Can't play mp3 files smoothly

[Colonel Blip]

Hello, All!

I have an Athlon64, 2 gb of memory and many gigabytes of hard drives. My OS
is XP Pro, sp-2. This system is robust. However, I have tried several mp3
players from the Windows Media player to iTunes and I am having a problem.

When playing music frequently I am getting 'hesitation' in the music. This
is occurring when I open a program or even minimize one. At first I thought
it was due to the hard drive access but I ran a hard drive benchmark
program, which had essentially continuous access of the hard drive and the
music player did not hesitate. I have used taskmanager to see if I could see
a task taking over but it is not evident. Generally the system idle process
doesn't drop below 70%. There is an item lables "System" that the hesitation
cycle follows the task increasing and decreasing in CPU use (maybe 4-12%)
but other times there is no problem with the music but the System item
continues to fluctuate.

There is an item in the taskmanager called wowexec that seems to jump around
when I've got the list sorted by CPU use yet it uses no memory and the CPU
usage numbers do not change. I shut it down but that didn't seem to fix the
problem.

I'm at a loss on what could be causing this kind of behavior; any ideas?

Thanks,
Colonel Blip.
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Colonel Blip]

Hello, Colonel!
You wrote to All on Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:41:25 -0500:

More info on this problem (unfortunately, no solutions obvious to me):

I have a dual boot setup so I booted off the other OS partition. I ran an
mp3 file and opened and closed programs over and over again and while the
taskmanager response looked similar and the cpu usage jumped all over the
place, the sound was smooth.

Another test on the problem partition. I did a clean (nothing in startup)
boot and still had the problem.

Thus this doesn't appear to be a hardware problem but where oh where is the
problem.


Thanks,

Colonel Blip.
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

CB> Hello, All!

CB> I have an Athlon64, 2 gb of memory and many gigabytes of hard drives.
CB> My OS is XP Pro, sp-2. This system is robust. However, I have tried
CB> several mp3 players from the Windows Media player to iTunes and I am
CB> having a problem.

CB> When playing music frequently I am getting 'hesitation' in the music.
CB> This is occurring when I open a program or even minimize one. At first
CB> I thought it was due to the hard drive access but I ran a hard drive
CB> benchmark program, which had essentially continuous access of the hard
CB> drive and the music player did not hesitate. I have used taskmanager to
CB> see if I could see a task taking over but it is not evident. Generally
CB> the system idle process doesn't drop below 70%. There is an item lables
CB> "System" that the hesitation cycle follows the task increasing and
CB> decreasing in CPU use (maybe 4-12%) but other times there is no problem
CB> with the music but the System item continues to fluctuate.

CB> There is an item in the taskmanager called wowexec that seems to jump
CB> around when I've got the list sorted by CPU use yet it uses no memory
CB> and the CPU usage numbers do not change. I shut it down but that didn't
CB> seem to fix the problem.

CB> I'm at a loss on what could be causing this kind of behavior; any
CB> ideas?

CB> Thanks,
CB> Colonel Blip.
CB> E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Malke]

Hello, Colonel!
You wrote to All on Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:41:25 -0500:

More info on this problem (unfortunately, no solutions obvious to me):

I have a dual boot setup so I booted off the other OS partition. I ran
an mp3 file and opened and closed programs over and over again and
while the taskmanager response looked similar and the cpu usage jumped
all over the place, the sound was smooth.

Another test on the problem partition. I did a clean (nothing in
startup) boot and still had the problem.

Thus this doesn't appear to be a hardware problem but where oh where
is the problem.


Thanks,

Colonel Blip.
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

CB> Hello, All!

CB> I have an Athlon64, 2 gb of memory and many gigabytes of hard
drives. CB> My OS is XP Pro, sp-2. This system is robust. However, I
have tried CB> several mp3 players from the Windows Media player to
iTunes and I am CB> having a problem.

CB> When playing music frequently I am getting 'hesitation' in the
music. CB> This is occurring when I open a program or even minimize
one. At first CB> I thought it was due to the hard drive access but I
ran a hard drive CB> benchmark program, which had essentially
continuous access of the hard CB> drive and the music player did not
hesitate. I have used taskmanager to CB> see if I could see a task
taking over but it is not evident. Generally CB> the system idle
process doesn't drop below 70%. There is an item lables CB> "System"
that the hesitation cycle follows the task increasing and CB>
decreasing in CPU use (maybe 4-12%) but other times there is no
problem CB> with the music but the System item continues to
fluctuate.

CB> There is an item in the taskmanager called wowexec that seems to
jump CB> around when I've got the list sorted by CPU use yet it uses
no memory CB> and the CPU usage numbers do not change. I shut it down
but that didn't CB> seem to fix the problem.

CB> I'm at a loss on what could be causing this kind of behavior; any
CB> ideas?

CB> Thanks,
CB> Colonel Blip.
CB> E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

Actually, since you have the problem in two different operating systems
after doing a clean boot, I would look to the hardware and/or its
drivers. You didn't say what hardware you have, but here are a few
suggestions. As with all t-shooting, you should make one change at a
time and test after each change:

1. Update the drivers. Get them from the device mftr.'s website or the
motherboard mftr.'s website if onboard sound, OR if you have an OEM
machine (HP, Dell, whatever) from the OEM's website for your specific
machine.

2. If this is a pci card, try uninstalling it and moving it to a
different pci slot.

3. If onboard sound, try disabling it in the BIOS and putting in a pci
sound card.

4. Did the sound ever work properly? If so, what changed between the
time things worked and the time they didn't?

Wowexec.exe is part of the operating system and supports 16-bit
processes:
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/wowexec/

Is it a very old sound card?

Malke

 

[Rock]

Hello, Colonel!
You wrote to All on Tue, 12 Jul 2005 18:41:25 -0500:

More info on this problem (unfortunately, no solutions obvious to me):

I have a dual boot setup so I booted off the other OS partition. I ran an
mp3 file and opened and closed programs over and over again and while the
taskmanager response looked similar and the cpu usage jumped all over the
place, the sound was smooth.

Another test on the problem partition. I did a clean (nothing in startup)
boot and still had the problem.

Thus this doesn't appear to be a hardware problem but where oh where is the
problem.


Thanks,

Colonel Blip.
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

CB> Hello, All!

CB> I have an Athlon64, 2 gb of memory and many gigabytes of hard drives.
CB> My OS is XP Pro, sp-2. This system is robust. However, I have tried
CB> several mp3 players from the Windows Media player to iTunes and I am
CB> having a problem.

CB> When playing music frequently I am getting 'hesitation' in the music.
CB> This is occurring when I open a program or even minimize one. At first
CB> I thought it was due to the hard drive access but I ran a hard drive
CB> benchmark program, which had essentially continuous access of the hard
CB> drive and the music player did not hesitate. I have used taskmanager to
CB> see if I could see a task taking over but it is not evident. Generally
CB> the system idle process doesn't drop below 70%. There is an item lables
CB> "System" that the hesitation cycle follows the task increasing and
CB> decreasing in CPU use (maybe 4-12%) but other times there is no problem
CB> with the music but the System item continues to fluctuate.

CB> There is an item in the taskmanager called wowexec that seems to jump
CB> around when I've got the list sorted by CPU use yet it uses no memory
CB> and the CPU usage numbers do not change. I shut it down but that didn't
CB> seem to fix the problem.

CB> I'm at a loss on what could be causing this kind of behavior; any
CB> ideas?

CB> Thanks,
CB> Colonel Blip.
CB> E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

Have you tried to reinstall / update the sound card drivers.

 

[Colonel Blip]

Hello, Malke!
You wrote on Wed, 13 Jul 2005 09:06:33 -0700:

M> Colonel Blip wrote:

M> Actually, since you have the problem in two different operating systems
M> after doing a clean boot, I would look to the hardware and/or its
M> drivers. You didn't say what hardware you have, but here are a few
M> suggestions. As with all t-shooting, you should make one change at a
M> time and test after each change:

Maybe I wasn't clear. I did NOT have the same problem on the 2nd OS.

I 'fixed' the problem by reinstalling my OS partition from a June backup.
Fortunately I hadn't added any programs of significance since then.
Everything runs fine now. I can't make the sound hesitate.


<SNIP>


Thanks,

Colonel Blip.
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Malke]

Hello, Malke!
You wrote on Wed, 13 Jul 2005 09:06:33 -0700:

M> Colonel Blip wrote:

M> Actually, since you have the problem in two different operating
systems M> after doing a clean boot, I would look to the hardware
and/or its M> drivers. You didn't say what hardware you have, but
here are a few M> suggestions. As with all t-shooting, you should
make one change at a M> time and test after each change:

Maybe I wasn't clear. I did NOT have the same problem on the 2nd OS.

I 'fixed' the problem by reinstalling my OS partition from a June
backup. Fortunately I hadn't added any programs of significance since
then. Everything runs fine now. I can't make the sound hesitate.

Ah, I see. I did read your post as saying the problems were in both
OS's. Glad to hear you fixed it. Thanks for taking the time to let me
know.

Malke

 

[NoStop]

After sticking his head out from his XP firewall, Colonel Blip had this to
say:

Hello, All!

I have an Athlon64, 2 gb of memory and many gigabytes of hard drives. My
OS is XP Pro, sp-2. This system is robust. However, I have tried several
mp3 players from the Windows Media player to iTunes and I am having a
problem.

NASA put men on the moon with less computing power than you have at your
disposal, and it can't play a MP3 without stumbling? Geez, what an
operating system!

 

[Colonel Blip]

Hello, NoStop!
You wrote on Wed, 13 Jul 2005 23:52:55 GMT:


N> NASA put men on the moon with less computing power than you have at your
N> disposal, and it can't play a MP3 without stumbling? Geez, what an
N> operating system!

Indeed. Then again, I keep my feet on terra firma so when my system crashes
and burns I don't. <g>

Thanks,

Colonel Blip.
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)