Hi Fin,

You say you've tried everything - what was that in particular ?

You could try the following approaches:
- The famous "Zapping the PRAM" - Hold CMD+P+R during restart and wait until the startup-chime has sounded 3 times
- do you have any PCI-cards ? check if they sit right. Try if removing one or all of them improves the stability
- check if all RAM modules are sitting firmly
- check if the machine is running unusually hot, probably caused by insufficient cooling
- do you use any special System extensions, i.e. for special hardware or software ? Try to systematically find out if one or a few of them are "bad" by disabling them all and enabling one after the other. Each time of course doing a couple of test-runs to see if it has become more stable.
With those hardware-issues mentioned: if you are not familiar with these - get a tech who is.

You could also have a look at these sites:
http://www.macfixit.com
http://www.essentialmac.com/fix/
http://www.zplace.com/crashtips/
http://www.macintoshos.com/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.shtml

Good luck !

Matthias

We could help you more if you can give us specifics on what you have tried.
First of all, I assume that you have an extension set specifically for audio recording. Basically, you use only the control panels and extensions that are absolutely necessary. If you have questions about any particular ones that should be on or off, ask.
As was previously mentioned, make sure that all of your RAM is securely seated. If you happen to be using 3 or 4 sticks of RAM, check their ratings. If 2 or 3 are 2-2-2, but 1 isn't, you may want to try removing the inferior stick. Also make sure that the PCI cards are firmly seated.
Placement of your PCI cards could also be a problem. Some things work best in certain slots, and if you are using multiple cards, sometimes they require certain placements to play nicely together, just as on peecees.
So as you can see, your problem could be one or a combination of problems. First, double check your extension set, make sure your RAM and your PCI cards are firmly seated, and check that your RAM is all of the same quality. If these things do not solve the prob, then it may be the placement of the PCI cards. Then again ... it could be something else ... but these steps are the first logical ones.

Your hard drive may have developed a problem.

Tommy P.

I had the problem on a friend's Mac where I go to work at times and it was the hard drive that was the problem (the one we were recording to) try and work on a different drive and see if it gets better .

Indeed, your HDD could also be one of the possibilities. I notice that you only listed one HDD, so you need another one anyway.
Pick-up a Western Digital WD800JB ($120), physically install it, disconnect your Seagate HDD, and try a fresh install on the WD. If the prob is solved, cool. If not, at least you have the second HDD that you need.

Here's a couple of sites you might want to check out:

For MOTU issues: http://www.unicornation.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi

For Mac OS & hardware issues: http://www.macgurus.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?

As was mentioned already I think you've got an extension conflict. Lean sets are a must with audio.

Your going to need a separate drive for your audio files. The faster the better. You don't want to be recording to the drive your system is on. That can cause major file/directory problems.