A6VC usb problem, please help!

I recently brought an Asus A6V to run with a usb digital dj program called Serato Scratch Live. I chose the Asus partly on the recommendation of two friends who run Serato without any problems on two almost identical Asus spec machines.

The Serato program has a usb buffer setting which controls the latency. The A6V should be able to run the Serato program at the lowest buffer setting of 1 without breaking a sweat. However after installing the program and the driver for the usb box, I have had a weird problem where I can't run it on a low buffer setting. I get continuous usb 'dropouts', as if the cpu is being pushed to the limit. But according to the task manager, the cpu usage is peeking only at about 60%.

I have spent the last two weeks trying everything I and the Serato suport team could think of to fix this problem. After admitting defeat, I returned the A6V to the shop where I brought it from to get a replacement notebook. I also took my Serato with me to test on my new choice of notebook. I installed and ran with a buffer setting of 1 on two notebooks without any problems, a Toshiba and an Asus A6Q00Vc which I think is just the A6VC(?). Since I really like the Asus, I grabbed the A6VC.

The only thing I installed on the notebook was Serato and Itunes, and for 2 full dsays everything was great. Serato ran with a buffer setting of 1 without any problems. Then after using the machine (without problems) in the afternoon, I turned it back on that evening and the usb problem was back, acting identical to the problem with the A6V.

The only thing I had done that afternoon was plug in a USB mouse (which windows automatically installed the driver for), and corrected the time.

I thought that the USB mouse migth have been teh cause of the problem, so I did a system rollback to before I had plug in the mouse.... the problem was still there.

The Asus support line suggested a complete windows recovery which I have just completed..... the probelm is still there.

I have tested the serato hardware on my desktop to eliminate that as a problem, so I know its definately working properly.

I have also (on both notebooks) disabled or uninstalled anything that might hog or use system resources. (ie. Power4g+, Wireless, bloothtooth etc....)

I have I am at a complete loss to what is causing the USB problem.

I am also at a complete loss as to why the A6VC worked perfectly and now has the same problem as the A6V.

I would really appreciate any suggestions or help anyone could offer.

Thanks very much.

S.

 

I forgot to add that the Notebook is at all times connected to the mains for power..... if that makes any difference.

S.

 

On your desktop, are you using USB 2.0?
It may be a longshot, but perhaps USB 2.0 vs USB 1.1 may be at fault. (it's the only thing I can think of, other than software/driver corruption)

 

Hi AuroraS.

My desktop where the Serato runs flawlessly does use usb2.0.

Do you think that somehow, the Asus notebook is using USB1.1 instead of 2.0?

This would make sense, as when the usb problem happens, I have to slow the ub buffer down for it to work properly. I have always suspected that someting was either throttling the cpu or the usb....

Is there any way to check if the notebook is using USB2.0 and not USB1.1?

Thanks alot!

S.

Is there some way to check if this happening?