Help, OS Crashes, Dropouts and DMP files

Cubase
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1

Hi,

From lots of dropouts, to Cubase Pro 14 producing a dmp file on project close, to several OS Freeze forcing a manual shutdown, been a bad few days. Different projects, same mess.

I’ve (again) investigated dozens of posts here on the forum (thanks Fese from 2022 and many others), I’ve looked for updates for plugins, I’ve updated Visual C++, I’ve tried all kinds of OS tweaks listed in posts.
I’ve also send this info to NI, IK, hoping for some help.

From the dumps :

  • why is OSNAME Windows 10 when I am on Windows 11?
  • how to interpret the “Unable to verify checksum xxx” messages ?
  • anything you see that I could test ??

My specs :
Win 11 64b Alienware 17 R5 Intel i9 8950 16GB RAM GeForce 1070 Focusrite 8i6 1st gen

These dmp files are just today.

Cubase 14.0.31 64bit 2026.3.28 12.35.48.901-freezedump.dmp (2.2 MB)

Cubase 14.0.31 64bit 2026.3.28 18.20.01.336-freezedump.dmp (1.7 MB)

Cubase 14.0.31 64bit 2026.3.28 20.19.13.379-freezedump.dmp (1.9 MB)

I will try the ProcDump procedures later.
I’m really hoping for a solution, anything to keep working on my music.
Cheers !

2

Sharing my investigation notes in case it’ll help someone.
Found a piece of software to find Win 11 crashes logs :

In there I have piles of logs, gonna share just a few, first for CUBASE

Process File Event Name Event Time User Name Exception Code Exception Code Description Exception Offset Fault Module Name Fault Module Version Process Path Report File Size Report File Path
Cubase14.exe Stopped working 3/28/2026 6:51:21 PM All Users 0xc0000005 Access Violation 0x00bbdac0 BIAS X.vst3_unloaded 1.2.1.60122 C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase 14\Cubase14.exe 62,834 C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_Cubase14.exe_91d29a6804d5684ceee34945b598428c486f920_f432fa05_53e5c95e-842c-48ae-8cbf-8d18d8761c37\Report.wer
Process File Event Name Event Time User Name Exception Code Exception Code Description Exception Offset Fault Module Name Fault Module Version Process Path Report File Size Report File Path
Cubase14.exe Stopped working 3/28/2026 6:51:18 PM All Users 0xc0000005 Access Violation 0x0000aa83 ntdll.dll 10.0.26100.7920 C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase 14\Cubase14.exe 62,774 C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_Cubase14.exe_3d2445e61f5faa154dd7c8bde8eb52f815546a_f432fa05_b424aa1c-7be9-42bc-bd30-a1efc6ca10fc\Report.wer

THEN for MediaBay Server

Process File Event Name Event Time User Name Exception Code Exception Code Description Exception Offset Fault Module Name Fault Module Version Process Path Report File Size Report File Path
SteinbergMediaBayServer.exe Stopped working 3/26/2026 12:08:02 PM All Users 0xc0000409 The system detected an overrun of a stack-based buffer in this application. This overrun could potentially allow a malicious user to gain control of this application. 0x000a4ace ucrtbase.dll 10.0.26100.7623 C:\Program Files\Steinberg\MediaBay\SteinbergMediaBayServer.exe 34,554 C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_SteinbergMediaBa_a1413c93ab97b1837318793c2c94f18f844bf517_5b67dde9_14016aac-0158-4a1d-b9a1-54c39af2fa32\Report.wer

Then NI Access also in those logs

Process File Event Name Event Time User Name Exception Code Exception Code Description Exception Offset Fault Module Name Fault Module Version Process Path Report File Size Report File Path
Native Access.exe Stopped working 3/28/2026 9:19:03 AM All Users 0xc0000409 The system detected an overrun of a stack-based buffer in this application. This overrun could potentially allow a malicious user to gain control of this application. 0x000a0a21 addon.node 0.0.0.0 C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\Native Access\Native Access.exe 37,836 C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_Native Access.ex_180dc64b8802cdc6e79127f21d3cb9428cee37_234dfed8_65103cf7-217e-4bd5-89d8-ab02ae553a61\Report.wer

Not sure if that’ll leave any clues to figure out what’s going on.

3

Another possible (weird) clue, I had in Event Viewer a VMICTimeProvide time has stopped issue.
Wondering if it could be a weird Win location issue (I am working from China) with time difference, or heck, multiple language settings on my keyboards. (I do have some projects names in Chinese, yet no paths name in Chinese).

4

Only replying to this one for now: Simply ignore them.

1 Like
5

Because the internal product name of Windows 11 is actually still Windows 10. Apparently this was done on purpose by Microsoft for compatability reasons so that stupid software wouldn’t fail to installed because of an “unsupported” OS :slight_smile:

Not sure about your crashes, your dumps always show an IK Multimedia product in the stack trace, in conjunction with some mutex locking stuff in the c++ runtime. Have you already tried simply reinstalling the IK Multimedia stuff? Maybe they will install the runtime their plugins need, and something has happened in between with that.

What do you mean by “updated Visual C++”? Programs need the c++runtime they are build against, so the newest ones won’t always help. You could try going to Programs in Windows settings, look for the c++ redistributables and repair them.

6

I saw msvcp140.dll appear in the dmp and Googled it, saw was linked to Visual C++ Redistributable, so tried to reinstall these.
I admit I’ve been a bit desperate as I’ve had issues on and off for, well, years. I’m trying to finish my first album, putting all my heart and soul into it, I want to do this.

PS thanks a lot for your posts, I used your 2022 post to learn about WinDbg and dmp files. Your support means a lot to me and everyone here ! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Now gonna reinstall all IK stuff to see.

PS I may have some improvements after removing all Killer network programs from loading (Win search services, disable all Killer entries). Still dropouts and dmp files but so far no big OS crash.

7

Here’s a solution that could save you lots of troubleshooting - hear me out:

go the Chat GPT, type in your problem, and feed the Proc Dump files into it.

You’d be surprised at what solutions it can offer. I did it for my own Cubase problems it pointed out the real culprit for me.

9

Hi,

2 of the freezes come from IK Multimedia AmpliTube:

ntdll!NtWaitForAlertByThreadId+0x14
ntdll!RtlpAcquireSRWLockExclusiveContended+0x14b
ntdll!RtlAcquireSRWLockExclusive+0x4d
msvcp140!mtx_do_lock+0x70
AmpliTube_5+0x15f08ea

The 3rd one comes from Bus Compressor:

ntdll!NtWaitForAlertByThreadId+0x14
ntdll!RtlpAcquireSRWLockExclusiveContended+0x14b
ntdll!RtlAcquireSRWLockExclusive+0x4d
msvcp140!mtx_do_lock+0x70
Bus_Compressor_v6+0x53ac5a

So I would recommend to update all IK Multimedia plug-ins and get in touch with IK support.

10

I did already get in touch with IK, BUT :

1- I’ve worked on these projects for months, IK products have been there from the start and I’ve had extented periods without problems

2- I’ve got other projects with IK products that don’t seem to generate dropouts or crashes

So I’m afraid blaming IK is a bit simple. I have dozens of dmp files, highlighting multiple plugins. Are they all to blame ? Or is there something between Cubase and my particular setup that is causing issues ? For example the way Cubase handles multiple CPUs, or even graphics ? This is the harder question, yet the valuable one as some people would migrate away from Cubase if they suspected a lack of stability.

Plus the fact I removed Killer internet services and had a few improvements also opens another door into how Cubase handles web connections for plugins to call home, etc.. I get it is a highly complex setup. I wish there was more unified guidance from Steinberg as to how tweak one’s Setup for performance, linking company formal advice with curated forum content.

11

Well thank you for this excellent suggestion, I had never thought of it.
I tried with Copilot and wow, it does generate very organized very comprehensive reports.
I now have lots of actionable things to check or try, very useful…
If anything comes up I’ll post here my findings. Thanks again Teo.

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