DC6 Crashing Like Crazy on XP SP2 System

[Joeybear]

Quick system specs...

Dual 2 gig Opteron CPUS
2 Gig RAM
Plenty of HD space
M-Audio Delta 66 Sound Card (with latest drivers)

I've been using DC since version 5, and have never run into any major problems... until today.

I just installed DC6 on an audio workstation (ADK systems) running XP SP2, and the program is crashing like crazy. It freezes, and sometimes it'll completely shut down without any warning. All of this is happening consistently; it's not a random type thing. Once I open the program and a sound fle, it only takes a minute or two for the program to crash or disappear.

The system is tweaked for audio, and I have nothing running in the background. I'm also trying to keep software to a minimum. Other than DC6, I only have xxxxx and yyyyyy installed. BTW, they both work fine.

This has happened even with the DC 6.14 update.

Fortunately, I have Acronis image software, so I can rollback the system to where it was before installing DC. I mention that because even with updating DC to 6.04 only; I still get the almost constant crashing.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Craig Maier]

If you switch to the motherboard soundcard (found in the preferences menu), does it still crash? You may or may not know that DC Software is unique in that it handshakes with the soundcard. If there is some sort of problem with a soundcard driver, Diamond Cut will find it.

I can say that crashing of DC6 on any version of XP is very unusual and that is why I am trying to focus you onto the soundcard drivers. Try both MME's and WDM's on both the motherboard and the M-Audio soundcards to help narrow it down.

[Geebster]

Sounds strange to me. I have found DC6 to be one of the most stable programs out there. I have tried it with systems known to have sound card issues and other problems, and while with those conditions it did not work properly, it NEVER crashed.

2 + 2 is not equalling 4 here. If DC6 is crashing, there must be some other issues present on the system, and other programs would likely to suffer as well.

GB

[Joeybear]

The one thing I didn't do before starting this thread was go back to a previous thread that I started here in the forum about 3 years ago. Sorry 'bout that. : ( Anyways...

Back in 2004 I had a similar problem, and it had to do with the M-Audio Delta 66 sound card Control Panel (mixer), which by default, boots up at startup. Back then, I disabled it in msconfig, and that fixed things. I did the same thing this time, and DC6 is a lot more stable. I'm still getting an occasional software "hiccup", and an occasional DirectSound error, but for the most part, it's working a lot better.

The M-Audio drivers are up to date, and to answer Craig's question, I've switched back and forth between the mobo sound/drivers and the M-Audio.
I was getting the same problems in both cases. DC6 stabilized only after disabling the M-Audio Control Panel. (i.e., delttray.exe)

As for the other programs that I mentioned (and that Craig xy'ed out), I've not had any problems with them on this system, or any system; ever, and I sincerely doubt that they're a part of the problem. Furthermore, DC has always worked fine with these same programs.

I agree with the members who said that DC is a very stable program overall. The scant problems I've had with it over the years have been exactly that... scant. I just wish I would have remembered all of the problems I had with that M-Audio card back in 2004. If I would have remembered, I wouldn't have installed one in this new system.

Thanks to all who responded.

[Geebster]

I almost recommended your fix. Even with their other models of soundcards, the M-Audio Mixer is a bit problematic. I had to tweak my settings as well when I put a M-Audio Sound Card in my system. From what I recall, their software wasn't optimized for SP2. I would have thought that this wouldn't be an issue anymore?????? I finally got my system completely stable. If I can recall what exactly I did, I'll post it here. From what I can remember, I did just about what you did to make my system work perfectly........

GB

[Craig Maier]

Quoting Joeybear:

"As for the other programs that I mentioned (and that Craig xy'ed out) . . . "

--------------------------------------------

Just as a matter of explanation, we all need to avoid mentioning competitors by name (real or potential) to the Diamond Cut Company here on this forum. If they are directly referred to by name, I will xxxx them out to protect the company from potential legal action. We can not put the Company in the position to judge whether or not any particular reference is good, bad or indifferent since that sort of judgement would be subjective in nature.

I hope that makes sense to everyone. As you probably know, we live in a very litigious society.

[Joeybear]

I'm sorry Craig. You didn't have to explain yourself. I didn't take offense; I was just trying to be specific. I fully understand your position, and will try to keep it in mind in future posts. Of course, this is the same idiot who'd completely forgotten his M-Audio problems back in 2004, but I'll try to remember nonetheless. : )

Getting back to the problem...

Geebster is right, and the long and short of this situation has become very clear... since I first started using DC back in 2003, I've only had DC problems on the two systems using the M-Audio Delta 66. On all of my other systems; even crappy ones; DC has performed flawlessly. Craig had mentioned that DC handshakes with the sound card, so if the soundcard drivers are iffy, then it's obvious that DC is gonna have problems. I've tweaked the heck out of the new system, and I've run out of possible things I can do. DC is running, but not quite as good as it does on my non M-Audio systems.

Money is tight here, but I'm seriously considering another sound card.
Thanks again to all who responded.

[Craig Maier]

Hi again -

If you switch the drivers to MME (rather than WDM's) with the M-Audio soundcard, does that clear things up? The MME drivers can be selected via the Diamond Cut preferences menu/soundcard.

[Joeybear]

Craig,

I went back and forth (between reboots) between MME and WDM. I also selected and de-selected the "re-initialize on play" option. Neither setting wound up being any better than the other; based on running DC thru it's paces on a 5 minute test audio file. BTW, the preview buffers setting has remained at 7.

As of right now, DC is working well, but ONLY if the "delttray.exe" file is disabled on bootup. It's the file that puts the M-Audio mixer icon into the System tray; next to the clock. Tests with it running, and not running, have shown that DC crashes only when it's running in the background.

My workaround was to create a desktop shortcut to the actual mixer itself; using the file "deltapnl.exe". (I found the file by opening the mixer, then opening Task Manager, then looking for a file not usually in my processes list.)
Now, when I double click on the desktop shortcut, the mixer appears.
When I close the mixer, "delttray.exe" isn't running in the background, and DC works fine.

For what it's worth, I sent off an e-mail to M-Audio.

[Craig Maier]

It would seem that there is something buggy about their driver since this is an uncommon symptom. Is my understanding correct that your computer motherboard soundcard chipset works fine unlike your soundcard?

[Joeybear]

Craig,

If I remember correctly, DC was OK with the onboard sound; but I'm not 100% sure. I'm tempted to go back just to make sure, but at this point I'm almost afraid to. Maybe tommorrow I'll do another hard drive backup (image) and see for sure what happens with the onboard sound.

[Joeybear]

Craig,

Instead of editing my last post, I decided to post again, to get your attention, etc. Anyways...

Earlier today, I decided to try out DC6 on my video workstation; which is an identical hardware and software copy of my audio workstation; right down to the motherboard. When I had these two systems built (I was being lazy at the time; instead of just building them myself), I specifically opted to have them be identical in every way.
HOWEVER... there is one big difference between the two systems. Can you guess what it is? You're right... it's the M-Audio Delta 66 card (in the audio system). My video system uses the onboard mobo sound, etc. Per my instructions to the builder, there was never any M-Audio card installed in the video system; only in the audio system.

After installing DC6, and updating it to 6.14, I'm happy to say that the program is running perfectly. I've deliberately tried to crash it, I've tried to "confuse" it, and I've tried to duplicate every problem/situation I was having on the other system. So far, DC6 hasn't even blinked. And it gets better. I didn't even have to go into the soundcard tab in Preferences. DC is working fine, without any tweaking.

BTW, I'm still waiting to hear from M-Audio.

[Craig Maier]

Hi again,

I am glad to see that you narrowed it down. At least you can now move forward; hopefully, the sound card company will have another driver that you can use successfully.