Third Take

I wrote in June about my DAW developing a chronic BSOD problem out of nowhere, and figuring out the problem was caused by Microsoft’s “Software Distribution Service 3.0.” Well, last week the BSOD-reboot started happening again. The first few times, I made like an ostrich and pretended it didn’t happen. Tonight, however, it happened while I was mixing and I lost an hour’s work EQing guitar tracks and de-essing vocals. You can bet that I was angry. Read more

The dreaded BSOD – Blue Screen of Death – seemed to be only a myth, a thing of legend on my DAW. I’ve happily recorded on this computer for a couple years, and I’ve never had any problems with stability. Then, out of nowhere, the BSOD reared its ugly head. I hadn’t changed any hardware or software settings, but was consistently getting blue-screened and rebooted while playing audio from both Sonar and Windows Media Player.

I finally traced the problem to a recent Windows Update – something called Software Distribution Service 3.0. I used System Restore to go back to a restore point before the update, and the problem disappeared.

My recent hard drive crashes gave me the “opportunity” to start over from scratch and reinstall everything. I chose not to use Windows XP x64.

x64 worked, it was stable, and I got a lot of work done on it. However, my list of complaints has grown long over the last couple years:

1. Cakewalk has dropped support for it in new versions of Sonar
2. Microsoft treats it like a stepchild
3. Waves doesn’t support it
4. Antares doesn’t support it
5. Toontrack doesn’t support it, and in the past few EZ Drummer updates, the groove audition tempo has been broken
6. M-Audio only kinda supports it
7. Bit-Bridge worked 98% of the time. The 2%, while rare, was frustrating

When I built this DAW, I went with x64 and 64-bit Sonar because I wanted to be on the cutting edge. I knew there would be some compatibility problems, but I believed that Microsoft and Cakewalk were standing behind this platform. While it did work very well, I’ve felt like both companies let me down in the last couple years. I paid a lot of money for x64, an OS that has been largely abandoned as a prototype or proof-of-concept OS.

So, now that circumstances have forced me to start over, I decided to go with good old 32-bit Windows XP Professional as my operating system. I am already enjoying updated M-Audio drivers, a working EZ Drummer, and a few plug-ins that wouldn’t work under Bit-Bridge. x64 is no more.

I had two hard drives in my computer – both Western Digital Caviar SATA drives. One was for programs, and the other was for Sonar audio data. The audio drive died around the first of the year, and I had a miserable time getting it replaced under warranty.

The other drive, with my programs on it, died this week.

It’s also under warranty, since I bought them at the same time. When the audio drive died, I could at least use my computer for other things while waiting on the warranty replacement. This time, the computer is dead until I get a new drive and reinstall Windows and all my software. I’m not sure I can wait a month for Western Digital to fulfill their warranty obligations.

I think I’m just going to buy something else. And it won’t be Western Digital.

My hard drive that crashed – a Western Digital Caviar SE – did so under warranty. I am in the process of trying to get it replaced by Western Digital. I created an “Advance Replacement” RMA on December 31. It is now two weeks later, and they still haven’t shipped a replacement drive. Their website says only that my order is “delayed.” I can’t get a human on the phone.

It is bad enough that I lost some work because a hard drive failed just over 2 years after I bought it. I had recent backups, so the loss isn’t that big – but it’s still annoying. But with this slow service, my studio has been out of commission for 2 weeks, with no ETA for the new drive.

I remember when Western Digital drives used to last a decade. I still have a 120 MB (yes, Megabyte) WD drive that works. But it’s not looking good for their new drives, or their customer service.

Anyone have good luck with another HDD manufacturer? I’m thinking about just buying another (non WD) drive at retail so I can get back to work.

Update: After several emails with customer support and getting escalated to a supervisor, WD finally made it right. They’re shipping me a replacement drive right away, that is actually a little better than the one that broke. Thanks, Western Digital.

Update 1/22: They finally shipped me a drive yesterday, 22 days after submitting my RMA.