T22 Doesn't play music very well

[Silent_Vixen]

So, I got a t22 900mhz, 384 MB Ram and when i'm playing music it will just out of no where make a funny noise like it's skipping. It does it on every song even when it's only playing music and doing nothing else. Anyone else have this problem or know how to remedy it?
Thanks!

[Thinker]

What software are you using to play the music? I remember using Windows Media Player to play CDs a while back in my T23 and it did something like what you mention. I don't think it is hardware related, but some problem with the software. Try using something else (WinAmp for example).

[Silent_Vixen]

I've tried Windows Media and Winamp so I'm not sure what the problem could be. And I'm playing MP3's,not a cd.

[Nolonemo]

This is like a "is the plug in the wall" question, but have you tried the mp3s on another computer or handheld?

Have you tried reinstalling audio drivers (if you're running Win98, NT or Win2k)?
http://www.ibm.com/products/finder/us/f ... tion=dblue&

[Thinker]

Yes, some MP3s can have pretty bad artifacts, so you might want to listen to it in some other computer (or post it somewhere so that we can listen to it).

You might also want to try to disable graphics hardware acceleration and see if that helps (just a guess, I know sometimes that can be a problem).

Ruben

[mdarnton]

It could be a memory problem. I find that if I've been running a lot of stuff, my T41 will do this. Try restarting your computer, then immediately playing an mp3. If that goes well, buy more memory.

[Silent_Vixen]

Let's see. I got them off of another computer of mine and they played just fine there. As for the restarting/memory problem, doesn't help to restart. How do I slow down the graphics? I'm running XP Pro so don't need to try the drivers. Thanks for the help!

[Thinker]

How do I slow down the graphics?

In my T23 (which has an S3 card) you can do this by going to Control Panel,
Display, Settings, Advanced, Troubleshooting. I don't know what card you have in your T22, but try this and see if it works. Good luck with this, and let us know if you have success.

Ruben

[Silent_Vixen]

well, tried slowing down the graphics and still does it. Did i get a bad computer or what?

[Nolonemo]

Do you have a usb key? Try playing the mp3 off of the usb key, that would eliminate hard drive problems. Or burn the mp3s to a data cd and try playing from there (though that won't eliminate and IDE bus problem). What happens if you try to play an audio CD in the laptop?

[Silent_Vixen]

I'll have to try that. I'll post the results!

[Nolonemo]

More thoughts. The load playing mp3s puts on the system is pretty small. Remember that on your machine you can play DVDs that have a bit rate of around 40x to 80x greater than an mp3 (i.e., the system has to process 40x to 80x as much information per second). That's why I think you must have an audio driver or codec problem (i.e., software rather than hardware problem).

Also try playing mp3s you got from another source. Perhaps do a repair install of your OS to address codec issues.

[Silent_Vixen]

dang it! Still does it. It's not AS bad, but still 3 or 4 times during the song it was fuzzing out and making funny noises!

[Nolonemo]

Does it only happen with mp3s? What happens if you play a wav file or a midi file?

[Silent_Vixen]

Don't have any of those. Haven't tried to play a DVD either. Just got the laptop.

[Ted_E]

So, I got a t22 900mhz, 384 MB Ram and when i'm playing music it will just out of no where make a funny noise like it's skipping. It does it on every song even when it's only playing music and doing nothing else. Anyone else have this problem or know how to remedy it?
Thanks!

I have heard the same sort of thing on my T23 on the rare occasion when I use windoze and listen with the 'doze media player. Normally I run eCS (OS/2) and get great sound from both MP3s (using PM123) and CDs (using the player that comes with eCS). I very much doubt that the problem is your hardware. Look around for a better player. Sorry, I can't advise of any for 'doze.

Ted

[sktn77a]

Press cntrl/alt/del and open up task manager. Check CPU utilization and find out if any processes are hogging the CPU. Also, did it come with a clean install of XP? Have you tried a clean install? Remember, some of the native XP drivers are bad and they are a b_tch to replace!

[Ted_E]

well, tried slowing down the graphics and still does it. Did i get a bad computer or what?

Where did you get it? Take heart! I very much doubt it's the computer. A good friend of
mine has a T22 and it plays music and DVD movies just fine. As was pointed out, DVD
are much more demanding than MP3s. Playing an MP3 takes about 8% of my CPU and,
while my T23 is faster than your T22, I'd be _very_ surprised if more than 10 or 12% of
your resources are need for playing MP3s. In fact, you should be able to invert 100x100
matricies while playing music and not miss a beat.

Mind, neither my friend nor I am running Windows.

How does it do if you play an ordinary music CD? BTW, the music on those is stored as
wave files.

Another thought: Where/how did you get the MP3s? Do you have a high speed connection to the internet?

Ted

[JHaislet]

Download ANY type of Linux "Live" Cd (SuSE, Knoppix, Fedora, ect). That will allow you to load up another OS without messing with your hdd. Try playing mp3's & media files while in the LIVE cd. That should rule out any strange software problems & not mess with your current windows install.

BTW, once you remove the live cd & reboot, it's like you never even loaded linux It loads everything in RAM & doesn't touch the hdd, so it's perfectly safe.