Last Updated : January 24, 2013 Products Affected :

DAE error -6042 PCI bus too busy during playback or recording on a Windows computer.

This error has many potential causes, all of which relate to overtaxation of your computer's PCI buss. The information provided below should resolve most occurrences of the error. * Make sure that all system hardware is compatible by checking the online compatibility page for your specific Pro Tools system at www.digidesign.com. Pay careful attention to the SCSI, expansion chassis, and dual monitor graphics card requirements. Systems using unsupported hardware are prone to -6042 errors. * Make sure all PCI cards are installed in the correct order in your computer or expansion chassis. Refer to your installation guide. * Dual monitor configurations utilizing a secondary PCI Graphics card are prone to -6042 errors and are not supported. * Hard drives that will be used for recording or playback with Pro Tools must be formatted correctly to ensure proper performance. Current drive requirements for your Pro Tools system are available at http://www.digidesign.com/compato under the Hard drive Minimum Requirements Section. You cannot record tracks to Jazz, Zipp, USB, Network or other unsupported volumes. * Disable optional hardware devices such as Modem, Network, Sound Cards etc. * Go to Start Menu > Run. Type in "msconfig" at the prompt and hit enter. In the System Configuration Utility Window choose the Startup tab, Disable any startup applications that are not related to the Windows Operating System. * The following Pro Tools Software adjustments will help reduce PCI bandwidth thereby decreasing the likelyhood of -6042 errors: - QuickPunch doubles the amount of data per voice sent over the PCI bus. Disable QuickPunch to see if the session plays back. - Disable the Record Online at Insertion/Selection Preference. - Automation, especially of TDM plug-ins, requires PCI bandwidth also. Try suspending automation globally or per-track. - On a Mix system with Pro Tools 5.1.3 and higher you can take advantage of Voice Load Balancing if there is more than one Mix card installed. Go to Setups > Playback Engine. If in 32 voice mode, try switching to 64 voice mode and make sure that the voice allocation is set to auto. This will balance the PCI load between multiple chips on multiple PCI cards. On HD systems you have the option of assigning more DSP chips for the same amount of voices. (I.E. 1 DSP 32 voices, 2 DSP's 32 voices etc.) Using additional DSP chips for the same amount of voices will reduce PCI load. * Do not exceed the maximum supported track count per hard drive in your Pro Tools Session. Use the Setups > Disk Allocation window to verify track allocation. You can check the maximum supported track counts for your Pro Tools system at http://www.digidesign.com/compato in the Minimum Hard Drive Requirements section. * In Pro Tools, you can check the current PCI load by viewing the System Usage Window at Windows > Show System Usage. * Disabling Video Hardware Acceleration can resolve 6042 errors for users with PCI video cards. - open the Display control panel - click the "Settings" tab - click "Advanced" - click the "Performance" tab ("Troubleshoot" tab for XP) - in the graphics box, set the hardware acceleration slider to "none" * Ensure that your computer has the latest BIOS and chipset drivers.

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