"General Error" Message

Hello,

i'm new to this Forum, using Sonar Producer Edition 7 (german) since November and coping with a major problem.
My system is:

Pentium Q9550
2 GB Ram Corsair
Samsung SP250 HD
Terratec Producer Phase FW24

Yesterday I sat on a project, quite full now of Softsynths and Effects and suddenly I wasn't able anymore to save the project. When I've tried to do so I got the error message

"Allgemeiner Fehler" which one can translate into english with "General Error".

After this the mouse got slower and I closed sonar down the ability to save the hard work of the last two hours. But the problem continued, my system was total slow, the mouse switched from one corner to the other without beeing moved by me. I restarted the system and everything was okay again. But everytime I try to open the project for at least after 5 minutes or when I try to save there are the same problems.

CPU is at about 40 %, Sonar tells so and the System tells so. Soundcard is working great on any other application, I have no Anti Virus or Firewall in this system not even a connection to the internet or any other applications in the background like MSN,etc. Storing place is also enough on the Hard disk. And the issue is occuring only with this one project.

My guess is the RAM. May it be, these symptoms are the typical ones for an overstressing of the RAM?

Anybody other ever experienced this problem?

Best regards,
Nico

Just as a general reaction, it does sound like hardware problem, and RAM is definitely the first place I'd look.
However, if your hard drives are not configured perfectly, there can be really strange symtoms. So check those as well.

Another area to look out for is IRQ conflicts.

ORIGINAL: Affenbrot

Hello,

i'm new to this Forum, using Sonar Producer Edition 7 (german) since November and coping with a major problem.
My system is:

Pentium Q9550
2 GB Ram Corsair
Samsung SP250 HD
Terratec Producer Phase FW24

Yesterday I sat on a project, quite full now of Softsynths and Effects and suddenly I wasn't able anymore to save the project. When I've tried to do so I got the error message

"Allgemeiner Fehler" which one can translate into english with "General Error".

After this the mouse got slower and I closed sonar down the ability to save the hard work of the last two hours. But the problem continued, my system was total slow, the mouse switched from one corner to the other without beeing moved by me. I restarted the system and everything was okay again. But everytime I try to open the project for at least after 5 minutes or when I try to save there are the same problems.

CPU is at about 40 %, Sonar tells so and the System tells so. Soundcard is working great on any other application, I have no Anti Virus or Firewall in this system not even a connection to the internet or any other applications in the background like MSN,etc. Storing place is also enough on the Hard disk. And the issue is occuring only with this one project.

My guess is the RAM. May it be, these symptoms are the typical ones for an overstressing of the RAM?

Anybody other ever experienced this problem?

Best regards,
Nico

I use a program called ORTHOS on my systems at build time and after any tinkering/overclocking. Find it HERE

I'm working from memory but if I remember correctly simply download the program, open it (no installation required) select 'blend test' and set it going - that's it. You won't find much simpler than that.

How much room is on the hard disk? I've found that Windows begins to act strange if you have less than 20% room left on the C:/ drive.

You only list one hard drive. You should have a second one to record and save projects to. There's less interference with the swap file with two drives.

Which version of Windows are you using? It does sound like a Ram problem. Vista needs way more ram than XP to do the same type of task.

if I find out that I have to go and buy some new 2 GB RAM additionally as long as I could continue with working on that project...
How is it with 4 GB, actually the most Windows XP can handle is 3 GB how does one handle this? Just put the 4 GB anyway in the computer and Windwows XP will recognize only 3 GB ?

You use the 3gig switch. I have 4 gigs with XP32 and have the switch. I really cant tell if the switch does anythnig, but i have it. It sure doesnt hurt to do it or try it.
Cj

I have also had this happen to me even this weekend with Sonar X3e
 
I have a work around that solves the problem.
 
It seems to rear it's head after an export.
Clicking file, save produces the "General Error" dialog.
 
For me, the fix is to click anywhere on the timeline and start playing even for a small bit.
After that, the state of things is back to "normal" and I can save again.