I think he's referring to something like "Windows rot" which I think is just one of those urban myths. The only thing that might get cluttered is the registry but there's tools to clean it up. We need to remember digital doesn't age...although capacitors are another matter.


My own theory here, as users get more experienced / confident they build more complex projects and push the "stability envelope" of Vegas.

Bob.

NO no no . . ! Seesh. I'm not referring to Windows Rot . . OK? . . . I mean at the time when W7 was installed, the chances are that the PC box itself was CLEAN and free from fluff and muck. And it was only NOW, some year or two AFTER the install that the PC has been chugging along nicely that NOW the pc is straining.

Purely airflow/mechanical not program driven.

OK?

G

I have been having problems with VP12 hanging during renders. Closing VP12 with task manager and restarting VP12 generally solves the problem. I also have VP11 on the same system and never see hanging during rendering.

Paul

Soooo.... Have a look inside your PC?

G

once upon a time i'd hop on my harley to blow the cobwebs out. now i do it with a bloody vacuum cleaner ever couple of months or so.

talk about becoming an old fart......

Got it Grazie...didn't cross my mind that people aren't cleaning the dust out of their PCs on a regular basis. I mean you got to do it people. I do it twice a year and I'm not sure but 3-4 times a year is probably better.

Erik

Most importantly are vents, especially the front vent.

I installed HDD Sentinel to monitor my HDD health, and I can keep the HDD temperature under control, when it is going higher in average, around 38C-41C, time to clean it.

You may be on to something but in my case (excuse the pun) I recently added a new 2 TB drive and gave everything a thoroughly good clean plus it has a new CPU fan installed so dust, heat or even power supply (750W) isn't (shouldn't) be the issue.

I have now taken to frequently, but not always, rebooting the PC before a large render. So far I haven't noticed and issues after a reboot - coincidence? Could be.

All this is pretty easy to test.
Programs such as SuperPi, HyperPi and y-cruncher will stress your CPU very nicely.

Bob.

So if I start seeing render failures with the message "FAM render failure" I should be aware it's caused by the dreaded 'fluff and muck' failure? ;-)

Speaking from my own experience, I'd say it's a real possibility. Moving to AVCHD and GPU assistance has placed stresses on my system that never existed before.

I now run my box with the side panel off and turn on an external fan which blows into the unit when rendering. Plus, regular air hosing to remove dust build up from fan blades and circuit boards. Just good basic maintenance but something I was not as concerned about when DV was my main workflow.

Also, upped the power supply which made a big difference in render failure rate. Branded computers in particular are as strong as their weakest link and many of them have one.

tom

What Bob said.
Check your system stability using a core stress test application. This will show up any hardware problems relating to dirt or underrated fans etc.

Or if you just want to monitor all your cores, try CoreTemp free.
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

If you start to get temperatures of 85 degrees or over, you could be in trouble and may need a good clean out, a better fan system, or general service.

Power supplies: for today's Pcs with i7's and high performance GPU cards - you will need no less than a 800w supply. Start mounting more internal hard drives and you may end up needing 900 - 1Kw. The GPU's information booklet will state the minimum power requirements. Best to exceed that.

As a real world example, i had a 650w in my machine before i installed a GTX570 GPU card. Sometimes the machine would not start at switch on. Thats a sure sign of power failure. I upped to a 850w and cleared the issue instantly.
However after saying all that, My system has been 100% stress tested, Memtested and runs all other apps without fail - but Vegas 11 and 12 trial both do fail under certain circumstances. So dont be fooled into thinking Vegas issues are just down to your hardware - thats not the case, but they should be ruled out.

Hope this helps.

Paul.

Also, upped the power supply which made a big difference in render failure rate. Branded computers in particular are as strong as their weakest link and many of them have one.
In my experience that is often the power supply as they seem to install the lowest rating that they can get away with.

I don't know why this is, but a backup and restore does wonder for a Window hard drive's health. I just moved to a bigger hard drive, and after the restore, Windows 7 is running better than it has in over a year. My recycle bin is back and useable among other things.

@monoparadox:

Tom,

FWIW, running with the box open may not be the best solution. There is a front-to-back/top airflow design that keeps heat flowing away from components, esp. hard drive stacks and Power Supply. With the side off, even though you are using an external fan, there can be eddys and pockets of heat buildup that are not being as efficiently reduced.

< ")%%%><(

I have the exact same problem. It only happens when rendering my HDV projects to DVDws file (.mpg2 720x480 at 16:9 aspect). I have had no lockups when rendering to a Blu-Ray file. My system was new in May and built specifically for Vegas. Never had this problem in V10. I don't think the dust here cares if I render to DVDws or Blu-Ray. I'm using an AMD Radeon HD6870 display GPU.

You're right about that and anyone should consider that possibility if they decide to go rogue. ;-)

I'm sure different situations could yield less than optimal results. Measuring GPU and CPU temps are important to help determine whether it's wise.

tom

Got it Grazie...didn't cross my mind that people aren't cleaning the dust out of their PCs on a regular basis. I mean you got to do it people. I do it twice a year and I'm not sure but 3-4 times a year is probably better.

I dust and clean every 1-2 weeks, but I have been accused of being OCD. Never had much of a problem with 32- or 64-bit VP11. VP12 is chugging along nicely too. Even NB Titler Pro is playing nicely with VP12. But all that good luck could be due to the nature of my rather simple projects combined with my relatively barnacle-free computer.