Not sure what Cactus & Bristol are talking about or who is a spammer? So I'm not going to respond to those comments.

You can see what I'm talking about in post #8 where I've quoted the spammer (qingherry)

Don't worry - it wasn't aimed at you!

UAC = User Account Control - where you can set up users and define their privileges within Windows

OH yeah I wasn't sure because I didn't respond right away. for some reason I'm not getting the email alerts instantly. any suggestions on how I can figure out the problem? I'm going to uninstall and reinstall again.I really hate to put all this effort into this issue seeing as tho I upgrading my PC & Sonar in a month or 2 but I need to use the program for now. I will repost about any errors once I do a reinstall. Again thanks for all the input.

It's not UAC if you're running XP. Sorry, I thought for some reason you were on W7.

Try running SONAR as Administrator. Some older plugins still reference HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, which could account for them failing to initialize. A less-likely reason could be a corrupt registry. In rare situations, antivirus software can interfere with installations, so disable any antivirus software before installing.

You might also try downloading and installing the MSVC runtime from Microsoft. 

Thanks I will try that MSVC runtime. I don't use any antivirus on this machine it doesn't go online. If some older plugins still reference HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE what action would I take for that. I'm really worried there may be some error on the CD in which i guess I have wait til I upgrade. I'm fighting alot of battles right now. I just put my studio back together and added some pieces (Motu 828mk2, RME ADI-8pro, ADA8000 and trying to learn & get everything functioning properly. But Sonar first hopefully.

Five0SixBand

I'm really worried there may be some error on the CD... 

Try making a copy of the installation disk and use the copy to install from.  Sometimes a slightly faulty disk gets misread during the installation process but still gets copied in full without any errors.

By the way, it's a DVD rather than a CD.

OK Thanks I'll try that

Sorry, I didn't read that post clearly either and thought it was you he was talking about..

I don't think they let you upgrade to 8.5 anymore, which is a shame. I think you are forced to go all the way to X2. 

Look very carefully at the disk in a good light , it can be a microscopic piece of dirt. It can also be your DVD drive is acting up. Once again a dirty lens. There are lens cleaning disks, most of them not worth a pinch of c--n s--t. Try a can of computer air in there. 

Could be the drive.

Out of all the possible things that can fail within a computer, I reckon I've replaced far more optical drives than anything else.

True... I will need to get the program onto a usb drive. I'm fighting too many battles right now. Trying to get Sonar working properly again. Trying to get MY DA7 & 1884 back in sync while adding ADA8K & trying to get My MV8800 & RME working with my Motu 828mk2. I don't think I'll ever tear my studio down again!