I Just Brought My DAW PC Back From The Dead!

[Elson]

I was going to post a PC issue but fortunately I got it figured out and I wanna share my solution.

I have an old PC. It was built in 2012. Intel i7, 3.60GHz, 16MB DDR3 RAM running Windows 10. Last major upgrades were in 2021, when I replaced the power supply, and in 2016, when I upgraded the C : drive to an SSD. But for recording music, it works just fine for my needs.

Anyway, back in May, as I was using the computer (something non-essential like web browsing/watching YouTube videos), I got a "This computer will be shutting down" pop-up, so I closed my programs and let it shut down. When I re-booted the computer, it shut down before fully booting up. Then it would turn on again, then shut down again. Uh-oh. I was a little concerned since was mixing down an album project, and while I was able to save and backup the mixdown files to a portable drive, I still was not happy with two of the songs, and really needed to tweak the mixes of those before I'm ready to get this mastered.

I thought it might be an overheating CPU issue, I used to compressed-air blast/vacuum my PC's innards to get the dust out, so I did that, and it turned on. But then after a couple hours, it shut off again. And once off, it would randomly turn on again, then shut off again.

I wondered, what could it be? The CMOS battery? It was low on voltage, so I replaced it. But still the same shutdown issues. The power supply? It's less than 3 years old, but still under warranty. But I got a power supply tester just to check for sure, and lo and behold, everything tested out just fine. 

Frustrated, I left my computer off for a couple months, until just a few days ago. Then I plugged all the cables back in, and fired it up. It did boot up, but after maybe half an hour of use, I got that "This computer will be shutting down" pop-up again. Argh.

Out of curiosity I did a Google search on shutown issues and was led to a Reddit thread about someone re-seating their RAM sticks and solving some shutdown issues. Okay, I gave it a shot. I removed my RAM sticks, shuffled them around and re-installed. 

I was able to boot up normally and use the computer for several hours. I fired up Sonar (I had to upgrade to the latest update) and was even able to finish rendering the revised mixdowns of those two songs I needed to finish since May. I also was able to back up all of the mixdown files to an external drive just in case the shutdowns continue.

I was able to use the computer normally and shut it down when I was finished. But a day later, the computer decided to turn itself on. Hmmm.

So I decided to do a more thorough cleaning. I removed the RAM sticks again, but cleaned the contacts with DeoxIT D5 contact cleaner (my local Guitar Center happened to sell the spray can and towelette wipes version) I used the wipes to clean off the contacts of my RAM sticks, as well as used a toothpick to guide the DeoxIT wipes through each slot of the RAM receptacles. And for good measure, I did the same with my video card. 

I'm happy to report my computer has been just fine ever since, no shutdowns or random power-ons. I'm a happy Sonar user again and best of all I can get back to making music again. Yes, I'm due for a new DAW PC, but I don't have the budget for it at the moment, and I've heard lots of horror stories about Windows 11, so I'll be a holdout on this computer until it really won't work anymore. 

[Starship Krupa]

Well done!

It's my policy to squeeze as much use out of a computer system as possible before retiring it. I "run the wheels off."

My next system after I've made one run as long as possible is never a brand new one.

Your system is probably an i7 3770?

An i7 3770 with 16G of RAM and an SSD should, IMO, run Sonar just fine.

There was just a discussion on the forum regarding Sonar's minimum system requirements. The amount of horsepower needed for Sonar to do its thing hasn't increased since it was SONAR. To the contrary, the devs say that during the CbB years they've only made the code more efficient. While features have been added, they're not of the sort that need a lot of resources.

When the time comes for Sonar to get stem separation, I'm almost sure that it will be like the stem separation in Next: it will use BandLab's stem separation engine, which runs on BandLab's servers. Next uploads the file to be separated to the server and the server sends back the stems.

The actual system requirements for having a good user experience in Sonar really depend on what and how many plug-ins you typically use and whether you're willing to use track freezing during the creation of your project. If you're doing audio-only projects and stick to bread and butter FX like compression, EQ, modulation, and reverb, then your system should be good for some time to come.

Even if your process is more like my current one, using all virtual instruments and creative effects for sound design, if you favor virtual instruments that aren't doing a ton of physical modeling, it's still a viable rig, without even needing to freeze tracks.

[Xoo]

My rule of thumb for upgrade is do it when you can get about *2 the power (for an affordable amount) of you current one.  That's worked pretty well for me over the years, although now it wouldn't be that affordable 🙂

[Elson]

11 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Well done!

It's my policy to squeeze as much use out of a computer system as possible before retiring it. I "run the wheels off."

My next system after I've made one run as long as possible is never a brand new one.

Your system is probably an i7 3770?

An i7 3770 with 16G of RAM and an SSD should, IMO, run Sonar just fine.

I have an i7 3820.

Never had an issue with the new Sonar. Or any Cakewalk DAW for that matter (I think it was Sonar X1 when I originally built the system). I'll upgrade when I have the money (I don't right now, lol). 

I also use a MacBook Pro for live performance (I'm the kind of guy who prefers PC desktops and Mac laptops, that's just how I roll...) and run Reason 12 on it as a VST/RE host and sequencer for gigs, but my laptop is just as old (Mid-2012 15" MacBook Pro running MacOS Mojave). I'm starting to run into software versions that can't run on it, but it still pretty much works for what I need it for.

[Starship Krupa]

2 hours ago, Elson said:

I have an i7 3820

Oh awesum. I have a special fondness for Intel enthusiast battlewagons, witness my current i7 6950X. I got it and a cooler and MB for the cost of shipping from a forum dude who didn't want to have to toss it. It has 10 physical cores, so Sonar sees it as having 20 logical cores. At this point it should last me a while longer. I have it slightly 'clocked to 4.1GHz

That thing should last you until you finally retire it out of sheer boredom at having the same computer for 15 years.

Intel says that the standard clock on the 3820 is 3.8GHz. You're going easy on it at 3.6 though? It probably runs like a bat out of hell anyway. I mean, compared to how common wisdom thinks it should run.

I'd be tempted to re-paste the cooler and try to turbo it up to 4.0 or higher.

I somehow found a magic combination of BIOS settings that let my Dell Optiplex i7 3770 sit steadily at 3.9 all the time.

2 hours ago, Elson said:

I also use a MacBook Pro for live performance (I'm the kind of guy who prefers PC desktops and Mac laptops, that's just how I roll...) and run Reason 12 on it as a VST/RE host and sequencer for gigs, but my laptop is just as old (Mid-2012 15" MacBook Pro running MacOS Mojave). I'm starting to run into software versions that can't run on it, but it still pretty much works for what I need it for.

You are my kind of computerist indeed. Sandy Bridge PC and Intel Mac 4lyfe.

There are ways to get Catalina (or even later, maybe Ventura) on that MacBook, so don't feel like it's done for if some of your software is starting to complain.

Someone was poo-poohing my assembly of a 6th gen Intel system when 11th or 12th was already out, fortunately none of my apps care what generation my processor is. The OS does, but it can be fooled if I want.

You decide when your computer is obsolete, nobody else.🤨

I was watching a video about Four Tet, he was giving a seminar to some younger people interested in learning EDM production. I figured that he'd whip out a sleek wafer thin MacBook, plug it into a portable UAD Apollo, maybe hook up some airplane cockpit pad controller....

His system was a hopelessly funky Dell laptop, it looked like the stickers were holding the lid together. He ran a line out from its headphone jack into the board.  Probably using ASIO4ALL.

I hoped he was doing regular backups.