Freeze-power button only option?

[Pathfinder]

EDIT:
OK Sorry I can not give better info. I am trying. Nothing will shut sonar down except the power button. I understand, too vague... well it's the best I can do.................Sorry!

Re installed CWby BL and it is doing the same thing?

Forgot-I am still using the free Sonar until I can work out how I want to pay. Control+escape gets me to the start menu but shutting down STILL requires the power button...........
Also after forced shutdown, Sonar is NOT RNNING according to the task manager yet when I open it I do NOT get the countdown for the free tier?????

well I sure wish I could have stayed on win 10, but..........Posted a while back about upgrade from 10 to 11 pro and sync and other issues. Core parking was the biggest issue pointed out.

I did that and a few others like usb putting pc to sleep, etc, et. Not too many.

So either my win 11 install is screwed or the focusrite 18i20 4th Gen control 2 update and hardware FW update are the issue.

Opening certain projects (very random-Dead freeze...taskbar end task, Also, even when they open it takes a while screen switching from cursor to spinning circle and back again until it opens. NOTHING but the power button will end the freeze. When I reboot and open sonar it does not go thru the Free waiting period countdown. This leads me to believe Sonar never shut down.
I am very bummed. I haven't seen any complaints or issues from others about the Focusrite update........120 days ago before win 11 pro and the 18i20 4th gen updates I was fine.

I will apoligize in advance for my typing, my spelling is fine but my typing skills are terrible

Edited Sunday at 03:41 AM by Pathfinder

[Pathfinder]

60 views but no one has a single idea? What have I done to deserve this treatment from the forum? 

[Bristol_Jonesey]

FWIW, I'm getting all sorts of weird things happening with Win 11 on my laptop but nothing so far is affecting Sonar.

Good luck!

[Colin Nicholls]

31 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

What have I done to deserve this treatment from the forum?

Some kind of coherent narrative can help with the response count

[David Baay]

13 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

When I reboot and open sonar it does not go thru the Free waiting period countdown. This leads me to believe Sonar never shut down.

I haven't tried using the free tier with an unsubscribed Bandlab account so don't know what the expected bahavior is with regard to the countdown, but nothing survives a cold boot so I'm guessing that either the countdown is only triggered after some minimum time has passed since the last use or some registry key is not getting set properly when the Sonar process is killed.

I would guess the root of the problem is some interoperability issue with the Focusrite driver - e.g. Sonar waiting for a reponse to its request to close ports.

[Pathfinder]

2 hours ago, Colin Nicholls said:

Some kind of coherent narrative can help with the response count

Well Colin perhaps the fact that I am a disabled combat vet with severe CML(Chronic Myeloid Leukemia) and as yet not fixed Anemia (that would be red blood cells that carry the vital needs of your body and brain) accounts for my not being able to express my self better than I have...  I truly hope you never have to go thru this. I guess you will never understand will you? 
 

[Pathfinder]

2 hours ago, David Baay said:

I haven't tried using the free tier with an unsubscribed Bandlab account so don't know what the expected bahavior is with regard to the countdown, but nothing survives a cold boot so I'm guessing that either the countdown is only triggered after some minimum time has passed since the last use or some registry key is not getting set properly when the Sonar process is killed.

I would guess the root of the problem is some interoperability issue with the Focusrite driver - e.g. Sonar waiting for a reponse to its request to close ports.

I believe so also but cannot get Focusrite support chat today, well not yet anyway. In a 2 day period I installed win 11 Pro upgrade from win 1o Pro and then updated Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen drivers and firmware per focusrite notifier and website? Very strange.

Thanks David

[Pathfinder]

3 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

FWIW, I'm getting all sorts of weird things happening with Win 11 on my laptop but nothing so far is affecting Sonar.

Good luck!

Yes I would love to have stayed with Win 10 Pro but I figured for updates, security and fixes I needed to go to 11. 

Thanks Bristol

[Pathfinder]

I did find this a minute ago:

Focusrite 18i20 4th Gen issues reported by users include phantom power problems, Auto Gain malfunctions, freezing in Focusrite Control 2, and a cross-talk issue in some units. Some users noted a 50 Hz noise on all channels and a power-related problem where the device sometimes fails to power on. Focusrite has released firmware and software updates, but some units may require a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA). Users can find troubleshooting steps and software updates on the Focusrite support website. 

EDIT: Wonderful... I do still have my 18i20 3rd gen in a closet, so I guess I can do that. Sadly the new Focusrite Control 2 is the reason I bought a new one. It is so much better than 3r gen, for me anyway.......

Edited Sunday at 07:31 PM by Pathfinder

[Pathfinder]

OK-Even if I am talking to myself here goes;
Hooked up the 3rd Gen 18i20 after completely removing, per focusrite instructions ALL of 4th gen stuff.

Worked for 2 projects and then just did the SAME THING..........I hate to reinstall win 11 pro BECAUSE I have so many apps and vsts that have WORKED FINE forever.

But since some projects cause the freeze and others don't I don't get to see what VSTS are used in the projects if that was the cause.

So win 11 pro upgrade and 4th Gen 18i20 were the only NEW things that were done right before this started I guess it was the win 11 pro upgrade.

 

Edited Monday at 01:36 AM by Pathfinder

[Jeremy Oakes]

11 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

OK-Even if I am talking to myself here goes;
Hooked up the 3rd Gen 18i20 after completely removing, per focusrite instructions ALL of 4th gen stuff.

Worked for 2 projects and then just did the SAME THING..........I hate to reinstall win 11 pro BECAUSE I have so many apps and vsts that have WORKED FINE forever.

But since some projects cause the freeze and others don't I don't get to see what VSTS are used in the projects if that was the cause.

So win 11 pro upgrade and 4th Gen 18i20 were the only NEW things that were done right before this started I guess it was the win 11 pro upgrade.

 

Sounds like a very specific system issue, so here's my 2 Euro Cents ...... No need to re-install W11 in this modern world. You can do an in-programme repair now (disclaimer : I've never done it, its at your risk because> see next phrase which has always worked for me).

Try this first :

Open a Command Prompt as Admin :  Start Button > type in CMD in the seach box > right click on the CMD exe file shown and choose Run as Administrator > if you throw up a UAC click YES > type the following in the Window where the cursor is winking at you  : sfc /scannow > (note the space before the / ) then press enter and let it do its thing. If anything is wrong with your W11 files (corruption) they'll be downloaded and installed > re-boot and your W11 should be good to go.

Also, close down any un-necessary apps when running Sonar. Run your A/V then make sure your it EXCLUDES (ie no longer scans) the main Cakewalk folder, and the vst folder (if its elswhere other than in the Cakewalk root folder).

J

[Pathfinder]

6 hours ago, Jeremy Oakes said:

Sounds like a very specific system issue, so here's my 2 Euro Cents ...... No need to re-install W11 in this modern world. You can do an in-programme repair now (disclaimer : I've never done it, its at your risk because> see next phrase which has always worked for me).

Try this first :

Open a Command Prompt as Admin :  Start Button > type in CMD in the seach box > right click on the CMD exe file shown and choose Run as Administrator > if you throw up a UAC click YES > type the following in the Window where the cursor is winking at you  : sfc /scannow > (note the space before the / ) then press enter and let it do its thing. If anything is wrong with your W11 files (corruption) they'll be downloaded and installed > re-boot and your W11 should be good to go.

Also, close down any un-necessary apps when running Sonar. Run your A/V then make sure your it EXCLUDES (ie no longer scans) the main Cakewalk folder, and the vst folder (if its elswhere other than in the Cakewalk root folder).

J

SFC found nothing, did that the other day. So late last night I did the repair install win 11 feature. It too hours but did complete. and things like core parking , which I disabled , were back on and so were the usb hubs allowing sleep-which I KNOW I disabled them so it definitely put windows back to o it's original state. I will check the A|V app-bit defender-I know I have all CW folders excluded but not sure about the VSTS folders. I also found d w quite a bit of info about easeus apps doing lots of stuff in the background so o really don't need them so I un-installed the 2 easeus apps-key finder and backup. I have other back up programs. I need to set up the Scarlett 4th gen again.
Thanks Jeremy for chiming in-I sure appreciate it.... I will post back when I get everyday setup again.

[Bass Guitar]

On 8/24/2025 at 8:57 AM, Pathfinder said:

60 views but no one has a single idea? What have I done to deserve this treatment from the forum? 

This forum has been shrinking in the core group of people who used to help. Most can now be found on other forums. 

It is common to have way more views than answers. I often go months without answering questions on most of the forums I belong to. 

Im answering this as I feel like you are focusing on only a few things like W11 as well as your interface. I am sort of doubtful about that actually being the problem. 
 

Focusrite drivers have always been very good quality. And most certainly W11 is working well for just about everyone. 

Having any apps running on startup is often asking for trouble with audio and video software. While troubleshooting disable everything including 3rd party AV. 
 

Many people have been having issues with the new Sonar and crashes. Who knows what the cause is because it seems to be different for each person. 

A majority are caused by plug ins that used to work but now don’t. Reading the crash dumps will quickly determine that. 

But then like me many others have mentioned the crash dumps point at Sonar.exe. Staff seem to only have one solution which is to perform a clean install.
 

Rarely seems to work. Didn’t work for me. 
My solution in the end was using Sonar Platinum which has not crashed yet. 

So not sure if you have that option but if you do I recommend that as a way to troubleshoot your issue. 

An easy way to test your ASIO audio system is to simply try a different DAW. 
You can PM me if you need any help with that. 
It’s odd that this is the only Daw forum I know of that bans mentioning other Daw’s. 

I sympathize with you because I went through a similar situation last fall. 

Edited Monday at 08:03 PM by Bass Guitar

[msmcleod]

@Pathfinder -  There are a number of things that could cause Sonar to be slow / hang on shutdown:

1.  Plugins with large sample libraries taking ages to unload their samples (Kontakt is known for this)
2.  Plugins hanging during unload
3.  Audio or MIDI Drivers hanging when attempting to close them
4.  Anti-virus / Cloud sync software hijacking files Sonar is trying to write to
5. A bug within Sonar itself.

if it happens again, please give it 10 minutes or so to check that it's not reason 1.

If it's still not closed down, use these instructions to grab a dump file, upload it to a filesharing size (it'll be BIG), and PM the link to @Jonathan Sasor.

This should enable us to isolate where it's hanging, which will help us find the cause.

 

[Pathfinder]

4 hours ago, msmcleod said:

@Pathfinder -  There are a number of things that could cause Sonar to be slow / hang on shutdown:

1.  Plugins with large sample libraries taking ages to unload their samples (Kontakt is known for this)
2.  Plugins hanging during unload
3.  Audio or MIDI Drivers hanging when attempting to close them
4.  Anti-virus / Cloud sync software hijacking files Sonar is trying to write to
5. A bug within Sonar itself.

if it happens again, please give it 10 minutes or so to check that it's not reason 1.

If it's still not closed down, use these instructions to grab a dump file, upload it to a filesharing size (it'll be BIG), and PM the link to @Jonathan Sasor.

This should enable us to isolate where it's hanging, which will help us find the cause.

 

Thanks very much for chiming in msmcleod..........Much appreciated. I am just now getting ready to test the repair install of win 11 Pro and Sonar and the removal of easeus key fonder and easeus backup because they were also installed around the time this started. I really don't need them anyway.It's 10:20pm here in East coast time.

I also believe I have never given it more than 4 or so minutes to start-I will watch that also.

I do have 2 dump files and they are, well huge 3.5mb and 4mbs.

Edited yesterday at 02:21 AM by Pathfinder

[Pathfinder]

6 hours ago, Bass Guitar said:

This forum has been shrinking in the core group of people who used to help. Most can now be found on other forums. 

It is common to have way more views than answers. I often go months without answering questions on most of the forums I belong to. 

Im answering this as I feel like you are focusing on only a few things like W11 as well as your interface. I am sort of doubtful about that actually being the problem. 
 

Focusrite drivers have always been very good quality. And most certainly W11 is working well for just about everyone. 

Having any apps running on startup is often asking for trouble with audio and video software. While troubleshooting disable everything including 3rd party AV. 
 

Many people have been having issues with the new Sonar and crashes. Who knows what the cause is because it seems to be different for each person. 

A majority are caused by plug ins that used to work but now don’t. Reading the crash dumps will quickly determine that. 

But then like me many others have mentioned the crash dumps point at Sonar.exe. Staff seem to only have one solution which is to perform a clean install.
 

Rarely seems to work. Didn’t work for me. 
My solution in the end was using Sonar Platinum which has not crashed yet. 

So not sure if you have that option but if you do I recommend that as a way to troubleshoot your issue. 

An easy way to test your ASIO audio system is to simply try a different DAW. 
You can PM me if you need any help with that. 
It’s odd that this is the only Daw forum I know of that bans mentioning other Daw’s. 

I sympathize with you because I went through a similar situation last fall. 

Hello and THanks for the info-Yes I do have Sonar Platinum installed. I actually have ALL my sonar and CE W cds, well back to CWPA days.

Edited yesterday at 02:20 AM by Pathfinder

[Pathfinder]

I am truly at a loss. I did email jonathan Sasor but I am not sure if the dump file(s) are too large. 3,5mb and 2.9mb........Same freezes in CWbyBL as in newest sonar. Sonar Platinum opens everything fine?

[Pathfinder]

I have no idea what to do with the dump files..........

 

Edited yesterday at 03:48 AM by Pathfinder

[57Gregy]

6 hours ago, msmcleod said:

 use these instructions to grab a dump file, upload it to a filesharing size (it'll be BIG), and PM the link to @Jonathan Sasor.

 

32 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

I have no idea what to do with the dump files..........

 

A file-sharing site like dropbox or one drive.

[Jeremy Oakes]

6 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

I am truly at a loss. I did email jonathan Sasor but I am not sure if the dump file(s) are too large. 3,5mb and 2.9mb........Same freezes in CWbyBL as in newest sonar. Sonar Platinum opens everything fine?

Zip them.