Graphics Freezing In Pro Tools? You Need To Then Read This - Now Fixed By Avid
Over the last 24 hours, there have been numerous reports on the DUC and the Facebook Avid Pro Tools Users Group of Pro Tools graphics freezing for a time and then coming back. More often than not the audio will keep playing but MIDI will be interrupted. Here is an example that one user has posted…
It seems to affect computers running different versions of Pro Tools and different versions of the macOS including High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina.
Avid has posted this statement on their Facebook page…
“There is a particular issue today whereby graphics inside of PT will randomly freeze for a couple of seconds every so often whilst the audio remains in tact and plays fine. A solution which has been found to work is to disconnect your internet from your computer and the issue should be resolved. I experienced this issue today along with other members that posted in this group as well as members reporting the issue in the DUC. Avid is investigating the cause of issue and where it resides. I will post an update in due course. Thanks and stay safe.”
Based on our studies of the various posts, initially, there seem to be 2 workarounds…
Disconnect From The Internet
The most reliable workaround appears to be to disconnect your Pro Tools computer from the internet. In general, this doesn’t cause too many problems as long as you are not using iLok Cloud. But if you are using iLok Cloud your only solution is to move your license back onto a physical iLok before disconnecting your Pro Tools computer from the internet. This is because iLok Cloud needs an internet connection to occasionally check with the iLok servers that you have the appropriate licenses in your iLok account.
Trash Your Pro Tools Preferences
Some users have reported that trashing their Pro Tools Preference has fixed the issue. Although you can do this manually, unless you know exactly which files to delete and where they are on your Pro Tools computer, you could do more damage. We recommend that you use the free app from Pete Gates PT Prefs to trash your Pro Tools Preferences.
UPDATE
More work has been done and it has been narrowed down to Pro Tools sending anonymous diagnostic data back to Avid. Disabling this option seems to resolve the graphics freezing issue without the need to disconnect your Pro Tools computer from the internet.
Do Not Give Permission To Send Anonymous Data To Avid
When installing Pro Tools, as part of the install process you are given the option to send anonymous data to Avid or not. If you choose Not then it seems that you don’t need to turn off the internet. Initially, the suggestion was to uninstall and then reinstall Pro Tools so that you could disable the anonymous diagnostic data to Avid option. However, Julian has experienced this issue and based on the advice offered in the comments on this post from Johan Englund and Michael Carnes, Julian tried the suggestion of switching off “Send Anonymous Pro Tools Usage Data To Avid” in the diagnostics section of the Operation tab of the PT preferences. This appears to fix it. We recommend that you try it, if you are experiencing these issues and let us know whether it works in your case.
Un-check Send Anonymous Pro Tools Useage Data To Avid
UPDATE - It’s Fixed
We understand this and a second problem were both issues with Avid Cloud Services. Avid has just posted two announcements on the Avid Pro Tools Users Facebook group…
Sign-In Issue
There was an issue with the platform that meant that some users might not be able to sign-in on Pro Tools First, Pro Tools and Pro Tools Ultimate.
“⚠️UPDATE⚠️ 2:35 EST
SIGN IN issue has now been FIXED. Please let us know if the same sign-in issue occurs.”
Then Avid announced that the Graphics Lag issue had also been resolved…
“UI random freezing should now be fixed. You can turn back on ‘Send Anonymous Pro Tools Usage Data to Avid’ or leave it unchecked. Thank you all for your patience.”
So you can reconnect your Pro Tools computer to the internet, re-enable the “Send Anonymous Pro Tools Usage Data To Avid” option. All should be back to normal now.
Avid Release A Statement To Explain What The Issue Was
We asked Avid to give us a statement to explain what was behind this issue and they told us….
The interruption was due to communication with monitoring servers that had unexpected behaviour. The issue was solved quickly once understood.
It Seems iLok Was Affected Too
During the early stages of this issue, there were some suggestions that iLok was causing it so we reached out to PACE, the makers of iLok, and although PACE software was not the cause, they were also having problems over the weekend. They told us in an exclusive statement…
“There was a temporary brief period of time over this past weekend where any software utilizing iLok Cloud-based licenses for authorization could have experienced decreased performance. Users should no longer be experiencing any issues related to that matter now.”
Want To Read More?
Check the Avid Pro Tools Users Group on Facebook
There are also two threads on the DUC…