Fellow MC users - I have had a trouble free system for a long time but yesterday, when about to start a new project, that all changed.

The PC that MC is on is dedicated for Video work, it has MC, AE7, DVDit and TMPGEnc on it. I have not needed or launched MC for about 2 weeks. I have used AE7 a few times though.  When not in use the PC is powered off.  Auto updates are turned off, no new hard or software have been added, Windows Defender is off, the OS itself is set  the way Avid instructs in the install docs.

When I attempt to launch MC3.5 it hangs at initializing audio.  I realize that this problem is all over the forums and there are several options to try, which I have.  Including the complete uninstall of Avid and reinstall to ver3.5.1.  The problem remained unchanged.

I spent a lot of time on the phone with Avid support, and we had no luck.  The case is being escalated and I don’t know how long that will take.  I hope someone here might have new ideas of things to try while I wait.

Feel free to contact me with your suggestions, and thank you for your time!

Dave

david.foster@studio911.com

My system is:

Avid= MC 3.5.1 with Mojo–

OS= Vista Business 64 SP1 –

Mobo= Intel D5400XS –

CPU= 2 Xeon E5405 @ 2.00GHz (8 cores total) –

RAM= 16Gb –

HDD 1 (pri)= Segate 250 GB SATA2 –

HDD 2 (Video)= Seagate 1.5 TB Baracuda SATA2 –

HDD 3 (Audio)= Seagate 1.5 TB Baracuda SATA2 –

Video card= Nvidia QuadroFX 5600 –

Sound card= Mojo is all I use, but the mobo has on board Sigmatel HDA –

Network=  onboard Intel Pro/1000 PL –

Misc= DVD burner attached via USB

So far I have tried (always with a restart)-

Windows mixer settings as described in these forums

Un then Reinstall with version update of entire Avid suite

Deleting mapped drives

Removing Mojo then letting OS refind it

Un then reinstall of digidrivers

Reinstall of Nvidia driver (as included with MC)

Adding “UseWindowsMixer” regkey

Restoring back to a point when I know MC worked (returned back to today’s point when failed)

Hi Dave

 the mobo has on board Sigmatel HDA

I would recommend to install a Soundblaster card, remember to disable the onboard one from bios

Restoring back to a point when I know MC worked (returned back to today’s point when failed)

I would never use the restore function on an editing sys, you might have to reinstall it all including the os after having used that if you are unlucky. Acronis and a usb drive is much much better.

mjolnarn:

I would recommend to install a Soundblaster card, remember to disable the onboard one from bios

Thanks for the reply!  The thing that gets me is that the system has worked fine for many months.  And this is my first big Avid issue since I became a user 7 years ago.

The engineers had me renaming the Avid MediaFiles folders today to see if they were corrupted.  We also forced legacy Direct Draw and disabled OpenGL - all with no Luck.

I also disabled the onboard sound card hoping Avid would see only the Mojo. I really only use the Mojo anyway and have nothing plugged into the sound card. But it didn’t either.

If a sound card will fix the problem it's money well spent.  Avid recommended and SoundBlaster Audigy, I cant seem to find that card here (old model maybe)  Any thoughts on the X-F1 Titanium?

Again, thanks!

Dave

"I also disabled the onboard sound card hoping Avid would see only the Mojo. I really only use the Mojo anyway and have nothing plugged into the sound card. But it didn’t either."

By this do you mean it didn't work? You probably need to remove the driver for the on board sound as well and reboot.

brainburst:

"I also disabled the onboard sound card hoping Avid would see only the Mojo. I really only use the Mojo anyway and have nothing plugged into the sound card. But it didn’t either."

By this do you mean it didn't work? You probably need to remove the driver for the on board sound as well and reboot.

Yes, I intended it to say “It did not work”.  Please excuse the typo.

I purchased a X-Fi Titanium sound card last evening and will install it tomorrow. The onboard audio remains turned off in the bios and I will follow your suggestion of removing the drivers for that device.

Thanks for the reply!

Same problem for me a few weeks ago with MC2.8 and 3.0.

Looks like it is related to the IE8 upgrade. Digidesign drivers are incompatible.

Do you have auto updates enabled in windows? I uninstalled IE8, went back to IE7, and downloaded chrome instead. Much faster and fixed the problem.

inspiritmedia:

I uninstalled IE8, went back to IE7, and downloaded chrome instead. Much faster and fixed the problem.

Yes, i wrote a warning thread a week ago when I noticed that IE 8 was on the critical auto updates for those having that activated on their editing systems  ( not recommended of course )

Maybe that thread should be pinned for some weeks so that more users could be informed about this .

Just a thought

inspiritmedia:

Do you have auto updates enabled in windows? I uninstalled IE8, went back to IE7, and downloaded chrome instead. Much faster and fixed the problem.

Thanks for the suggestion, I have auto updates turned off and I still have IE7 so I guess that is not the problem either.

Studio 911:

I purchased a X-Fi Titanium sound card last evening and will install it tomorrow. The onboard audio remains turned off in the bios and I will follow your suggestion of removing the drivers for that device.

So, did this fix your probs

No, there has been no change with the addition of the sound card.

Avid support is now suggesting:

 "Scan the system with a virus scan just to be sure you have no virus that something is messing things up.
Also, try making a new Windows user.
If you have a restore point, try returning to a point before the problem, or otherwise, try a dual boot and see if another Windows installation has the same problem (then we know if it is a hardware or software problem)"

And so my saga continues.

You have of course installed the latest drivers from creatives website but to be sure, check again.

For a start, install only the drivers and not any of all the extra apps that are brought together with the card or any of the apps from the website, just the drivers.

mjolnarn:

You have of course installed the latest drivers from creatives website but to be sure, check again.

For a start, install only the drivers and not any of all the extra apps that are brought together with the card or any of the apps from the website, just the drivers.

Yes that is exactly what I have done.

Further, there are no virus, spy or malware found on the system.  Adding a new user also didnt help.

It looks like a clean install of vista might be the only option left to try, uggghhhh!

Is UAC turned off and you are logged in as system admin

mjolnarn:

Is UAC turned off and you are logged in as system admin

I was on as admin, yes - UAC was on before the problem started (as the Avid docs state is should be)  I did turn it off a few days back to see if it would help, it did not.

I'll be wiping the drive and doing a clean install this morning.  I have put way to many hours into solving this and had to push back clients.

If you have any vista biz 64 tips I'd love to hear them since I'm starting fresh again.

Thanks for all your advice!