Lynx support helped me revert to 13.2 using PROM 1 but now I want to try Firmware 14.0 again because I'm still getting the Pro Tools issues with 13.2. Might be a Thunderbolt 1 bottleneck issue. I don't really know at this point.

Anyway, I get the follow attached error messages when I try to update the firmware.

Do I need to switch to PROM 1 again?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

If that does not help, you might need to try Prom 1 again. 

Are you able to explain a little but about what Disabling CPU Power Management does, as well as Enable Safety Offset? I'm using OS X 10.10.5 and trying to get the most out of Pro Tools.

I get the feeling that my Mac might be a little stressed. It's a 3.5GHz i7 iMac with 32GB RAM. Solid State hard drive for the OS and external Solid State drives for the audio.

The bummer is that it was one of the last Thunderbolt 1 iMacs.

In one TB port, I have an OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock which feeds the Sonnet Echo Express III D containing my Lynx AES16e card, UAD Octo Card, and a FW/USB card that normally has nothing connected to it. 

From there, I'm coming out of the Sonnet Echo Express to feed a Phillips TV as an extra display using a TB to HDMI cable. The OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock also feeds a 55" Samsung TV via the HDMI output which is used as my main display.

The other TB port is feeding a Blackmagic Multidock with the external SSDs.

The computer itself also has a few dongles for iLok, Steinberg key, and Weiss Saracon dongle.

Other peripherals include an Apple wired USB keyboard, Apple USB Superdrive, bluetooth Apple Magic Mouse.

I think that's it. Despite all this, I never hear the iMac fan kick on so I feel like the iMac can handle it, but when I'm working in Pro Tools and start inserting plugins on more than a couple tracks, I get a huge CPU spike for a few seconds and Pro Tools won't playback audio until the spike settles down. I get error message AAE -9173

Also, sometimes the playback won't stop and give that error message, but the playback audio is full of crackles and pops until things settle again after inserting a plugin or using another app that might cause a CPU spike.

I'm thinking of upgrading computers but waiting to see if Apple refreshes the Mac Pro.

My main concern now is the audio crackling when there is a CPU spike. Sometimes Pro Tools stops playback and gives an error message, but sometimes playback doesn't stop and the audio has crackles/pops until the CPU spike settles.

In the past, I don't recall seeing such major CPU spikes just from inserting any given plugin.

I know it may not be Lynx related, but if you have any ideas what would cause the CPU spike shown in this video, that'd be great:

http://www.dropbox.com/s/d5ejpdragh6mgzl/PT12_CPU_Spikes.mov?dl=0" rel="nofollow - http://www.dropbox.com/s/d5ejpdragh6mgzl/PT12_CPU_Spikes.mov?dl=0

I was also asking for more detail on the Disable CPU management and Safety offset settings.

Thanks.

Also, do you have ProTools 11 you can test with, as a comparative? 

Disable CPU Management is a switch that can help performance with some Mac Models, that have aggressive power management features. I would suggest having this enabled in your case. 

The Safety Offset adds an additional play buffer. This can be helpful as a troubleshooting step. You may try enabling that as well and see if there is improvement. 

Otherwise, a more drastic but effective approach would be reinstall the OS on a clean partition, load your DAW and drivers, test. If clean, install plug-ins one at a time, testing as you go.