Position bar moves at half rate; Meters die quickly

[tonsofpcs]

Using Cool Edit Pro on my machine [P4/3.057 GHz Hyperthreading; Windows XP Pro; SigmaTel audio], in single-file edit view, when I play any audio file, the position bar moves at about 1/2 the rate of the playback, when the file/view ends, the bar is in the middle [yes, it plays back at proper speed]; in multitrack view, it starts out going at half speed, and then near the end it jumps forward, eventually getting back in sync with the file. Anyone have any clue why?

Also, the meters in single-file edit view start out working and stop after about 1/2 second. In Multitrack view, they work, stop, then work again when the position bar jumps back into sync. Again, anyone have any clue why?

Has anyone seen either of these before?
Any solutions?
I have tried running in compatability mode for Windows 98/Me and Windows 2000, neither worked.

Thank you,
tonsofpcs

[manning1]

well firstly let me say you have a excellent pc for multitracking.
but one problem is the sigma tel. this is a sound card for playing windows burps and sounds , not high quality track recording.
if you wish help i need to know more details about your system.
i cant diagnose blindly.
in full. how much memory ? also what do you have in your pci slots ?
what video card ? also VERY IMPORTANT ..make sure dma is enabled on your hard drives.
peace.

[tonsofpcs]

It is a Dell Inspiron 5150 [notebook]

The sound card is on the motherboard iirc. -- "SigmaTel C-Major Audio"
The video card is mini pci NViDIA GeForce FX Go5200 w/64mb vram
Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz
512 MB of RAM
Internal Harddrive: IC25N060ATMR04-0 [60 GiB] -- DMA is enabled.
External Harddrive sometimes installed [USB 2.0] - WDC WD2500JB-00EVA0 [250 GB, came in chassis by Acom Data, also supports IEEE1394 connectivity] - Not sure how to check for DMA on this drive, but I have the error if this drive is not connected as well.

Other PCI Devices:
Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Dell Wireless WLAN 1350 Mini-PCI Card
Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant 1394 Host Controller
1394 Net Adapter
Texas Instruments PCI-4510 CardBus controller


Note that I am not trying to mix to sound perfect, the quality of the sound card output is not that big of an issue for me, as I am just trying to trim and re-cut pre-mixed material [and as such, the position bar accuracy is very important]. Also note that I have mixed in live environments without any monitors, and the results have been good, so I am confident in being able to see problems.

[manning1]

hmm - highly weird. that should be a good laptop for audio work.
you say other pci devices. do you have an external pci box ? i'm just a tad confused. i'm not sure if these pci devices are interfering.
awhile back on here someone had problems because he had a network card running while multitracking. so he temporarily disabled it while doing audio work. and his probs disappeared.
do you get video problems in any other non audio apps...??
like normal office apps ?
my feeling at this time is maybe, but i'm not sure ...one of the pci devices
is consuming computing power.
also - the internal drive ? 7200 rpm ?
i would also ask dell tech support. and see what they say.
do you have any "flags" against any devices in device mgr ??
thanks.
ps. another idea. if all your doing is trimming and cutting.
you might want to try another editor and see if you get the same problems.
like ntrack for example or what i use is powertracks.
or you could try the fine free editor called goldwave.
if you dont get the same issues, then its a problem in cool.
my other area of suspicion is the sigma tel. the programmers of multitrack software rely on the positioning in order to display. if the sigma tel is reporting false positioning info, or bad drivers then you will experience the sort of cursor anomoly you are having.
peace.

[manning1]

ok - did some checking. these cheap sigma tel like sound devices have been known (ie..built in sound devices on the motherboard) to exhibit this anomoly in the past. i suspect as i said incorrect positioning info is being reported to cool edit by the sound device driver possibly.
thus the anomoly your getting. THIS IS NOT COOLS FAULT.
i would check if there is a driver update for the sigma tel.
failing that i would demo an alternate sound solution. if another
sound solution DOES work fine. its obviously the sigma tel.
by demoing another sound solution you will know.
these on board sound chips were not really meant for the sort of audio work you are doing as i said earlier imho.

[tonsofpcs]

No, no external PCI box, even though there are not full-size PCI cards in the system, there area devices that run on the PCI bus. I have no expansion cards [PCMCIA] installed.
I do not get video or audio problems in other apps. I do video editing on here with no problem.
The internal is 5400 rpm I believe, but at 60 gig, this is faster bitwise than a 20 gig at 7200 rpm. I do defrag often.
I'm lucky if I get someone to answer at Dell tech support, yet alone answer in english.
No flags in device manager.

I reinstalled CEP, and now it doesn't seem to be doing it as much. Also, I just disabled and re-enabled my antivirus realtime protection [norton], and it seems to work fine now. I will try more extensively later, and report back; I don't have the time now.

Note: I have seen the position bar moving problem on the machine at work [It has 2 soundcards -- one pos, the other a Lynx One] when I first set it up to use the Lynx One. I changed the sound card timing [the Lynx control software lets you do that] and it has worked fine ever since. But it was a different problem, in that the position bar just jumped from place to place rather than lagging behind.