Nine days ago, I wrote about a Power Mac G5 that seemed to have a very adverse reaction to percussion instruments.  Long story short, this machine would seize up as soon as I played a snare drum next to it.  Very bizarre.

I decided that I would start troubleshooting by keeping the machine in the same environment that it misbehaved in.  I loaded up a Pro Tools track and began playing along with it.  Much to my surprise, however, the Mac held on for quite a few bars before seizing up with it’s all-too-familiar half-second-repeat of WAV output.  I tried playing along with and without the ProTools hardware (a M-audio FW1814) attached, but it was the same story.  Eventually the finicky PT box would lock up and leave me wondering.

Just for kicks, I took the cover off the G5 and checked out the machine on the inside, looking for anything obvious that would be causing the issue.  While I was in there, I popped the RAM chips out and reseated them.  I put the cover back on the machine and started it back up, expecting to get the same "leave you stranded" ProTools experience that I’d been getting all morning.

But what’s this?  After loading a PT session and playing through it, the mac had yet to crash, or even show the slightest sign of instability.  This was unexpected, but very cool at the same time.  I went ahead and restarted the PT session and played just as I normally would (loudly) on the snare.  Not even a hint of a crash.  What happened?

All I had done (that I knew of) when I was inside the case was unseat and reseat the RAM chips.  Had they been loose?  Was there a piece of dust or something else placed so strategically on the RAM or elsewhere on the board that just the right vibration frequency would cause it to momentarily short out a circuit?  It seems a little far-fetched, but those RAM chips did not feel loose when I popped them out.

So for now, this is a continuing investigation.  I’m definitely happy to see that this machine is seemingly able to holds its own, but I’m not confident enough to put it on the auditorium stage for the band to use. (Ever been playing drums to a Pro Tools track and then have it crash during performance?  Yeah, you’ll remember that feeling. )