XPS M1210 CD/DVD problem

When ever I try and play media from cd or dvd in windows always get choppy video/audio.
Any help appreciated?

 

Get rid of a lot of processes - Cntrl+Shift+Esc and get rid of stuff you don't need.

 

Normally this happens when you have a ton of processess running in the background as gautam stated. If you haven't already, you need to either reformat or manuall remove the junkware. Then optimize your laptop (guide located in the Dummy forum). Most Dell laptops come with 60+ processess running, and an optimize laptop normally has about 30-40 processes.

Also, your antivirus and firewall could be causing a problem if they are resource hog (such as Norton).

 

exact same problem here. i've actually had the dvd DL drive replaced by dell yesterday (called xps support, they asked me to do 2 tests: 1) is it still choppy with other CD's and DVD's i haven't tried, 2) try burning a DVD and see how long it takes, so i burned it with files adding up to 3.8GB and it took an hour and a half)

took it back home to test yesterday (the dell guy didn't have any audio CD's or DVD's to test), still exactly the same thing. read this thread and thought, fine i'll stop some of the processes and got it down to 35 running (usually have around 55), still exact same problems with audio and videos, being very choppy. tried burning another DVD, this time with files adding up to 2GB and it still took a good 40 mins...

am i just really unlucky with 2 defective DVD drives or is there actually sth wrong with the software?

 

It might be your software. What software are you using?

 

I tried to burn dvd at max speed of 8x and actual burning speed was 0.85x, I was using roxio software that came with computer.

 

i tried playing with wmp, cine player, windows classic player, vlc player, all choppy
i tried burning with sonic and nero, both took longer than how long i was told that it would take

is this wot u mean by software, tho?

 

Both of you can try this - update your cd/dvd drivers if you haven't already. Most cd/dvd drives have drivers located on support.dell.com under Drivers & downlaods. Some don't. If you can tell me the manufacturer of your cd/dvd drive i can help you out more.

 

Sony DVD+-RW DW-Q58A

 

okay, sony is the one that does not have a driver. It uses XP. In order to update the driver, you'll need to turn the laptop off. Remove the screw (one with a lock symbol by it). Then remove the drive and put it back in. Once you start XP, this should cause it to detect it as new hardware, and install the new driver.


Before you do that, I want to try something else. Try playing a dvd, and while it is playing press ctrl+shift+esc to bring up the task manager. Click on the preformance tab, and you should see both of your processors there. Does one of them have more activity or is maxed out than the other?

I kind of wonder if you aren't overloading one of your processors.

 

CPU usage is around 60%, it always around 40% just sitting in windows(processor is T2300E)
The CPU history has first processor up 3 bars and the other processor up 2 bars.

 

mine is also a sony, though i dunno which model number

i just gave xps support a call again, the dude told me to update BIOS, chipset, system config ut, vid adaptor and audio stuff lol

i DO plan, i THINK, to upgrade to merom later on, and have heard stories how it's unusable if i upgrade to A01. now the dude told me to upgrade to A02, i wonder if this stops it from using merom? i asked him if it would and he just replied 'u can downgrade ur bios later on'...

anyways, SG, by 'both processors' do u mean page file usuage or CPU usuage? and wot's a good level considering that i have the t2300e with 1gb ram? (i can't check right now as it's at home and i'm at work)

cheers SG for ur timely replies and suggestions, it's greatly appreciated!

i guess i'll just shut up for now and let u solve homer's problem first and will try wotever homer does afterwards

 

okay, let me take one problem at a time here:
Homer:
your CPU is way to high. You have better specs than me, and when XP is idling, I'm at zero %. Even when I'm watching a movie, that is only about 30%. Can you look in your task manager and see if there are any programs that are using a huge amount of resources (basically the ones that are using the highest amount of CPU excluding the system idle)?


Lord:
I don't know if yours and his problem is the same. I think he can't play DVDs correctly, and you can't burn cd/dvds right?

Basically, i just need the CPU usage. When you are burning data/songs, your CPU will be very high, so you might be maxing out your CPU also. You shouldn't be though. You both have better systems than me, so we just have to figure out what is going on here.

SG

 

nono i can't burn cd/dvds (within the suggested timeframe) AND playing dvd's/audio cds (and playing avi files from cd's that i've burned) is choppy (and i've also noticed how the beat is slower when i play audio CD's. i'm a drummer so i can tell what the tempo should've been )... and plus homer also doesn't burn his DVD's quickly enough also, so in effect i think that we might have the exact same problem.

so should we upgrade BIOS to A02? apparently it's 'urgently critical' to do so... but i don't wonna lose the choice of upgrading to merom

 

I am only running fiirefox and eTrust antivirus.
Process:
nvscv32.exe at around 30
csrss.exe at 10
spoolsv.exe-7
rundll32.exe-2
everything is at 0
CPU usage-40%

CPU always this high from the time I turned machine on last week.
Thanks for all you help.

 

No, I think homer's problem is completely different than yours, Lord (at least I hope). Let me get him fixed. Then I'll work on yours.

Homer, I hate to tell you this, but you have a worm. Try using spybot search and destroy ( http://www.spybot.info/) and see if it can find it. If it doesn't, we will try other software. That nvscv32 is a backdoor trojan ( http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2004-072102-0936-99&tabid=2)

 

downloaded and ran program , detected some things and I deleted them but process is still running.rebooted still there

 

okay, I think my eyes are playing tricks on me...

is it nvscv32 or nvsvc32 ?

Reason i'm asking is that one is a worm - one is part of nvidia.

 

nvsvc32.exe

 

sorry i put wrong one in orginal post.

 

okay. Thank goodness - that is just nvidia LOL its okay. I switch things around all the time. I was just making sure that I wasn't seeing things.

have you turned off all of the unnecessary programs in MSCONFIG yet? There should be some way to turn off the nvidia application. I'm trying to find out what exactly it does. I don't think it is necessary software.

 

okay back to your problem. Homer is going to do a few other things and report back to us.

From what I can tell, it isn't an "urgent" update. It was rumor that if you did the BIOS update then that causes problems with Merom, so i would just hold off on that. Besides, normally with cd/dvd problems, the BIOS doesn't play into it that much.

What is your CPU usuage in the Task Bar when XP is idle? I just need to know the total amount of CPU usuage in the "Processes Tab" of the Task Manager (cpu usuage is located at the very bottom next to number of processes).

I'm off to bed right now since my eyes are going cross eyed, but I'm subscribed to this thread so I won't lose it and should be back first thing in the morning.

 

lol alright. in years of my forum wh0ring this is one of the few times seeing someone fixing 2 probs at once in the same thread so mega kudos to u

i'm at work now and won't be able to check for quite a while anyways, so sleep tight and good night. i shall report in a good 10-12 hours' time

thanks for ur input so far, SG!

 

quick recap: T2300E, 1gb ram

looking at 'performance' tab now, 'cpu usage' usually at 0% when idle, seldomly jumps up to 2-3%, 'pf usage' at around 350mb.

now playing dvd using cineplayer: 'cpu usage' jumping up and down between 38-50%, 'pf usage' at 416mb constantly, mouse pointer gets very choppy

currently running 57 processes, but as i've also said before, tried playing a dvd while keeping on closing processes with high 'mem usage' until i had around 35 left, made no difference whatsoever.

am now going to update drivers like the dude said, all drivers but the BIOS. let's hope it gets better afterwards. will let u know shortly!

edit: oh and, do programs like UnlockerAssistant, avast!, dell quickset, and install shield manager (do i need this running??) take up a lotta unecessary cpu usage? have a list of startup stuff that i dunno if i should disable... have already disabled a LOT but still have around 55 processes running at startup...

 

a shameless bump

 

hmm, thought i posted here. Maybe I was just in lala land. anyways, back to the problems.

No, you don't need install shield manager. Let me check a few other things, and I"ll get back to you. Homer formatted tonight, so we should know what the results are soon - i hope.

 

The results are amazing, dvd playing perfectly in windows, processor usage is down to 0% when xp is idle.
Have not tried burning but will in a little while

 

Okay. This is sad. I remember one solution when I was looking for the solution to another problem.

Lord try this...

1. Go to your device manager (right click on my computer-->properties-->hardware tab-->device manager).
2. Double click on the IDE section to expand it
3. Right click on the secondary IDE channel and select properties
4. Goto the second tab called Advanced Settings
5. Set transfer mode to DMA for Device 0
6. Click okay and reboot

After you do this, try playing a CD again.

LOL, glad to hear Homer. I think I could have saved you the trouble of formatting with the above method, but I'm not 100% sure that is the solution or not. I'll have to wait for Lord to try it out I guess. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but we've had several users post this solution.

 

just wondering, what does this do?

haha i'll try when i get home, i guess (yes i'm at work again... grr )

thanks for ur suggestion!

 

Apparently on some cd/dvd drives, Dell has set for PIO mode. PIO is the old technology, where DMA is the new technology. Basically, I gave you the directions on how to set it to DMA mode.

If you need more of an explanation as to what each mode is:
http://www.pctechguide.com/32CD-ROM_DMA_vs_PIO_mode.htm


SG

 

Just burned 4.1 GB of data, took less then 15 min, speed was around 4.5x(DVD max write speed is 8x)

Thanks for all the help SG with the reformat, computer is finally working like I expected out of the box.

 

alrighty then, thanks for the info.

worse comes to worse, i'll just follow ur guide to reformat the dam thing like homer thanks a million for ur help

 

ok i checked. it was already set at 'DMA if available'... MAYBE it was like this ever since the drivers update? dunno

well played mp3 and dvd fine... guess i'll try burning a dvd now and hope for the best

 

done testing. burned a 1.05gb file in just under 4 mins. cpu usage jumping from 0-10% averaging 4%, pf usage at 603mb constantly. i guess updating drivers really helped.

awesome. thanks SG for ur time!

 

LOL, I'm glad that both of you got everything fixed now. Most likely when you updated the driver it changed it from PIO to DMA. I could be wrong though.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
SG

 

actually... there is

how do i remove adober.exe? i deleted it using avast! but it keeps coming back and keeps on infecting my external hardisks

 

adober.exe? I've never heard of it. I did a google and didn't see anything. Do you have anymore information? Is it showing up in your task manager?

 

:/ it doesn't matter. i'll try to figure out myself. it's no big deal... or so i think

thanks anyway!