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My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening music,
it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more important.

It's a three year old Pentium 5 single processor, 1.5 gig, with 2 gigs of
memory. The main job of the laptop is to record and play audio, and now it
does neither dependably.

It's an HP with the factory SB clone sound card, drivers have been recently
updated. There's room on the hard drive and it's defragged. Virus and
malware scan shows nothing amiss.

A PC whiz I ran into at a meeting suggested I hadn't properly notified the
system when I upgraded memory from a half a gig, and he led me through some
menus. That turned out to be right. We changed that, and now the system
knows there's two gigs of memory. (Still, when it was new and only had half
a gig, it played audio with no problems.)

I don't think problems started when I increased memory. In fact, audio
performance problems were the main reason I added memory.

Video playback glitches and stutters too. In both cases, video and audio,
within thirty seconds to a minute it smooths out and seems to be OK. The
last few times I've had to play audio publicly, it worked fine, but you
can't count on it. When I've had to use it in presentations, I've opened up
the Task Manager and killed every peripheral program I could, as well as
turning off wi-fi.

If you have a suggestion how I could again joyfully hear the Windows XP boot
up music in its original glory, one that works, I'd be eternally grateful
and always say nice things about you.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:40:02 -0600, Art wrote:

> My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening
> music, it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more
> important.

Wipe that Windoze crap off your laptop, install Linux, and enjoy life
again.


--
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Ahhhhhhh!: http://brandybuck.site40.net/pics/relieve.jpg

In news Dan C
<> wrote:

> On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:40:02 -0600, Art wrote:
>
>> My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening
>> music, it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more
>> important.
>
> Wipe that Windoze crap off your laptop, install Linux, and enjoy life
> again.

Hey! That's funny!

Trying to get audio working on old laptops is one of the most difficult
Linux chores there is.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:40:02 -0600, "Art" <> wrote:

>My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening music,
>it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more important.

Turn off audio for Windows events.

Does the mouse work when it stutters?

>It's a three year old Pentium 5 single processor, 1.5 gig, with 2 gigs of
>memory. The main job of the laptop is to record and play audio, and now it
>does neither dependably.
>
>It's an HP with the factory SB clone sound card, drivers have been recently
>updated. There's room on the hard drive and it's defragged. Virus and
>malware scan shows nothing amiss.

Does audio play in safe mode? Been too long since I tried..

>A PC whiz I ran into at a meeting suggested I hadn't properly notified the
>system when I upgraded memory from a half a gig, and he led me through some
>menus. That turned out to be right. We changed that, and now the system
>knows there's two gigs of memory. (Still, when it was new and only had half
>a gig, it played audio with no problems.)

What? I've never had to do anything when I've installed memory..

>If you have a suggestion how I could again joyfully hear the Windows XP boot
>up music in its original glory, one that works, I'd be eternally grateful
>and always say nice things about you.

For the love of all that's holy, why?
--
To reply via e-mail, remove The Obvious from my e-mail address.

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:55:24 +0000, Bert Hyman wrote:

> In news Dan C
> <> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:40:02 -0600, Art wrote:
>>
>>> My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening
>>> music, it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more
>>> important.
>>
>> Wipe that Windoze crap off your laptop, install Linux, and enjoy life
>> again.
>
> Hey! That's funny!
>
> Trying to get audio working on old laptops is one of the most difficult
> Linux chores there is.

Wrong. Older hardware generally is easier to get working in Linux (than
new hardware). His laptop is a prime candidate for Linux, and is almost
certainly well supported.


--
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Ahhhhhhh!: http://brandybuck.site40.net/pics/relieve.jpg

In message <Xns9BA3A1D353885VeebleFetzer@216.250.184.7>, Bert Hyman wrote:
> In news Dan C
> <> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:40:02 -0600, Art wrote:
> >
> >> My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening
> >> music, it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more
> >> important.
> >
> > Wipe that Windoze crap off your laptop, install Linux, and enjoy life
> > again.
>
> Hey! That's funny!
>
> Trying to get audio working on old laptops is one of the most difficult
> Linux chores there is.
>
Pft! ALSA not working? Try OSS...
I've never been flummoxed by a sound card in teh linux...

^_^


--
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people
by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and
sudden usurpations.... The means of defense against foreign danger historically
have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
-James Madison

In message <9tKgl.372$>, "Art" wrote:
> My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening music,

IRQ issue...somethings stomping on some allocated memory.

> it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more important.
>
Think different?
Mheh...

> It's a three year old Pentium 5 single processor, 1.5 gig, with 2 gigs of
> memory. The main job of the laptop is to record and play audio, and now it
> does neither dependably.
>
My condolences.

> It's an HP with the factory SB clone sound card, drivers have been recently
> updated. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^

Roll back the driver for your soundcard.
Case Closed.

^_^

--
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people
by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and
sudden usurpations.... The means of defense against foreign danger historically
have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
-James Madison

"Art" <> wrote in news:9tKgl.372$:

> My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening
> music, it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more
> important.
>
> It's a three year old Pentium 5 single processor, 1.5 gig, with 2 gigs
> of memory. The main job of the laptop is to record and play audio, and
> now it does neither dependably.
>
> It's an HP with the factory SB clone sound card, drivers have been
> recently updated. There's room on the hard drive and it's defragged.
> Virus and malware scan shows nothing amiss.
>
> A PC whiz I ran into at a meeting suggested I hadn't properly notified
> the system when I upgraded memory from a half a gig, and he led me
> through some menus. That turned out to be right. We changed that, and
> now the system knows there's two gigs of memory. (Still, when it was
> new and only had half a gig, it played audio with no problems.)
>
> I don't think problems started when I increased memory. In fact, audio
> performance problems were the main reason I added memory.
>
> Video playback glitches and stutters too. In both cases, video and
> audio, within thirty seconds to a minute it smooths out and seems to be
> OK. The last few times I've had to play audio publicly, it worked fine,
> but you can't count on it. When I've had to use it in presentations,
> I've opened up the Task Manager and killed every peripheral program I
> could, as well as turning off wi-fi.
>
That would certainly help keep things efficient, but you *do* have to shut
them off permanently with msconfig.


--
(setq (chuck nil) car(chuck) )

In news Dan C
<> wrote:

> On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:55:24 +0000, Bert Hyman wrote:
>
>> In news Dan C
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:40:02 -0600, Art wrote:
>>>
>>>> My laptop stutters playing audio. Even during the Windows opening
>>>> music, it's interrupted half a dozen times to do something more
>>>> important.
>>>
>>> Wipe that Windoze crap off your laptop, install Linux, and enjoy
>>> life again.
>>
>> Hey! That's funny!
>>
>> Trying to get audio working on old laptops is one of the most
>> difficult Linux chores there is.
>
> Wrong.

Tell that to all the Thinkpad 600E owners.

> Older hardware generally is easier to get working in Linux (than
> new hardware). His laptop is a prime candidate for Linux, and is
> almost certainly well supported.

Almost certainly?

That's nice.

And, good luck.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

On Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:08:24 +0000, Bert Hyman wrote:

>>> Trying to get audio working on old laptops is one of the most
>>> difficult Linux chores there is.

>> Wrong.

> Tell that to all the Thinkpad 600E owners.

I just did.

>> Older hardware generally is easier to get working in Linux (than
>> new hardware). His laptop is a prime candidate for Linux, and is
>> almost certainly well supported.

> Almost certainly?

Yeah, almost certainly. What don't you understand about that?

> That's nice.

Indeed it is.

> And, good luck.

Good luck? With what? I'm not the one with the "issue".

Do you know anything about Linux? Have you ever used it? Are you just
talking out your ass, or what? Are you just a common Win-droid
regurgitating what your master Billy Gates tells you to say?


--
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Ahhhhhhh!: http://brandybuck.site40.net/pics/relieve.jpg