# K2 Standalone crashing 1 of 2 identical PCs



## Mr. Anxiety (Aug 25, 2008)

I have a strange scenario happening. I have (2) identical PCs running the same program, Kontakt 2.2.1 standalone.

Strings (EWQLSO + Kirk Hunter + Sonic Implants) . Brass (EWQLSO + Project SAM) in the other.

My String PC randomly crashes throughout the work day, the other does not.
The only thing I notice is if I shuttle around in the edit window of Nuendo 3 quickly, it usually crashes soon there after, so I look towards midi data of some sort crashing the PC.
It typically reboots the PC. Sometimes it just crashes K2.

The only thing really different is the kind of scripts in each machine. I am now trying to pull out all of the scripting to see if that is it.

Any info/advice is much appreciated. It takes 3-4 minutes to load this PC every 20 minutes or so; really slowing down my workflow.

Thanks,

Mr. A.



Dual Core
Pentium D 3.2 Ghz 4 gb RAM Hammerfall Audio Card MOL 3.2.26 (current)


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## Hans Adamson (Aug 25, 2008)

Sustain pedal release may crash Kontakt if multiple instances of the same note's release samples are triggered..


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## Mr. Anxiety (Aug 25, 2008)

Thanks Hans - No sustain pedal cc info being written to this PC/K2. Not sure this could be the issue here.

Mr. A.


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## Nickie Fønshauge (Aug 26, 2008)

Why not try and update to the latest version (2.2.4) to see if that solves the problem. You can always keep a copy of 2.2.1 as backup if you like.


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## Mr. Anxiety (Aug 28, 2008)

So, I have a rather unique case going with my set-up.

I have (2) pairs of computers that are virtually identical. PCs, XP Home SP2 on one pair, XP PRO SP2 on the other pair.

They are all running the same software.


All are running Kontakt (2) are 2.2.1, the other (2) 2.2.4, running standalone.
All have MoL 3.2.6 for midi. 
They have an orchestral library loaded in each, but different sections in each i.e. Strings Brass WW Perc. They all have scripts installed SIPS 1.5, TKT 1.6, Nil's XFade to varying degrees.

BTW - I ran RamTest on all the machines, the ram all passed 100%.

One of each pair is crashing randomly as I work on Nuendo, writing a filmscore cue.
Can't get it to replicate with an action, but they are both crashing fairly often.

I have changed the midi set-up on (1) of the problem PCs to Midi on the Audio Card (WaveCenter), and the crashing has stopped in this PC. I am about to change the other problem PC to hardware MIDI as well.

I am running Nuendo 3 on my sequencing computer, which is running MidiOverLan 3.2.6, slaving these computers. Also, I have a Giga 3 PC, and another PC using VStack to host K2.2.1 and other GVIs, etc. These 2 PCs are not crashing. So, it 2 out of 7 PCs that are problematic.

Very strange. So, you ask why I am posting this? Well, I thought I'd share a very frustrating and odd problem with you all so you could, at least, say aren't you lucky this is not happening to me!

But, also to possibly see if anyone else can make head or tails of this scenario.

Developments to follow. Mr. A.


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## Thonex (Aug 28, 2008)

What audio card are you using? 

Also, when you crash... do you get a really load digital buzzing sounds coming from your crashing computer?

Does it go away when you turn Chase CC Data on Nuendo?

I've had some computers that crash when I seemed to use some scripts that involve a lot of x-fading and disk activity... but I was never able to repro it... but it seemed like when those scripts (they were my own) were not used... it was solid.

On the other hand, I could go months without a crasj like that... and then on some projects I was very susceptible to crashes.

I know I';m not helping 1 bit, but maybe I'll spark some kind of solution of discovery.
Best,

T


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## Synesthesia (Aug 29, 2008)

Mr. Anxiety @ Fri Aug 29 said:


> So, I have a rather unique case going with my set-up.
> 
> All are running Kontakt (2) are 2.2.1, the other (2) 2.2.4, running standalone.
> All have MoL 3.2.6 for midi.
> ...



Hey Mr A.. are you using any kind of VNC? I had problems when running MOL 3.2.6 and RDC at the same time, I think bottlenecks of midi data and screen data were causing a rush of midi events that were kicking the PCs over the edge..

Try running MOL on its own network (separate switch, no internet or screen sharing) and set MOL on the main PC to 'send immediately' to the problem machines.

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Paul


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## Mr. Anxiety (Aug 29, 2008)

Thanks Thonex,

I have Hammerfall cards in one pair of PCs, WaveCenter cards in the other.

The crashes are either complete re-boot of the computer, no messages, no nothing, or K2 freezes and sometimes spits out a buzz from the audio in use when it crashed.

I had this problem at the start of a film score over a year ago, switched 4 computers over to hardware midi, finished the project, then switched back to MoL to troubleshoot, and things seemed happy for almost a year. Done a couple of scores, etc. with no problems, now this, right in the middle of the score. Half the cues are written, so now I have to go back and re-port all of those tracks in all of those cues; not happiness!

Mr. A.


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## Andrew Aversa (Aug 31, 2008)

A random reboot of the computer sounds like either a power supply issue or a heat issue. Use a utility like coretemp or realtemp to monitor the heat of each computer under load and write down what you see. If you can, replace the power supply of the faulty computer and see if that makes a difference.

RAMtest is not the best test of memory... Memtest is preferable, which you must burn to a CD and run before your OS starts (it's a bootable CD.) You also should test each stick of ram individually with Memtest... 1-2gigs at a time.

I'm assuming you use Windows XP. Which version - home, pro, 32bit, 64bit? Regardless, XP is very stable. If the computer is completely freezing or restarting that is almost definitely a hardware problem, NOT software. I've had a lot of hardware problems this year so I'm familiar with many of these issues.

On the faulty computer, you should right click on "My Computer" and go to Manage. Then, select "Event Viewer" on the lefthand side and go to Application or System. Look to see if the crashes/reboots are listed here.


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## Ian Livingstone (Aug 31, 2008)

Mr A - you sure this isn't the same problem we both had last year with some strange Nuendo+MoL thing:-

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=86222

ie: "untick "Reset on Stop" in preferences/Midi menu"?

Sure brings back memories...

Ian


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## Mr. Anxiety (Aug 31, 2008)

Thanks for the responses:

Andrew, Sorry, I did use MemTest, which you boot up in front of the OS, which is XP Pro on this PC. I looked in the event viewer and no crash info there. Just a parallel port service error everytime I reboot from the crash. There is nothing hooked up to my parallel port BTW.


Ian, how are things? Yes it's me again, and the same problem again. And YES, I have "reset on stop" unticked. So it's not that, I'm afraid. This problem somehow went away for a while, only to return halfwat thru a film project, of course. There isn't anything installed on this PC either. It is purely a farm PC for music. No VSTis, except Kontakt 2.2.1 standalone. We do have the 3 gig switch happening, and that is why we are not on K2.2.4, which is unhappy with the switch.

This computer is not on the internet. It is only on a small gigabit network switch which connects only my music computers, 6 (PC)s and (1) Mac. So MoL should be happy with this set-up.

Still trying to get this. I really believe it's a midi data overload that forces this crash. 

Thanks again,

Mr. A.


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## Mr. Anxiety (Aug 31, 2008)

Oh yes, to Paul,

I am using a KVM switcher with all of my PC farm PCs. No VNC, although I think it is hooked up, I just do not use it.

I will check the master MoL computer to see if it's "sending immediately".

Thanks,

Mr. A.


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## Andrew Aversa (Sep 1, 2008)

> Andrew, Sorry, I did use MemTest, which you boot up in front of the OS, which is XP Pro on this PC. I looked in the event viewer and no crash info there. Just a parallel port service error everytime I reboot from the crash. There is nothing hooked up to my parallel port BTW.



This really does seem like a hardware issue. No software I know can reset your computer the way you're describing... freeze it up, maybe, but Windows XP is very good about reporting errors even with driver conflicts.

Have you tried RealTemp or CoreTemp to see what your temperatures are "under load" (eg. at the time of the crash?)


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## Mr. Anxiety (Sep 1, 2008)

Well, I had a complete day without a crash.

All I did was follow zircon's suggestion, above, of ticking "send immediately" in MoL on my master/sequencing computer, doing this only to the outputs to the problem PC.

I will continue to see how this plays out, but this could be a workaround so far. Why this is problematic is another issue. I have alerted Alexy at Musiclab about this, and awaiting a reply to why this might help my situation.

Fingers Crossed,

Mr. A.


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## Synesthesia (Sep 2, 2008)

(ahem..) you mean 'Paul's suggestion' :mrgreen: 

I figured that out when trying to work out why my 64 bit 8 gig monster running GS4 was crapping out at about 40 voices - then I tried send immediately and it leapt up to about 475 voices.

MOL3 sends 'packets' of midi data to optimise its use of the network - however this can result in huge instantaneous demands for loads of voices - at least that the way I imagined it. 

But it def worked over here, so its a good fix to remember!

Cheers

Paul


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## Mr. Anxiety (Sep 2, 2008)

Sorry Paul, I flubbed the credit there.

Unfortunately, I have been crashing today; must have spoken too soon. I am trying to get crash log files for Musiclab to look at, but there aren't any being generated. I unticked Auto reboot on that computer, and have crashed twice, but do not see the minidump file Alexy is looking for to evaluate.

Mr. A.


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