Poopy computer... want to fix it up!

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bassbashr99

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Hey guys.. I am using a US-122 and everynow and then something skips.. As in I am playing an MP3 and it starts to skip like a scratched cd.. How the hell do i get rid of this god forsaken problem!! My other question is.. If it is my computer being poopy and not the US-122, how can I upgrade it so it doesn't do that? Will more RAM do that trick?
 
what are your specs? windows or mac? if windows, pent 3 or 4, how many ghz, how much ram, sepearte hard drives? win 98 or xp? do you get the problem only with mp3 playback or studio recordings?

I have a PC with US-122. and I've never had a problem. but I do have 2 seperate hardware profiles.

when i once used the us-122 drivers for PC gaming the sound was horrible. skipped alot. so maybe you need to have a profile for tascam music and a profile for regular stuff. this way when you want to play mp3 and go online, the tascam drivers are disabled and you will use the original sound card that plays mp3's just fine. google "windows hardware profiles" and you'll get a tutorial on how to get different settings.
 
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name HOWIE
System Manufacturer HP Pavilion 05
System Model D7217L-ABA 513
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 1 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~1794 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies LTD 6.00, 10/29/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.31
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\System32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.0 (xpclient.010817-1148)"
User Name HOWIE\Owner
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 256.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 51.57 MB
Total Virtual Memory 853.50 MB
Available Virtual Memory 491.81 MB
Page File Space 606.52 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
 
Yes, first thing you should look at doing is adding more ram. Most of us have anywhere between 512MB and a GB.

It seems like you have an older CPU, clocks in at less than 2Ghz, but it should be good enough to play mp3s...... so I really doubt your system is the culprit.
 
It may be an IRQ issue..

Boot into your BIOS, press (del) on boot usually, then see how IRQ settings are assigned... AUTO or MAN.... Fixing the IRQ No# for the Slot your Sound Card sitts in can fix sound problems such as this.

If your PCI buss is causing pop & click noises then its crowded and mostlikely all your devices are sharing an IRQ resorce which is less efficient in most cases. This was definately a issue in the early days of Win2000 then in WinXP it got better, but on some hardware it was an issue that could only be fixed runing Standard PC mode.

I would sugget running windows in "Standard PC" mode you can check this in the Control Panel. This helps assign IRQ's in MANUAL mode in your BIOS and is a tried and tested way to run an dedicated PC Audio DAW.

Running a Low Latency PC is something that can take a lot of fine tuning. I would Suggest you run a DUAL BOOT for testing and internet use. Checkout sites like www.musicxp.net on tips for optimising your install for music use.
 
Do you think it could be an issue with IRQ's even if the device being run is a USB device.
 
Even poopy computers can play MP3s

Have you tried to play the MP3s from your hard drive? It may or may not be an issue with the USB deivce.

Tip: Download "Winamp" don't use wiondows Media Player, ever.
 
bassbashr99 said:
Do you think it could be an issue with IRQ's even if the device being run is a USB device.
Click to expand...

Yes, It depends on how many USB devices you are sharing on the USB BUS and ALSO are you running an USB 1.1 or 2.0 BUS. If you have a USB mouse, Keyboard disconnect them and eliminate this as the cause of your problem. If it works, when removing other Devices, then you should consider adding a USB 2.0 PCI interface to dedicate to audio.

Next check your Drivers, get the latest drivers.

Windows XP will by nature share IRQ's accross ALL DEVICES including PCI cards, Graphics Cards, and USB BUSSES... So its possible that this is still the issue. Like I said before... "Standard PC" mode is the most effective way of running a stable system.

You shouldn't have any problems with 256mb RAM and your system. And Unless you have a Faulty US-122 its gonna be your PC thats 'causing the problems.

Also, you might try disabling the On-Board Sound.

However, if you have one of those Cheap and Nasty HP machines which shares System RAM and Graphics RAM this can 'cause all kinds of incompatibiltiy issues. You could try some extra ram, however this may not fix the problem as its likely that your USB, Graphics, System RAM are all accessing the Same IRQ accross the same BUS. Give the RAM a go.

Fixing PC's hardware problms is pretty much a process of Trial & Error. Sometimes PC's will just be Hardware Incompatible and your Hardware will not work with your HP PC.
 
Kid Downunder said:
Yes, It depends on how many USB devices you are sharing on the USB BUS and ALSO are you running an USB 1.1 or 2.0 BUS. If you have a USB mouse, Keyboard disconnect them and eliminate this as the cause of your problem. If it works, when removing other Devices, then you should consider adding a USB 2.0 PCI interface to dedicate to audio.

Next check your Drivers, get the latest drivers.

Windows XP will by nature share IRQ's accross ALL DEVICES including PCI cards, Graphics Cards, and USB BUSSES... So its possible that this is still the issue. Like I said before... "Standard PC" mode is the most effective way of running a stable system.

You shouldn't have any problems with 256mb RAM and your system. And Unless you have a Faulty US-122 its gonna be your PC thats 'causing the problems.

Also, you might try disabling the On-Board Sound.

QUOTE]

Some good info for you from Kid Downunder. I also use a usb device. It's an Aardvark. The literature that came with it said to try and get the usb audio device on its own IRQ if possible. So an IRQ conflict is not out of the question. Also, I was having problems with popping and crackling at times. Someone gave me a USB 2 card. I installed it, and run all of my other usb devices on USB 1, and only the Aardvark on the USB 2, giving it its own "circuit". That cleared up the pops and such. Another thing to check into is a patch from Microsoft for XP that eliminates a "frame dropping" problem with USB. Sorry don't have a link, but a search should turn it up.

Good Luck.
Click to expand...
 
ram

guess again about the ram, I have a hp pavillion 9900 , with an athlon xp in it. runs at 1.2 ghz. I have an Audigy 2 zs in it, a radeon 9600 XT and the original cd/dvd burners/readers. Was top of the line 3 years ago... now the parents have a brand new pavillion with an Athlon 64 :p

anyways, Its got a 60 gig hard drive, and I only have 12 gigs used up. Most of my files are music and picture files. The thing runs pretty darned slow, it has 256 mb of ram. NOW my other computer, an older 1999 Compaq deskpro en series, with a slot one pentium 3, running at 1 ghz ( yes the harder to find slot one p3 :D ) and it has 384 mb of ram. I have the original cd rom in it, a philips dvd rom , soundblaster live x-gamer 5.1, and a modded n-vidia Geforce mx/mx400 64 mb card. OK this computer absolutly flies, through gameing with high graphics ( while it has some glitches on full graphics games, that is due to the g.c being a mx400 instead of a 9600XT :p ) anyways.. my thing here is that the pc outruns the HP. I have the same amount of audio files, and pictures on this pc as on the hp. ALSO the hard drive is filled to capacity, its only a 10 gig, so i dont have as many games as on the other one. But it still outruns the hp, and when I upgrade the hp to 512 it will probably outrun the compaq. Even if you have an older processor, its good to give it as much ram as it can handel, because you use ram primarly in files such as music, gameing, and sound/graphics related stuff.


quick note as well, I have windows XP on both pcs, the MINIMUM requierment for windows xp is 256 mb or ram for plain system use! when you have xp and are running other stuff with only 256, you only have about 128 mb of useable ram for your programs to use... so if your program says it needs 256 mb of ram, you really need at least 384 with xp.. other that that shouldnt be a prob for windows 9series/2k.
 
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