, the program would crash the instant I pressed play, BUT would run just fine if I completely disabled the tempo delay plugin. So for now, I've just removed it altogether from the project and am using a Guitar Rig component to do something similar (albeit not as effectively.) Don't know if it was some other parameter or a corrupt .dll, but right now it's no longer crashing in that spot. I will try to narrow it down further if possible.

fireberd - the hardware checks out fine, and I do not have AV or anything else running on it. The machine is dedicated to SONAR and has never had another job. I used to run SONAR on my DELL laptop, but I did have a lot of other junk on it and may problems resulted... 

thomasbarnes and others - I suspect you are more or less correct in that I should have gone to a DAW builder or purchased something specifically designed for that purpose. I did do quite a bit of reading and research on different forums and the conclusion I came to was that the main thing one needed was a solidly built PC with enough resources and a good sound card, whether it was OEM, whitebox, or other. SONAR does not offer specific manufacturer recommendations, so I went with a factory box that seemed powerful enough. I've built my own boxes for years, but got tired of that, as it can be a pain in the arse, and I've had good luck with Dell thus far. I also looked at some of the boutique machines and just couldn't see enough difference in what they had in them to justify the 100% premium on the price. Probably I should have just opted to spend a bit more and get one anyway, and also go for a higher-end sound card/module as well. For others out there with similar issues, that is my recommendation at this point.

I just answered a post on another forum from someone with Sonar and an 8100.  The problem was for something other than Sonar or a crash.  But there are others with a Dell 8100 and Sonar and not having problems. 

There are those that  "anything Dell is bad", and I would discount those.  Dell's are not for those that want to "tweak" or modify hardware, because of their proprietary hardware and even non ATX standard front panel interfaces on many models.  But, if everything else on the PC is working OK, I'd do a complete uninstall of Sonar, restart the PC and then do a new install as a first step. 

No Timid is NOT right-. I have everything installed on my daw, AV, Int Sec, Ms Office, graphics programs.etc, etc Sonar runs great. M Audio newest drivers. Most others do not experience what you are. Do some? Yes, as in any software.
The folks here who actually care will do their best to help you-I have no doubt.
I believe most of the reason that I hardly have any issues in 10 years or more is because I always build my own PC's. I buy the parts from Newegg amd Multiwave, since the 90's. I also only buy top rated hardware. Asus MB's, Intels chips, NVidea Graphics cards, corsair memory, Seagate HDs and I always have seperate HD's for 1. OS and Sonar, 2. Samples and 3. Audio etc etc.
 

No Timid is NOT right-. I have everything installed on my daw, AV, Int Sec, Ms Office, graphics programs.etc, etc Sonar runs great.

 
I'm with stratman on this one...   I may not have Office or graohics apps on my machine, however, I am running SONAR 8.5.3 on a single core Athlon64 3000+ with 1GB RAM, and WinXP 32.   Does it crash?  Nope.  Not unless some errant plugin takes things over... and even that's exremely rare these days (I don't recall the last time that happened!).
 
My most recent project consisted of two instances of GPO for a total of 21 sets of MIDI and Audio tracks, EQ on every track, and two instances of Pantheon Surround on two busses.   Yeah, by the end my little single core CPU was struggling if I went lower than 30ms, but it never crashed.   The same goes for other projects where it's mostly audio vs. softsynths.  Maybe I'm lucky and maybe my older system is unusually stable, but it does indicate that SONAR itself doesn't "always" crash... something else has to be involved for that to happen.
 
$.03