miguelafg wrote:
-

snip-snip

-
- The main problem is the automatically chosen ACPI
- mode (*1) during installation. W2k will use only one
- IRQ (9) for all PCI devices. Normally this should be
- no problem, but in this case the IRQ sharing suffers
- from bad performance.

I think it is hard to make a general statement like that. Sure there are circumstances where certain combinations of hardware can have performance problems sharing IRQs. Especially in desktop systems where people are allowed to upgrade the hardware in their systems, or when older hardware is used.

However, most modern ACPI systems should not suffer performance problems from IRQ sharing.

-tom


Inspiron 7500 & 8200.
for Inspiron 8200 FAQ, goto:
http://www.geocities.com/thebithead/I8200FAQ.htm

miguelafg:

See my response to your earlier post. You've recently made four posts to this board regarding the same problem. When you have additional information to add to a problem, please post a "reply" to your thread. Posting a new topic every time makes it difficult to follow your issue and will probably result in less helpful responses overall.

Dear Tom,
The truth is that once I took my Inspiron out of the box I installed Cubase VST 5.1 which is in fact compatible with XP. I pressed play and I could hear Cubase's metronome going sluggish and ramdomly interrupted. I mean, no extra hardware used, just the Crystal audio board. I admit that the Inspiron 8200 is the most powerfull notebook I ever tried, but, you know, I am a musician and audio engineer so I am really disapointed and worried about this matter.
By the way, Also I tried Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge 6.0 which has been wrote from scratch for Windows XP. Timing problems and glitches too.
Have you heard of Cubase SX? Yeah, coded for W XP too. The same as Cubase VST 5.1.

Not to say a word about my Tascam US-428 audio/midi USB interface. Painful.
I cannot even do what I could with a 386sx. Just sequencing a few midi tracks.

I do not know a word about computing, but I've heard that if Dell puts an option in BIOS to disable "OS P'N'P detecting" I could perform an " Standard PC" installation being able then to asign IRQ's manually.
Or maybe Microsoft would make a patch for theese models, who knows...
Thank you for your reply.
Best Regards,

Miguel

P. S. excuse my English. It's not my native language.

DELL-Rance wrote:
- miguelafg:
-
- See my response to your earlier post. You've
- recently made four posts to this board regarding the
- same problem. When you have additional information
- to add to a problem, please post a "reply" to your
- thread. Posting a new topic every time makes it
- difficult to follow your issue and will probably
- result in less helpful responses overall.
-
-
-
-
Sorry for that Rance. Thank you for your advice. I'm a newbie at forums.
I am just desperate and quite disapointed for not being able to use my computer for music purposes that is why I bought my i8200.
As my English is rather painful and as I do not want to generate some misunderstanding I decided not to post any more, but read only.
I'll just wait until it gets fixed itself.
Sorry again and thank you so much.
Best Regards,

Miguel.

Miguel,

I really think you need to spend more time reading through this forum's archives, as well as reading forums on pro audio web sites, and get a better understanding of how to tune a PC workstation for audio applications, before you make so many sweeping (and false) statements about what will work and what won't.

An internal audio card on a notebook PC, >any< notebook PC, isn't going to give you the low latency you're looking for. It won't have an ASIO- or DX8-compliant driver. A USB audio device such as the Tascam US-428 can do better, subject to the guidelines discussed elsewhere in this forum. A PCMCIA or 1394-based audio device can do better still, again subject to the guidelines discussed elsewhere.

As for the statements made in the Steinberg tech note you quoted, it is very true that disabling ACPI can improve your latency, although with Win2K and WinXP it isn't the changing of the IRQ assignments that gets you the improvements. To the extent that certain systems may have problems under Win2K with too many devices sharing one IRQ priority, it involves non-Intel mobo's and chipsets, and Dell is exclusively an Intel-based manufacturer. The Steinberg note reiterates what I've already tried to tell you, that under WinXP, the IRQ assignments can't possibly matter.

ACPI is an extremely valuable feature on a notebook PC. You have to decide whether you want to give it up in order to get a small incremental improvement in your latency. The stuttering behavior is a separate issue, and reinstallation of the OS on a clean disk, without all the extra junk on your system, will make a big difference there. I know you might think it should just plug in and work smoothly without any software configuration at all, but the simple truth is that the software is set up to best suit the needs of casual home users and gamers, and >not< to suit the special needs of pro audio or video applications. People can argue about that fact on here at length, and they already do :), but it won't change Dell's marketing priorities. My advice is to concentrate on the technical advice you've been given.

(bill)
--
I am a software engineer, not a musician.

Message Edited on 06/28/02 03:04PM by bill.newell

You might want to try running tweakui from Microsoft.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

You can then disale all the eycandy, drive polling, ect. It might help your problem.

But be careful what you shut off.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
i8200/1.6/(Sharp) UXGA/64MB GF4 440/256MB Dell/256MB Crucial/20GB/8xDVD/Actiontec MD56ORD, driver 3.5.32.2

i3500/PII366/14.1" XGA/256MB Crucial/20GB/2xDVD

My latest configs

I don't know much about the Audio processing you are talking about. It could be that notebook computers are not designed for the types of applications that you are attempting to run. The audio hardware in a notebook is adequate for most people (it works fine for my needs), but you seem to have some specific high-end requirements. The audio hardware in notebooks is not something that can be changed. They are usually built-in on the motherboard so you are stuck with that.

For your adanced audio processing needs, you might be better off using a desktop computer, where you have the ability to change the audio hardware to some high-end equipment that can do what you want. Some tasks are just not well suited for notebook computers.

-tom

Inspiron 7500 & 8200.
for Inspiron 8200 FAQ, goto:
http://www.geocities.com/thebithead/I8200FAQ.htm

Dear Bill,
First of all thank you for your help and advice.

- I really think you need to spend more time reading
- through this forum's archives...
You're right. I just spent four hours a day for two weeks.

- An internal audio card on a notebook PC, >any<
- notebook PC, isn't going to give you the low latency
- you're looking for.
I do not need low latency at all nither do I want to use the internal audio board. I just unpacked my i8200, installed Cubase VST 5.1, pressed play and Cubase's metronome went sluggish and glitching as if it were interrupted by something.

A USB audio device such as
- the Tascam US-428 can do better, subject to the
- guidelines discussed elsewhere in this forum
I do own a Tascam US-428. It goes wrong too. I've read those articles too. So I'm affraid my i8200 came with some problem. Who knows, It travelled from Ireland to Spain.

- As for the statements made in the Steinberg tech
- note you quoted, it is very true that disabling ACPI
- can improve your latency...
I do not want to spend my time changing ACPI, IRQ or anything. I do not want to fix an unexisting problem. I just want to make music and sounds. I just want my i8200 going straight ahead ( clic, click, clilck, click) with no sgrange cut offs.

-Dell's marketing priorities...
I've managed my own business for fourteen years so I do think I know well any company's marketing priorities. S E L L.

- I am a musician, not a software engineer nither am I interested on hardware.

Thank you again.
Regards,
Miguel

Thank you for your advice.
I've tried TweakUI from MS but it didn't work either.
I'm affraid my i8200 came with some sort of problem from factory.
Regards,
Miguel

hi, so I have the I8100 with ess sound card, it has its own and lone irq number 5
I use progs like NI´s B4 and the latency is about 40ms, same as on a desktop PC.
how should these 40ms be decreased?

well I think its rather a software or driver problem, try reinstalling, helped me with some music progs.

philmar wrote:
- hi, so I have the I8100 with ess sound card, it has
- its own and lone irq number 5
- I use progs like NI´s B4 and the latency is about
- 40ms, same as on a desktop PC.
- how should these 40ms be decreased?
-

That's the lowest latency you can achieve with ASIO and that soundcard.
You are lucky.
Just enjoy it.
Regards,

Dell is delivering misconfigured Laptops for the use of Audiosoftware. That's all about it.

Ronny

Well,

irq sharing is a bottleneck. it works on most fields but not on audio. I'm sure that many people will try to tell the opposite, but it's the source of most clicks. The card on its own irq can work with lower latency than on systems without its own irq, isn't that a proof?

Ronny

Something isn't right when a P4 powerhouse can't do what any Pentium 133mx could do. This is so far out of my field I have no suggestions, but it seems odd that with all the advances are machines are less versatile.