Sound disruption

After I play for about 10 minutes, my screen goes black, the sound stops, then after 2 to 3 seconds it all goes back to normal. I usually keep playing right through it with no problems. If I were playing for church, this would be a major problem.
The disruption occurs with every organ on my computer. I have a PC, Windows 7 Professional-64Bit, 24GB Ram, also a Presonus Audiobox.
Does anyone know what may be causing this and how to fix it?

Could there be a little short guy with a pointy hat pulling the plug out of the wall?

Probably not.

Run DPCLAT.exe or other delayed process call latency measuring software and see if your computer is going to never never land for about 2 seconds and then returning to normal processing. Find the Hauptwerk recommended settings for the least streaming audio interruptions in your setup and also something called 'black viper'. The problem may not be in that group but it will at least eliminate a bunch of stuff.

Also check your Hauptwerk Audio/MIDI Window to see if the Audio CPU is showing a lot of movement with peaks into the red. This indicates an audio driver problem.

Usually these problems are easy to cure but very difficult to find.

Thomas

Could the black screen and audio loss be caused by a screen saver or power saver
kicking in. I have had this problem with windows when downloading very large files
which can take a long time.

The "saver" kicks in, the screen goes black and the download fails. This is because if
you are not using the keyboard or mouse the computer thinks you have gone away and
left it -- so it shuts down. You can use the control panel to adjust these settings from the
defaults to something that is more suitable to the way you use the computer.

csw900

[mdyde]

Hello Jack,

To add to others' replies, we have a document that covers troubleshooting PC audio issues here:

https://www.hauptwerk.com/news/tutorials-computers/2013/02/10/operating-system-and-pc-optimizations/

If it happens when the screen goes black, then I agree that it might suggest something related to a screen-saver or other power saving functionality. If the PC is a laptop then make sure it remains connected to the mains power whenever using Hauptwerk (or audio/MIDI in general), and try disabling all Windows and motherboard BIOS power saving functions.

Have you tried Caffeine http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/caffeine/index.html
or Mouse Jiggler 1.6 http://mousejiggler.codeplex.com/
to keep the computer awake?

Re Caffeine - If you have problems with your PC locking or going to sleep, caffeine will keep it awake. It works by simulating a keypress once every 59 seconds, so your machine thinks you're still working at the keyboard, so won't lock the screen or activate the screensaver.

Re Mouse Jiggler - Mouse Jiggler is a very simple piece of software whose sole function is to "fake" mouse input to Windows, and jiggle the mouse pointer back and forth.

Useful for avoiding screensavers or other things triggered by idle detection that, for whatever reason, you can't turn off any other way; or as a quick way to stop a screensaver activating during an installation or when monitoring a long operation without actually having to muck about with the screensaver settings.

Here is a CNET review https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-keep-your-computer-awake-without-touching-the-mouse/

Both utilities are free; Caffeine's developer accepts donations Either one is superior to messing with power settings. Esp useful for long downloads, too.

Rgds,
Ed

Thanks for all the help guys. I had already turned off screen savers, programs that looked for updates, deleted programs I wasn't using.
I found Win Sweeper online and ran it. It apparently found a latency problem. I have played it 3 times anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour and there has been no disruption. An extremely annoying problem appears to be gone.
Again, thank you so much for your help.

I looked for "Win Sweeper" online. Very interesting. Can you provide more details? Many thanks!!

-Jerry

[mdyde]

Hello Jack,

Thanks for the update and glad to hear it's working properly now.