Hello ,
Quick PC type question , and it is actually audio related . I have that POS Windows Me on my pc , and have always had problems with audio playback . Do anything , open any extra applications or even looking at it (it seems that way!) and it skips when playing a CD or listening to internet radio . Is there a fix for this or is the operating system really that crap ? It's doing my coconut in and have left it too long to sort out really , bought an M-audio Sonica (USB soundcard) a few months ago and just using it as a DAC has made a real improvement to the kitchen/office system ! That is when it doesn't fart , stutter or stop that is ! Bill Gates has got a lot to answer for...
316a
Quick PC type question , and it is actually audio related . I have that POS Windows Me on my pc , and have always had problems with audio playback . Do anything , open any extra applications or even looking at it (it seems that way!) and it skips when playing a CD or listening to internet radio . Is there a fix for this or is the operating system really that crap ? It's doing my coconut in and have left it too long to sort out really , bought an M-audio Sonica (USB soundcard) a few months ago and just using it as a DAC has made a real improvement to the kitchen/office system ! That is when it doesn't fart , stutter or stop that is ! Bill Gates has got a lot to answer for...
316a
Make sure your using the latest driver for your sound card and usb. Generally the problem is their. But some system configuration will always skip wahtever you do with it. (And changing the OS is no garantee to cure the problem.)
Also check if you can have a bios upgrade for you motherboard.
If you want further help you could also post us your complete system configuration.
Also check if you can have a bios upgrade for you motherboard.
If you want further help you could also post us your complete system configuration.
ME.
Hi,
Yup.
ME really sux big time in the driver dep.
Check for any updates regurarly on the soundcards' manufacture site and keep ME up to date.
Cheers,😉
Hi,
Yup.
ME really sux big time in the driver dep.
Check for any updates regurarly on the soundcards' manufacture site and keep ME up to date.
Cheers,😉
JBL said:
Partly true. Windows ME is (fortunately) the last version in a lineage of a pretty GUI built on top of a 16 bit OS (yes, the old DOS). That software aberration should have been abandoned years ago, the top limitation being single threaded processing, where only one process runs at a time. A multi-threaded OS can share the CPU time among processes in a manner that it appears that all of them are running at the same time.
In your case, it seems like the problem can be narrowed down to disk I/O. Every time the hard disk needs CPU time, the audio card has to wait. The slower the hard disk and CPU are, the longer the wait. In your case, long enough for you to notice.
Windows XP, 2000 and NT as well as Linux are multi-threaded.
One thing you could try is tweaking your BIOS settings when you first turn on the computer. From memory, there is an option to "enable memory hole at 15-16MB" which cured the skipping problem for some cards.
😕
😕
BIOS SETTINGS.
Hi,
That is a memory adress range normally used by VGA cards.
What could cause the problem though are PCI latency settings in the bios...assuming the soundcard uses the PCI bus.
Cheers,😉
Hi,
That is a memory adress range normally used by VGA cards.
What could cause the problem though are PCI latency settings in the bios...assuming the soundcard uses the PCI bus.
Cheers,😉
I had a lot of problems in the past with VIA-chipsets and soundcards.
I'll never again sell a PC with VIA-chipset to someone who wants to 'work' with music on a PC.
Don't know if VIA corrected the problems on their new chipsets.
Just one of the many possibilities 😉
/Hugo
I'll never again sell a PC with VIA-chipset to someone who wants to 'work' with music on a PC.
Don't know if VIA corrected the problems on their new chipsets.
Just one of the many possibilities 😉
/Hugo
VIA ROMANA
Hi,
Yup.
They patched it later on.
For work I always rely on Intel MBs, and since i don't have time to play...😉
Hi,
Yup.
They patched it later on.
For work I always rely on Intel MBs, and since i don't have time to play...😉
Re: VIA ROMANA
From the moment I started posting here, I don't have time to play, and no time to work
fdegrove said:
From the moment I started posting here, I don't have time to play, and no time to work
Chnaging from ME, even to '98, should mostly fix the problem.
ME is a slow resource-hungry POS that I used for about 8 months before I sold off my computer. I regret having installed it at all...
I use 98 and 2000 now, and only 2000 for my audio work.
BTW I have a via KT266a DDR chipset and it works great for audio. They had a problem with KT 133 and KT133A, and have traditionally had a problem with USB.
ME is a slow resource-hungry POS that I used for about 8 months before I sold off my computer. I regret having installed it at all...
I use 98 and 2000 now, and only 2000 for my audio work.
BTW I have a via KT266a DDR chipset and it works great for audio. They had a problem with KT 133 and KT133A, and have traditionally had a problem with USB.
grimberg said:
No, that's not right. Windows ME is multi-threaded, the same with Windows 95 and 98. There are some 16-bit parts underneath as you say, but not much.
But that doesn't say that it still sucks big time. ME and 95 is unstable as hell. Yuck!
??
Folks ,
I'm no expert with PC's and I'm keeping ME for the time being . Surely there must be a fix for this ? The hard drive problem makes sense but would a RAM upgrade cure the problem . I only have 64MB on my machine
316a
Folks ,
I'm no expert with PC's and I'm keeping ME for the time being . Surely there must be a fix for this ? The hard drive problem makes sense but would a RAM upgrade cure the problem . I only have 64MB on my machine
316a
Re: ??
The internet radio problem could be a slow interet connection.
So far this is not a good reference for debugging your problem.
The skipping CD player could be the player. How fast is it?
IMO the harddrive is not working when playing CD's.
What processor is in your PC?
64Mb Ram is not a lot and upgrading with an extra 128Mb would improve the whole system.
/Hugo
316a said:
The internet radio problem could be a slow interet connection.
So far this is not a good reference for debugging your problem.
The skipping CD player could be the player. How fast is it?
IMO the harddrive is not working when playing CD's.
What processor is in your PC?
64Mb Ram is not a lot and upgrading with an extra 128Mb would improve the whole system.
/Hugo
PC
I have broadband internet so no problems there ! Memory upgrades are fairly cheap so I'll give that a try . Processor is a Celeron , I have no idea what speed , same with the CD drive
316a
I have broadband internet so no problems there ! Memory upgrades are fairly cheap so I'll give that a try . Processor is a Celeron , I have no idea what speed , same with the CD drive
316a
Re😛C.
Hi,
Does the CD-drive encounter the same reading problems with ordinary data CDs or is only with music?
Cheers,😉
Hi,
Does the CD-drive encounter the same reading problems with ordinary data CDs or is only with music?
Cheers,😉
Re: PC
Click Start->Run
Type: msinfo32 and click OK.
A window will open and on the right pane you can see the type of processor you have.
The speed of the cd-rom is more difficult if it's not written on his front panel.
Then go back to your desktop.
Right-Click on the icon "My Computer"
Select properties
A window will open
Click on the "Device Manager" tab
Click on the + sign from the CD-Rom
Your CD-Rom brand and type should show up
Right click on it and select properties
A window will open.
Again select properties
Make sure the "Enable digital playback for this device" (or something similar) is selected.
Click OK
Close all windows and post your results.
/Hugo - Likes remote debugging 😉
316a said:
Click Start->Run
Type: msinfo32 and click OK.
A window will open and on the right pane you can see the type of processor you have.
The speed of the cd-rom is more difficult if it's not written on his front panel.
Then go back to your desktop.
Right-Click on the icon "My Computer"
Select properties
A window will open
Click on the "Device Manager" tab
Click on the + sign from the CD-Rom
Your CD-Rom brand and type should show up
Right click on it and select properties
A window will open.
Again select properties
Make sure the "Enable digital playback for this device" (or something similar) is selected.
Click OK
Close all windows and post your results.
/Hugo - Likes remote debugging 😉
If you're planning to keep the ME OS, then there are a few things you'll have to do to get the system into decent shape for playing back audio.
See the skipping is because there may be a lot of things running at one time which is why the system cannot keep up. nowadays the low end video cards have 64 MB RAM. Seriously, a RAM upgrade will give the system some legs to stand on.
In the meantime, here are a few tips to get the computer to run a little better:
1. Switch off System Restore. Look for a system restore removal tool for Windows ME, search for it on Google, if you can't get it let me know I'll email it to you it's not very big but it's on my home computer and I'm at work...
2. Ensure you have few or no background processes running - no anti-virus (!), no chat software, no memory optimisers, etc. Even the Windows task scheduler is to be switched off. A firewall can be left on to ensure security of the system on the broadband.
To do this, go into msconfig by typing 'msconfig' in the 'Run' Dialog box in the start menu. Locate the tab called 'startup programs and tick off what you do not absolutely need. Windows only needs : 'Load power profile', 'System tray' and 'Scan registry'. Everything else can be safely switched off.
3. Make the computer a 'network server' as opposed to a 'desktop computer'. You will be able to do this in the system icon in the control panel - click the button named 'File System'.
4. Since you're in so deep, set the swap file size to 256. Use the 'virtual memory' button in the same place as you found 'File system' as above, and ignore any kicking and screaming from ME. Assign the swap file to a different partition from your windows (say, d: ) and set BOTH minimum and maximum to 256 MB, or 384 MB if you feel. You'll notice the disk doesn't swap in and out so much...
See the skipping is because there may be a lot of things running at one time which is why the system cannot keep up. nowadays the low end video cards have 64 MB RAM. Seriously, a RAM upgrade will give the system some legs to stand on.
In the meantime, here are a few tips to get the computer to run a little better:
1. Switch off System Restore. Look for a system restore removal tool for Windows ME, search for it on Google, if you can't get it let me know I'll email it to you it's not very big but it's on my home computer and I'm at work...
2. Ensure you have few or no background processes running - no anti-virus (!), no chat software, no memory optimisers, etc. Even the Windows task scheduler is to be switched off. A firewall can be left on to ensure security of the system on the broadband.
To do this, go into msconfig by typing 'msconfig' in the 'Run' Dialog box in the start menu. Locate the tab called 'startup programs and tick off what you do not absolutely need. Windows only needs : 'Load power profile', 'System tray' and 'Scan registry'. Everything else can be safely switched off.
3. Make the computer a 'network server' as opposed to a 'desktop computer'. You will be able to do this in the system icon in the control panel - click the button named 'File System'.
4. Since you're in so deep, set the swap file size to 256. Use the 'virtual memory' button in the same place as you found 'File system' as above, and ignore any kicking and screaming from ME. Assign the swap file to a different partition from your windows (say, d: ) and set BOTH minimum and maximum to 256 MB, or 384 MB if you feel. You'll notice the disk doesn't swap in and out so much...
No idea
The PC is just used to run our business dealings and for providing music in the office/kitchen . CD roms are used very rarely
316a
The PC is just used to run our business dealings and for providing music in the office/kitchen . CD roms are used very rarely
316a
INTERNET RADIO.
Hi,
Just a thought...when I use the internet for radio I also experience some problems unless I deactivate the firewall.
When you leave it on it can struggle keeping up with the streaming of the audio.
Cheers,😉
Hi,
Just a thought...when I use the internet for radio I also experience some problems unless I deactivate the firewall.
When you leave it on it can struggle keeping up with the streaming of the audio.
Cheers,😉
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