At the end of my rope,,,

[okcrounders]

That being the case, and in light of everything else that has been posted here, it may be time to reinstall everything: new hard drive, operating system, the latest drivers, your usual software. Take your time and test everything thoroughly as you do it. The long way round, maybe, but considering how long this has been going on, it might be the only solution left. And hard drives are relatively cheap these days.

It may be that you are right... but that was not my experience.

When I got my new MacPro, I spent days setting it up, installing everything from scratch, testing as I went along, being careful as hell. And when I finally got to the point of trying to do some work, I had the worse audio pops and clicks ever. I couldn't make an audio edit without there being a pop at the joint, whether the waveforms were misaligned or not. And a bunch of other things had me troubleshooting for months.

All I'm saying is that no matter how careful you are and determined to do everything right so that you will have a clean and healthy setup, your problems may not disappear--but they could. This stuff is supposed to work without so much trouble, so it is more likely that there is one little thing that is messing everything else up... and something that may very well be there even if you install everything from scratch.

One thing you didn't mention, okcrounders, is anything to do with your electricity. Do you have any electrical issues in your studio area? I have something weird going on with mine, and it does cause weird noises in my system, especially noticeable when using headphones. I am considering the purchase of an electrical conditioner to see if that eliminates any of my audio issues.

Tried a power conditioner today (I borrowed one from a friend). Didn't fix the problem.

[zed]

Tried a power conditioner today (I borrowed one from a friend). Didn't fix the problem.

Thanks for the followup. I think I should still give one of those a shot in my case... but first I have to resolve a memory issue I am having.

[okcrounders]

To the best of my memory, here is a rough list of the things I've done:

1. Updated latest PCI 424 drivers
2. Updated from DP5 to 5.13 (at the behest of the MOTU tech guys)
3. Reseated my PCI 424 card in different PCIe slots
4. Replaced audiowire cable
5. Adjusted buffers and work priority
6. Reinstalled PCI 424 drivers
7. Replaced PCI 424 Card
8. Turned Airport off
9. Disconnected the machine from the internet
10. Repaired disc permissions
11. Downloaded idefrag and defragged my hard drive
12. Replaced my 2408
13. Tried James' Cuemix test
14. Offloaded itunes library to an external drive.
15. Put in more RAM, with more on the way.

That being the case, and in light of everything else that has been posted here, it may be time to reinstall everything: new hard drive, operating system, the latest drivers, your usual software. Take your time and test everything thoroughly as you do it. The long way round, maybe, but considering how long this has been going on, it might be the only solution left. And hard drives are relatively cheap these days.

Bowman,

How many internal hard drives do you have in your machine? What sort do you use?

[Bowman]

I have four, all Seagates. One is for OS and software, another for audio files and two more for samples. They aren't the fastest available, but they do the job well for me and they aren't expensive.

[mikehalloran]

Test your memory. Use Techtool if you have it, if not there are freeware testers that will let you know.

Interestingly, 10.5.4 and older is far more forgiving regarding memory issues than 10.5.5 and above - but it doesn't mean it can't cause problems. It just means they don't necessarily screw up the OS.

Since it affects all applications, remove all but the original Apple supplied memory and see if the machine doesn't now behave.

I am not saying that RAM is your issue but, if you haven't eliminated it as a cause, it could be. One reason I buy only from two suppliers is that, if I have a problem, it gets replaced at no charge - and I never have to remember where I bought it.

I run into bad RAM about once every three years or so and it's always a surprise. I would think that, if you had the machine back to Apple, they would have tested it but I would still do so again.

I had such a problem on my wife's MacBook recently with an OWC stick - drove me absolutely nuts till I found it. It happens so infrequently that one never thinks to check it until nothing else works.

BTW, you do need to upgrade your OS. Make sure that you install Rosetta so that 5.13 will work - it's still a great version of DP.

The first time I ever had this issue, DP 2.6 and Norton Utilities would crash on my beige G3 - so would TechTool before it got to the memory test - everything else worked fine. I called Norton Tech support and the guy actually yelled at me saying, "I can't help you. I've seen bad memory cause this!" I thanked him saying he had helped me - this upset him even more. RAM was exactly the problem and replacing it under warranty fixed everything. Symantec customer service gave me a free upgrade because of the way I had been treated but I didn't mind - he had, after all, helped me.

[mikehalloran]

The other thing to try is to burnish all connectors.

One at a time, remove and reseat every card and memory stick. Disconnect and reconnect every cable connector. This cleans the connectors and restores proper signal paths.

With such low voltages, a small fraction of an Ohm of resistance in the wrong place can cause major problems. Static electricity can cause exactly the problems you describe causing you to hear a spark as it overcomes resistance while jumping to ground. Clean the path and eliminate the spark.

If the problem only occurs when you have certain equipment connected, open up those boxes and do the same thing.

I have fixed hundreds of pieces of electronic gear over the years doing nothing else. If the problem is chronic (with some pieces of gear such as the Fostex FD-8, it will be) buy some DeOxIt and put some on the connectors before reassembling.

[okcrounders]

The other thing to try is to burnish all connectors.

I tried burnishing the connections, as well as the DeOxit. Unfortunately, the problem remains.

Thank you for the suggestions though,

Dave

One at a time, remove and reseat every card and memory stick. Disconnect and reconnect every cable connector. This cleans the connectors and restores proper signal paths.

With such low voltages, a small fraction of an Ohm of resistance in the wrong place can cause major problems. Static electricity can cause exactly the problems you describe causing you to hear a spark as it overcomes resistance while jumping to ground. Clean the path and eliminate the spark.

If the problem only occurs when you have certain equipment connected, open up those boxes and do the same thing.

I have fixed hundreds of pieces of electronic gear over the years doing nothing else. If the problem is chronic (with some pieces of gear such as the Fostex FD-8, it will be) buy some DeOxIt and put some on the connectors before reassembling.

[fsheinfeld]

Another vote for upgrading to Snow Leopard. (Never mind if you have done this already -it is a long thread!).

You could also try an experiment and make a clean install of the latest OSX (SL) on a spare drive (or new, they are pretty cheap now!) and try installing and running DP from there. If it doesn't work you can at least discard any software issues, keep using your old drive and focus on hardware troubleshooting (bad connections, faulty ram, electricity issues, bad karma, etc.)

[okcrounders]

Another vote for upgrading to Snow Leopard. (Never mind if you have done this already -it is a long thread!).

You could also try an experiment and make a clean install of the latest OSX (SL) on a spare drive (or new, they are pretty cheap now!) and try installing and running DP from there. If it doesn't work you can at least discard any software issues, keep using your old drive and focus on hardware troubleshooting (bad connections, faulty ram, electricity issues, bad karma, etc.)

At this point I'm pretty sure its bad karma....I must've been a real jerk in my past life.

[zed]

At this point I'm pretty sure its bad karma....I must've been a real jerk in my past life.

I hear you. I have often thought the same thing. I've been a good fellow in this one, and the mishaps often surprise me... especially when goodwill and love and some of the main themes of my music.

But maybe, you are just experiencing a bunch of misfortune and inconvenience right now, so that good things can happen in your future without being so mixed with frustrations. If we are due a certain amount of hardship, then maybe it is a blessing to get a bunch of it out of the way.

But then again, maybe it doesn't work like that, and maybe karma has nothing to do with it. This whole thing is a mystery.

[mattone]

Hi, I have the same problem, you are able to solve?

Thankßs

[newrigel]

I know on those machines specifically, you can get into the PCI buss and allocate different speeds to different slots. Have you tried the PCIE utility in your utilities folder? I know I did this with my first generation Mac Pro 2.66 quad (1,1) and it helped out quite a bit for my UAD-1's.

[youme]

hi,
may I ask, what the ""Cuemix test, per James suggestion" is ?

Thanks + regards
youme

[mattone]

I know on those machines specifically, you can get into the PCI buss and allocate different speeds to different slots. Have you tried the PCIE utility in your utilities folder? I know I did this with my first generation Mac Pro 2.66 quad (1,1) and it helped out quite a bit for my UAD-1's.




tried all combinations ... nothing to do ...

[gibsonl6s]

Hi

Open your 2408mkII and check out if there are some bad ELKO's!

I had 4 bad ELKO's of 7 in my 2408MKII. Had no pops and clicks and it was still working but you never now. There is also a battery inside check it too.

Try to fit the 424 card better in the pci(or different) slot.

I had some strange behaviour with the latest driver. So I did install a older one and it helped. I think I had posted it here in the forum once.

here it is:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =2&t=35366" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Maybe it helps.

best regards