Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
6173
Issues with sound, video and games when cpu busy
Hi.
I bought an Inspiron One 2320 computer 4 days ago and i have some issues with the sound, video and games when cpu is busy.
For example, i'm listening to music and suddenly the sound gets distorted for a second or so. And what i noticed is that this always coincides with a spike in cpu activity. This also happens when watching a video or playing a game. The spikes can happen from anything... even a flash intensive website such as the bbc iplayer.
I tried to find some sort of a solution online, and came across very similar issues and all seemed to point to a solution regarding the dma settings on the primary and secondary ide controllers. It seems that controllers working on the PIO mode (Programmed Input/Output) seemed to have this issue while a simple change to DMA mode for both controller (Direct memory access) was all it took to solve the problem.
This change is done by accessing both controllers in Device Manager and selecting the DMA mode instead of the PIO mode in the preferences window. The problem i had initially was that my two ide controllers were not displaying in device manager. After uninstalling the chipset controller and windows installing a new one at sturtup, the two ide controllers appeared in Device Manager and i was able to change the operating mode from PIO to DMA.... and thought that was it...
Unfortunately, this change did not deliver the expected results. The initial issues did not disappear... though seemed to have reduce in frequency.
I'm now thinking of returning the pc to dell and asking for a refund, but before i do that.. i was hoping to find somebody on this forum who can maybe help or at least put me on the right track.
PS spec:
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600S CPU @ 2.80 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 64 Bit
Thank you so much. Please let me know if there's any other info i need to give about the system.
M.
PS: all drivers have been updated today (03.12.2011) from the dell website.
BonGoL
1 Message
0
December 3rd, 2011 10:00
I am having the exact same issue and im using a Studio XPS 7100 with amd phenom 2. i will try what you have already mentioned. Much appreciated
fireberd
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
33.3K Posts
0
December 3rd, 2011 14:00
Audio is a "low priority" device in Windows. It's on a shared Interrupt (IRQ) with some higher priority device. Thus, a busy CPU and sound can get "interrupted" or some other sound issue.
If you are running a game (and the Inspiron One is NOT a "gaming PC") depending on the game that is a "worst case" for a PC and although one would thing there isn't, there can be issues.
If you bought the Inspiron One for gaming, return it and get a "real" gaming PC. In Dell that is the Alienware line.
cheersmt
2 Posts
0
December 4th, 2011 00:00
Hi fireberd.
Thank you for your reply. I didn't buy the pc for gaming... but from time to time i do like to play a game on it... as one does. I never realised dell pcs are only good for one task at a time.
I mean... for example, i play the same game, listen the same music and navigate the same websites on an ancient samsung laptop... which is definitely NOT a gaming pc and i just can't... whatever i do... replicate the same problems.
Regarding the IRQ sharing, is there any way to fix this? can you give me some help on how to sort it out?
Much appreciate it. Marius :)
fireberd
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
33.3K Posts
0
December 4th, 2011 03:00
A Dell is no different than any other brand of PC, as far as multi-tasking. I don't care what brand, but there are situations that potentially can cause audio problems, depending on what else is running happening in a PC. People expect a PC to do "everything" at one time and it's not possible. A PC handles instructions and items one at a time serially, however the speed that it handles these operations (based on what is running) appears to the user that it is doing everything at the same time. Thus as it's serially (sequentially) processing and handling items, if a low priority item is "interrupted" by a higher priority item then there can be an issue with the lower priority item. Then there is the applications programs - poorly written software can also play a part.
There is no way to directly change the priority of Audio, that is an internal issue within Windows. What you can do, if you are lucky is to change the sound to a different shared IRQ and maybe lessen the impact. Uninstall the sound in the Device Manager (do not also uninstall the drivers) and then restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall the sound. Sometimes that puts it on a different IRQ. Also ONLY use the Dell supplied sound drivers, DO NOT use the generic Windows HD Audio Codec drivers or drivers from some other source as we have found non-Dell drivers either do not work or do not work correctly.
I have a recording studio, currently using Sonar recording software (but soon to be converted to Pro Tools) and those of us with computer based recording are acutely aware of what multi-tasking can do to sound. When I am running the recording program, ONLY the recording program is running, I don't also have internet browser and/or e-mail running, or some other program such as a wordprocessor running.