Windows forced an update and now nothing works.

thequietroom · 12-07-2018, 10:47 PM

Anyone else run into trouble with a recent update? My oc is so crippled i cant even troubleshoot it. I can see in the windows update history it failed an update the same time my pc went belly up. It takes about an hour to load a project.. and is useless when it loads.. unresponsive, doesnt play all the audio.. massive delays etc.

Quasar · 12-08-2018, 12:08 AM

Sorry for your troubles.

Just one of the many reasons I keep my DAW workstation offline and keep calling (alas, in vain) for people to resist software developers who mandate online licensing & activation.

mplay · 12-08-2018, 05:32 AM

Maybe you could try a post in gearslutz' music computer section, someone who works at Microsoft hangs out there (Peter is his name iirc). As annoying as the auto updat are, I really need my PC online. I do make sure I can restore previous versions and turned off automatic update for drivers. Do you have any backups?

mplay · 12-08-2018, 05:33 AM

I think by default windows 10 creates restore points. Maybe you can try that?

Coachz · 12-08-2018, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thequietroom

Anyone else run into trouble with a recent update? My oc is so crippled i cant even troubleshoot it. I can see in the windows update history it failed an update the same time my pc went belly up. It takes about an hour to load a project.. and is useless when it loads.. unresponsive, doesnt play all the audio.. massive delays etc.

What is oc? So it sounds like your PC does boot up what if you run the update again does it say that everything is up to date? Are you running Windows 10 or 7? Can you check the event log for any errors? Does Windows running normally or are there problems in Windows 2 or is it just Reaper you see slow project loads? Does it change when you turn off antivirus and malware software is? Are any devices disabled in device manager?

thequietroom · 12-08-2018, 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coachz

What is oc? So it sounds like your PC does boot up what if you run the update again does it say that everything is up to date? Are you running Windows 10 or 7? Can you check the event log for any errors? Does Windows running normally or are there problems in Windows 2 or is it just Reaper you see slow project loads? Does it change when you turn off antivirus and malware software is? Are any devices disabled in device manager?

The main symptom is my same libraries take forever to load (about an hour). This is on projects that loaded quickly prior to the update. It appears that it was still downloading something when the pc was crippled. I managed to get to the task manager without the mouse (mouse quit wirking). When i killed the biggest network process i got a message that windows update was interrupted. I rebooted and let it finish. It installed the update. Now the pc appears to work better (the mouse works at least) but even after letting a project load for an hour it wont play back without studdering and its barely responsive when in playback. For example the audio that does play is several seconds behind the play curser and not all the tracks play.

Sadly win10 doesnt create restore points by default.

Ill try other suggestions. Thanks. Sorry if there are typos, typing on phone since the pc isnt working.

EvilDragon · 12-08-2018, 06:02 AM

When a feature update installs you can revert to the previous version within 30 days, I think even on regular W10.

But in any case, long loading times for libraries sounds like Windows Defender scanning every file on load (unless you're using a different AV). Just add exceptions for your sample drives and should be fine again.

thequietroom · 12-08-2018, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

When a feature update installs you can revert to the previous version within 30 days, I think even on regular W10.

But in any case, long loading times for libraries sounds like Windows Defender scanning every file on load (unless you're using a different AV). Just add exceptions for your sample drives and should be fine again.

Thanks ED. I uninstalled the update, didnt help. But i noticed more things “ready to install” in my update list. Maybe its just a dog when windows is downloading stuff. Im goint to try and let it do the feature update again and see. Im using win Defender. For kicks I scanned with a trial version of webroot. Not seeing any malware. I only use this thing for music, but my teenager has been on it (thats scary lol).
Ill try your tip on excepting my sample drive

Thanks again

ivansc · 12-08-2018, 08:02 AM

Suspect I have the same issue. Win updates do seem to delight in messing with my audio devices but its usually just a case of resetting the speaker outputs (I have four sets currently, so not too bad) but this time Win seems to have decided that whilst I can use all my internal audio/recording etc stuff, I am not allowed to hear the audio on Amazon Prime stuff I am watching. Always a pain but usually easy to fix. Found this 5 minutes ago and dont have time for it now. Maybe when I get home from tonights gig...
Just notice my standard font size has been shrunk, too!

mccrabney · 12-08-2018, 08:04 AM

sounds a little like hard disk failure, which could have also caused the windows update failure. might not be the update at all, as justifiably paranoid we can be about them

karbomusic · 12-08-2018, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mccrabney

sounds a little like hard disk failure, which could have also caused the windows update failure.

^This or... the built in AV can cripple a machine for some time if there is a sudden download/extract of GBs of files and it tries to scan them all. Step one when struggling is open task manager and see if it is CPU or Disk bound and if defender is the one using all the disk/CPU or not - also check the disk response time, read and write speed under the performance tab in task manager while a project is slow to load etc.

Secondly, review the application an system event logs: right-click start > run > eventvwr.msc > windows logs > app and sys

_Stevie_ · 12-08-2018, 08:26 AM

As good as Windows 10 is... The update policy is horrible. The only thing that really helps IMO: regular backups, so that you can restore to the last working installation.

Dex · 12-08-2018, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

Suspect I have the same issue. Win updates do seem to delight in messing with my audio devices but its usually just a case of resetting the speaker outputs (I have four sets currently, so not too bad) but this time Win seems to have decided that whilst I can use all my internal audio/recording etc stuff, I am not allowed to hear the audio on Amazon Prime stuff I am watching. Always a pain but usually easy to fix. Found this 5 minutes ago and dont have time for it now. Maybe when I get home from tonights gig...
Just notice my standard font size has been shrunk, too!

Yes, Windows resets my audio driver settings every time it updates. Check your audio settings and make sure they're what they're supposed to be!

thequietroom · 12-08-2018, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dex

Yes, Windows resets my audio driver settings every time it updates. Check your audio settings and make sure they're what they're supposed to be!

Yes this was part of it. But I think mostly it was the update. It ACTUALLY never finished until afternoon today.. so it took a day or so to do the update. Only after about 12 hrs longer than after the update screen said it was done, I finally got the reboot screen and after THAT reboot, I had to new Edge icon on me desktop and the "New features" page came up in Edge.

It seems to play the project ok as far as I can tell... still seemed to take a long time to load but maybe its this new orchestral library and im just not used to how long it takes.

Thanks for the tips all

thequietroom · 12-08-2018, 11:38 AM

I think I would rather have Microsoft just put a splash screen up that says "Your getting this update whether you like it or not.. and your computer will not work 'till its done.. go camping or somthing.. your done here for a while"

Than pretend that it can do it in the background...

mccrabney · 12-08-2018, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Stevie_

As good as Windows 10 is... The update policy is horrible. The only thing that really helps IMO: regular backups, so that you can restore to the last working installation.

i am definitely not a fan, but i have to admit that i've only had problems that are indirectly a result of my own weirdness and legacy preferences as a cantankerous user. i've had far more issues with Linux and Android updates breaking a system / my general prefs than Win10 (i've never used Apple or iOS professionally, so i can't speak to those)

Steviebone · 12-08-2018, 02:02 PM

Here's a thought. Keep your DAW offline. Avoid Win updates. If your DAW works why do you need to update? Cause MS wants you to? I opted to avoid WIN 10 for as long as possible. Every day I read more and more about WIN 10 updates ruining people's day. I use my DAW computers for one thing and one thing only. They work. They rarely, if ever, need any form of Win update.

If you are using your DAW for other purposes and must be online with it then you are screwed. In addition to dealing with MS forcing stuff on you, you MUST have antivirus and other disk/cpu hogging resources running, diminishing your DAW's performance potential.

Computers good enough for Web browsing/email are dirt cheap. $100 on Craigslist. Consider saving yourself considerable headache/heartache and make your DAW a single purpose machine. Set it up once and forget about it.

If you MUST consolidate function then make sure to make regular IMAGE backups. Restore points are a good first line of defense but they often fail and are easily infected by viruses. Really, it's much easier to use your DAW machine just like any other piece of musical gear. Do you expect your amp to do tinder for you? Just because your DAW machine CAN do other things doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Just my .02. I'm sure someone will flame me with a blowtorch. Have at it, I'm wearing asbestos underwear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quasar

Sorry for your troubles.

Just one of the many reasons I keep my DAW workstation offline and keep calling (alas, in vain) for people to resist software developers who mandate online licensing & activation.

This...

Coachz · 12-08-2018, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steviebone

Here's a thought. Keep your DAW offline. Avoid Win updates. If your DAW works why do you need to update? Cause MS wants you to? I opted to avoid WIN 10 for as long as possible. Every day I read more and more about WIN 10 updates ruining people's day. I use my DAW computers for one thing and one thing only. They work. They rarely, if ever, need any form of Win update.

If you are using your DAW for other purposes and must be online with it then you are screwed. In addition to dealing with MS forcing stuff on you, you MUST have antivirus and other disk/cpu hogging resources running, diminishing your DAW's performance potential.

Computers good enough for Web browsing/email are dirt cheap. $100 on Craigslist. Consider saving yourself considerable headache/heartache and make your DAW a single purpose machine. Set it up once and forget about it.

If you MUST consolidate function then make sure to make regular IMAGE backups. Restore points are a good first line of defense but they often fail and are easily infected by viruses. Really, it's much easier to use your DAW machine just like any other piece of musical gear. Do you expect your amp to do tinder for you? Just because your DAW machine CAN do other things doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Just my .02. I'm sure someone will flame me with a blowtorch. Have at it, I'm wearing asbestos underwear.

This...

I run Windows 7 here and I'm lucky enough to control when I do updates

ivansc · 12-09-2018, 02:27 AM

A quick update: My prob turned out to be the usual one - Windows randomly chooses what are my default speakers and since it isd guessing between four possible pairs from my RME interfsace, only two of which are connected, it almost always picks one of the two that are not connected. Funny thing is that I hadnt realised the REAL default selection still works in Reaper & in fact anything that isnt using its own drivers, just the Windows internal audio and anything like Amazon Prime.

I take the attitude that all software has its idiosyncracies, so once you figure them out it become a mild inconvenience at most.
But if I ever meet whoever took over from Gatesy, I will have a few words for them.

karbomusic · 12-09-2018, 03:15 AM

If you leave 1/2 open, and assign the OS to that, when it gets confused it should default to 1/2 because it's the first one in the enumeration (it typically assumes there are only 2 channels). This is why I always set reaper above 1/2 for the outputs and let the OS have 1/2.