I would agree that due to the number and severity of issues you are having with v8 and v9, that it is more likely the result of your hardware or some third-party application(s). Something as simple as hitting the "S" key shouldn't make it crash and if this were a common problem the forum would have turned into a lynch mob.

Apart from being in agreement with John I'd suggest a thorough test of your RAM. If 8.0c is running fine and both 64 bit versions of Vegas are causing grief and as you've got 6GB of RAM some of which will not be used under a 32bit OS, that's where I'd start.

Bob.

I agree with the previous posts.

I would add that, if you have trouble determining a particular hardware conflict to be the source of these errors, it would be a good idea to perform a clean re-installation of the software. Yes, I know it sounds like a PITA, but it appears that your software may not have been installed properly (due perhaps to a conflict with anti-virus or other background processes running during installation).

Follow the instructions listed here, as they are specific to Vista 64.

I know Vista 64 HP includes a memory diagnostic tool. I would recommend running that to see if any of the memory modules are faulty. I used that to find one of mine.

I agree with others here. You have problems that seem system related. Test the memory -- but if it looks good, I'd get a clean harddrive, load it with a fresh install of Vista 64 and your system drivers. Load V9 64 and NOTHING ELSE and see if your Vegas problems persist. I'd bet on some software or hardware conflict with V9. You need to narrow things down to find it.

It sounds to me that you have several ways to approach this:

1. If you've overclocked your system go back to the exact bios settings for your cpu

2. It also sounds like there may be duplicate system files, check your system 32 folder in windows and verify.

3. Your memory is probably not paired correctly, one of two may have different timings. Also, they may not even be in the appropriate slot, one is probably 512 and another is 1 gig, which belong in their respective slots. Consult your mobo manual for that.

5. Your bios settings may have several options checked/unchecked as well. Disable video card shadow ram this also causes system instability.

6. Your hard drives may be config'ed incorrectly in bios, check your specs and make the appropriate changes.

I agree with most posters here, this is probably an issue caused by your system, and not Sony Vegas. Myself I had a bunch of crashes when rendering in Vegas, and it turned out that my RAM voltage was too low. My ASUS mobo has a software utility that let me raise the RAM voltage a tiny little bit - and all crashes vanished like a miracle.

To Sony,
I think your reinstall procedure is a little too through, especially here:

"Also, remove the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (SONY_MEDIAMGR), any and all Microsoft .NET Framework versions, and the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable software if it is listed."
I am not sure what this means. The .Net framework is part of the Vista operating system, and it can't be removed as far as I know, if this is what you mean here.

My advice is to always use an installer that cleans out all traces of an installed application, like Total Uninstall, or Ashampoo Magic Uninstall. Then you can start all over again, from scratch.

Edited:
For the record, I would like to add:
I have just finished a project with a tight deadline (last Sunday). The result is a 31 minutes long movie. I had approx 300 footages mixed together, used many of the transitions and filters, video capture etc. Some scenes have up to 11 video tracks and several sound tracks on the timeline.
I mixed several formats, old VHS tapes, and newly shot scenes 1020x1080 50i AVCHD with my Panasonic HMC 151. I used Vegas Pro 9, 32 bit and 64 bit side by side, this project was about 40 hours of work with Vegas.
Now listen here: Vegas did not let me down at all, did not crash a single time. To me it is rock solid, it obeys my creative wishes. The more I worked with it, as deadline came rushing at me, the more I trusted it and the more I liked it. Whenever I got an idea - it was doable in Vegas, no problem.
The project was a great success - displayed at a party with 60 people.

ingvarai

ingvarai - What in the world led you to suspect that your voltage was too low? I have no problems with Vegas 8c or 9 (32) except that they won't render Sony AVCHD. I've tried everything Sony suggested and nothing seems to work. I'm at the end of my rope and would love to hear from anyone who's had a similar experience rendering AVC's to AVCHD. I have no problems rendering to AVCHD from HDV footage.

Ian

ingvarai,
Your profile shows that you use a Core 2.

How much and what brand of RAM and what type of mother board are you using?

Hi Ian,
>What in the world led you to suspect that your voltage was too low
First - I had some problems in general when upgrading from a dual core to quad core. But these problems culiminated when doing a render in Vegas. It was so troublesome it almost became amusing, becayuse Vegas would crash excactly at a certain point in the render process, every time. So I started to evaluate my material, footages, settings and so on. It was first after having searched, googled, I came across several articles about the RAM voltage.
Here is one:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-252021_12_0.html

I upped it from the default 1.8 V to 2.0 V and since then my system has been stable as a mountain.
> and would love to hear from anyone who's had a similar experience rendering AVC's to AVCHD
I have not tried myself if my memory is correct. I am not sure what the purpose would be either, but that's not my business.

ingvarai

Byron,
Your profile shows that you use a Core 2
Oh - I must update it. I am on Quad Core now.

> How much and what brand of RAM and what type of mother board are you using
8 Gb, ASUS P5W DH de luxe, come back and I will give you more info later, I am posting this from somewhere else and don't have the details.

ingvarai