GPL, XP and stutters - AGAIN...

Decided to replace my SBLive Value (which REFUSED to work with GPL with any of the hacks I could find). Got a Hercules Fortissimo III (because that's what was in the shop!) Practise session - fine. Race? Stutters like a b!tch. Here's the wierdness... Every now and then the volume on my engine drops low and the game doesn't stutter, but once the sound "fixes" itself I'm back where I started. Sound accelleration dropping in and out? If I disable the soundcard and use the onboard AC97 sound instead, no stutters but worse framerate. I fear I've spent money on a soundcard where the solution would have been to dig out an old switchbox to flick speakers between on-board and dedicated sound. Oh well, at least I've got DD-EX capability... Anyone got any ideas that do not involve switching off accelleration? That requires a reboot whereas switching to AC97 doesn't so I might as well do that. But I'd rather just be able to double click on my GPL icon and go... Regards, Mark

Odd, changing sound acceleration does not require a reboot here (XP Pro). I could swear it didn't require one in 98 either. "Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > > Anyone got any ideas that do not involve switching off accelleration?That > requires a reboot whereas switching to AC97 doesn't so I might as well do > that. But I'd rather just be able to double click on my GPL icon andgo... > > Regards, > > Mark > >

"Haqsau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:av563t$c6ej2$[email hidden]... > Odd, changing sound acceleration does not require a reboot here (XP Pro).I > could swear it didn't require one in 98 either. Didn't used to with the SBLive... Never mind, though. This card has 3 levels of accelleration (including off), and I get stutters on 'em all. I'm now routing around the house trying not to wake up the family looking for wires and switch boxes I *know* I've got somewhere to allow me to switch to AC97 when required... What a nighmare! Four years down the line and I'm *still* blowing money on GPL. The most expensive 30 quid I've ever spent... Mark

Mark, it almost sounds as if you have some sort of hardware conflict. What type motherboard do you have, and what type cards do you have installed and in which slots? May be a long shot, but if the onboard works... Glen Pittman "Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > > "Haqsau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:av563t$c6ej2$[email hidden]... > > Odd, changing sound acceleration does not require a reboot here (XPPro).

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> I > > could swear it didn't require one in 98 either. > > Didn't used to with the SBLive... > > Never mind, though. This card has 3 levels of accelleration (including > off), and I get stutters on 'em all. I'm now routing around the house > trying not to wake up the family looking for wires and switch boxes I

*know* > I've got somewhere to allow me to switch to AC97 when required... > > What a nighmare! Four years down the line and I'm *still* blowing moneyon > GPL. The most expensive 30 quid I've ever spent... > > Mark > >

"Glen Pittman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Mark, it almost sounds as if you have some sort of hardware conflict.What > type motherboard do you have, and what type cards do you have installedand > in which slots? > > May be a long shot, but if the onboard works... I know that the GFX and Sound aren't conflicting IRQ wise, but it is wierd that I get the stutters at points of heaviest demand graphically or sonically (can't figure out which). For example, I parked it at Zandy on the grass and only got stutters when I had a screen full of cars. Also, like I said earlier, when the card "breaks down" and goes quieter I get no stutters either. Looks just like HD thrashing, but I don't *think* that's happening. HD light is very dim and CPU fan very noisy. Stumped, I am. I've got a Ti4200 (AGP), Fortissimo III and an ISDN card in there. I couldn't say off-hand what slots they're in without digging under the desk and it's too late now. I'll try switching slots. The problem makes no sense so I have no doubt the solution (if there is one) will be equally nonsensical. The mobo is an ECS K7S5A if anyone's interested - I don't know what bios settings are optimal. Tried with on-board sound and without (enabled/disabled in bios), OpenGL and D3D, all levels of hardware accelleration, just tried installing DirectX9, too! Only thing that works so far is disabling the Fortissimo III and going on-board sound... Next to try: Change slots (any recommendations?) Re-install GPL from scratch Rest of system spec is XP1800, XP Home SP1, 256Mb DDR. Thanks for the suggestions, so far. Regards, Mark

Just curious, but do you have Indexing turned off? Check in Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Component Services/Service (Local) and alphabetically in the right panel. If it is set to Stopped or Manual, right-click and change it to Automatic. I had really weird results in GPL when I turned Indexing off once. -- Chris H. Microsoft Windows MVP Associate Expert Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone "Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Decided to replace my SBLive Value (which REFUSED to work with GPL with > any > of the hacks I could find). > > Got a Hercules Fortissimo III (because that's what was in the shop!) > > Practise session - fine. Race? Stutters like a b!tch. > > Here's the wierdness... Every now and then the volume on my engine drops > low and the game doesn't stutter, but once the sound "fixes" itself I'm > back > where I started. Sound accelleration dropping in and out? > > If I disable the soundcard and use the onboard AC97 sound instead, no > stutters but worse framerate. > > I fear I've spent money on a soundcard where the solution would have been > to > dig out an old switchbox to flick speakers between on-board and dedicated > sound. Oh well, at least I've got DD-EX capability... > > Anyone got any ideas that do not involve switching off accelleration? > That > requires a reboot whereas switching to AC97 doesn't so I might as well do > that. But I'd rather just be able to double click on my GPL icon and > go... > > Regards, > > Mark > >

Hi I did the same, replaced my SBLive with a Hercules Fortissimo III and........... no improvement. Then i installed the "PCI Latency" patch for VIA Chipsets ( http://www.tecchannel.de/hardware/817/8.html ) and after that the stuttering is gone ,the sound is fine. The patch deals with PCI Latency, among other things. This is not an "official" patch supplied by VIA or any motherboard manufacturer. You may use it at your own risk. My system : Abit KR7A-133 AMDXP1600 Abit Geforce4 4200ti Hercules Fortissimo III Win XP Pro Driver "Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> skrev i melding news:[email hidden]... > Decided to replace my SBLive Value (which REFUSED to work with GPL withany

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> of the hacks I could find). > > Got a Hercules Fortissimo III (because that's what was in the shop!) > > Practise session - fine. Race? Stutters like a b!tch. > > Here's the wierdness... Every now and then the volume on my engine drops > low and the game doesn't stutter, but once the sound "fixes" itself I'm

back > where I started. Sound accelleration dropping in and out? > > If I disable the soundcard and use the onboard AC97 sound instead, no > stutters but worse framerate. > > I fear I've spent money on a soundcard where the solution would have beento > dig out an old switchbox to flick speakers between on-board and dedicated > sound. Oh well, at least I've got DD-EX capability... > > Anyone got any ideas that do not involve switching off accelleration?That > requires a reboot whereas switching to AC97 doesn't so I might as well do > that. But I'd rather just be able to double click on my GPL icon andgo... > > Regards, > > Mark > >

I have downloaded the manual, and I'll look at the slot assignments and see where it looks like the best placement of cards would be IMO, but it sounds as if you have a handle on this type thing anyway. I'll post back later today after I have had a chance to check this out. Glen "Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> > "Glen Pittman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > Mark, it almost sounds as if you have some sort of hardware conflict. > What > > type motherboard do you have, and what type cards do you have installed > and > > in which slots? > > > > May be a long shot, but if the onboard works... > > I know that the GFX and Sound aren't conflicting IRQ wise, but it is wierd > that I get the stutters at points of heaviest demand graphically or > sonically (can't figure out which). For example, I parked it at Zandy on > the grass and only got stutters when I had a screen full of cars. Also, > like I said earlier, when the card "breaks down" and goes quieter I get no > stutters either. Looks just like HD thrashing, but I don't *think* that's > happening. HD light is very dim and CPU fan very noisy. > > Stumped, I am. I've got a Ti4200 (AGP), Fortissimo III and an ISDN card

in > there. I couldn't say off-hand what slots they're in without diggingunder > the desk and it's too late now. I'll try switching slots. The problem > makes no sense so I have no doubt the solution (if there is one) will be > equally nonsensical. The mobo is an ECS K7S5A if anyone's interested - I > don't know what bios settings are optimal. > > Tried with on-board sound and without (enabled/disabled in bios), OpenGLand

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> D3D, all levels of hardware accelleration, just tried installing DirectX9, > too! > > Only thing that works so far is disabling the Fortissimo III and going > on-board sound... > > Next to try: > Change slots (any recommendations?) > Re-install GPL from scratch > > Rest of system spec is XP1800, XP Home SP1, 256Mb DDR. > > Thanks for the suggestions, so far. > > Regards, > > Mark > >

Could you describe some of those results? I'm still having a bit of a problem with sound in GPL. I was able to eliminate the distortion that I was getting, but I still get occasional clicks and pops that never used to be there. I doubt that this has anything to do with indexing, but I am curious. "Chris H." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Just curious, but do you have Indexing turned off? Check in Control > Panel/Administrative Tools/Component Services/Service (Local) and > alphabetically in the right panel. If it is set to Stopped or Manual, > right-click and change it to Automatic. I had really weird results in GPL > when I turned Indexing off once. > -- > Chris H. > Microsoft Windows MVP > Associate Expert > Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone > > "Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > Decided to replace my SBLive Value (which REFUSED to work with GPL with > > any > > of the hacks I could find). > > > > Got a Hercules Fortissimo III (because that's what was in the shop!) > > > > Practise session - fine. Race? Stutters like a b!tch. > > > > Here's the wierdness... Every now and then the volume on my engine

drops

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> > low and the game doesn't stutter, but once the sound "fixes" itself I'm > > back > > where I started. Sound accelleration dropping in and out? > > > > If I disable the soundcard and use the onboard AC97 sound instead, no > > stutters but worse framerate. > > > > I fear I've spent money on a soundcard where the solution would have

been > > to > > dig out an old switchbox to flick speakers between on-board anddedicated > > sound. Oh well, at least I've got DD-EX capability... > > > > Anyone got any ideas that do not involve switching off accelleration? > > That > > requires a reboot whereas switching to AC97 doesn't so I might as welldo

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> > that. But I'd rather just be able to double click on my GPL icon and > > go... > > > > Regards, > > > > Mark > > > > >

i tried a thorough defragment and re-order on the hard drive and that improved things a lot for me On Sat, 4 Jan 2003 10:22:39 +0100, "Driver" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Hi >I did the same, replaced my SBLive with a Hercules Fortissimo III >and........... no improvement. >Then i installed the "PCI Latency" patch for VIA Chipsets ( >http://www.tecchannel.de/hardware/817/8.html ) and after that the stuttering >is gone ,the sound is fine. The patch deals with PCI Latency, among other >things. This is not an "official" patch supplied by VIA or any motherboard >manufacturer. You may use it at your own risk. > >My system : >Abit KR7A-133 >AMDXP1600 >Abit Geforce4 4200ti >Hercules Fortissimo III >Win XP Pro > >Driver > >"Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> skrev i melding >news:[email hidden]... >> Decided to replace my SBLive Value (which REFUSED to work with GPL with >any >> of the hacks I could find). >> >> Got a Hercules Fortissimo III (because that's what was in the shop!) >> >> Practise session - fine. Race? Stutters like a b!tch. >> >> Here's the wierdness... Every now and then the volume on my engine drops >> low and the game doesn't stutter, but once the sound "fixes" itself I'm >back >> where I started. Sound accelleration dropping in and out? >> >> If I disable the soundcard and use the onboard AC97 sound instead, no >> stutters but worse framerate. >> >> I fear I've spent money on a soundcard where the solution would have been >to >> dig out an old switchbox to flick speakers between on-board and dedicated >> sound. Oh well, at least I've got DD-EX capability... >> >> Anyone got any ideas that do not involve switching off accelleration? >That >> requires a reboot whereas switching to AC97 doesn't so I might as well do >> that. But I'd rather just be able to double click on my GPL icon and >go... >> >> Regards, >> >> Mark >> >> >

I looked through the manual, and unfortunately, there is no info that I could find about which PCI slots are sharing resources. Most manuals that I have looked through will have this, but not the one from ECS. Glen "Glen Pittman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > I have downloaded the manual, and I'll look at the slot assignments andsee > where it looks like the best placement of cards would be IMO, but itsounds

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> as if you have a handle on this type thing anyway. I'll post back later > today after I have had a chance to check this out. > > Glen > > > "Mark Davison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > > > "Glen Pittman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:[email hidden]... > > > Mark, it almost sounds as if you have some sort of hardware conflict. > > What > > > type motherboard do you have, and what type cards do you have

installed > > and > > > in which slots? > > > > > > May be a long shot, but if the onboard works... > > > > I know that the GFX and Sound aren't conflicting IRQ wise, but it iswierd > > that I get the stutters at points of heaviest demand graphically or > > sonically (can't figure out which). For example, I parked it at Zandyon > > the grass and only got stutters when I had a screen full of cars. Also, > > like I said earlier, when the card "breaks down" and goes quieter I getno > > stutters either. Looks just like HD thrashing, but I don't *think*that's

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> > happening. HD light is very dim and CPU fan very noisy. > > > > Stumped, I am. I've got a Ti4200 (AGP), Fortissimo III and an ISDN card > in > > there. I couldn't say off-hand what slots they're in without digging > under > > the desk and it's too late now. I'll try switching slots. The problem > > makes no sense so I have no doubt the solution (if there is one) will be > > equally nonsensical. The mobo is an ECS K7S5A if anyone's interested -

I > > don't know what bios settings are optimal. > > > > Tried with on-board sound and without (enabled/disabled in bios), OpenGL > and > > D3D, all levels of hardware accelleration, just tried installingDirectX9,

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> > too! > > > > Only thing that works so far is disabling the Fortissimo III and going > > on-board sound... > > > > Next to try: > > Change slots (any recommendations?) > > Re-install GPL from scratch > > > > Rest of system spec is XP1800, XP Home SP1, 256Mb DDR. > > > > Thanks for the suggestions, so far. > > > > Regards, > > > > Mark > > > > > >

"Glen Pittman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > I looked through the manual, and unfortunately, there is no info that I > could find about which PCI slots are sharing resources. Most manuals thatI > have looked through will have this, but not the one from ECS. Thanks mate. I've looked at the manual too and it's pitiful. I've tried experimenting with moving the card to another slot, removing the ISDN card altogether (so the soundcard is the *only* PCI device in there) and got nowhere. I've started mucking about with bios settings but found nothing yet. The manual doesn't really give me any info into what each setting does. I'm gonna copy my GPL folder somewhere, uninstall and reinstall a 100% fresh version. Then I'll see if it's cars, sound patches or shifter utils that've caused issues or whether it's native to the game. I feel so gutted. I even got the sound going all SBLive-like earlier, and that was a right kick in the nuts. Money is tight and it's starting to look like it's not an exclusively SBLive/XP problem - which is *totally* the impression I got having been looking into a remedy for months now. I bite the bullet and go for a non-Creative product and feel like I've pissed money away. Excuse my French, but... fuck. Mark

well I've got an Audigy 1 and there is static on the right channel with win98se. Setting the hardware lower doesn't help. lowering the volume in windows doesn't help. Shifting R doesn't help. dave henrie

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> Excuse my French, but... > > > fuck. > > > Mark > >

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On Fri, 3 Jan 2003 23:30:44 -0000, Mark Davison wrote: > What a nighmare! Four years down the line and I'm *still* blowing money on > GPL. The most expensive 30 quid I've ever spent... > > Mark Hi Mark, sorry to hear of your troubles. I've often heard people putting the blame on the SBLive, so just for the record: sblive! value / ECS K7S5A LAN / Loss98SE / GeForce4 MX 440 (I know, bought it off my son at a really good price ;-) == GPL happiness (using the OpenGL drivers) Cheers & good luck, uwe Have you tried a round of PCI poker, i.e. putting max distance between your AGP Port and sound card mobo-wise? -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61