When I insert a sample tank( free version)  or Rapture Session (version that came with home studio) track into sonar it works for 10-15 minutes and then the laptop crashes. Sonar sends a report to cakewalk but I haven't heard anything back. Laptop is a Toshiba Satellite, I7 processor with 8Gb memory, about 4 yrs old. Simple logic would dictate that the problem is more than likely an out of date laptop. Before I invest more $$ I wondered if anybody else has/had this problem?

I probably wouldn't jump to the laptop being the issue.  My main computer is 4 years out of date and my Surface Pro 3 is 3 years out of date and with lesser specs than yours and I'm running Sonar Platinum with Rapture Pro and many other plugins just fine. May want to try a fresh install of your Sonar first

Well I'm using a 4 year old Acer i5 with only 6 GB RAM so I'll see if I can help you out. It will work. 
 
I have the full version of Sonar but I bought Home Studio just for this Laptop and future live performance using the Playlist. For $50. I really like HS and for me it's run smooth a silk for a few months now. 
 
First I am using W7 which I don't think matters. 
Download and run Latency Monitor    http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
You may have to do some tweaking and optimizing and turning off Wi Fi is normally a biggy. In my case I can actually leave it on, it's so different for each machine, but you do need to get your DPC under control or audio will drop out. Sonar should not crash but audio dropouts are not very desirable either. 
 
Then the next important factor in a smooth running DAW is your audio system. most DAW's will perform the best if you use a proper audio interface with a good ASIO driver. This generally solves 98% of the issues people have. 
If your planning on recording any audio then you really can't function any other way. Audio interfaces are not expensive starting at around $100 and going up depending on features and in/out count. 
https://www.sweetwater.com/c695--USB_Audio_Interfaces
 
If your only going to be doing mid , which is what I do with my laptop, then you can get by with using the on board audio system using WASAPI exclusive mode found in your audio setting under preferences. 
But what I'm using is ASIO4all which is a step up from WASAPI and its free.  
https://asio4all.en.softonic.com/  
 
 
 

 
 

IIRC, the Sample Tank is provided in both VST3 and VST2 versions.
 
Try the other one.

Thanks for the reply. I was having latency issues, plus on board audio card is crap, so I bought an external USB Sound Blaster. Sounds much better and I have no problem with the audio. I will try disabling the wi-fi. I suppose I can try running sonar as administrator but not sure how that would help

You might have been wise to do a little research into Audio interfaces. Sound Blasters are not highly regarded among DAW users,, just Gamers. It is a small step up from your on board card and might have ASIO drivers which will solve most of the latency issues.
 
What issues are you still having?

You should contact IK. But other then that, try reinstalling it as administrator mode and set run as admin as well. You should install everything as Admin anyway... )
 
Peace!

Problem happens while using Rapture Pro and String synth that came with Sonar. So logic dictates that this is a Sonar or Sonar ability to work properly with the laptop problem. I use the laptop to process photographs with Photoshop without any problems so I don't think it is a laptop issue. I have contacted cakewalk tech support. So far Sonar has sent several error reports to cakewalk on its on with a message that they will keep me informed on the issue. So far I have gotten nothing so I don't hold much hope getting anything from tech support. It may be time to consider another software

Your not listening, Sonar is not Photoshop. Until you do what I said in post # 3 your wasting your time and money. Like how did you decide on a Sound Blaster? If you had asked here before you bought it everyone would have said no. ( Wonder where CJ is these days ) 
 
I have no problems running Home Studio on my laptop and that's because I made sure it was able to stream audio using Latency Monitor. 

Thank you for such a warm and gracious reply. I referred to Photoshop just to demonstrate that my laptop can is powerful enough to run a high resource application. Why sound blaster? It had nothing to do with latency issues with on board audio. On board audio sounded like crap.