Very Choppy Sound & Video - e1505

Hello,

Iam hoping someone will be able to help me figure out what is wrong with my machine. I first noticed this when using iTunes, when playing music while from the library or any other source while importing a cd the sound became choppy and was quite horrible. ...Before this point i could import music and listen at the same time and everything worked fine. Today i popped in a DVD while i was at work becuase it was a very slow day... The DVD didn't help because the video was slow, choppy, and studdered... in addition to the sound. I tried playing it with ME, power DVD, WMP... etc. the same thing happens with all apps. As soon as iam done iam going to uninstall iTunes and reinstall to see if that helps... Iam really lost with this.

e1505
2.0 GHZ duo core
100GB 5400 rpm
x1400 ATI
1GB RAM (2x512mb)

 

Check to see how many processes you have running and if all are on the same processor. If you are overloading one processor, then you'll have problems.

I don't know if this is still a problem or not with dual core. We had a couple of users in the beginning when dual core was first released that complained about this problem.

SG

 

What do you suggest?

 

too many processes, check & update drivers
Edit: also, what has changed, do you have a firewall/protection? seriously though 69 processes is too many, I have 27 running with itunes, aim, firefox and online firewall/virus protection.

 

Thats what i was thinking... ...that screen shot is after all the updated drivers were installed... thinking of a clean install... but really don't want to do it... unless the whole process can be handled smoothly by now...

 

Thank you i thougt it seemes high but really couldn't remember what it was before... how did you get it down that low?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=5787

 

first, cut down your processess. Like deadbolt suggested, that guide will help. Clean install would be best though. Also, go to MSCONFIG (directions given in the guide) and cut down as many programs as you can.

Also, can you take a screenshot of the processess that you have running so we can see what is taking up so much?

On the previous problem, the user was using iTunes and describe the exact same problems that you have. It was really choppy, and we did a check of the processes and everything was on one processor. I'll go find that thread and see if it has any helpful suggestions for ya.

 

there are ALL of whats in the list.... thats a lot

 

I would tell you what to take off, but there are too many. Reformat, and your computer will fly, or else follow the guide.

 

hmm, that wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. Nothing really sticks out as to why your CPU was so high in the first set of images, yet your in last post everything looks normal.

That is a lot of processes. I would suggest to reformat if you feel comfortable doing it. If you want to and have a second computer, I can walk you through it on MSN/AIM/Yahoo. As far as I know, we have figured out most of the problems including the Media Direct issues. It is actually really easy to fix.

There is another option. A programmer created a program which will remove alot of the junk ware on Dell computers. You can find out more info here: http://www.yorkspace.com/2006/04/38 . If you go this route, get a good registry cleaner (CCleaner, Registry Mechanic, etc) and make sure to run it. Once you do that, then follow the guide that deadbolt gave you. You don't have to follow all of it, but I would at least do the MSCONFIG section and the services section.

 

Finished my clean install of XP.... thus for most things seem to be working fine... except my wireless connection... when i try to connect it says
"no supported wireless adapters available in the system" ...can anyone help me to fix that?


OOh yeah and which display device to i install there are quite a few listed!?!?!

 

ignore the display device unless you have external monitor.

your wireless connection -- have you installed your wifi drivers yet? You should have downloaded 2 possibly 3 drivers from the Networking Drivers section?

one is ethernet (broadcom 40 10/100), then wifi (depends on your wifi) and Bluetooth if you have it.

 

I got it to work... I downloaded and installed it twice... no go... But the third time was the charm!!! So wireless is up and running... Now something else... how do i get the on screen graphical volume display to work when i use the volume keys on the front of the lappy? One other thing... I thought i had the stuff i needed to get the dvd to work after the new install... However it says i need a dvd decoder... Is that another CD that Dell simply decides not to send out even when you pay for the install cds?

 

you have to install dell quickset from dell.com for the volume, and powerdvd for dvd.

 

You have to call to get the PowerDVD and Sonic Record now. First one is DVD decoder and second is the burning software - personally I rather have Nero.

For whatever reason dell doesn't include these in the disc packet

 

I wish I could have read this earlier, and saved you the reformat, but at least now you have a clean computer

I'm pretty much 100% sure that your dvd drive was running in PIO mode, instead of Ultra DMA mode. This would cause the choppy audio/video, along with the high cpu usage.

I had the same problem, and I found the solution here originally:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_cdrom&message.id=49979
(Scroll down to OMGWTFBBQ's post)

 

I have 64 processes running and everything works fine...

 

I have a lot on my e1705 and it runs fine, don't worry. His notebook seemed to have a different problem.

 

Thanks soo much for everyones help... SouthernGirl you are awesome!!! My dvd and sonic cds were shipped today... Squampton, thanks for the heads up i will be sure to check on that!!! I would give everyone kudos but as you can see my rep power has all been taken away... LOL good day!