Sound(+overall performance)stutters when SD in use(X41Tb+W7)

[re404]

Hi all,

I have a new 32 gig SD card in my slot and it works fine, except, that when there is a lot of reading/writing going on there, the sound (and other things) stutter. (Even when I play sound-files from another drive).

Is there anything that can be done about this?
Would changing the file system on the SD from FAT32 to NTFS help?
Anything else?

BTW I use Windows 7 and a Kingspec SSD in my X41 Tablet (which is a great combo!)

Thanks!
REmko//

[re404]

BTW I found out that even small readings can be a problem with the sound (when I play a large mp3 file from the SD, the music sometimes 'slows down' (in a stuttery way).

I can't remember having this problem with another SD card in Windows XP while I believe my current card is faster!

HELP!

[sjthinkpader]

How much RAM do you have in the system? Did you set Superfetch to off? Try set Pagefile size to zero too. Technically many flash drive including the Kingspec look pretty fast for write benchmarks. But in reality the on drive write cache is masking the true write speed.

This may be due to the JMicron stutter.

[re404]

Dear Sjthinkpader:
I have the maximum ram (2 GB usable).
I wouldn't like to have no pagefile, but I could try.
Just to be sure that you get it right: this problem started occurring when I started using the SD-card-slot for extra storage. I've read somwhere that the SD cardslot uses a lot of CPU when in use, but I never noticed it this badly. And: what can be done?

And: What is JMicron?

Thanks again.
REmko//

[sjthinkpader]

There are some discussion in using a different drivers for the SD slot but may be related to XP. Do a search in this forum. JMicron is the brand of controller used in Kingspec SSDs.

[re404]

Thanks again but don't get much further yet.

I use the automatically installed Microsoft SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller v. 6.1.7600.16385.
I haven't found much about other drivers for Windows 7. Anyone?
Isn't there simply a windows (registry) setting to increase the R/W buffers for that drive?

Thanks.
REmko//

[loyukfai]

I suspect that it has something to do with the Kingspec drive too. You may give Flashfire (http://flashfire.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7) a try and see if it helps. Beware that it's experimental, use with caution.

Cheers.

[re404]

Thanks for the tip loyukfai!
I'm trying it now. Maybe a stupid question: How can I tell that Flashfire is running? I don't recognize a process or a service and in the install dir is only a uninstaller.
And can I edit settings somewhere / shomehow?

Can I maybe make Flashfire do it's thing on both the Kinspec SSD AND the SD cardreader (since that's a kind of Solid State too)?

The system seems to be a little snappier (or it is my imagination), but the sound still seems to stttttttttuutttttter a bit //REmko

[serek]

Open the task manager and try copying any file from or to SD card. You'll see the reason behing the stutter. I don't know why but using integrated card reader in x41t puts a lot of pressure on CPU. It's either poor drivers or some sloppy hardware design. I've also tried to solve this but nothing so far. I had similar problem in FS p1510d, but it turned out it didn't handle SDHC very well (SDHC support was added by third party driver anyway). Maybe it's the same here? I don't think I have any non SDHC cards left, so can't check it now.

[loyukfai]

How to tell if it's working? When you start to get corrupted files and such, you'll know... : )

Joking aside, you may try running Crystal Disk Mark, the 4KB write performance will fly through the sky if Flashfire is working. Also, hibernation probably won't work (known bug).

It seems that the latest XP version will work for multiple drives. Check out those forums for more information.

Cheers.

[re404]

Still not solved. Anyone more ideas?

Thanks //R

[sjthinkpader]

If you still have the HDD try running with it and see if the problem goes away. The Kingspec has poor write performance but masked by a large write buffer. Could be something at play there.

[re404]

I found out that I can actually 'see' the hiccups in the resource monitor under "System Interrupts - Deferred Procedure Calls and Interrupts Service" (as a high CPU usage).

Could this be of any help locating the nature of the problem? With some monitor / dump tool maybe?

p.s. Thanks sjinkpader I can try that making a windows 7 install on my old HD too. I do that later...

[re404]

Not giving up yet

Am I right that the controller in the X41 (tablet) is the Texas Instruments 1510 cardbus controller? (hard to google somehow) Looking for alternative drivers (for Windows 7 / Vista) gave me a lot of the usual crappy 'fake' driver sites and a bunch of forwards to Windows Update .

What I tried ther: Switching the driver form The Windows Standard Cardbus controller to the Texas Instruments Secure Digital host contoller driver (also included with Windows 7).

I don't think performance changed much though. Still an awful high System Interrupts CPU % ...

Anybody using / finding alternative drivers for the SD controller in Windows 7 to try? Other ideas?

Have a nice weekend.

REmko

[topmahof]

go to my computer, right click on c: click properties, and at the bottom of the window that comes up, turn off indexing.

[tehdude]

Having tried SD card for music storage and playback in X41T and having that same annoying stutter, I found that playing around with buffer settings can remedy this problem a bit.

f.e in winamp:
preferences-output-buffering
Buffer length
Prebuffer on start/seek/underrun
Buffer-ahead on track change

Pulling the sliders up to 1000-2000-3000 etc shortens the stutter period at the start of a new track. I couldn't completely get rid of it and grew used to it but there definitely was some improvement.

Extremely low read speeds and high CPU usage remain, though.

[loyukfai]

Am I right that the controller in the X41 (tablet) is the Texas Instruments 1510 cardbus controller?

It's the notorious Ricoh R5C811.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ricoh_R5C811

[re404]

Thanks loyukfai!

But, would knowing that help finding a better Windows 7 compatible driver that would stop the system stutter?

Just trying to live with it ... i.e. barely use the 16 GB in there ...

Remko

[loyukfai]

Several ideas...

1. Don't use it at all.
2. Flashfire? http://flashfire.org/
3. Alternative driver? http://ifile.it/39xnizc/

Cheers.