Audio playback bug Compaq PII Win2K

[Dan]

Audio playback using any media player "sticks" at random intervals.
These "sticks" don't last more than a second or so, and would go
unnoticed if one were listening to, say, a recorded speech, but they
are quite annoying if you are listening to music, e.g. "Mary" may
sound like "Marrrrry". During these brief hangs, the mouse cursor
travel is also halted (just as briefly, too).
I don't think it's sound card hardware problem, because audio plays
fine when I boot in Win98.
I noticed the same thing with my earlier Compaq P2 too (which had a
different sound card).
Please assist, i hate having to restart the computer in an OS that I
can do little or nothing else just so that I can play my favourite
mp3s or watch video (yes, also sticks in video soundtrack playback).

 

[paulmd]

Audio playback using any media player "sticks" at random intervals.
These "sticks" don't last more than a second or so, and would go
unnoticed if one were listening to, say, a recorded speech, but they
are quite annoying if you are listening to music, e.g. "Mary" may
sound like "Marrrrry". During these brief hangs, the mouse cursor
travel is also halted (just as briefly, too).
I don't think it's sound card hardware problem, because audio plays
fine when I boot in Win98.
I noticed the same thing with my earlier Compaq P2 too (which had a
different sound card).
Please assist, i hate having to restart the computer in an OS that I
can do little or nothing else just so that I can play my favourite
mp3s or watch video (yes, also sticks in video soundtrack playback).

Ok, some basic questions. What is your exact system configuration?

I can kind of fill in the blanks on some of this. You're apparently
dual booting win98 and win2k.

p2s often shipped with 32 or 64mb of ram, which is really OK in
windows 98, but in win2k is a bit of a press. Win2k SHOULD have 128mb
or more ram, in order to get decent performance. So how much RAM have
you got?

Another question: are you reading the mp3s from a cd, or form the hard
disk? If from a cd, make sure you're using DMA mode (device manager,
ide controller, secondary ide channel, advanced).

Third question: what program are you using to play mp3s? if it's media
player 9, use a different program, such as winamp. MP9 is bloatware,
especially for a low spec system.

And last: does hp (they bought compaq) have any sound driver updates
or bios updates for this system? If all else fails, this is a
possible cure.

 

[kony]

Audio playback using any media player "sticks" at random intervals.
These "sticks" don't last more than a second or so, and would go
unnoticed if one were listening to, say, a recorded speech, but they
are quite annoying if you are listening to music, e.g. "Mary" may
sound like "Marrrrry". During these brief hangs, the mouse cursor
travel is also halted (just as briefly, too).

It is possible this indicates a cabling or drive problem.
Use of PIO mode instead of DMA can be an issue instead,
check Device Manager for the mode used by the drive
containing the audio file.

If a CD, try copying the file to the hard drive and playing
it from there.

If you had a motherboard chipset with PCI bus problems it
could be a factor, but it would not typically freeze the
mouse cursor too.

I don't think it's sound card hardware problem, because audio plays
fine when I boot in Win98.
I noticed the same thing with my earlier Compaq P2 too (which had a
different sound card).

It could be related or might not be, best to tackle these
one system at a time... then if you find the solution for
one system, you could see if that helps the other one and
beyond that, handle it as a separate case.

It is possible the real problem on either is not so much
that it's audio but merely a continuous activity that can't
tolerate any kind of *interruption*.

Please assist, i hate having to restart the computer in an OS that I
can do little or nothing else just so that I can play my favourite
mp3s or watch video (yes, also sticks in video soundtrack playback).

You might check Task Manager in Win2k to see if there is
excessive CPU utilization, what else is running, and check
Event Viewer to see if there are any seemingly related error
messages or warnings. In rare cases even an intermittent
network connection can cause similar audio problems but I
don't recall if it would also halt the mouse cursor. When
it is a halted cursor, does it seem more like a complete
freeze or an extremely sluggish reaction? Regardless, try
the things I and Paul have mentioned.

 

[Dan]

Ok, some basic questions. What is your exact system configuration?

I can kind of fill in the blanks on some of this. You're apparently
dual booting win98 and win2k.

p2s often shipped with 32 or 64mb of ram, which is really OK in
windows 98, but in win2k is a bit of a press. Win2k SHOULD have 128mb
or more ram, in order to get decent performance. So how much RAM have
you got?

I've 128 RAM, so that's out, I guess. I;ve also set swap file of one
giga just to rule out running out of virtual memory.

Another question: are you reading the mp3s from a cd, or form the hard
disk? If from a cd, make sure you're using DMA mode (device manager,
ide controller, secondary ide channel, advanced).

Any source (hd, cd) behaves similarly. Funny, indeed that even the WAV
w2k welcome sound (just after login ENTER) slurs from this bug.

Third question: what program are you using to play mp3s? if it's media
player 9, use a different program, such as winamp. MP9 is bloatware,
especially for a low spec system.

I've tried all: winamp 1.x to 5.x, musicmatch, sonique, even older
Winodws media player

 

[paulmd]

I've 128 RAM, so that's out, I guess. I;ve also set swap file of one
giga just to rule out running out of virtual memory.




Any source (hd, cd) behaves similarly. Funny, indeed that even the WAV
w2k welcome sound (just after login ENTER) slurs from this bug.


I've tried all: winamp 1.x to 5.x, musicmatch, sonique, even older
Winodws media player

So it's not likely to be a RAM shortage, DMA/PIO settings, or a
player issue.

That leaves drivers and bios. Drivers are more likely to be at fault,
but if you have the latest drivers for your model, that leaves a bios
upgrade.

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers

Enter your model. If you're not sure how to find it, just ask.

 

[Dan]

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers

Enter your model. If you're not sure how to find it, just ask.

Link has several deskpro 4000 (what's displayed when system boots)
models. Mine is 233.(Thanx to Everest and Aida32) I guess prefix 5 is
for pentium, 6 is for P2 etc. but suffix x etc can't tell so I'd
rather make sure what drivers I'm going to download. Pls assist.

 

[Pen]

Link has several deskpro 4000 (what's displayed when system boots)
models. Mine is 233.(Thanx to Everest and Aida32) I guess prefix 5 is
for pentium, 6 is for P2 etc. but suffix x etc can't tell so I'd
rather make sure what drivers I'm going to download. Pls assist.

If you post what BIOS version you have along with its date. Also there
should be a model number tag on the rear of your machine.

 

[Dan]

If you post what BIOS version you have along with its date. Also there
should be a model number tag on the rear of your machine.

Numbers found in the back of the box:
REK *143341G*
and
263036-001

From Everest utility:

Motherboard bios type: Compaq (12/15/98)
UUID - Unknown
Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard Company
Bios upgrade: a third-party website is given (http://
www.esupport.com), requires $26 or so.
I guess that's it--looks like I have to play my media in Win98 for the
time being, because I am not going to pay noone no 26 dollars. Cruel
not to provide flash for free.

Thanks, though.

 

[paulmd]

Numbers found in the back of the box:
REK *143341G*
and
263036-001


Motherboard bios type: Compaq (12/15/98)
UUID - Unknown
Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard Company
Bios upgrade: a third-party website is given (http://www.esupport.com), requires $26 or so.
I guess that's it--looks like I have to play my media in Win98 for the
time being, because I am not going to pay noone no 26 dollars. Cruel
not to provide flash for free.

Thanks, though.

Ignore e-support, don't pay them nothing. The bios is a FREE download
from HP.

Your bios is one of these 2 here. It looks that all the 4000N and S
have the same bios in common.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...swEnvOID=181&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=1

and all the 4000 (no letter) also the same bios in common, so there's
really only two choices here.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...96810&swEnvOID=181&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=5


Except that the revision history has nothing that looks remotely sound
related. That leaves drivers, which hp isn't supplying, what does
everest say your sound card is? It may be possible do get it from the
maker of the audio chip.

 

[Dan]

Ignore e-support, don't pay them nothing. The bios is a FREE download
from HP.

Your bios is one of these 2 here. It looks that all the 4000N and S
have the same bios in common.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription....

and all the 4000 (no letter) also the same bios in common, so there's
really only two choices here.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription....

Except that the revision history has nothing that looks remotely sound
related. That leaves drivers, which hp isn't supplying, what does
everest say your sound card is? It may be possible do get it from the
maker of the audio chip.

Sound card is reported by Everest as Cirrus Logic CS4614/22/24
Crystalclear SoundFusion audio accelerator (subject of earlier post
here, I downloaded its Win98 driver from Driverguide).

I have a bit of doubt if it's something to do with audio driver
because as I mentioned earlier the mouse also sticks when the audio
sticks (about half a sec at a time, about once per minute).

 

[kony]

Sound card is reported by Everest as Cirrus Logic CS4614/22/24
Crystalclear SoundFusion audio accelerator (subject of earlier post
here, I downloaded its Win98 driver from Driverguide).

I have a bit of doubt if it's something to do with audio driver
because as I mentioned earlier the mouse also sticks when the audio
sticks (about half a sec at a time, about once per minute).

Is your OS win98 or 98SE?

In the win98 era there was a transition in audio driver
formats, the earlier win95 and 95 driver was what I will
refer to as a VXD driver, while around 98SE and later went
with a WDM driver. Once the WDM development started, it was
common for manufacturers to cease development of later
versions of the VXD driver, but the VXD driver often worked
better on Win98/SE.

Considering this, sometimes it is not the newest driver that
is best, it would be the last VXD type, OR the last WDM type
as they're the most developed of each type.

On this page,
http://www.cirrus.com/en/support/drivers/audio/OS21.html

What it looks like you want is this,
http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PV2885.zip

and if it doesn't work right then try this,
http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PW3041.zip

 

[paulmd]

Is your OS win98 or 98SE?

In the win98 era there was a transition in audio driver
formats, the earlier win95 and 95 driver was what I will
refer to as a VXD driver, while around 98SE and later went
with a WDM driver. Once the WDM development started, it was
common for manufacturers to cease development of later
versions of the VXD driver, but the VXD driver often worked
better on Win98/SE.

Considering this, sometimes it is not the newest driver that
is best, it would be the last VXD type, OR the last WDM type
as they're the most developed of each type.

On this page,http://www.cirrus.com/en/support/drivers/audio/OS21.html

What it looks like you want is this,http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PV2885.zip

and if it doesn't work right then try this,http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PW3041.zip

I think we're confusing OSes. Op has a dual boot 98/win2k machine.
Audio plays fine under 98. It's win2k that's the issue.

So THIS is the proper driver. At any rate, It's the most likely to
cure the headache.

http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PW3041.zip


To Dan's previous point about not thinking it's the sound driver
because the cursor freezes: If it only hangs during audio, it's
definitely the sound driver. If it often hangs at other times that do
not involve audio, such as web surfing, word processing, and that kind
of thing, the sound issue is only a symptom of a larger problem.

 

[Dan]

Is your OS win98 or 98SE?

In the win98 era there was a transition in audio driver
formats, the earlier win95 and 95 driver was what I will
refer to as a VXD driver, while around 98SE and later went
with a WDM driver. Once the WDM development started, it was
common for manufacturers to cease development of later
versions of the VXD driver, but the VXD driver often worked
better on Win98/SE.

Considering this, sometimes it is not the newest driver that
is best, it would be the last VXD type, OR the last WDM type
as they're the most developed of each type.

On this page,http://www.cirrus.com/en/support/drivers/audio/OS21.html

What it looks like you want is this,http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PV2885.zip

and if it doesn't work right then try this,http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PW3041.zip

Thanks, I am going to try them. I''l give feedback here.

 

[Dan]

I think we're confusing OSes. Op has a dual boot 98/win2k machine.
Audio plays fine under 98. It's win2k that's the issue.

So THIS is the proper driver. At any rate, It's the most likely to
cure the headache.

Oh, hopefully. I'm surely in debt for the amount of help I've received
from this group.

 

[Dan]

Thanks, I am going to try them. I''l give feedback here.

Sorry to report here that my compaq bug problem has NOT been resolved
by the drivers update. I uninstalled the old drivers, restarted the
system, card was detected, I pointed the folder I'd unzipped the
PW3041, update worked fine, but playing audio still had these split
second hangs.

 

[paulmd]

Sorry to report here that my compaq bug problem has NOT been resolved
by the drivers update. I uninstalled the old drivers, restarted the
system, card was detected, I pointed the folder I'd unzipped the
PW3041, update worked fine, but playing audio still had these split
second hangs.

Well, try the BIOS update. I don't think it'll help really, but there
aren't many options left.

 

[paulmd]

Well, try the BIOS update. I don't think it'll help really, but there
aren't many options left.

After this, troubleshooting means going over some of the items
previously eliminated. Such as DMA mode on the hard disk. I'm pretty
sure it's not the media player, given the variety you've already
tried.

There are a few more things that MAY help (but again, aren't that
likely), such as replacing the 40wire hard drive ribbon cable with an
80wire model. If it hasn't been done already. (Same number of pins,
the extra 40 wires are all grounds)

Replacing the hard drive, or upgrading RAM MIGHT help. But Its a
questionable whether it's worth spending that kind of money on a
geriatric machine.

If it hasn't been done already, download and install service pack 4
for win2k. There are a large number of stability and security fixes,
so it's worth doing anyway.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/sp4/default.mspx


Also, try disabling the antivirus, firewall, and antispyware programs,
and any quickstarters.

 

[kony]

Sorry to report here that my compaq bug problem has NOT been resolved
by the drivers update. I uninstalled the old drivers, restarted the
system, card was detected, I pointed the folder I'd unzipped the
PW3041, update worked fine, but playing audio still had these split
second hangs.

Another look at some potential problems -

- Check CPU utilization
- Check whether any other processes are at an improperly
high priority
- Disable other devices, drivers, bios features-
temporarily.
- What chipset is this motherboard? Try PCI latency
patches, particularly if a Via board.
- Try other audio players
- Check performance of the source drives, with benchmarks,
and check CPU utilization during these.
- Try another drive cable.
- Check Event Viewer
- Install Win2k to use APM instead of ACPI power management
- Give up and add a sound card.

 

[Dan]

Another look at some potential problems -

- Check CPU utilization
- Check whether any other processes are at an improperly
high priority
- Disable other devices, drivers, bios features-
temporarily.
- What chipset is this motherboard? Try PCI latency
patches, particularly if a Via board.

Most of these can be ruled out as follows: (i) The glitch is only with
Win2K audio playback. The same motherboard and everything plays any
audio FINE (including dvd audio, mp3, mpeg etc) if I boot from Win98.
(ii) The problem is right there before any processes are loaded: The
Win2K welcome .wav clip suffers from the syndrome, and as you know
that wav sound goes right after hitting the ENTER during login.
Indeed, with my home machine I have almost no systray background
programs running.

- Try other audio players

The only audio that plays back in Win2k without the glitch is CD Audio
(which utilizes the cable that runs from behind the CD drive to the
sound card, no wonder). The following have been tried and have similar
behaviour: Musicmatch Jukebox, Sonique, Winamp, Windows Media Player,
windows media preview, power DVD etc: I;m sure even the ones I haven't
tried shall misbehave similarly.

- Check performance of the source drives, with benchmarks,
and check CPU utilization during these.
- Try another drive cable.

That couldn't be the problem, as Win98 uses the same drives and cables
without any problem. Flash, HDD, CD are all affected.

- Check Event Viewer
- Install Win2k to use APM instead of ACPI power management
- Give up and add a sound card.

I've enabled APM all along. Always do this when I setup win2k on a
system.
So friends, I'm sure you want to help, sorry it's so far not so good.
I think the problem is hardly noticeable to other people because they
don't play mp3 or movies on (compaq) PCs.

 

[kony]

Most of these can be ruled out as follows: (i) The glitch is only with
Win2K audio playback. The same motherboard and everything plays any
audio FINE (including dvd audio, mp3, mpeg etc) if I boot from Win98.

This is an incorrect presumption. The problem can still
occur due to how different drivers are written, different OS
works with them or has other things installed.

(ii) The problem is right there before any processes are loaded: The
Win2K welcome .wav clip suffers from the syndrome, and as you know
that wav sound goes right after hitting the ENTER during login.
Indeed, with my home machine I have almost no systray background
programs running.

This also does not matter, as the only thing it tells you is
there is no application loading (later) that is interfering,
but it was not expected there would be an application
causing the problem.

We are taking opposing views on troubleshooting, I am
enumerating known reasons why it may happen rather than
trying for forsee unknown interactions. The problem with
trying to forsee the unknown, is that it's unknown.

The only audio that plays back in Win2k without the glitch is CD Audio
(which utilizes the cable that runs from behind the CD drive to the
sound card, no wonder). The following have been tried and have similar
behaviour: Musicmatch Jukebox, Sonique, Winamp, Windows Media Player,
windows media preview, power DVD etc: I;m sure even the ones I haven't
tried shall misbehave similarly.

Having the information that the sound plays wrong at login,
we can rule out audio players but not the other variables.

That couldn't be the problem, as Win98 uses the same drives and cables
without any problem. Flash, HDD, CD are all affected.

Ok, but I was not reading the whole thread, rather providing
a list of all things at once.

I've enabled APM all along. Always do this when I setup win2k on a
system.

?? Are we talking about the same thing?
There is no reason to use APM instead of ACPI on Win2k
unless there is a specific problem using ACPI. Using APM
means the processor can't HALT-Idle as well so it uses more
power, higher running temps most of the time.

Using APM mean specifically chosing not to use ACPI, if the
board supports ACPI. It means that in Device Manager there
will not be an ACPI entry under "Computer", nor any under
"System Devices" category. Perhaps this is what you meant -
I'm only clarifying.

So friends, I'm sure you want to help, sorry it's so far not so good.
I think the problem is hardly noticeable to other people because they
don't play mp3 or movies on (compaq) PCs.

I couldn't disagree more, a problem like this is going to be
noticable to practically everyone with a PC in a home
environment. There is a fix for this, it can work, there is
nothing particularly proprietary about that system that
would interfere with it working unless the only sound driver
is very buggy for Win2k/XP, or a sever bios bug but that
isn't so likely since it doesn't happen in Win9x and Win2k
can run in a compatible legacy mode for APM.