it won't reload completely

Cubase
1

I was going thru the Quick Start guide learning the ropes. I left the computer with Cubase active for a couple hours. When I came back there was no response from Cubase.

This has happened at least once before in the last week since I got this new computer HP Pavillion Slimline 6 G ram Quad Core @1.5 GHz. It’s running Windows 8.1 (problem child) but that’s no problem since I learned how to start everything from the conventional desktop/startup screen. (looks like Win 7 or Vista)

I then ended up going to the Metro Win 8 screen trying to close Cubase so I could restart it. This ended up in the blue screen BSOD. A common occurance it seems on this machine. I then shut down with the power off button on the computer. Now when I reboot and try to open Cubase I only see the long rectangle (don’t right now know the name) toolbar, the one with the counter ( 1.1.1 0) the start and cycle buttons and the right and left channel counters on it.

Is something messed up or do I just not know how to restore the main work screen? I have put a quick start icon for Cubase in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and when I hover the mouse over that I see a screenshot of the Cubase main work screen but regardless of what I do that screenshot won’t open to the actual main work screen. This was happening all the time with all the icons when I was trying to use the Win 8 Metro route. I can open the Win 8 Charm icon for search and I get the menu of Cubase LE 6 files but that also will only open that start stop counters rectangle. I’ve rebooted at least twice now with no improvement. What should I do? The store said I have 15 days in which to return the computer for something different like maybe one with Win 7 but I don’t really think that is the problem. Thanks for any help!

2

Sort of an educated guess here but…
The BSOD indicates, usually, something at the device or driver level. I suspect the sound card.
Are you using a USB audio interface? If so, it could be that after the extended down time, the USB ports are powered down to save energy. The driver would lose communication with the device and become unstable. There are some power settings that prevent the USB ports from ever “sleeping”
HTH
J.L.

3

I’m not using any interface yet. I have the Tascam 1800 waiting.

4

If you are only seeing the Transport Toolbar (the one with the start/stop/counter, etc.) then maybe you just need to open a project to see the main window. If things are acting strange still, you could try to re-install Cubase. I am fairly sure the computer is not the problem. It is most likely something else installed on the computer. Look for any programs that run in the system tray. For example, some programs will have system tray applets that check for updates, look for a device to be plugged-in, etc. I also don’t think Windows 8 is a problem (other than getting used to the different look). If you are comfortable, I recommend going into the Control Panel and uninstalling unecessary bloatware, if there was any that came with the computer.
HTH
J.L.

5

I’ll do all that. I did a system recovery which wiped out Cubase entirely so I’ll do a reinstall. Thanks