winamp problem

[heck28]

My computer runs fine when not using winamp, when i start up winamp and play any song, the computer will freeze if i try to do anything else. When it freezes the speakers play a continous monotone noise that is very annoying. About the only way it runs right is if it is left alone while playing. To me this sounds like a CPU speed or RAM, but i would of thought that 200 MHz and 40 MB of RAM would of been enough to run winamp continously while being able to surf the web. Any tips or help is appreciated. thanks, Heck

[sgtfuzzbubble011]

I used to have a 133mhz puter with 64 megs of RAM. I couldn't run winamp at all on it for some reason (I always thought that the minimum requirement was a 90mhz). I've got a p233 with 96 megs now and winamp runs great while I'm surfing. I'm not sure what the problem is with yours, but I don't think it's a cpu speed problem. You might want to check and see if you have lots of appz running in the background. I think that's what killed my old puter.

[heck28]

i cancelled out all my memory resident programs that were running in the background. well all but the necessities like, aol winamp and explorer. winamp still freezes my computer on any and every song. any other suggestions???? heck

[Nabeel]

hi,
another possible problem might be that your sound card is low on the mb count, cuz if it is it'll take the resources from the 40 mb ram of ur's , a sound card with a good mb count might relieve the RAM and ur puter might work fine.

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Nab the Crab.

[heck28]

If i get a new sound card, how many MB's should it have to relieve the resources? thanks for the help.

[DJ Egg]

Does the problem only occur whilst you're surfin' ?
If so, have you tried unchecking "use smooth scrolling" in the Advanced tab of IE Internet Options ?


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DJ - Egg
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[gandalf]

Have you tried to tweak the thread priority or the quality options? here are a few pointers:

• Prefs>Options> Process priority class: move to the right
• Prefs>plugins>input>MPEG decoding engine>General tab>Decode Thread priority: move to the right
• Prefs>plugins>input>MPEG decoding engine>Decoder tab> Choose lower quality settings.
• Prefs>plugins>output>waveOUT or Directsound: increase the buffer, and in case you are using the waveout plug. increase te thread priority too.

[Edited by Jayn on 12-20-2000 at 11:58 AM]

[DJ Egg]

Sorry for posting this twice. I didn't think it had registered properly the first time. Probably because the very Rt. Hon. Gandalf was posting his spot on & ingenious reply at the same time !

Does the problem only occur whilst you're surfin' ?
If so, have you tried unchecking "Use smooth scrolling" in the Advanced tab of IE Internet Options ?

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DJ - Egg
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[This message has been edited by DJEgg (edited June 29, 2000).]

[heck28]

it doesnt happen only while surfing, it can happen while its the only thing operating. I went through and changed all the priority settings and thread things, and it works better, i can now play a few songs in a row before it happens again. i know it should freeze every known and then, but it shouldnt do it as much as it still does....any other ideas?

[DJ Egg]

It's definitely nothing to do with your RAM or CPU / clock speed . . . I'm only using a Pentium Pro @ 133MHz with 48MB RAM, and Winamp never freezes my pc !
Though I've noticed it occasionally stutters when I've got a lot of apps running.

You say AOL is always running in the background ? Why ???
I imagine this must take up a fair bit of CPU . . . ??!!??
I don't know much about AOL, apart from the fact that it seems to cause a lot of people a lot of problems . . . however, I can tell you absolutely anything you need to know about Windows & Internet Explorer !

BTW, what is your soundcard anyway !?!

For now, all I can suggest is that you tweak Winamp some more [as Gandalf says] . . . and did you do what I said about disabling smooth scrolling ?
Also, have you tried switching the output plug-in from "wave_out" to "direct sound" . . . or vice-versa ???

Finally . . . RU running any dsp, general or vis plug-ins with Winamp ?
If so, these may need configuring or could even be incompatible !?!

Reply below to all these questions and we'll take it from there.
Maybe it'd best to use the "reply with quote" option and insert your replies & delete the irrelevant parts as necessary.

Laterzzzzzzz


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DJ - Egg
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[heck28]

Originally posted by DJEgg:


You say AOL is always running in the background ? Why ???
I imagine this must take up a fair bit of CPU . . . ??!!??
I don't know much about AOL, apart from the fact that it seems to cause a lot of people a lot of problems

BTW, what is your soundcard anyway !?!

For now, all I can suggest is that you tweak Winamp some more [as Gandalf says] . . . and did you do what I said about disabling smooth scrolling ?
Also, have you tried switching the output plug-in from "wave_out" to "direct sound" . . . or vice-versa ???

Finally . . . RU running any dsp, general or vis plug-ins with Winamp ?
If so, these may need configuring or could even be incompatible !?!

Aol is not always running, i just left it running because i wanted to see if it froze while on the net and i use aol to access it!!

My soundcard is a Crystal Audio System Plug and Play.

All i have been doing is tweaking winamp with little help. I did switch off smooth scrolling in the internet options, and as far as any dsp, i have no idea what that stands for so i'm either not using any or have many and dont know they're there!!!!

I switched from wave out to directsound for no improvement.

Heck


[This message has been edited by heck28 (edited July 03, 2000).]

[Edited by Jayn on 12-20-2000 at 12:00 PM]

[DJ Egg]

Oh heck !

Don't know if this is gonna help at all, but check out these couple of links to threads regarding Crystal Audio.

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=25328

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=25316

I suggest you maybe should go for a Creative Soundblaster sblive [64 or 128].

I'm only using the SBAWE32 and it works pretty fine for me, so I can't begin to imagine how hefty the SBLIVE 64 / 128 is gonna perform & sound !

I really wish I could help ya further, but I've totally run out of suggestions for now.

Do any of your other MultiMedia programs crash or freeze frequently ?
[eg. Windows Media Player, etc]
Or is it just Winamp ?


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DJ - Egg
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[Edited by Jayn on 12-20-2000 at 12:06 PM]

[heck28]

Everything else plays fine, winamp is the only app that freezes while playing songs.

DJEgg says go with a Creative Soundblaster sblive 64 or 128 version. What is the difference between the two????

Would the Creative Soundblaster Live mp3+ sound card work well with winamp since it is a dedicated mp3 card??

I would really like a card that is half duplex so i can try to set up a internet long distance phone, such as dialpad. Is the sblive64 or the mp3+ considered a half duplex card???? Please let me know as i have found out that other people are having trouble with crystal audio cards as well.

Heck

[This message has been edited by heck28 (edited July 03, 2000).]

[heck28]

I also forgot to mention that i have a Cyrix processor, not an intel pentium. I have changed the setting in winamp from pentium to cyrix, but that didnt help either. I cant get a soundblaster live soundcard because of this problem. Anything else that'll work??

Heck

[Mr Happy]

Why do you want a half-duplex sound card? Half-duplex means that it can play and record, but not both at the same time. For the purposes of internet telephony, this means that you can talk and listen, but not both at the same time! (Think of a CB radio)

Full duplex is the way to go, and all modern sound cards that I'm aware of are capable of it.

[DJ Egg]

Let's set this one alight, eh !?!

15 replies . . . . Flame on !

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DJ - Egg
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[Reverend Ike]

DJEgg -

You were so engrossed in Winamp bugs, you forgot about the UBB Bug!!! Remember? Sometimes it's 15, sometimes it's 16 ...

[heck28]

Ok, i'm thinking i'm going to get a new soundcard. The card i want is a Creative Soundblaster mp3+. Will this card work in my system????

system specs:
200 mhz CYRIX processor
48 megs ram

I've had trouble recently with creative soundcards for some reason. i have already purchased the sblive 64 and 128 versions in the past unable to get them configured right. (luckily the place was willing to take them back if they didnt work) Will the mp3+ card be able to work in the above system???? thanks, heck

[Nabeel]

Hi,
you mentioned that you have a cyrix, so probably you would have to get a sound card that is compatible, other than that as Mr Happy mentioned it's better u get a full duplex card, and every sound card these days have an option to change from half duplex to full and vice versa.

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Nab the Crab.

[heck28]

Does anyone know of a good, decent priced sound card that is compatible with a cyrix processor? heck

[heck28]

alright, forget the soundcard......would downloading and installing directx version 7.0 help an any way, shape or form?????? thanks again, Heck

[Hefaistos]

Heck, I had the same prob as you have...
Are you using any plug-ins, skins,...
If you do, remove them all and reïnstall winamp. It solved my problem and I can play every song without any problem even while I'm playing a game on-line or just surfing on the web...

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Hefaistos

[DJ Egg]

I very much doubt it'll be the skins, but yes, it definitely could have something to do with a potentially dodgy plug-in.
Have you installed any extra plug-ins apart from the default ones ?
In particular, some of the extra DSP/Effect, vis and general purpose plug-ins tend to be a bit buggy. You can never tell which until you've tried.
In which case, Hefaistos's suggestion may well be worth a try !
Oh heck, I wish we could sort this out once & for all

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DJ - Egg
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[Winsane]

I once found a skin that crashed Winamp. I think it was called something like Antichrist Bob's Very Evil Amp.

[heck28]

no skins, and no plugins since i uninstalled and reinstalled winamp last night. Still freezes though, however two things, 1, i recently installed a 10GB slave hard drive for storage of mp3's, could this be a problem? and 2, i have recently started noticing other apps that freeze the computer(not nearly as much as winamp, but it happens). They are also audio programs, like an avi with sound on the net or something similar. Could this help solve the problem? thanks and i think were getting closer!!! Heck

[bizznit]

I know what you're talking about and I have the same problem(sort of). When i use the plugins like the cool visualizations it causes my computer to lag for a long time. once in a long time it crashes. I know the problem is Winamp. The lag goes away sometimes but sometimes i have to restart my computer. I think your problem is your processor or your motherboard. I am sure this is the problem. Some procs simply are crap or they just reject the motherboard. This is not a problem that can be easily fixed. It's gonna be like mission impossible because of all the plugins and skins and crap that gets updated a billion times a month. Try running winamp on someone elses computer and you'll see that it is not neccessarily the program messing up. Also the memory could also be the problem. maybe winamp is an sdram hog but this is unlikely.
--well i was gonna write a cool qoute but i have no damn imagination and i'm too sleepy

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-Bruce Nguyen

[RioRimac]

My Compaq Presario was freezing up at some point ever time I played an MP3 until I changed the Audio Decoder Quality level from "Full" to "Half" -- now it works fine. Click on your Winamp icon in the upper L corner, go to Options, Preferences, Plug-Ins, Input. Double click on "Nullsoft MPEG Audio Decoder...," go to Decoder, and set "Quality" at "Half." Good luck!

[heck28]

I changed my quality from whole to half, with no helping. Tonight, I even changed my soundcard out to my old one. I took the Crystal one out, and put in an Ensoniq one. This did not help either. The only thing i can think of, is that i have two hard drives, one is solely for storing mp3's, and winamp is on hte main hd. Would this have anything to do with it?????? This whole problem either started when i put the 2nd hard drive in or when i downloaded winamp2.64. One of those two seems to have set this off! heck

[DJ Egg]

Just a suggestion . . .
If you think that may be the problem . . . and I've got no clue as to whether it is or not . . . then have you tried installing Winamp to your other Hard Drive ?

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DJ - Egg
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[heck28]

I uninstalled winamp and put it on to the slave hard drive. It froze. I then reinstalled winamp back on to the master hard drive, adn moved 10 songs from the slave to the master so that winamp and the songs were both on the master hard drive. Guess what? yeah, it froze again! This is really getting old and annoying. HHHHHHEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!!!!! heck

[DJ Egg]

Oh well, it was just a long shot anyway !
Sad to say my friend . . . but I give in !

Maybe it's time to get a Pentium ?

Oh heck . . . at least we tried !


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DJ - Egg
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[heck28]

I think i finally got it to work. Its played for 45 mins straight now!!!!!! I installed windows98 over 95 and changed some things in BIOS. adn it seems to be fine again. Knock on wood........thanks for all the help though! heck

[DJ Egg]

Well, ya live and learn . . .
Thank heavens for that !
Yeeharr !

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DJ - Egg
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[olliehay]

Heck, my friend has had a similar problem on his system. We've recently installed Win 98 on his machine too, would you be able to share what BIOS stuff you did?

thanks Olliehay