Well, I had the occasional audio engine stop but nothing real serious.  Overall, Sonar was working pretty stable and solid.  BUT...others have said that you need to update to the latest MB bios (I have a ASUS), and also to uninstall the AI Suite that came with the ASUS MB.

I updated my bios to the latest version from their website, and also uninstalled the AI Suite.  I think this may have been a BIG MISTAKE.

Now...Sonar X2 usually takes sometimes 30 seconds to open when it normally took just a couple of seconds....then, projects that used to open in seconds take another 30-45 seconds to open.  And the hard drive indicator light glows solid while the projects tries to load.  Once a project gets loaded...the audio engine abruptly stops MUCH more frequently than it used to.

And it's not just Sonar....I'm having problems with several other apps.  My NERO is acting up now, and other apps gets the  dreaded "Not Responding" message pretty often.

I've been building PCs since the old XT days....MANY years ago.  So I do what know what I'm doing.

I think I will revert back to the original bios and see if that will fix the problem.

Bottom line is....the old saying DOES stand true.  If it ain't broke...DON'T FIX IT.

I don't know who told you to do that but you should hunt them down

I'm currently on version 3402 which is the latest one (for the P8Z68). I've done maybe 3 or 4 BIOS updates since building my DAW. I've never had any issues with my system but when a BIOS update contains "system stability" and "compatibility enhancements", I don't hesitate to update. And none of them have been problematic in any way, shape or form. I would be very surprised if your current issues are due to the BIOS update, but it does happen.

Have you searched for similar issues concerning that particular update? If it's been problematic, you should get many hits for it and possibly a solution also.

Thanks guys...I'm not going to rule out a failing hard drive just yet since that could possibly be what's happening....but it sure was coincidental that this started happening as soon as I did the "updates".

I just received three new HDs and I think I'm gonna replace them one at a time, copying all the data on the non system HD.  If it's the system HD that means a new full install of everything...which might not be a bad idea at this point.

The bios update does state "system stability" as one of the update features.  And I don't see how AI Suite would affect anything since it's just a CPU/memory performance tuner which can all be done within the bios anyway.

If you are willing to do a full install you might as well just go for that. I updated all my BIOS, Chipset, USB, Network, yadda yadda stuff right after building my system and then started installing my programs and haven't had any issues. I have an ASUS MOBO (similar model to yours) as well and it NEEDS at least the first couple of updates because they screwed something up when they first released them. When we were discussing this a couple weeks ago Danny made a good point about updating BIOS stuff on a system that was already set up about how it can make things sketchy. It makes sense if everything is set to operate a certain way and then you change some of the most crucial hardrive driver stuff.

Anyway I'm no expert but yeah... if you are willing to start from scratch you might as well. And avoid that annoying ASUS Suite Utility monitor. It's annoying, a hog and it's a pain to remove. There are better free hardware monitors out there. Lots of complaints about the ASUS utility online. Cheers.

Oh and the reason the utility monitor is an issue is because it's a startup item. It turns on and starts working in the background instead of turning on when you need it. When I disabled my start up programs it crippled the monitor and now I get a failure message every time I boot up and neither uninstall, add/remove programs or even CCleaner seems to be able to remove it.

Try SysInternals "Autoruns" Beepster, if you're not already familiar with that little utility. It may just solve your issue.

Autoruns for Windows v11.34

Yeah Beep...I built this system back in June of last year and the MB I got did have the "REV B" fix...I think that was what it was, mine had just shipped out with that new fix anyway.  They had major problems and recalls over that before that fix.  There have been six bios updates since the original according to the bios dates.

A fresh install of the OS and everything else is good every now and then...but what a PITA...lol.

Thanks, Alegria. I'll check it out. I actually intend to wipe this system at some point anyway and start over now that I know more but who knows when I'll ever get around to that. lol

@Ted... I hear ya man. It's a massive pain especially when you have a ton of programs and projects. I'm not looking forward to it myself but it'll be good practice for me. Considering you fell prey to the ASUS screw up it might save you far more headaches in the long run. They are nice boards but man... they really screwed the pooch on that one. Good luck.

I don't know who told you to do that but you should hunt them down ..LOL !!! send out the Dogs !! Ted I doubt the bios rev is your issue, you do a little digging there and a .......reinstall sometimes is a realy good thing !!