Winamp playback skips frequently when using other program

[Jackol]

I can't use anything else on my computer when winamp is playing, or the playback skips and freezes.

I have no idea what's wrong. My system is fairly powerfull. It's as follows:

Pentium 300, 384 mb ram, scsi hard drive (differential 20mbps), soundblaster64 gold sound card, win98 w/ all updates installed.

I have about 7 programs running in the background (taskbar), but even if i shut them all down it still skips.

I recently defragged my hard drives, and freed up as much space as possible. Could the dilemma be that i only have 100mb or so left on the C: drive where the OS runs? The mp3's run off a D: drive, which has 1200mb free space, and also which contains the windows swap file as there is no room for it on the C: drive.

I had a copy of windows NT workstation 4.0 installed on the same system, and i could have 20 programs running and it would NEVER skip. Does windows98 multitask THAT bad. This is absurd.

I can't as much as browse the web without winamp skipping. It's highly annoying. Has anyone else had this problem? What should i do?

Thanks.

Jackol

[jilljeanne]

I have the skipping problem too when I open other programs and change skins. It doesn't freeze up on me though. I've had this problem since I downloaded the 2.62 version. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jackol:
I can't use anything else on my computer when winamp is playing, or the playback skips and freezes.

I have no idea what's wrong. My system is fairly powerfull. It's as follows:

Pentium 300, 384 mb ram, scsi hard drive (differential 20mbps), soundblaster64 gold sound card, win98 w/ all updates installed.

I have about 7 programs running in the background (taskbar), but even if i shut them all down it still skips.

I recently defragged my hard drives, and freed up as much space as possible. Could the dilemma be that i only have 100mb or so left on the C: drive where the OS runs? The mp3's run off a D: drive, which has 1200mb free space, and also which contains the windows swap file as there is no room for it on the C: drive.

I had a copy of windows NT workstation 4.0 installed on the same system, and i could have 20 programs running and it would NEVER skip. Does windows98 multitask THAT bad. This is absurd.

I can't as much as browse the web without winamp skipping. It's highly annoying. Has anyone else had this problem? What should i do?

Thanks.

Jackol<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Jazyy]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jackol:
I can't use anything else on my computer when winamp is playing, or the playback skips and freezes.

I have no idea what's wrong. My system is fairly powerfull. It's as follows:

Pentium 300, 384 mb ram, scsi hard drive (differential 20mbps), soundblaster64 gold sound card, win98 w/ all updates installed.

I have about 7 programs running in the background (taskbar), but even if i shut them all down it still skips.

I recently defragged my hard drives, and freed up as much space as possible. Could the dilemma be that i only have 100mb or so left on the C: drive where the OS runs? The mp3's run off a D: drive, which has 1200mb free space, and also which contains the windows swap file as there is no room for it on the C: drive.

I had a copy of windows NT workstation 4.0 installed on the same system, and i could have 20 programs running and it would NEVER skip. Does windows98 multitask THAT bad. This is absurd.

I can't as much as browse the web without winamp skipping. It's highly annoying. Has anyone else had this problem? What should i do?

Thanks.

Jackol<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

SO WHAT'S THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF WINAMP SKIPPING AND FREEZING?

[Jazyy]

SO WHAT'S THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION OF WINAMP SKIPPING AND FREEZING? please post or reply to e-mail

[jelloman]

This may not be the cause to your problem but in many cases with an ISA based soundcard mp3s may skip. i think it's because the ISA bus isn't getting enough bandwidth or something, and having tons of memory won't help the situation. I don't know that it would cause winamp to crash, so you may have another unrelated problem. Well if you notice that mp3s skip when scrolling through a webpage or harddrive contents, then you might have the aforementioned problem. the solution is to obtain a PCI based soundcard. A very cheap one with basic performance is the Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI card that can be had for about $20 online. If you want to a nicer card with more features get an Aureal Vortex SQ2500 or a Soundblaster Live. these will cost between $75 to $150 depending on the model

[jelloman]

check this (http://www.winamp.com/getwinamp/faq/index.jhtml;$sessionid$MNCVRKIAAPAXJTN24UNBC0I?filenumber=170&language=english&layout=normal&prevlayout=normal) out in the Winamp FAQ.

[bgaetjen@yahoo.com]

I think that FAQ is bull. WinAmp experiences these skipping problems far more frequently that other MP3 players like Napster or Kjofol. There may be some inherent problems with video / audio in Windows, but that doesn't account for 100% of the problem. If other programs can handle it smoothly, why can't WinAmp?

[bgaetjen@yahoo.com]

I just found this -- maybe it will help!

&lt;a href="http://players.shoutclub.net/winamp/slocal.php3"&gt;http://players.shoutclub.net/winamp/slocal.php3&lt;/a&gt;

[Shane]

Most skipping problems have to do with your video card stealing bandwidth to play audio.

There isnt much you can do for that but. Try changing your buffer settings in Winamp. Winamp Options/Preferences/Output/ make nullsoft wave out plugin blue, click configure. Set them like this... Use Wavemapper. Buffer length to full max which is 10000 ms. Advance settings to Time Critical. Max blocks to 15. Max blocksize to 40. Min blocksize to 12. Click OK. Click Close. Try playing a song, it should help play smoother.

Hope this helps you guys. Im still using version 2.20 and no problems so far.

[Ice]

I have a problem alike this, but it only happens when i am starting large progams (Photoshop, Dreamweaver..)

If i just stop the song and press play it seems to cure it.