Sonar X2 Crashes

I have been using Cakewalk Sonar for 9 years. I started with 4 then 7 and now X2. I never had any problem with 4 or 7, but with X2 I am getting crashes every day. It isn't just crashing my Sonar program it is crashing my computer. If I work in Sonar for hours and as it crashes, I re-open Sonar and continue working. Then if I go to shut down my computer it will not. "My Computer" will not open, Task manager will not open, so I have to do a hard shut down of my PC. Some programs will continue working  like WORD, but most stop.
 
The crashes have happened when I have zero tracks in the DAW, or if I open Pro Channel, or if I click on a tool bar to open a drop down menu. I mean for no apparent reason, it will hang and crash for all different reasons. I have recorded 17 track tunes and mixed them, but probably not ever without a couple of crashes.
 
I have spent two weeks going over everything I can think of on my computer with no success of finding a solution. The only plug ins I have enabled are the newer ones from Cakewalk, and maybe a few from Sonar 7, but all the third party etc,,,are disabled in Sonar X2. It doesn't seem to be a plug in issue? I mean sometimes it crashes when I just click on a drop down menu? I believe the program is an excelent DAW, but something is causing the crashes. I am running it on XP, with a hardwired sound card, but the crashes are not happening while I am recording, they happen just when I am mixing or browsing inside Sonar.  Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Free.
 
 
Intel, Core-2 Duo, 4-Gigs Ram, 1.2 TB Hard Drive, 50% Free Space, Sonar X2 Producer, 32-Bit Version, 2-Aardvark Q10s, 44100/24 bit, ASIO drivers, Nvidia GT, Sounblaster X-Fi.
"Lane Songs Studio"
 
 

The X2a patch is not compatable with Windows XP. Indeed X2 is not officialy supported on XP. There is an interim patch between X2 and X2a that can be installed on XP.

Minimum processer spec is Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.67 GHz - need to check if you core-2 duo is at least equivelent.

The Aardvark Q10 is a little long in the tooth, dating back 13 years. Googling around I see reports of conflicts with graphics card drivers. Also I see comments that no XP service pack 2 drivers were ever issued. So if you are getting problems with modern software it's somewhere to start looking.

Glyn Barnes


The X2a patch is not compatable with Windows XP. Indeed X2 is not officialy supported on XP. There is an interim patch between X2 and X2a that can be installed on XP.

Minimum processer spec is Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.67 GHz - need to check if you core-2 duo is at least equivelent.

The Aardvark Q10 is a little long in the tooth, dating back 13 years. Googling around I see reports of conflicts with graphics card drivers. Also I see comments that no XP service pack 2 drivers were ever issued. So if you are getting problems with modern software it's somewhere to start looking.

WOW - great nuggets there!  Cool beans.


Father's day is coming up - adopt if you have to, maybe you will get a shiny new computer - if the sample rate fix doesn't do it.  It can be really hard to pinpoint solutions for older computers and XP.  I wish I had more things for you to try.


Bob Bone

I mean for no apparent reason, it will hang and crash for all different reasons.

I can think of a few reasons: 
Windows XP
Soundblaster
Aardvark Q10s

You can't run more than one soundcard using ASIO mode.

Upgrade your OS- Sonar doesn't support XP.

Thank you for your detailed response.

My point in suggesting the settings was just as a starting point for ASIO on your system, my having not a clue as to what you had set up prior to your most recent post.

What I was mostly intending to get at was making sure that the sample rates matched between the interface and Sonar.  Many times this causes great grief.  It has happened to me.

At this point my recommendations are (this is a list in no particular order):

1.  Try using the plain old Windows VGA drivers, rather than a graphics card - perhaps even testing this without the card being in your machine.  This is just in case for whatever mystical reason, there potentially is anything conflicting with the graphics and anything else.  You lose some picture quality, but Sonar is a basic-color kind of gal anyways.

2.  If your interface is a USB connection, perhaps you can try out different ports.  Please note that in this case you would most likely need to uninstall and install your interface drivers each time you tried a different USB port.

3.  Check your Power Settings - I recommend setting your PC for high-performance, with sleep turned off for everything, including NOT allowing Windows to selectively disable inactive USB devices.

4.  Possibly, you have some memory issue - just test it to rule this out.

5.  Same goes for your power demands of your system.  Perhaps you power supply is not powerful enough for the hard drives and other devices present on the system.

6.  If you have not yet installed the quick fix for X2, as another poster suggested, please make sure you install it and retest everything.

7.  Just for testing purposes, try physically removing your Sound Blaster card and setting your interface as the default sound device for playback and recording.  This is to rule out any potential conflict between your sound card and your interface and Windows.

8.  Try turning off all Windows sounds.  This will prevent any alert noise from Windows potentially interfering with Sonar operation.

9.  Try disabling things in Device Manager such as Wi-Fi, and also Com ports and devices you do not need, again just to rule out any potential device conflicts.

10.  For Windows XP, there are a great many tweaks recommended for audio streaming, such as with Sonar.  I believe Black Viper (you can Google that), as an excellent resource on all things related to this issue.  I am particularly interested in background services, such as anti-virus software, and that sort of thing.  The Black Viper site also gets into great detail on disabling things like Print Spooler, and all of that sort of thing.  The more you can free up, the better, not just for the CPU and memory, but also to reduce the potential for any conflicts with anything not truly needed for your computer to run Sonar.

11.  Is your XP up to date with all available maintenance?

SOOOOO, please review the above, and wade in, posting back your results.  I do not have anything else at the moment.

The bottom line is that your aging system is flat out not supported for running Sonar X2, and IF it can somehow run it, it may well be that you have to live with the weirdness, OR maybe something in the items above that I posted will help your situation.

My ultimate recommendation is to buy a new machine with either a decent AMD or Intel quad-core CPU as a minimum, along with 8 GB of memory at least, and a decent $200+ audio interface.  X2a and beyond is a professional-level set of software, and it requires a decent hardware base to run properly.  For the folks that DO have decent hardware and interface, properly configured, there are a great many of them that are not having any of these sorts of issues.  That FACT reinforces that your issues are most likely due to particulars of YOUR system, and not of the software itself.  

I say all of this not to be harsh or a wise guy or smug or any of that - I actually spent a bit of time typing all of the above, in addition to my earlier posts.  I TRULY want you to find a way to succeed with this, and it frankly may take an investment of some hundreds of dollars on computer and interface upgrades.

Just to give you an idea of what you get with X2a, that free maintenance release addressed literally something OVER 250 bug fixes over X2.  That in itself is a HUGE deal, and that update is free, but you cannot get to it with your present system - period.

In addition, getting a newer system will be a HUGE benefit, in terms of performance and stability.

I ABSOLUTELY wish the best for you and your situation, and I will continue to monitor this thread, looking for feedback from you on the above.

Bob Bone

I am trying to simplify your setup as much as possible, because some combination of things on your computer are causing X2 (with the quick fix) to fail.

So, that is how I am approaching trying to assist you.  Removing the sound card is an attempt to rule out any involvement of it in the issues you are reporting.  Removing the graphics card and using standard VGA is also appropriate to try.

I don't know what else to tell you - it's time to upgrade your system.

Bob Bone