I did the Dell restore after backing up everything. When I reinstalled my music I lost some due to the licence but this was minimal and I have repurchased them or redownloaded them from my music store. In future I will save purchased music on a disk and when I have a problem I can reinstall them without protected mode!
My computer is now running like new and I thank you for all your help. You are a star!*****
There are several potential areas. First, Audio is on a shared interrupt (IRQ) with a higher priority device. If the PC needs to "service" the higher priority device it can cause minor interruptions. Second, an incorrect sound driver - you need to use the Dell supplied driver for proper operation, do not use any Windows supplied driver. Third, depending on how much memory RAM you have and how many programs you have loaded/open can cause memory "overload" and also cause interruptions. Fourth, have you recently changed anything? added or deleted any programs?
If this is something that recently happened, System Restore may take care of the problem, by restoring back to a date when it did work OK. System Restore will not delete any user data/music, etc or e-mails but any programs or updates installed or uninstalled after the restore date will have to be redone. System Restore can be accessed from Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. System Restore has an undo function to undo the System Restore if it doesn't help.
Thanks Fireberd. The computer is as it came from Dell in Dec 2008, apart from a memory upgrade a couple of weeks ago.
The only things I have added recently are Easy Duplicate Finder (but the problem was happening before then) and Iolo System Mechanic, which I spoke to you about a couple of days ago, I have now uninstalled it from my computer.
I have run checks on Dell and Norton 360 and it passed on everything, so I am puzzled!
The big problem, as I see it now that you mention it, is whatever System Mechanic did to the system. As I previously noted they can cause more problems than they claim to fix and unfortunately it can even take a complete reinstall to fix what it messed up. The Registry is very important and corruptions/missing items in the Registry can cause major problems.
It's not a security/malware problem, so you can rule that out.
First suggestion, uninstall the sound in the Device Manager (do not uninstall the drivers) then restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall the sound. This fixes a lot of "flakey" problems.
If the uninstall does not fix it, the next step is to reinstall the Dell supplied sound driver.
Give these two suggestions a try and see what happens. Sad to say, if these do not fix it you are probably looking at a complete, clean, reinstall.
You should have the Dell recovery partition on the hard drive. It will let you reinstall back to the original factory condition. You wil have to backup your user data/music, etc to some other media as everything will be lost when the restore is done.
HERE is the Dell PC Restore reinstall instructions. Use the "PC Restore" if you have the recovery partition, it takes care of everything. You can do a manual install with discs but that is much more detailed and if you don't do it correctly there can be other problems.
xmarksthespot
14 Posts
1
October 14th, 2011 02:00
Hi Fireberd
I did the Dell restore after backing up everything. When I reinstalled my music I lost some due to the licence but this was minimal and I have repurchased them or redownloaded them from my music store. In future I will save purchased music on a disk and when I have a problem I can reinstall them without protected mode!
My computer is now running like new and I thank you for all your help. You are a star!*****
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
September 16th, 2011 04:00
There are several potential areas. First, Audio is on a shared interrupt (IRQ) with a higher priority device. If the PC needs to "service" the higher priority device it can cause minor interruptions. Second, an incorrect sound driver - you need to use the Dell supplied driver for proper operation, do not use any Windows supplied driver. Third, depending on how much memory RAM you have and how many programs you have loaded/open can cause memory "overload" and also cause interruptions. Fourth, have you recently changed anything? added or deleted any programs?
If this is something that recently happened, System Restore may take care of the problem, by restoring back to a date when it did work OK. System Restore will not delete any user data/music, etc or e-mails but any programs or updates installed or uninstalled after the restore date will have to be redone. System Restore can be accessed from Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. System Restore has an undo function to undo the System Restore if it doesn't help.
xmarksthespot
14 Posts
0
September 16th, 2011 13:00
Thanks Fireberd. The computer is as it came from Dell in Dec 2008, apart from a memory upgrade a couple of weeks ago.
The only things I have added recently are Easy Duplicate Finder (but the problem was happening before then) and Iolo System Mechanic, which I spoke to you about a couple of days ago, I have now uninstalled it from my computer.
I have run checks on Dell and Norton 360 and it passed on everything, so I am puzzled!
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
September 16th, 2011 15:00
The big problem, as I see it now that you mention it, is whatever System Mechanic did to the system. As I previously noted they can cause more problems than they claim to fix and unfortunately it can even take a complete reinstall to fix what it messed up. The Registry is very important and corruptions/missing items in the Registry can cause major problems.
It's not a security/malware problem, so you can rule that out.
First suggestion, uninstall the sound in the Device Manager (do not uninstall the drivers) then restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall the sound. This fixes a lot of "flakey" problems.
If the uninstall does not fix it, the next step is to reinstall the Dell supplied sound driver.
Give these two suggestions a try and see what happens. Sad to say, if these do not fix it you are probably looking at a complete, clean, reinstall.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
September 19th, 2011 04:00
As I noted, sadly, it looks like it's going to take a complete reinstall to get it working correctly. System Mechanic did a number on your system.
xmarksthespot
14 Posts
0
September 19th, 2011 04:00
OMG. I am not totally computer savvy and am a bit apprehensive of doing a reinstall.
Do I just put the disc that came with the computer in and let it do its own thing?
xmarksthespot
14 Posts
0
September 19th, 2011 04:00
Fireberd. Uninstalled "Realtek High Definition Audio" and "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus" as you suggested.
The problem has reduced but still causing problems about 20 seconds before the end of a track.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
September 19th, 2011 06:00
You should have the Dell recovery partition on the hard drive. It will let you reinstall back to the original factory condition. You wil have to backup your user data/music, etc to some other media as everything will be lost when the restore is done.
HERE is the Dell PC Restore reinstall instructions. Use the "PC Restore" if you have the recovery partition, it takes care of everything. You can do a manual install with discs but that is much more detailed and if you don't do it correctly there can be other problems.