Speeding Up SD Load - Page 3

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 09:06 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Autockr989

I'm not running mappoint. SD Lite. Prob. why I dont' have the files mentioned. still need a workaround for faster load time.

Rename both SD folders, load demo and upgrade to 1.1.1.6

If its faster, load extras one at a time till it slows.

parksgm · 06-12-2008, 11:21 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by danielkh

Through trial and error, that's how I came up with the loading process listed above. And it is very repeatable!

I'll say it's repeatable. I simply moved the Microsoft Locator Folder to the desktop and relaunched SD.

Time to launch SD before moving folder (double click to home screen appears): 24 sec.

Time to launch SD after moving folder (same interval): <8 seconds.

Amazing. I always wondered how the Infill computers could have much slower processors than my 2.4P4 but have faster load times, and now I know...EVERYONE who using SD Lite with their own copy of Mappoint should do this immediately. As a side benefit, it may also possibly have gotten rid of the Mappoint error I used to get when closing SD.

Many thanks, sir, for the investigative effort and fine tip. Much appreciated!

Mod(s) - after confirmation by a few more users, I really think the original post should be a sticky, or at least this information incorporated into the FAQ/Wiki on SD Lite

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 11:50 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by parksgm

Many thanks, sir, for the investigative effort and fine tip. Much appreciated!

Who needs silly developers around that are just going to say that you aren't seeing what you are obviously seeing. lol

Glad to know it really was a problem. Be sure to check for those pesky files in your c:\ directory.

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 12:00 PM

I also found that if you don't load acapela, your startup is about 1 second, but heather is just too much to give up just for a couple seconds.

parksgm · 06-12-2008, 12:12 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by danielkh

I also found that if you don't load acapela, your startup is about 1 second, but heather is just too much to give up just for a couple seconds.

I've never heard of or seen anything related to "Acapela" in my SD install. I thought that SD used the Microsoft Text to Speech synthesizer that comes with WindowsXP for voice. If the full version uses Acapela, then that is probably why SD Lite doesn't support alternate or "celebrity voices". I don't have the luxury of listening to Heather give me directions - I have to make do with Microsoft Sam. :-\

What do you think?

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 12:17 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by parksgm

I've never heard of or seen anything related to "Acapela" in my SD install. I thought that SD used the Microsoft Text to Speech synthesizer that comes with WindowsXP for voice. If the full version uses Acapela, then that is probably why SD Lite doesn't support alternate or "celebrity voices". I don't have the luxury of listening to Heather give me directions - I have to make do with Microsoft Sam. :-\

What do you think?

celebrity voices were never activated. You don't have a folder on your disk called acapela? That aucks. You get the pretentious british male and female, hot Heather, and some other generic female. Nothing like the microsoft text to speech stuff.

edit: She'll even read the news to you. lol

Kimota · 06-12-2008, 01:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by danielkh

I don't have the file on any computer I run SD on (or development env.) and they all start 3-5 seconds. I personally don't think that file is the only issue. Like I listed above, I load everything manually off the SD disk EXCEPT Streetdeck. That I load the demo and update straight to 1.1.1.6 and I haven't had any problems. I did find that after loading mappoint, sometimes it wants to throw some strange "locator" files into the C:\ directory. Found it is best to delete the locator folder immediately after loading mappoint.

More specific.... C:\Program Files\Microsoft Location Finder

The files that wind up in C:\ are MSVCxx.dll files. I felt these were causing some issues.

NOTE: When the location finder folder is removed, the program will not run stand alone (mappoint), but runs fine in streetdeck. Try just renaming the folder if you plan on using mappoint standalone.

Although I no longer use SD I must say very nice find

. I had my fair share of trouble with MapPoint and I'm fairly certain this was the cause.

You sir are not only an optimist but a gentleman and a scholar

Autockr989 · 06-12-2008, 01:19 PM

Now that we have figured out how to get SD to load faster for some, How about getting it to stop crashing.

ahhh.... I guess it's about that time for a reformat of the HD and a fresh install?

parksgm · 06-12-2008, 04:02 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Autockr989

Now that we have figured out how to get SD to load faster for some, How about getting it to stop crashing.

ahhh.... I guess it's about that time for a reformat of the HD and a fresh install?

Ok. I'm game. Let's work on it.

When is it crashing?

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 05:00 PM

Did you rename your sd folders and install fresh? Download and install demo version?

Autockr989 · 06-12-2008, 07:43 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by parksgm

Ok. I'm game. Let's work on it.

When is it crashing?

Crashes during the middle of a song playing, sometimes while a music video is playing. I have yet to have it crash when not in SD, so i def think it is SD related. I just don't understand why it was fine with no hiccups for sometime, and then all of a sudden everytime i start the damn thing get it running for 15-20minutes, crash. And I'm not talking about just SD closing and going to windows, the whole system completely shuts down.

At first I thought maybe a virus, but I used my external which has a backup all music,movies,videos, to my home pc and ran a virus scan against the external drive and nada.

what if I just unistalled SD and reinstalled?

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 09:31 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Autockr989

Crashes during the middle of a song playing, sometimes while a music video is playing. I have yet to have it crash when not in SD, so i def think it is SD related. I just don't understand why it was fine with no hiccups for sometime, and then all of a sudden everytime i start the damn thing get it running for 15-20minutes, crash. And I'm not talking about just SD closing and going to windows, the whole system completely shuts down.

At first I thought maybe a virus, but I used my external which has a backup all music,movies,videos, to my home pc and ran a virus scan against the external drive and nada.

what if I just unistalled SD and reinstalled?

Yes, that is what I am wanting you to do, however, I don't want you to lose any settings or configurations. If you are not using mappoint at all, then sure, uninstall and reinstall the way I suggested. If you are using mappoint, I wouldn't want you to lose your virtual earth folder. That is why I prefer renaming to uninstalling. You know better than I which is better for you.

The older digital mods will cause issues with the newer SD. Mainly the autohide ones. They cause LOTS of crashes..... for me at least. So during testing, no digital mods!

The only problem I am having right now is a sleep/wake up issue, and I gaurantee you it's the mobo/windows and not SD (having the same problem with just windows running).

I also think I should quantify these load times. We are trying to load SD at the fastest possible time. In order to do that, windows can't be doing anything else. So SD in the startup folder will not give you 2 second start times. In order to test streetdeck, you must finish windows loading and all startups (speedfan, xport, any tsr's, etc.). I would suggest putting the SD tray into the startup folder. SD seems to have less trouble starting if that is already running. Once your harddrive light is no longer blinking, then start SD and time it. I also find the second load is faster than the first, so maybe shutdown and start again. Once you have the 2-3 second load, THEN you need to back it up and then start working with Windows to get it faster.

Edit: I haven't tried it yet, but would love to see how SD would react if you made everything "read only". I, too, had SD running great for a month, and then out of the blue, crashes for that parameter out of range error.

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 09:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Kimota

Although I no longer use SD I must say very nice find

. I had my fair share of trouble with MapPoint and I'm fairly certain this was the cause.

You sir are not only an optimist but a gentleman and a scholar

I was on a blackberry and it didn't reply correctly.....

The "Thank you!" was to you! Really appreciated. I want us all to have SD in tiptop shape when SD 2.0 is released next month....just in time for the one voice release! And it'll have Visteon support, HQCT support, celebrity voices......ok....I'm cracking myself up now....

I know, ever the optimist.

Autockr989 · 06-12-2008, 10:06 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by danielkh

Yes, that is what I am wanting you to do, however, I don't want you to lose any settings or configurations. If you are not using mappoint at all, then sure, uninstall and reinstall the way I suggested. If you are using mappoint, I wouldn't want you to lose your virtual earth folder. That is why I prefer renaming to uninstalling. You know better than I which is better for you.

The older digital mods will cause issues with the newer SD. Mainly the autohide ones. They cause LOTS of crashes..... for me at least. So during testing, no digital mods!

The only problem I am having right now is a sleep/wake up issue, and I gaurantee you it's the mobo/windows and not SD (having the same problem with just windows running).

I also think I should quantify these load times. We are trying to load SD at the fastest possible time. In order to do that, windows can't be doing anything else. So SD in the startup folder will not give you 2 second start times. In order to test streetdeck, you must finish windows loading and all startups (speedfan, xport, any tsr's, etc.). I would suggest putting the SD tray into the startup folder. SD seems to have less trouble starting if that is already running. Once your harddrive light is no longer blinking, then start SD and time it. I also find the second load is faster than the first, so maybe shutdown and start again. Once you have the 2-3 second load, THEN you need to back it up and then start working with Windows to get it faster.

Edit: I haven't tried it yet, but would love to see how SD would react if you made everything "read only". I, too, had SD running great for a month, and then out of the blue, crashes for that parameter out of range error.

I think i'm going to completely uninstall and reistall. I don't run mappoint so the only settings I have is well minor check boxes. No big deal. I'll do that this weekend.

I was wondering if the load time would be faster if you booted directly into SD. Not drop it in start up but follow the instructions in the FAQ to "boot directly to frontend"

2k1Toaster · 06-12-2008, 10:09 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Autockr989

... And I'm not talking about just SD closing and going to windows, the whole system completely shuts down....

You sure turn off automatic reboot on failure. This will show the dreaded BSOD which has good info on it. Will probably help you guys figure out which dll or what error is making it crash crash