Sonar X1 crashes unexpectedly when opening multiple projects

I’ve recently encountered a recurring problem in that opening multiple projects in Sonar X1 will cause my computer to reboot.

I’ve searched the forums and internet, and have been doing some troubleshooting, but so far haven’t found the culprit. I’m hoping someone can help.

Here are the details. I’m running Sonar X1d Expanded (32 bit). OS is Win7 Pro 64. Processor is an i7 2600k on an intel board and I’ve got 16GB of DDR3 RAM. I’m using a Presonus Firepod as my converter. Firewire chipset is TI. All drivers, etc. are up to date.

Everything runs very smooth, stable, and fast while working in projects. No dropouts, glitches, etc. My CPU and memory utilization are very low. Perfect.

The problem happens if I have projects open (usually 3 or 4) and attempt to open another. The project will attempt to load, and then the computer will just reboot. No error message or warning. Sometimes I’ll notice that in opening the preceding project, Sonar’s status will flash to ‘not responding’ for an instant before opening. Checking the event viewer after yields no clues. I only see a critical error (kernel 41) that the PC shut down unexpectedly.

I’ve ran several 7-8 hour stress tests on the PC without problem. That leads me to believe that if my PC can survive 7-8 hours of full CPU and memory load without problem, it’s probably not hardware related. Last night, while troubleshooting, I was also running intel’s desktop monitor program and up until the crash, temps, cpu and memory usage were all well below any warning threshold.

This makes me think that it could possibly be one of two things.

One is that it could be plugin related. I utilize pro-channel and also use some Waves (V8) and SoundToys plug-ins and Line 6 Pod Farm 2.5 in most all projects. Again, all projects load and run fine in single instances. I haven’t yet had a chance to determine if it is due to the number of instances of certain plug-ins being loaded. I plan to test this.

I’m curious if anyone else as had similar issues with having multiple projects opened or with any of the above plug-ins? As mentioned, I’m running 32 bit Sonar, so it’s not a bit or j-bridge issue.

The other idea is that it could somehow be related to intel’s Speedstep/Turbo-boost functions. I’ve read that while these functions can enhance performance, they’re not always best for DAWs designed to utilize multiple threads/cores. I’ve got these functions enabled in the BIOS, but have my Windows power profile set so that all cores get power. ([link=http://support.presonus.com/entries/203607-studio-one-optimizing-windows-vista-7-power-settings-for-studio-one]http://support.presonus.c...ettings-for-studio-one[/link]).

I suppose I can limit the number of files I have open, but am curious as to why the problem is happening. Is anyone else having similar problems??? I’ll keep investigating, but any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Could be RAM related.

Download memtest and give your memory the once over.

In fact take the buggers out and reseat them - just in case!

I notice you have Win 7 x64 with 16GIG RAM But as you're running SONAR 32 bit you could be running out of memory. Notices you have quite a few plugins loaded as well as multiple projects.

Another thing maybe that the project you open that finally crashed Windows maybe a different sample rate to all the others though SONAR should take care of it if you're
Low on usable memory aa in SONAR 32 bit this maybe a tippin point.

Good spot!

Yeah, 12Gb of your 16Gb isn't even recognised by Sonar

Hey jniff,
Sorry to "dig up" this post many time after, but I would be curious if what you suspected concerning plugins like Soundtoys, was actually the cause of the disturbance you knew. Now, I'm demoing the Soundtoys Native plugins, and although they are now 64 bits compatible, I'm encountering annoying problems; if you had a little time, I expose my problem here :
http://forum.cakewalk.com/SONAR-X3d-PRO-VERY-STRANGE-AND-ANNOYING-PROBLEM-WITH-ONE-PROJECT-HELP-PLEASE-m3001418.aspx
 
Thanks 
 
Pierre