Help with screen mess

[BT_]

I have been using Saw on and off in our 2nd room for the last 6 weeks.This is a full version on a Athlon 4400 x 2.The display is a 46"Plasma and I would also like to mention the computer was built by ADK for audio only.This machine has ran other apps without a hitch.

Now Sawstudio ran flawlessly for the last four weeks while we moved around on it and began to learn the program and I have to say it has been enjoyable to say the least.

I got to the point with the program that I was willing to take on some heavy lifting and do some work with it on a deadline,so I loaded up some plug-ins on the machine and got busy.

In the first ten minutes it started acting funny,jumping around etc..then the screen started doing stuff I have never seen.If I move anything on the screen or open and close anything the image stays where it once was.It will leave part of the mixer in the MT window,make duplicate upon duplicate images all over the place etc...

I have done all the tweaks and then some along with our computer wiz and still get the shadows galore.

I would really like to use this software but have not been able too due to this video issue.

Any help would be great.

Thanks BT

[MMP]

Go into task manager and set Saw's affinity to one CPU.

There is some kind of dual cpu instability at this time.

Regards,

MM

[BT_]

I am sorry computer wiz kid went home,could you tell me where in task manager I do this.

Thanks so much.

BT

[MMP]

hit the control alt and delete keys at the same time.

Enter the processes page of the task manager and right click on the Sawstudio.exe process and enter the affinity menu. Set it to one of the two available cpus.

Hope that helps...

Regards,

MM

[MMP]

You will need to do this after you start SS every time...though, I find it stable in dual cpu mode except when I use my UAD cards....I have the same CPU in an ASUS A8V Deluxe.

Regards,

MM

[BT_]

Looks like that was it.Wow you know what you speak.Even the meter for the cpu is dead on now.I sure would like to use the other cpu though,kind of a waste.

Thanks again

BT

[dhise]

BT, are you using uad cards? I have an asus a8v deluxe, uad, but went with a single core processor. If the duals are defintely out with SAW and this setup that will keep me from even attempting to try.... I have to say that I'm pretty satisfied with the single core performance. It'll do some serious number crunching. I've been curious about SAW's dual cpu use with the SRC routines though, because I like to upsample my projects when building the mix.

-Doug

[BT_]

By the way I also have a ASUS A8v deluxe.My screen looks like it is cool,I will keep you posted.

BT

[BT_]

No I don't have a UAD but I was thinking about a couple for this system.I have loaded the Waves SSL plugs along with there IR,also the URS N/A stuff.I work on a SSL aws900 with Radar when tracking at a room up the road,this has been as of late the "A room".Thing is I am getting old and lazy and love the recall of plugs but can't deal with all the Digidesign crap,so I find SAW a refreshing change.

I still use my share of outboard but if I can get a computer system stable and sounding the way I want, I am all for letting go and flying in the wind with my mouse.I don't think we will outgrow hybrid aproach in my time though.

I thought the A8v deluxe was the UAD MB of choice maybe I read something wrong.

Anyway fingers crossed it's looking good.

Peace
BT

[akdar]

I thought the A8v deluxe was the UAD MB of choice maybe I read something wrong.
Peace
BTI run my A8V with 2 UAD cards with no problems. I have some VST plug issues, but when i was running all DX plugs the MB and UAD cards were flawless together. I still think they are, the plugin issue is strictly a VST thing, as far as I can tell.

[Bob L]

I would recommend setting the One CPU option in SAWStudio's Options menu... not the Task Manager... this setting will save with the preferences and you only need to set it once.

Otherwise... use the /ONECPU tweak in the boot.ini file.

Dual processors can present some stability issues... video drivers and firewire drivers are the primary problems... but when you start introducing many plugins, realize that everything has to be completely dual safe... 1 DX plugin can spawn many threads... any time a new thread is introduced into the loop, dual processors get much more complex and possibly unstable.

For the limited performance increase... they still are not worth the trouble in my book... don't forget... SS is mostly 100% assembly language within the active engine code... this offers performance gains on a single cpu that most other apps may not be able to attain on duals... so have no fear about forcing SS down to one of the processors.

Bob L

[MMP]

Mike,

If you have time, would you test this for me?

Create a junk session and load it up with UAD plugins. Then while playing, zoom in and out constantly...maybe up to five minutes.

What happens to me is exactly what happens to BT....the screens stop redrawing, the counter stops updating, and windows moved over the MT window leave their bitmaps behind as you move them around.

Also, I would be curious to hear what you have in each slot of your motherboard, as I am not quite ready to pull the dual CPU (but, getting close).,,oh, and what BIOS version for the motherboard?

TIA

In the meantime, I will do some tests with my VST folder hidden from Saw, and see if that helps.

What is everyone using for a video card with the A8V and Athlon duals?

Regards,

MM



I run my A8V with 2 UAD cards with no problems. I have some VST plug issues, but when i was running all DX plugs the MB and UAD cards were flawless together. I still think they are, the plugin issue is strictly a VST thing, as far as I can tell.

[MMP]

FWIW, setting this within SAW had no positive effect for this problem on my system.

Anyone other than Akdar using a dual cpu and UAD cards sucessfully?

Regards,

MM



I would recommend setting the One CPU option in SAWStudio's Options menu... not the Task Manager... this setting will save with the preferences and you only need to set it once.

Bob L

[MMP]

I had the same screen redraw issue with the DX versions of the UAD plugins with Saw.

I would love to find out why your system is stable and mine isn't.

What version of the UAD software do you run?

Regards,

MM



but when i was running all DX plugs the MB and UAD cards were flawless together. I still think they are, the plugin issue is strictly a VST thing, as far as I can tell.

[BT_]

Mine is still on the flake.There are trades big time when you go to one cpu with the SRC.The screen slowly builds back to a mess even when I go to one cpu in task manager or SAW.Yowza!!

[MMP]

Hmm. It sounds like you have a different or more issues than I do. I only get screen corruption when using the UAD plugins and setting the affinity to one cpu cures the issue for me.

I am spending the day trying to chase down any more clues on my system.

Perhaps it is a motherboard problem after all...

MM

[Pedro Itriago]

Video cards everyone????

[MMP]

I have had the same issues with both a Matrox Parhelia and an Nvidia 6600.

It looks like the SRC makes things fail MUCH faster. Mike, if you get time to test, SRC the whole session and see how stable the system remains.


Regards,

MM

[Pedro Itriago]

I'm asking you this because I just had a video problem on my old PIII machine in the w2k partition. It has been rock solid for ages and although is not saw related (it's here but not being used in this machine), it may help you all.

Here's what happened: I had my g450 installed merryly on the system, then I installed a fx5700 for a while. Installed back the 450 and all of the sudden programs that were somewhat heavy on the graphic dept (google earth, a 3d design program & zinio magazine reader) became unstable, some of them developing graphic corruption and then crashing the machine real hard with video freeze.

I had dx9c installed for a long time now so I didn't see any problems there. I went to see which driver I had installed and it was one older than the one I had before the card swap. Went to the matrox page to get the newest driver (5.95) but the troubles persisted. Even worse, no opengl nor dx 3d hardware accel!!!.

Turns out to be a driver issue (as per matrox support forum post) and I folded back to the driver before that one (5.93.009). Ran dxdiag and the machine froze running the dx 3d accel test. Now I suspected a dx problem and went to MS to see if there was a newer version or try and re-install 9c. Turns out there was a newer runtime.

Downloaded & installed the newer runtime version and...problem solved.

Maybe the recent problems could be around this issue as well, since a problem with dx not only would be a problem with the display card, but also dx plug-ins.

Than again, it may not be :(

[bit]

I've had my dual AMD for three years now. I run into this multitrack window crash from time to time. Mostly after using notepad on top of Saw during heavy cpu loaded sessions. If I should do an estimate of often it happens. I would say about every 20 hour of work or something. I'm still using the old matrox g450 dualhead card. The strange thing is that I had exactly the same problem with my previous pc wich was a single cpu pIII. I think I used the g450 on this rig too. In my case I don't feel this is entirely dual cpu related, but more a driver/dx versus saw issue. I would reccomend using the microsoft tested and approved display drivers (if there are others). Test different display-driver versions and direct-x versions. Also try changing color quality in the display properties settings tab.

In my case running a dual Athlon MP2400+ I really find the benefits of dual-cpu worth the hassle. Actually I haven't yet tried to run single to check if the MT-window crash goes away.
Last week I went down from 3200x1200 to 2560x1024 on my screen resolution. I've been working about 15 hours in SS after that and I'm still waiting for the first MT-window crash. Let's hope it doesn't come. I'll let you know.

Bj***248;rn

[spiritman]

I think we just need Windows BL (Bob Lentini) version... What do you think Bob. Can you whip up a new OS yet this weekend??

I have a love hate deal with my duel AMD's also I have been after Bob for help for year's. I really wish Saw would play nice (or windows) But I shut off one cpu in boot.ini. Yes it is a hassle. But......

[Naturally Digital]

I still get this problem from time to time on both a dual AMD machine and a dual xeon. I will say this... The frequency of the crashes has gone down significantly since I changed from Matrox G400/G450 to Nvidia NVS 200/280's. At least, I'm convinced it has. ;)