Attn. Puter geeks! Problems!

J

James HE

a spoonfull weighs a ton
I've run into some serious problems with my computer. What I thought was the case fan noise, I am now thinking that it is the second CPU fan on my second processor. The noise only happens when I am using windows 2000, not 98, which leads me to believe that it's the CPU fan. But actually wouldn't the fan be on all the time anyway- even if that CPU isn't being used?

2000 is crashing on me- I am going to reinstall- hopfully this will aleviate the crashing problems. But could the noise be a symptem of a major problem with my hardware?

I am having major stuttering problems in Vegas- I got a message saying that my virtual memory was all used up- OK so what does this mean exactly? Should I increase the virtual memory or will this cause even more problems?

This is Eddie's old system- I would go dirctly to him for this but he is in flight moving to LA and all... I'm sure he won't have time to spent troubleshooting with me... so I was htinking maybe you guys could point me in the right direction. :)

-jhe
 
stuttering in Vegas is a problem I still cant escape. Your virtual memory should equal twice your physical memory and you should set your own settings, not let windows do it. I know nothing about WIN2000 but I could tell you how its done in WIN98 if you dont already know.
I do know this: Sonic foundry seems to be at a loss as to how to cure stuttering if it isnt caused by one of the obvious reasons... If you notice, the "help" files arent very helpful.
I gave up trying to get Vegas to run on my AMD500... I'm just gonna build a new system. If Vegas still gives me problems I am gonna move on to different software.
 
Make sure you know exactly where that noise is coming from. Open up the case and play doctor with a stetoscope if necessary... It could be a disk that is about to blow and you definetly want to change it before that happens. My guess, althoughI'm not sure, is that both CPU fans would be running regardless of CPU usage.

Also, check the http://www.BP6.com site. I've never had W2k crash on me unless I was doing something really stupid but I know there are some issues with the BP6 board and W2k.

/Ola

BTW, Who are you calling a geek? Punk!
 
Don't know if it's gonna help, but both fans should be running all the time - the power is pulled straight from the power supply.

- gaffa
 
I can't believe there is any correlation between the fan noise in W2K and Windows 98. Unless your running some weird system/hardware temperature monitoring software crap, and you can turn the fan off when the cpu is idle. Also, check in the BIOS - Many have the option of turning the CPU fan off in suspend mode, but I don't recall seeing one that would turn it off when idle. Doubt this is the problem.

As Ola said, open it up and look when you hear this sound. Fans will make weird sounds under random situations. I've seen many systems that have noisy P/S fans, CPU fans when the room temperature is cool. Once at ambient, the noise dissapears. If it is the fans, replace them with Ball Bearing fans only. Shouldn't need to take the whole heatsink of either, just pull the processor out an unscrew the fans on the heatsink, and use the fans of the new heatsink/fan.

No idea about your other Vegas problems, vegas doesn't work for me, get audio glitches, but no stuttering problems.


[This message has been edited by Emeric (edited 07-26-2000).]
 
1) Try different software. Download n-Track or something. Then we can rule out Win2k being at fault.

2) What do you mean 2000 is crashing on you? 2000 seems to crash in two ways a) when doing video routines it'll just lock up...no error no nothin, just locked ... b) The blue screen of death. If you get a blue screen write down the error number & message.

3) Don't presume anything about noises. They can come from some pretty weird places. I seriously doubt that the noise is only in 2000 and not 98, but I suppose it's possible...perhaps the CPU fan does go into some low power mode when the CPU isn't active (which would require motherboard support)...perhaps you're having CDROM trouble in 2000. Noisy CDROM drives scare a lot of people. It could also just be a nasty case rattle. As suggested above, find out where the noise is coming from. Get your little screwdriver and pop that case open...you probably won't break anything :)

A possible answer:

Your CPU or PS fan has self-destructed and your system is overheating. Overheating will cause hard unexplained lockups, and blue screens of death. It can also cause permanant damage. Vegas is stuttering because it's a really nice expensive piece of crap with shit support....or your HD is running PIO instead of DMA, which was S8-N's problem a long while back.

As an aside, you really need to be running some sort of hardware monitoring software. Chances are the crap that came with the Abit board won't run on Win2k, but there are other programs out there that will. Actually, you could install that Winbond Hardware Doctor thing that comes with the Abit boards and run it on 98...it'll tell you how fast your fans are spinning (if Eddie bought the right kind of fans), how hot your CPUs are, and now hot your system is.

The good news is that you are NOT having serious problems. Get used to this kind of shit :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I am going to research to BP6 and see if that helps me any.

Win 2000 "freezes" on me randomly- I rarely get the blue screen, usually it just seems to hang. It just stops sometimes when I'm playing games, sometimes in vegas, And twice it has froze right at startup. (Wha?)

I'm going to do some tests tonite to see if I can get the noise to happen when I'm using 98- (To rule out that it is a hard drive- I rarely work with my audio drives in 98- god i hope it's not the RAID drives!!). And open the thing up and play doctor. The noise starts after maybe five minutes of being in windows 2000, if I restart and go into 98 then it takes like 10 minutes to stop again. As it stops, the sort of spinning sound slows, then stops for a sec, starts again for a few secs, pauses for a few sec, until it completly stops. It seems like it would be the CPU fan- but who knows at this point.

With Vegas the real major problem is that after I record an event, it sometimes freezes when it is rendering the peaks! Sometimes after I restart, the event is there, but most times not. That really SUCKS!!! I HAVE to figure out this problem soon before I start tracking with my band in a few weeks ("sorry guys- we lost it" :()

-the punk
 
James, what video card are you using? I'm thinking that more current video card drivers would fix your lockup problems. Knowing Eddie, I'm guessing he just used the drivers that shipped with the card :)

I've been through 3 sets of video driver over the past week trying to find the fastest and most stable for my card. I too experienced the random lockup problems with certain drivers.

Slackmaster 2000
 
SLak2K,
hmm... you know I updated my driver for the TNT2 like a week and a half ago- cuz what I had wasen't working with THIEF 2. The noise started before that- but Windows has seemed a little more unstable now that I think about it. Hmmm... something else to investigate.

-jhe
 
It's probably your drivers dude. I have both a TNT and a TNT2 and have had numerous driver problems with Windows 2000. The trick is to try them all and pick the most stable.

There should be drivers available from a) Microsoft b) The manufacturer c) nVidia.

My TNT2 is made by Aztec and I've found the nVidia Detonator 2 drivers to be the most stable so far (thought they sucked with my CL TNT).

I'm not convinced that your noises are in any way related to your lockups at this point.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Are you sure there are no IRQ conflicts with the card? Just because Windows doesn't report any "conflicts" doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any conflicts. I'd guess this is the #1 cause of audio stuttering from my past hardware experience.

The Echo reporter is useful for finding out whats on what IRQ (just skip it's useless disk test). I've never had stuttering problems with Vegas... and I've found my share of incompatibilities.

As for the mystery noise, open that case up tonight and find the source. It could be a death rattle, and then stuttering would be the least of your problems.
 
I've been able to get 2000 a little more stable. Tonite only one freeze. And yeah the noise and the shutdowns don't seem (now) to be that interrelated.

But the noise is still there and after my test's it still does it only in win 2000. I can here the noise starting to slow/stop/wind down now that I'm in 98- I can't really explain it any other way. Could it just be that there is extra heat produced when the second processor is in use, and that the case fan kicks it up a notch? can it do this??

OK now where is that screw driver...

(snapping on the latex gloves)

-jhe
 
Screw it James, it's your only hope. Don't be afraid of what you'll find inside. Embrace the challenge.

Just be sure to get naked, wrap yourself completely in aluminum foil, and attach the aluminum foil to the ground outlet of a surge protector with some heavy gauge copper. This will ensure that you look like an ass.

Slackmaster 2000
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The noise starts after maybe five minutes of being in windows 2000, if I restart and go into 98 then it takes like 10 minutes to stop again. As it stops, the sort of spinning sound slows, then stops for a sec, starts again for a few secs, pauses for a few sec, until it completly stops. It seems like it would be the CPU fan- but who knows at this point.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This sounds definately like a Sleeve Bearing fan....thats what they used to do back in the old days

Tony
 
Hi,

Weird, sound like fan noise to me, I have a PSU fan that does that (still works after 4 years though!). I worked out where the noise was coming from by touching each moving part inside the box while it was running, but I don't recommend this too heartily as it sounds quite dangerous. Stopping the PSU fan with my fingers made the noise go away, which was a giveaway.

Anyway, with the stuttering, I've no experience with Vegas Pro but I have two things you could try (but may well be done already).

1 Like S8-N said, make your virtual memory twice the value of your physical memory, but set both the minimum and maximum to this value. This means that windows does not have to resize the swap file halfway through a take!

2 Make sure your hard drives all have DMA enabled (direct bus mastering). Made a huge difference to me!

Gluck,

matt

checK: http://www.mp3.com/carolynn
 
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