Troubleshooting A Freeze Up Problem, When using Logic 7.2 I get freezeups... Options

[thegrapeguy]

When using Logic 7.2 I get freezeups on my G5. My setup is - MAC dual 2.7 G5, Logic 7.2 Academic, 4.5 GB RAM, 500 GB Seagate internal Hard Drive (7200.9) for audio storage, Mackie Control Universal, Motu Micro Express midi interface, Korg Triton midi'ed to the system to access sounds of Logic and software plug in that is increasingly becoming suspect in my problem - Ivory Grand Piano software. It is important to note I recently purchased this equipment and have no prior configurations to compare these problems to. Here's the problems I'm having:

With Logic up and Ivory as well as part of a common template I use, G5 goes to "sleep" as it should in periods of non use. A few times as I'm doing something else in the studio the fans on the G5 will go crazy and I will go over and try to wakeup the G5 by clicking mouse and it is full on frozen and I have to improperly power down.

While recording, for example, the system will just stop, emit a digital "rat a tat tat" steady sound and again it's a full on freeze. Nothing works, option apple escape has no effect, It's a freeze up.

One crazy time a track was in record ready and my client left the vocal booth to get water and at the exact he slammed the door shut to the vocal booth the system froze and emitted that "rat a tat tat" steady digital sound. Freeze up.

A few other times I hit the play button on the Mackie Control Universal and it does nothing and then 5 seconds later it starts, almost every other time it is immediate.

The most common annoyance is after an audio track is recorded when I hit the stop button a harsh "rat a tat tat" digital sound is emitted that stops after a second or two. I still get the audio data but it bothers the client in headphones. It sounds like something went wrong to my client.

Here is what I've tried so far:
Previously I had 2.5GB RAM and now after updating to 4.5GB RAM the problem persists. One Mackie Tech support told me of a persistent midi arpeggio signal the Korg Triton put out could be "tripping" the system. I turned it off on the Korg Midi page and problem persists. Apple tech support wants me to elliminate everything but Logic from the equation. So I took out the Mackie Control, the Ivory Grand Piano (didn't uninstall but just recalled a template that doesn't open Ivory)and although I have not experienced a freeze up I have experienced the annoying digital "rat a tat tat" when I disengage the record button.

Two things that enter my mind are when a friend helped me load in Logic Pro Academic 7.2 back a month ago he told me that at the end of loading in the last disc he saw an "error - installed improperly" thing pop up but it took the last of Logic in and my friend said it's probably nothing. He knew he loaded the discs in properly and we were successfully recording shortly thereafter (no freezeups the 1st day).

Secondly I have a drinking fountain in my waiting room that it's compressor kicks on so strongly that the lights dim in my room. It kicks on every 20 minutes or so. It is on a different circuit than the control room but dims the lights in the control room anyways. I have a Monster Power Conditioner for the G5, monitor, and audio speakers, but it is not a voltage regulator. After reading Camarao's plight with his problem which he determined to be an electrical surge changing a sample rate I figured it could be a factor. So I would ask what are the areas in my system where I can check the sample rates to see if they have changed after a surge from my water cooler? And specifically how do you check this?

Anything come to mind based on the info I have given you - Thanks in advance!

[gdoubleyou]

Door Slam? check to see if your RAM is installed correctly.

Temporarily remove all your plugs from the components folder. And switch to internal audio for troubleshooting.

Observe how Logic works in that state, if it appears to be stable add you audio interface into the mix.

Then add your plugs back one by one and observe.

Also try the set up manager, to create new preferences and autoload.

[edwardlee]

your mac should never go to sleep goto system preferences and click on energy saver set both faders to never
and uncheck put hard disks to sleep.

[thegrapeguy]

Thanks for the help and I'll do more troubleshooting today. I know I ran a check of the hard drives and RAM and it all came up fine.

[thegrapeguy]

It appears the culprit in my freezeups is the Echo Mia PCI Card. I broke the system down to just Logic and the Mac Core Audio. There were no freeze ups or glitches for 2 days. Then I added the Mackie CU with no freezeups or glitches. Then I added my Ivory Grand Piano software along with my Korg Triton midied to the system and no problems. I fear bringing the Echo Mia card back in... In doing a websearch I found a forum where others were having similar problems with the Mia Card. Not in Logic but in various other softwares.