Dropped buffers again

[dbarrow]

I am running the latest version of SAC64, 1.1b. It runs perfectly on my notebook computer, with no dropped buffers, but on my other rack, that has been idle fora while, I still get dropped buffers. I had all this smoothed out long ago with the 32bit version, but since I updated to SAC64 I still get a few dropped buffers every hour or so. I have been through all the tweaks, shut off the various things in BIOS (hyperthreading, C6 states,etc.), etc. I have even been using Process Lasso to set Process Priority to Realtime and CPU Affinity to core 3. I have stopped various things from running in services and task manager, but I still get a few dropped buffers. This is at 64-4. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-H77MD3H rev. 1.0 with BIOS F12. I am running Windows 10 build 1803 on this machine.I guess there is still some Windows background process running that stomp on SAC64. The could even be called by Task Manger to where they run and are then terminated.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

[cgrafx]

I am running the latest version of SAC64, 1.1b. It runs perfectly on my notebook computer, with no dropped buffers, but on my other rack, that has been idle fora while, I still get dropped buffers. I had all this smoothed out long ago with the 32bit version, but since I updated to SAC64 I still get a few dropped buffers every hour or so. I have been through all the tweaks, shut off the various things in BIOS (hyperthreading, C6 states,etc.), etc. I have even been using Process Lasso to set Process Priority to Realtime and CPU Affinity to core 3. I have stopped various things from running in services and task manager, but I still get a few dropped buffers. This is at 64-4. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-H77MD3H rev. 1.0 with BIOS F12. I am running Windows 10 build 1803 on this machine.I guess there is still some Windows background process running that stomp on SAC64. The could even be called by Task Manger to where they run and are then terminated.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

is the screen saver/idle screen turning on?

[dbarrow]

is the screen saver/idle screen turning on?

Yes, sorry. I didn't state that. I have tweaked out 10+ SAC systems to work without dropped buffers. For some reason I am having issues with this one computer. I have literally done 100 tweaks, turning off services, removing tasks from the task scheduler. It almost always seams like I solved the problem, but then later there are a few dropped buffers. It's maddening. I ave SAC running on my notebook computer here at my office, with Firefox and several other programs running and I have no dropped buffers all day. I am almost at the point of just building a new computer, so I may end up asking for motherboard/processor/graphics suggestions. The Gigabyte motherboard in the "problem computer is about 8 years old. I guess however Windows adapted to that motherboard involves some other error checking/reporting processes that just aren't running on other computers I have tweaked.

Thanks for your suggestions so far. The Process Lasso program seems to give the best ongoing feedback as to what is running in the back ground, but I still haven't nailed down what pops up every hour or two to stomp on SAC. Is there some easy way to list all the tasks that have run over a period of time? There must be some task that is running here and there that causes the dropped buffers.

[dbarrow]

I am still getting some dropped buffers. About two per hour.It looks like Windows 10 "trustedinstaller.exe" and "tiworker.exe" are doing something. They are related to Windows Update, which I have turned off. I am not sure what keeps turning it on periodically. I have even lowered its CPU Priority in Process Lasso. Any ideas? My notebook computer doesn't seem to be running these process and SAC can run on it for days with no dropped buffers.

[mr_es335]

Hello,

Can you please send me a screen capture of your just booted desktop?

[cgrafx]

Not that this is specific to the issue your experiencing, but on my test machine if I let the idle screen turn on, the system will drop buffers. There isn't an easy way to determine what specific process is running because viewing the process list disables the idle screen.

It may be possible to run a remote session through ssh and view the process list while the idle screen is active, but I haven't attempted to do that yet.

Also increasing the pre-buffers will not stop the dropped buffer problem.

Direct from Bob: "The pre-buffer number will not fix a glitching machine... only the buffer size controls that."

So you would be better off running 1x128 than 4x64.

[dbarrow]

This computer is running some Microsoft crap that the other computer isn't running, I just found another one: "wlidsvc", which is Microsoft Live ID Service. In services.msc it is now called "Microsoft Account Sign In Assistant". It showed up as a sub process of svchost. I disable that, too, now. SAC has been running for a few hours now. This is farther than it made it in the last two weeks. I think when Windows was installed on this computer, it put LOTS of other unnecessary services that had to do with logging into Microsoft accounts, syncing with mobile phones, WiFi, etc. This is not a laptop and doesn't need all that stuff and I certainly don't want it sending telemetry to Microsoft. There still may be more, but I am getting this stuff rooted out. Process Lasso shows whatever was running recently, after I get dropped buffers. I go look the services/programs up and they turn out to be communication crap I didn't even know about before. I have tweaked out LOTS of Windows computers for audio and video editing and I have never encountered these processes running before. I had to re-install Windows 10 a while back when an update crashed my whole setup. I guess the newer version and various updated put these demons in and setup all kinds of hidden triggers to keep them popping up.

[kabelwalter]

After I had to leave SAC64 on Win 10 LTSC for some time now, I want to finish setting up my system.

I've ran through all the Win 10 tweaks from the helpfile.
As a stress test I have a 32 channel setup as FOH mixer with a different plug-in in each of the first 24 channel strips. Connected are 2x ADA8200 In/Out. Approx 50% Load displayed in SAC64.
On one internal channel runs via SPDIF foobar2000 with music.
The RayDAT card I use with 1x64 samples.
The i5-660 with 2 cores active, 12 GM RAM (used is only 2,5 - 2,7 GB).
During the stress tests the network cable is disconnected.

As soon as I switch the mixer live, 1-2 dropped buffers are usually displayed. Rarely without. Then the system runs quite smoothly. After about 5 hours of unattended operation there were over 600 slipped buffers.
Force RealTime Priority is active and a second test I did with addionally with 'Force High Priority Class', as well as tests with 2x64 Samples.
Here in the forum I read various tips such as Process Lasso Pro or about the RuntimeBroker service.

How should I proceed to get the system slipped buffer free?

Walter

[Wink0r]

For testing purposes you can set processor affinity manually through the task manager.

I bought an Intel NUC for use with a Behringer UMC-1820. I loaded LTSC for the OS. Setting CPU affinity made a huge difference. It also made a difference with my W7 production machines. On the W7 machine SAC ran 24 hours a day for 5 days without a reboot with zero (0) slipped buffers.

[cgrafx]

Force RealTime Priority is active and a second test I did with addionally with 'Force High Priority Class', as well as tests with 2x64 Samples.
Here in the forum I read various tips such as Process Lasso Pro or about the RuntimeBroker service.
Walter

In order for "Force Realtime Priority" to actually work in Win10 SAC will have to be running as administrator or you have to use a utility like "Process Lasso".

You can manual set processor affinity, but if you want SAC to run with those settings automatically you'll have to setup launch scripts or use a utility like "Process Lasso"

The problem I had with launch scripts and running SAC as administrator, was every time I launched SAC it would run a new instance so I couldn't switch apps from the task bar.