Why is my computer slow with Winamp?

[nags]

Originally posted by: Childs
Is your L2 cache enabled in the bios? Probably seems like an outdated question to ask, but this is one thing that can make a fast system ass slow.

Where in the bios do I look for that?

 

[us3rnotfound]

Originally posted by: nags

Originally posted by: Childs
Is your L2 cache enabled in the bios? Probably seems like an outdated question to ask, but this is one thing that can make a fast system ass slow.

Where in the bios do I look for that?

just try optimum bios defaults.

 

[nags]

I've got it set to optimum defaults

 

[Sid59]

initially, i thought sound drivers, chipset drivers, DMA. But if you covered all your bases and checked it out ...

it's probably other software conflicting. after start up, disable 1 app at a time and test it.

 

[rh71]

defrag ?

 

[nags]

Originally posted by: rh71
defrag ?

I defrag just about every other day using Executive Disk Keeper

 

[silent tone]

Do you experience any errors, lockups, crashes? Have you stress tested your system? how?
Are there any apps that you also run when you experience slowness?
Is the disk thrashing when you experience slowness?

Check event viewer for errors.

Run msconfig and start stop everything shown in "startup", then reboot & test.

I've had bad HDDs, CD/DVD drives bring a system to a crawl. As well as Exact Audio Copy and debuggers.

 

[nags]

Originally posted by: istallion
Do you experience any errors, lockups, crashes? Have you stress tested your system? how?
Are there any apps that you also run when you experience slowness?
Is the disk thrashing when you experience slowness?

Check event viewer for errors.

Run msconfig and start stop everything shown in "startup", then reboot & test.

I've had bad HDDs, CD/DVD drives bring a system to a crawl. As well as Exact Audio Copy and debuggers.

I get occasional blue screens that are completley random. I've replaced everything from the mobo, to the memory, to the fans, etc... Nothing has fixed them but they are very rare. The only things that are REALLY slow are when I'm playing videos in WMP or audio in Winamp.. Other stuff isn't that bad.

 

[Allio]

Not sure if this is your problem, but the latest drivers for my onboard sound (Realtek) gave me huge CPU usage when using any sort of sound at all - even leaving Winamp paused would use a constant 10-20% CPU. Killing those drivers entirely and using the ~5kb ones from Windows Update fixed the problem and I now have 0% CPU usage.

I'm fairly sure this was because the new drivers were using my CPU to emulate 3D hardware sound at all times, something I really didn't want them to do 😛

I would try uninstalling your sound drivers and using the most basic ones you can find. Failing that, buy a $10 soundcard.

 

[nags]

Originally posted by: Allio
Not sure if this is your problem, but the latest drivers for my onboard sound (Realtek) gave me huge CPU usage when using any sort of sound at all - even leaving Winamp paused would use a constant 10-20% CPU. Killing those drivers entirely and using the ~5kb ones from Windows Update fixed the problem and I now have 0% CPU usage.

I'm fairly sure this was because the new drivers were using my CPU to emulate 3D hardware sound at all times, something I really didn't want them to do 😛

I would try uninstalling your sound drivers and using the most basic ones you can find. Failing that, buy a $10 soundcard.

I'll try that. Although, I doubt that will help the slow opening of new browser windows

 

[Deadtrees]

My computer has been running fine but I, recently, noticed that I kept getting Explorer errors whenever I run video files. Knowing that my drivers are all up to date and that I could even play Doom3 without a problem, I didn't think it was a driver issue. Anway, I reinstalled the driver again, it's just smooth! and my computer seems to be faster.

Well, What I wanted to say is that you should gen rid of all the sound drivers on your computer and reinstall the driver!

 

[CommandoCATS]

try switching winamp's output port, does the problem happy if you go from wav-out to directX and vice versa?

 

[skace]

You most likely have a sound driver or codec issue. I'm not sure if an audio codec issue would cause massive problems with winamp though. It would cause massive problems with windows media player.

Although, random blue screens are usually related to overheating problems.

 

[nags]

Originally posted by: skace
You most likely have a sound driver or codec issue. I'm not sure if an audio codec issue would cause massive problems with winamp though. It would cause massive problems with windows media player.

Although, random blue screens are usually related to overheating problems.

My temps are very low at all times.. I never break 31 degrees or so

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would say, just get a new soundcard, if you are using onboard sound. A cheap CMedia-based PCI card should be fine for playing MP3s, etc., and shouldn't cost more than $20 on sale.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

It sounds like you might have codec problems. Corrupted or something. This could explain why you get it when you watch video too (it may have mp3 audio). Its been a long time since i installed mine, but its something to look into. i dont even know how to remove the ones you have.

 

[nags]

I'm playing a video right now in WMP and its slowing down the rest of my computer to a crawl. I look at my proceses and WMP itself is only using like 2% but System jumps to like 20%

 

[thisishoweare]

Is your L2 cache enabled in the bios? Probably seems like an outdated question to ask, but this is one thing that can make a fast system ass slow.

I registered just now to give feedback on this posters soultion, because it worked for me!
Setting the L2 Cache worked. No more slow computer when winamp is running! Hurray!
Here's a ling explaining how to do it:

Vista - CPU L2 Cache Memory setting in Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/75681-cpu-l2-cache-memory-setting-vista.html
Thanks!🙂




Bumping a 6+ year old thread. Please don't.

Vista wasn't even out when this question was asked.




esquared
Anandtech Administrator