Towards "A FLawless PC"

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Doctor Varney

Cave dwelling Luddite
Hi all.

Well, we've seen 'Doctor Destructo' himself in action enough times; we've debated whether the Apple Mac or the PC is the more stable and we've even talked about "getting the most from your tools". So now it's time for us to lay our cards on the table, leave behind (but learn from) the past and tackle the job from the ground upwards. To that end, I have a few questions which I hope you knowledgeable chaps will not mind taking the time to answer.

Some people have unfortunately made judgements about me, from a straw man effigy they have built up, from seeing me experience repeated PC issues. I really couldn't care less what people think of me because they do not see the 'real me' in it's entirety from this forum. Likewise, I don't hold it against them because I know words are cheap and may not be sufficient for me to make a full judgement, either.

As it happens, I read everyone's posts thoroughly and weigh their answers carefully. The consensus I am getting is that a PC can run flawlessly if one takes the right steps to maintain it. Since changing platform is not a financial option right now, I am going to put this to the test and try to work diligently with what I have available. I think (think!) I have gathered enough info to ask the right questions so that I can (hopefully) have similar experiences to you, who claim never to have had a hiccup, and get my PC running as best it can.

So, let's get started.

Starting with my AMD Athlon 64 Processor 4000+ on MSI motherboard with 1GB RAM / Maxtor 320GB SATA drive for OS & programs / Western Digital SATA hard drive for storage / E-MU 0404 sound card / Windows 7 Home Premium / FL Studio 10 Signature Bundle.

First off, I defied Steenmaroo's advice to go with Windows XP and instead went with Windows 7 since it could do no harm as a test. I can always go back to XP if necessary (sorry Steen, it was too tempting). :)

Installation went smoothly. Much faster than on my Quad Core Phenom which has 4GB RAM. The old thing also boots up twice as fast as the Phenom. I had a problem with it finding the HDD at first but fixed that in the BIOS/ CMOS/ start up by pressing delete and selecting my first boot device as HD.

I have disabled networking and disabled Internet Explorer 8 along with printer services and stuff I don't need. That's what you do, isn't it? So far so good...

So now onto installing a sound card. Fitted the E-MU 0404 card into the PCI slot and installed all the drivers and DSP Patchmix.

The DSP Patchmix destop icon has a Windows badge on it, like I've seen in the 'Administration' section of Control Panel. What does this mean? Every time I try to start Patchmix, it says

Windows said:
Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer? Yes / No.
Click to expand...

I click yes and immediately get an error message which reads:

Windows said:
The Program can't start because ctouser.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
Click to expand...

I have tried doing what it says but the same message comes up. How am I supposed to know what "ctouser.dll" means?

I have loads of questions as I go through this process but there's no point asking any more until this is fixed.

Is this my fault? I'm just following instructions and doing what I am told to. I'm trying to stay patient and positive. I am, honestly!

PS:
And my second hard drive isn't showing up anywhere but I suppose we can look at that later.
 
ctouser.dll is a file First do a search on your computer to see if you have it somewhere. If so, you just need to point the computer to it or move it to where it should be. it may be in the 32 bit folder instead of the 64 bit folder, for example.
 
I Googled that file name and there seemed to be a lot of people with a similar problem. Perhaps one of those pages has a fix.
 
Thanks.

I'm turning the computer off and going out into the garden to finish laying some slabs. There, I can ponder my flawless PC progress so far...
 
The "patch" is the Admin Shield.
It asked you if you were sure what you are doing so that you wouldn't accidentally make unintended (and potentially catastrophic) changes to your OS.
Have you looked into downloading/updating the lastest drivers for your sound card from the manufacturer's website?
(hint: ctouser.dll is likely a missing driver file).

Also, as a general troubeshooting rule, if I find a plethora of posts about an issue online, then I can usually assume that it is an issue with the system.
OTOH, if I find references to my issues to be fairly scarce, it is more likely user error and I know I have to figure out what I doing wrong on my own
(in which case a solution is often derived by more thoroughly reading the instruction manuals / .readme files).
 
Sorry I'm late to the party Doc, I was out of town a few days.

One thing to make sure you check is your permissions level before installing a program. Or if you are going to install a program/drivers right click on it and select Run As Administrator. It could be that the .dll file is supposed to be copied during install but your current user doesnt have the permissions level to allow it.

Or from some online reading I see that you could be using an older driver. Did you download the latest driver from Creative or did you use the CD that came with the card (or even windows update). If you didn't I suggest going to creative and getting the latest driver. Creative Worldwide Support > E-MU 0404 PCIe

I think that's the correct driver but you may want to double check it. If I'm wrong on all accounts just let me know and we can keep looking. Also to avoid some problems in the future if this will not be an internet PC you should disable UAC (User Account Control). Go to Start --> Control Panel -> In the White search box in the upper right type UAC. Click the Change User Account Control Settings link and slide the slider bar all the way down. Click apply/yes and click yes when it asks if you're sure.

Hope that helps.
 
Okay, I have installed the new drivers and E-MU DSP Patchmix started up this time. The old one was able to start so anyway I have overwritten it with the newer version and rebooted. Now Patchmix starts automatically on boot, as it always did before.

Funny how DSP Patchmix is not in start up but runs automatically though. Always did this on the older set up, too.

Thank you!

Now to the next stage... Installing my DAW.
 
Doctor Varney said:
I can't tell you how much fun I'm having already.
attachment.php
Click to expand...
That should be the logo of the analog only forum !
 
I now have sound. Tested first with Windows Media player into Patchmix. Coming out to my outboard mixer, to amp and speakers. So far, so good.

I have disabled UACs as you said.
 
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Nice one Varney. You seem to be on the right path now.

No apology necessary. I couldn't have argued the choice (XP) with any great authority.
The advice was just what I'd have done, but that doesn't make it right.

While it's in my mind, you say this new (substantially older) computer boots and runs faster than your quad core?
That just backs up the idea that something's wrong with this quad core machine.
My bet is still on the hard drive FWIW.

Incidentally, on the mac/pc thing, I can back up the theory that anything can break........
Had a to put a macbook pro logic board in the oven today, and I'm not joking. :p

01.jpg
 
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That looks tasty! :drunk:

I think you're right about the HD, Steen. The motherboard and processor are hardly used but I'm sure we used that hard drive in a previous system. It never felt right; the installation process took the best part of a day and then we had re-do it because something was not right.

Tested the signal in and that checks out, too. The DAW is possibly the strongest part as FL is a very stable piece of software.
 
I want to know if it's worth installing my ATI Radeon graphics card drivers. Windows 7 seemed to immediately find my dual-head Radeon card and is managing it through the standard display options for Windows. It has obviously bypassed the internal onboard graphics. This works and I suspect my dual monitor set up will, too. So, if it works, is there anything to be gained (or lost) by installing the specific ATI drivers? Bearing in mind, my aim is to keep this system as lite and uncluttered as possible.

(Why did you put that board in the oven, Steen?)
 
Doctor Varney said:
That looks tasty! :drunk:

I think you're right about the HD, Steen. The motherboard and processor are hardly used but I'm sure we used that hard drive in a previous system. It never felt right; the installation process took the best part of a day and then we had re-do it because something was not right.

Tested the signal in and that checks out, too. The DAW is possibly the strongest part as FL is a very stable piece of software.
Click to expand...

Can't beat some apple pie! :p

I hope it is the HD. At least that's a cheap and easy fix.
 
It's always a good idea to get the proper drivers from the manufacturer.
Sometimes windows can operate on a generic driver, but usually performance suffers as a result.
It's especially obvious with GFX because your resolution is usually limited.

The MBP was booting but had nothing on screen, no backlight, nothing from DVI output.
I figured either the GPU was dead which means replacing the logic board.
It was damaged when dropped and I could find nothing obviously wrong so I took a punt that maybe some solder joints had been fractured.

Baking it in the oven is a less than ideal way to allow the solder to reflow. Worked a charm. :)
 
Good! I would never have hazarded a thing like that myself!

Just went to install my DAW software from my ext. HD and I get an error message saying "FL Studio has stopped working / Search online for a solution?".

Will have to search online using this computer... unless you got any ideas?
 
So, the FL 10 installer is crashing before it can get started. It's a common enough problem, taken up by the team at Image Line - but even their suggestions do not seem effective for everyone's case and certainly not for mine. The best I've been advised is to wait until the latest version, FL 11 is released as an updated installer, either later today or tomorrow.

I'm not going to start another rant - but seriously, does this smack of an effective platform to you? That's why I was starting to lean towards Apple, you see. Because all of their software passes their own tests before Apple will sanction it. That makes the Apple Mac a 'product' whilst putting together a PC is always more of a 'project'. Surely, anyone reading this can see my point?

Anyway - enough already. Onwards with the 'FLawless' PC...
 
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