Computer CPU problems Help please ?!!?!

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:01 pm

hi, i have a dell dimension 1100, it has a Intel Celron 2.8GHz CPU with 512mb of ram
right the problem is, when im running my software, cubase, fl studio etc.. it progressivly starts to crackle and the CPU usage graph shows it going straight up to 100% and the back down, the more plug-ins i use, or the more audio i record, it gets worse and worse, and eventually my computer crashes and takes 5/10 minutes for itself to get back working
and obviously this isnt very good for music production, so i deleted all the junk, programs etc i dont use.. then i defragmented the disk ( dont know why, thought it might help) but i still have the problem

does anyone have a solution for this ? (one that doesnt involve buying RAM or another CPU[if there isnt one then okay.. i give up ! ill buy something])

Thanks alot

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:30 pm

back up all your data, and try a reformat. Just start a fresh system from scratch, and this might do the trick. Once reformatted and OS is reinstalled, make sure you have all the latest drivers for your motherboard.

Is anything over-clocked? What type of RAM are you using? With music programs, you really ought to invest in better RAM, as they are heavily RAM intensive. I would suggest you upgrade to 1G of ram. If you have an older type of RAM, it might be better to buy one 1G stick of at least DDR400 (2100) RAM rather than throwing in another 512 stick of an older type. Again, what type do you have?

What type of CPU socket is your mobo? Make sure the CPU fan is working properly! The whole inside of the PC might not be getting enough air flow. If you have extra spots for intake and exhaust fans, by all means, use them. There should always be an even number of intake and exhaust fans. Get rid of all the dust bunnies inside the computer and especially inside the CPU's heat sync.

It really sounds like your CPU or something else is overheating.

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:56 pm

I really think you should consider getting an external hard drive. Laptop hard drives are notoriously slow. Also, depending on how much space you have left on your drive, if you are writing to the "outer"(actually the inner) regions of your hard drive the seek/read time is significantly slower due to the fact that the further toward the center of the drive you write, the more revolutions it takes to write/seek. Try defragging your hard drive before you do anything drastic like reinstalling you OS, but an external drive will probably help the most.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:06 am

Hi, thanks for both your replys, i have 50GB left on my original hard drive, and a 150GB external hard drive.. and sorry.. but i got kinda lost about the CPU socket mobo thingy. no idea what that is ! also, i dont know how to see if something is over clocked.. i will try find out what these things mean. the RAM i am using is..not sure ethier.. sorry im not being much help Sad

but i think it will be a fairly new type of RAM, as my computer is only just under a year old. im not very good at all these computer things, i can work one pretty well, but no clue about the inside of things. I defraged my computer once, and it says i dont need to do it again.. and im not so sure about doing the reformat. might go verrryyy wrong.

Thanks anyway..

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:26 am

also.. i dont think its over heating, because ive just been loooking, while im listening to a track on cubase or whatever, i already have 4ish plugins on each track, then i add one more, and it starts crackling, then i turn it off, and it stops, i tried it with all the differnt plugins so its not the actual plugin doing it, and its not the software as it happens with all my other recording software
hmmm.. maybe i do just need more RAM, im not sure ?!

Thanks alot

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:06 am

What's your audio interface?

The possiblities of a Celeron are limited for a DAW, though it should be possible to do some stuff. Tracking should be OK. Make sure you get rid of all unnecessary junk, put windows in "best performance" empty your tray as much as possible. The extra RAM will also help, but it is more CPU cycles you have to worry about.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:10 am

I use the Alesis Multimix 8USB..

i got rid of all my junk once, but ill go through and find some more stuff ! how do you put windows in "best performance"...
what are CPU cycles ?

Thanks

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:24 pm

You might also try opening Task Manager and watching to see which process is hogging all the cpu or ram or whatever during the crackling. You might have another backgroung service running (like and antivirus software etc.)

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:29 pm

Oh, and to put windows in "best performance":

1. click on your start button
2. right click "my computer"
3. click on properties
4. click on the "advanced" tab
5. click the "settings" button under performance
6. click the "adjust for best performance" radio button
7. click ok
8. click ok

This gets rid of all the extra graphical crap that xp has to offer. Enjoy.
[/quote]

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 1:56 pm

guitar10 wrote:

how do you put windows in "best performance"...
what are CPU cycles ?
Thanks

Best performance:
Windows Key+BREAK, you'll enter the System Properties dialog box. *,
click the tab "Advanced". On the top you'll find "Performance",
click the settings button
now you can choose "Best performance"

Some words might be a little different, because I have Windows in Dutch. There's more shortcuts here

* a more common way to go there is: Choose Control Panel from the Start menu: Performance & Maintenance, System

By cycles, referring to the 2.8GHz your CPU makes, I actually meant to say is that your CPU power is limited and you should make the best use of it. The power of a Celeron 2.8GHz is limited, but with some basic tweaking you should be able to get to work with this thing.

So putting it in best performance and checking your taskmanager every now and then is really the way to go. You should be way under 200MB RAM in use with no applications running.

For further tuning I suggest something like this

Rock on!!

Oh, I didn't see ihoofts second post here. Thanx.

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:46 pm

Thanks for all the help ! I will try all of these things !
Thanks again

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