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Below are some general setup and troubleshooting tips for Windows XP and Pro Tools 6 & 7.
Compatibility:
- Verify your computer is supported and that your system meets all of the minimum requirements. You can find compatibility information (processors, chipsets, hard drives, operating systems, requirements, etc.) in the Support section of the website under Compatibility:
http://www.digidesign.com/compato/
Verify that you have the Minimum/Suggested amount of RAM installed in your system. You can find this information in Control Panel > System > General.
Setup:
- Follow the instructions in your Digidesign product "Getting Started Guide" to configure Windows XP for use with Pro Tools LE. If you do not have a hard copy of the guide, you can download a copy from the Digidesign Technical Document Library.
http://www.digidesign.com/support/docs/
- To Adjust Processor Scheduling Performance:
Choose Start > Control Panel. In Classic View, launch System. Click the Advanced tab. Under the Performance section, click the Settings button. Click the Advanced tab. Under the Processor scheduling section, select the Background Services option. Under the Memory Usage section, select System cache option. Click OK twice. You will need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Troubleshooting tips:
* Note, Norton Ghost is highly recommended, as it lets you save your system in a working state and easily revert to that state should you accidentally disable anything that your computer needs.
- Disable device drivers
Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager. In the Device Manager window, double-click Network adapters for example, then right-click the Network Adapter device driver and choose "disable" (leave any 1394 net adapters enabled). Repeat these steps for any other device drivers that are suspected of conflict with Pro Tools LE. Customize your PC to startup with only the device drivers you want enabled by setting up a Hardware Profile in System > Hardware > Hardware Profile.
* Notebook users will typically need to disable wireless network adapters for smooth performance in Pro Tools LE. Some newer model notebooks also require that the Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery device driver be disabled for smooth performance in Pro Tools LE.
- Disable System Startup Items and Services
From the Start menu, choose Run. Type 'msconfig' and click OK. The System Configuration Utility opens. Click the Startup tab and uncheck all the items except the item named "MMERefresh" (this is a Digidesign Startup item). Click on the Services tab, and you'll see a 'Hide all Microsoft services' checkbox at the bottom - ensure this box is CHECKED, then select 'Disable All.' Now uncheck the 'Hide all Microsoft services' box, and you should see the list of services refresh with some default services and a green check in their box. Click 'Apply' then 'Close'. It will ask you to restart - do so.
This article is to give a more in depth troubleshooting tecnique than just the "trashing the prefs" article gave. This was originally posted on the DUC.
Using host processing for recording is much cheaper and easier, but at the same time can result in more problems with regards to compatibility and reliability. The easiest thing to do is just buy a dedicated hard disc recorder...but some of us actually like using Pro Tools from time to time :)
Hopefully this article can give you some insight on things to try when your new LE setup isn't working the way it should be.
E-mail me with any questions/comments.
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