the_crooked_toe

I am currently running an IBM R40 with Tiny XP rev. 05, 1.4Ghz, 512Ram, and 60gb HDD. For some reason about every 4-6 minutes the music will pause for about a half second and then continue. It's like the computer is trying to catch up to all the processes. It doesn't seem to do it when I don't have the GPS connected. I have the Garmin GPS18 with iGuidance 4.0. But when the GPS is connected the music will pause.

I am going to try and re-install an earlier sound driver and see if that has any fix.

Thanks for any insight

Phatsacks

Do you have all sounds in the GPS software turned off? It sounds like it might be trying to play something.

Your hardware is fine, your OS is small. I bet you aren't even over 300mbs at full processes. Just sounds like something with the GPS software.

(btw, Rev06 been out for awhile)

the_crooked_toe

i know Rev. 06 has been out but the size of the install was ~600mb. I thought since Rev. 05 was only ~230mb it would be better.
The sound in iG isn't turned off because I use the turn by turn directions. It will pause the music to say the turn by turn.

I rolled back the driver to an earlier version and it still didn't work. I had FFDSHOW (codecs) installed on there and thought that might have had something to do with it. I uninstalled that, but still nothing.

When i am driving, i'll take a look at Digital FX2.0 and it says the CPU usage. Whenever the system pauses the CPU usage spikes anywhere from 45% to 90%. I think i will just have to have someone drive around while i monitor the system processes to see what is going on. Will Windows Task Manager run on top of Road Runner?

BTW: This same thing happened when i had iG3 installed also before iG4. Does anyone think that the Garmin GPS 18 with the spanner program has anything to do with the resources being taken?

Phatsacks

Not sure about Road Runner and task manager.

I still bet it's the GPS, it only does it when you are running the GPS.

I don't think Rev06 install is 600mb, the download is 640, but most of that should be drivers, and the other bootable programs (it's a large bootable CD with damn small linux and others on it).

I'm confirming the install size now.

the_crooked_toe

on my way home from work tonight I'll try to test my system out without the GPS on. I will try to spike it as much as i can by opening up a bunch of stuff and visualizations.

If tonights test doesn't work out I'll try a good 'ol reformat. As for TinyXP, there is Rev. 06, Platinum v.2, and looks like it was released on the 12th of this month Platinum v.3. I don't know about the platinum because i could care less for the "vista" aero look. what would you suggest?

2k1Toaster

Just run the default BMV2 skin that comes with Roadrunner, and GPS. If it works, then you are just tasking your PC with that skin. I am pretty sure your computer has enough power for the digitalfx 2.0 skin OR the gps program, not both.

__________________

Phatsacks

I'd be surprised if sound hicups were due to exceeding the hardware performance. The Pentium M's are a pretty solid performer.

Instead of loading the GPS, load a bunch of other items, including a heavy skin. See what the ram/processor usage is, and then compare that with just the GPS and music (without RR even running).

If on the heavy load it's fine, yet on the lite load (just gps and music), it skips, then you will know it's based on software, not hardware.

Phatsacks

Wait, I just read two different configs, one specifies Pentium M, the other Pentium 4-m

Which processor is it? If it's the P4-m, then yeah maybe at 1.4ghz because the 2.2ghz is about the same performer as the Pentium M 1.6ghz or the 1.7ghz (although the 1.6ghz has 2mb of cache)

Edit:
yay for double posting

the_crooked_toe

device manager says - Intel Pentium M 1400MHz

Phatsacks

Yeah you should be fine with that processor. It might be sluggish at times if you are doing a lot.

I'd do the two recommended tests. A full load with no GPS, and then a minimum load with just GPS (no RR) and just music.

the_crooked_toe

Phatsacks, thanks for the insight. I will try to get to these tomorrow during the day. If i can't then the testing will have to wait till sunday. i'll respond when I know more.

Also, it might not be iG doing the lagging, it could possibly be just Spanner. Music and video will have pauses every now and then even if I haven't pressed the iG(GPS) button. I do have spanner set to automatically boot because that is the only program that I have that will output NMEA data from the Garmin GPS18. I might have to take a look at GPSgate and see if there is any difference.

the_crooked_toe

I removed Spanner from the startup and replaced it with GPSgate and i'm still getting the same thing.

I haven't had time yet to try your two tests yet Phatsacks, but i did find this out. On my drive home last night I had the task manger running on top of road runner so I could see what processes were doing what when the music halted. (ya i know real safe *sarcasm*)

For the most part System Idle Process and Road Runner took up the most (which was expected). Both of these programs ran anywhere between 20%-80% intermittenly. When the music halted it was because "System" (not to be confused with System Idle) was taking up more resources. The load on the Memory was still on about 200K, but it was taking up more CPU than System Idle and Road runner for about a half second. When it had the majority of the CPU for that half second, the music paused.

Can anyone think of a solution?

Phatsacks

You said you have 512mb of ram, how much is being used for the video card, or do you have a separate card? My desktop came pre-configured to use 256mb of my system ram for my graphics card.

Also, you could try to set the priority of the music player higher with prio

Prio

I'm going to hook up my Sempron mobile 3000+ rig tonight, with only 512mb of ram and see if I can get music to stutter. I'll even slap on PRIM95 to max out CPU usage.

the_crooked_toe

I'm not sure how much is being used for the graphics card. This PC originally came with only 256mb. I'll give Prio a shot. Should i set "System" priority to low? and change road runner and winamp to high?

the_crooked_toe

well i sucked it up today and reformatted it with TinyXP rev 6. And things are AWESOME! on the way home today i didn't get one stutter or hiccup with iG 4 running on DigitalFX. not so sure what the deal was. Perhaps rev. 6 had some better all-around drivers for my system. Atleast I know right now that everything should be working just fine. I'll be listening real close again tomorrow morning. If it doesn't stutter then i'm going to finish installing codecs to be able to watch movies, bluetooth, etc.

thanks again phatsacks for ur help!