Issues: "Unexpected DSP overload" and Registration Loop

[LCS AUDIO]

Greetings All
Firstly I would like to thank the community for providing relevant insight and assistance to the world!

System
WIN7 Ultimate 32bits
Scope V5.0 (latest 5.0 version)
Gigabyte X58 UD4D
i7 920 CPU
Hyper X Memory
No overclocking
PCI X1 Graphic card
1x 15 DSP card
1x 14 DSP card
Sync plate
Apogee Big Ben clock

1- Every now and then I have these "Unexpected DSP overload" and/or "PCI buss..." messages. This can happen when the DSP are loaded at 5%, 90% or anything in-between while the card is in use or not while Scope software running.

This is not clock dependent, internal, external, ADAP, AES etc
Instruments loaded or not, processor loaded or not.

2- Upon starting the Scope software I sometimes end-up in "registration" request loop, in which I am asked for the keyfile yielding to "Import succeed" then right back into "select board" then keyfile etc... endlessly or until I close and restart the Scope software.

3- Sometimes a message suggests that the STDM cable #1 is not properly connected.

The 5 cables are brand new and before inserting the hardware I meticulously cleaned all contacts with alcohol, both PCI and STDM.

4- "System lost communication with PCI Board #1, could be resolved by reloading DSP" But it never works, I have to close the software and restart.

All these behavior can be present wether I loaded SCOPE in administrator mode or not. Also present with 1 or 2 cards, (except for STDM cable message, of course)


Any precedents and possible explanations/solutions?

Thanks

Eric

[garyb]

bad cable whip?

reseat i/o card and clean contacts?

bad s/tdm cable?

[LCS AUDIO]

Hi Gary

I tried reseating and re cleaning all contacts already no fix. What is strange is that sometimes I can work 5 hours with no issues, other times any of the issues mentionned above can be there every 5-20 minutes..

Thanks

[garyb]

have you closely inspected the cable whip? flexed it with Scope open to see if you get an error message? reseated the i/o daughter card? checked for irq conflicts? i don't think this is a software issue, it could be heat or more likely a malfunctioning power supply....it could even be a card that is dying...

[LCS AUDIO]

have you closely inspected the cable whip? flexed it with Scope open to see if you get an error message?
A-reseated the i/o daughter card?
B-checked for irq conflicts? i don't think this is a software issue,
C-it could be heat or more likely a malfunctioning power supply....
D-it could even be a card that is dying...

Hi Gary

A-Indeed if I move the breakout cable a bit I get an error message. Strange as teh cards are tightly in place and well screwed-in.
What does this suggest?

B-For IRQ conflict the days of Win98 where we could play around with IRQ allocation are long gone, I remember I used to always manage to get IRQ 11 for the audio card.
I read a bit and in Win7 it seems we can only prioritize IRQ, no more hardwired allocation

C-The PSU is in good working order and is about 3 times the power required by the computer. As for heat, a thermal sensor on 1 of the DSP indicates between 47-53 degrees, is this acceptable? The CPU is at 42.

D- dying card(s) the symptoms are the same with either or both cards, that would be a real dissapointment.

Thanks for your assistance

Eric

[garyb]

A-it mean's there's probably a bad connection in the d-sub or even a broken wire inside the insulation. inspect.

B-you can disable things like usb controllers in the device manager. you can also disable unused ports and devices in the bios. you should be able to clear up most shared irq problems. things like pci busses and other system devices usually won't create a problem. to know, you'd need to check system information. programs\accessories\system tools\system information\hardware resources\conflicts/sharing.

C-the power supply is PROBABLY ok, but if the other fixes don't help, you'd want to prove the theory.

D-that does make a bad card unlikely...

how about hyperthreading and more importantly, power stepping for the cpu? i7s are great for audio, but only if the power stepping is disabled. realtime audio won't wait for the cpu to wake up from it's slumber at idle. you want the cpu turned on at all times. at least, disable EIST and C1 state.

one other thought, a bad wordclock signal, either in the bigben(very unlikely)the cable(hmmm) or the syncplate might make some of these errors. you might inspect the syncplate to Scopecard cable. wiggle it a bit with the computer on to see if clock in the sample rate window is intermittant. the kitchen sink is next...

[LCS AUDIO]

Hi Gary

I have revised the cooling scheme and brought the DSP's temperature down by about 10 deg C and so far it is all rock solid, thanks for the advices,

So far so good!

Eric

[garyb]

[tomylee]

did everything work out well? was the temperature the cause?

[LCS AUDIO]

Hi tomylee

So far it is almost 100% solid. I might have an unexpected PCI error once every 10 days and it gets resolved by pressing "try" to reload the DSP.

All is cool now, thanks for asking.

I recently realized that I could have bought an XITE-D for roughly the same price as the 2 14DSP cards but with less total i/o's.

My question then becomes could I eventually add an XITE card whose resources would simply add to the existing 2x PCI cards? Giving massive DSP and i/o's?

If so... hum hum hum..!

Thanks for the help I got in here!

Eric

[tomylee]

well how much did you pay for a 14dsp card with standard plugins?

[garyb]

the XITE-D is a great bargain!

you can use an XITE and pci cards together, but they will be seperate systems. there is no way to connect the pci cards with the XITE which is pci-e except for the analog, ADAT and sp/dif-aes/ebu i/o....

[soylent.green]

Regarding the registration loop: I've had the the same problem with xtc mode. While starting cubase, it was an endless count of registration dialogs for each and any individual plus-in.but after getting thru all registrations once everything works now.

[LCS AUDIO]

Greetings All

The "DSP Communication.." and other artefact started again after a few days. I contacted Sonic Core who mentionned that they are no longer supporting the PCI cards as far as repairs go.

I was dissapointed but understood their reasons for doing so.

I browsed this forum quite a bit and found posts describing similar issues.

As suggested I used a white pencil eraser to clean all contacts on both cards and since 5 days bow I can load all 30 DSP to full capacity wihtout a single hitch, all is rock solid.

Many Thanks to this community!

Eric

[Eanna]

Hi, you still in good shape with your setup there?

[LCS AUDIO]

Hi, you still in good shape with your setup there?

Greetings Eanna

Indeed all is well. The setup has been increased to 4 PCI cards for a total of 51 DSP and is very stable. I have added an Amek 42 ch mixing desk that I just finished recapping the 3200 electrolytics (!) and use all the i/o's I can put my hands on. Added 4x Bantam 96 points bays on EDAC90 multis. I can use up to 58 analog and/or AES simultaneously. I also got a Z-System 32r digital router to help with patching the AES lines.

Yes much fun!

Thanks and Happy New Year

Eric