5 serious crashes this morning, Steinberg VST issues?

3 times CB has just disappeared today. No error’s, no crash drums, no indication at all what caused them. Just gone.
First crash i was adjusting the master volume in an Amp Sim pre-set. suddenly the audio got stuck and i had to force quit CB. Obviously losing my work.
Second crash. loading up Groove Agent 3 SE. as soon as it loaded, CB disappeared. Obviously loosing my work…again
I was adjusting either VST Amp rack or adding Groove agent SE to a fairly small project.
3rd Crash. No idea, just using CB as its supposed to be used. Obviously losing my work.
4th crash took my PC out and i had to reboot it using the button on the front. Obviously losing my work
Windows 10, CB 11 Pro, NEW GPU (GTX 970) so cant be related to any other issues ive had. No point ‘check your GPU’ replies.

This is the nonsense i got when i re started CB.


Cubase 11.0.20.371 64bit 2021.5.10 10.58.51.561.dmp (912.0 KB)

I looked up other crash threads (for Cubase 10) – it might help:

I notice the default response is:
attach the crash dump file located in Documents/Steinberg/Crash Dumps folder which you have done.

Also: try Cubase Safe Start Mode

Or reset preferences: Disabling the Preferences

I know you don’t want to hear it but NVIDIA graphics cards are flagged as a common issue too. I use a pretty old Quadro K600 myself and it’s fine:

Do the above as suggested.

Download the NVIDA studio drivers if they’re available

I would also take a look at your memory and do some diagnostics there

When was the last time you did a clean install of your OS? I try to do this almost every time I do a major DAW update - but that being said, I usually stay a year behind DAW updates.

Hi,

It’s a bit tricky with the NVIDIA driver (and Windows).

Please try this:

  • Download the latest Studio driver version from here.
  • Disconnect the computer from Internet to make sure Windows will not download and install own graphic driver.
  • Uninstall the NVIDIA driver.
  • Restart computer.
  • Start the NVIDIA driver installation (as administrator).
  • Don’t install the whole package, use the Custom (Advanced) settings.
  • Disable everything (don’t install NVIDIA Experience, PhysX, etc.), keep just the video driver enabled.
  • Connect your computer to the internet.

‘If’ this is GPU related - Why not just disable the GPU for Cubase rather than mess with system drivers?

I’ve ran Nvidia cards (GTX 1050, GTX 1660 TI & RTX 3070) on the standard driver with Cubase without issues. But it’s always disabled for audio work.

100% agree with getting the other bloat off though (Experience/PhysX etc.), I Had an MSI card that came with additional dragon center tools too (The 1660TI) - that was like rats poison on the system!!!

yeah I have an MSI laptop as a secondary to my studio dekstop and it’s junk.

First off, there are no studio drivers, why do you keep posting about these to everyone when they cant use them? isn’t it about time you looked at what cards are supported and not just give a blanket response all the time. im sure it would save you time and save others time when they go off to get them only to find they cant use them.

Why are we even talking about my GPU? as far as i can see this error says Cubase.exe, its not a graphics2d.dll issue.
Ive run numerous memory tests, GPU test, and system tests. i have no errors reported.

Please dont assume i dont know what im doing as far as installing drivers goes. i have the bare minimum of bloat, just drivers and control panel, and it was running perfectly until this morning. There is no indication that its the CPU, and thats why i asked can we not discuss it unless anyone knows this is the cause of today’s issues

ive been working fine since 5th May so and nothing changed at my end. All these issues are when using stock Steinberg pluggins.
Im now on my 5th crash. Same error as before. PC has been rebooted many times this morning.


Cubase 11.0.20.371 64bit 2021.5.10 12.08.53.606.dmp (843.1 KB)

This is why I Asked ‘if’ this is a GPU issue. The Studio driver being discussed is for 10xx series cards, so while it may generally be a helpful suggestion for those who don’t know what they’re doing, it’s misleading advice for your personally.

How long have your had your GPU? You say it’s new - is it new enough to be a factor for the crashes?

i.e. Running fine since May 5th isn’t a very long time, is that when your GPU was added?

Apologies if that sounds a rude above. it wasnt meant to be, but i dont want to talk about my GPU unless its the cause, which it isnt unless you know otherwise.
I’d have thought someone would have at least suggested i reinstall CB rather than my whole system, or get another GPU etc

Have you tried disabling it for Cubase using the windows option? That’s how i’d rule out the GPU - as it’s so simple to do. Just go into the Graphics settings in windows and you can browse for the Cubase.exe and set it to be power saving.

Thanks but ive listed my card as 9 series already, so the fact that the studio driver supports 10 isnt very helpful to me (and yes, i have tried to install it anyway).
Ive also said ive run numerous tests on the system and the card. no errors reported. Not sure what else to say.
Been using this card everyday since 5th may, no errors until today. nothing indicates its a graphics issue, at lest not the errors today. 5 days solid vs 4 crashes in 30mins (5 in one morning). id say say thats not normal. ive not had these crashes much before, but i have had graphics crashes a lot and these are not the same thing. Also none with this new card. its new to me, but not brand new. it came out of my sons gaming PC a while ago. been sitting around for about a year i guess.

Thanks for that link. ive heard about it but i haven’t tired it. ill give it a go.
Im not sure what you mean by disabling it for CB though. There doesn’t seem to be an option to specifically to tell CB not to use the GPU.

You just browse for the Cubase .exe file and set it to power saving and it will use the internal GPU for Cubase app. This option used to be part of the Nvidia control panel but Windows controls it now.

I had a quick look at your dump file and it’s a very generic Visual CPP access violation when trying to write to a memory pointer. i.e. Cubase looses the ability to read/write to that location mid process.

I think the first question is to ask if you’re running Cubase in admin mode (big no no), or have any additional tools running which may affect the ability to read/write to disk and/or memory? Has anything changed or any tools been installed in the past week?

If it’s only the GPU is the most recent change to the system then I’d be 90% sure it is related to it - so don’t discount this as the course so easily. The minidump would also lead me to believe that too, as graphics drivers are the most common cause when there’s no other answer.

What version graphics driver are you running, and is it the generic Nvidia driver or card manufacturer driver?

For reference these are the most critical indicators from the dump file, if you wish to research yourself:-

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:
NULL_CLASS_PTR_READ_c0000005_Cubase11.exe!Unknown

STACK_TEXT:
ERROR_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at 0x%p referenced memory at 0x%p. The memory could not be %s.

1 Like

Thanks for the reply and explanations. Very helpful.
I normally have the Nvida card set to performance in its control panel. Ill give your suggestion a go and see how things go. To be clear I’m not getting issues all the time, just a lot this morning. None since i posted about crash 5 though.

I’m using the latest Nvida drivers from their website, but i was using a slightly older version until Friday. I will go back to that. Thats the only pice of software ive put on my PC since the card went in. I normally keep everything up to date but i was advised to try the older one when i was getting graphics2d.dll issues. This error has not happened since putting the new card in though, so the only difference is the driver update.

Ive been using CB for around 6 hours a day since the 5th, and closed it this morning at 2am, along with the PC. Nothing changed over night and it was rock solid yesterday (and all weekend).

I am running in Admin mode. Ive seen posts saying it runs better, and i was having issues with the Protected Object Server process not closing down with Cubase/Wavelad/Halion. So I’d have to go in to task manager each time I wanted to run another Steinberg application. This is relevant to all of them.
I just tried in user mode and all my audio clips have ‘Image Construction Error’ messages on them. All of them other than one track for some reason. The Project plays fine though. I closed it down and opened in Admin mode and all was fine again. Tried going back and forth a few times with the same result, Is there a Cache i need to clear out?

Although i have no idea what previous crash dumps say, ive had these issues before today. These aren’t the first time, just normally more spread out.
Thanks for those error messages but I think ill leave that to those who know about all this.

Regarding the wav images. Im not sure whats going on.
I found a folder called Images in the Project folder. This had all the images in it. I deleted them all. If i open CB in user mode it will re create one or two, three at the max. Even in the Media Pool it shows the error.
When i open CB in Adim mode the images are all there, instantly. Even though i deleted all the image files from the folder, and they arent re created.

If you’re having to run in admin mode you’re simply taking the wrong route to fix an underlying problem at the Windows OS level.

In that mode you’re effectively splitting windows and Cubase into two different user scopes, when you add in third party plugins and processes into the equation you soon end up with the situation you find yourself. i.e. whereby where one process tells another process that x data lives in y location, if they’re not both in the same scope the second process fails to deliver.

You see, It’s no coincidence that I immediately asked if you were running in admin mode when I saw the minidump. Bare in mind that you can’t even drag and drop from windows explorer into Cubase because of the separation caused running the .exe in it’s own admin mode.

I’m not sure on the wav image issue, as I’ve never had that problem to know how to fix it - hopefully someone can help, it will be due to Cubase having different permissions than your windows user. This may mean different default environment variables too. Hence why Steinberg actively recommend to avoid using it due to ‘stability’ and ‘security’ issues.

Are you able to run Cubase in standard user mode to see how it compares over the course of a few days? While this week may see you having to fault-find and fix a few elements of your OS you’ll be left with a much stable install over the long-term.

Computers eh? Pain in the **** :slight_smile:

Thanks again.
CB is the first program ive had a many issues with. Ive been running in Admin mode for a few months, and while i have had issues, nothing persistent that lasts for too long. Today being a case in point. Not had an issue since this morning,
I had more issues in User mode than i have had in Admin. In fact it was very unstable when I first started using it. Even now POS wont close when Steinberg programs are closed, so I have to use task manager or try a few times to launch the program.
Ive set permissions to all for everyone and every profile, but it seems CB doesn’t want to know. There are no images in the folder, and yet the Admin version loads the project fine. User mode creates them but wont load them. Its as if the images are embedded in the wav files.

Going forward ill give User mode a go when i start the next Project. I cant get User mode to update the wav files. CB is creating the images, but it wont load them. Ive tried various things, inc moving the whole project folder. Nothing works. I dont understand the Pool well enough to replace the files so they are in the correct position, nor the time to end it them all if needed.

Yep, Computers are a real pain, but so is CB. Fantastic piece of software but so problematic IME. Nothing comes close to its features and stubbornness to work lol,

Ive sorted the image issue. I bounced all the tracks in CB running in User made and the images are now all there.
Seems strange i had to do that though but its all good now.

The GTX 970 isn’t exactly new is it? I mean, it’s not “old” either, but it’s not the current gen is it?

In my laptop I have the 960m, and it has issues. From what I’ve gathered, some of the older/previous couple gens of Nvidias do not mesh well with more recent Windows 10 revisions… but this isn’t a conclusive finding… just me connecting the dots from what others have said.

tbh mate, I’d probably to do a clean install from the OS and up.

Hi,

This crash happens in the Score/Drum Map area. Did you work with the Drum Map and scoring, please? Do you know the last steps?

1 Like

What do you class as ‘exactly’? I mean, ive had it for about a week, so its new to me, as ive already stated. I
I never said it was a current card, and it’s well above the spec of whats needed for CB and Windows to run.
I’m happy to be shown it is the card, but no one does this, its all guess work, and when you have no money, buying more hardware when you are already above the spec stated to run it is not an option.
Ive seen plenty of issues with other GPU chip sets, but Nvida seem to dominate the market so it stands to reason if more people have them they will keep coming up in conversation. I used the on chip Intel graphics for a short while, made no difference to how many crashes i was getting. So thats 3 so far since Jan. .
Until Steinberg official say I shouldn’t use one i see no reason not to, as long as it meets or exceeds the stated spec.

Martin. Yes, i was trying to get the GM drum map to work with a Halion kit. Ive never used that part of CB before, should i not have touched it :grinning:). I was just looking around in there to see what it all looks like and how it works.