Hello.  I'm having trouble with computer crashes when using Cakewalk. Can anyone help me troubleshoot this problem?
 
The crashes take the form of computer freeze-up: the computer simply stops responding to any mouse or keyboard activity. Ctrl-Alt-Delete does nothing. To regain control of the computer, I must manually shut it down (force shut-down using the power switch), and re-boot. These computer freezes only happen when I use Sonar (X2) – (in fairness, more than 90% of the time I am using this computer, I am using Sonar). The freezes are intermittent and episodic: I can go days using the computer without freezes, and then might experience a couple of freezes in one day. The computer freezes have not happened when recording or playing back, but instead when I am interacting with Sonar (editing, using menus, etc). On two occasions after a freeze, I have been able to reproduce a repeat freezes by setting up the same actions in Sonar. I have started keeping a log of these freezes, and I have had about 10 freezes over the last 2-3 months.
 
I asked Cakewalk Tech Support (TS) about this. They replied that the problem is not Sonar but must be my computer and/or drivers on the computer. They said that Sonar cannot cause these sorts of computer freezes. When I asked them why the computer freezes occur only when using Sonar, and why I am sometimes able to reproduce freezes, I got no further response from TS.
 
The computer: I built this computer specifically to run Win 7 and Sonar X2, and other audio software. This computer has no other functions. The processor is an Intel i5 3570, an ASUS P8Z77 mobo, running the Northbridge chipset, and has 16 gB of Corsair memory. The OS is Win 7. I am using Sonar X2a (I believe I have installed all the available Sonar X2 updates). The audio interface is my Mackie Onyx 1604 mixer with firewire card installed. Mackie only makes one driver for this device and this OS (if I remember correctly it is driver ver. 1.7). I also have a Motu Micro Express USB MIDI interface; Motu only makes one driver for this device and this OS (I think they call it the “universal driver”). All other drivers for this computer are native to the Win 7 OS. This computer uses the onboard graphics capabilities of the processor, so there is no dedicated video/graphics accelerator card, and no graphics driver.
 
Can anyone suggest ways I can eliminate these crashes/freezes? I am happy to answer any questions about the problem or the computer. Thank you.

The first thing I would try is a rigorous test of the computer's physical memory. This kind of stall is often a symptom of hitting dead memory during execution. Until the dead memory address is accessed everything will run fine, so if you are using a program that never reaches that address there will be no symptom. I had a similar problem with an old machine while trying to install Windows 2000. The installation would always stall at exactly the same point while copying a particular file from the CD. But the file and the CD were not the problem, it was just the case that at that point in the installation routine, the faulty memory was being accessed. I had a similar problem when using only one version of PaperPort. Apparently that program accessed a faulty memory bit when all my other software did not. In both cases replacing the faulty stick of RAM resolved the issue. So repeatability with a particular action in a program does not rule out a hardware problem as the cause.
 
http://www.memtest.org/
 

Hello.  Thank you for your reply.  And for your useful suggestion.
 
I will try Memtest and report back, and report back.  Thanks again

Hello.  So I ran Memtest+86 ver. 5.01 last night.  I did 2 full passes, about 3+ hours, with 0 errors.
 
So that suggests the computer's memory is not causing this problem.

So much for an easy diagnosis.
That is at least good evidence that the sticks themselves are not defective. The memory timings in the MB BIOS could still be slightly off and produce intermittent freezes. And then there are many potential intermittent hardware glitches that may be impossible to find for all practical purposes, like a defective solder connection that spreads at a certain temperature and fails to connect 100%, brief fluctuations of power, etc. etc. And then there is software...
You can try removing cleaning and re-seating every connection on anything you plug in to the mainboard.
 
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/troubleshoot-windows-7-random-freezes/
 

Are you doing any overclocking on the machine?
 

Hello.  I am not overclocking the processor:
 
I can't but help feel this is a problem with Sonar: 1) I have no freezes when using any other application (the computer ran Memtest for 3+ hours without any freezes, I worked in Sound Forge for 2 hours without any freezes); 2) Sonar seems buggy in lots of minor ways that are hard to explain (I had a VST plug-in that I deleted from the computer - Sonar still lists the plug-in on the Insert menu, tho' the plug-in is not listed in the Plug-In Manager).
 
Taking the computer apart and re-building it seems like a big effort for an undiagnosed problem.  Has anyone actually solved an intermittent crashing/freezing problem of this sort by doing this?

A very quick & easy thing you can try is to delete or rename your Aud.ini file
 
The next time you launch Sonar it will build a new one, based on your current configuration
 
You'll lose nothing by trying

Thank you Bristol for your suggestion.  How do I do this?  Where can I find this aud.ini file?
 
Thanks

HAY Sir EltonJohn...Had similar issues with x1-x2...my solution might not be your solution.
 
But before we go forward with troubleshooting, most of the techs here, need your system specs....you can add to your profile, so they always get posted with your posts....and some others may want event viewer info of the crashes...
 
Just to let you know, sometimes you have to tweak the OS...turning off system sounds, video excelleration, and windows apps that run in the background...which cause interrupts  in cpu usage, and other things that my conflict with Sonar...so turning off some of the offenders, such as firewall, and anti virus, system security features, before using Sonar, may help... So first post up your system specs...then more can chime in.