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General discussion

complex video playback problem- choppinness

Oct 31, 2005 2:55AM PST

OK here goes-

I made a computer a couple weeks ago. I finally loaded everything up on it and everything appeared fine. Then, the other day, I tried to play a DVD and it *severely* bogged down my system after about 10 minutes of playback. So much so that the only thing I could do was to close the DVD player. Here are the specs on the computer

AthlonXP 2700
512 MB RAM (1 stick of PC-2700)
Seagate 300 GB HD (ST3300831A-RK) - set as Master on primary channel
LITEON- DVD-+RW (1693S)- set as master on secondary channel
FoxConn K7S741GXMG-6L motherboard
Onboard video w/shared memory (disabled)- requires direct X 9
GeForce MX4000 Plus Video Card, PCI, 128MB DDR- requires directx 8

Software-
Power DVD 5
Power DVD 3

I went to NVidia's website, downloaded the drivers for the pci card, and installed them. Like I said, everything looks fine except when I play DVD's. I checked the DMA settings- the HD runs DMA mode 5, the DVD burner runs DMA 4.

I thought it MIGHT be some strange setting in the BIOS. I went through it, couldn't find any even potential issue in the bios (DMA was enabled, pci card was checked as primary graphics controller, etc.)

I recently reverted back to the onboard video after completely uninstalling all the nvidia stuff. The DVD plays back okay in that it is not unwatchable, but it is significantly less smooth than the pci card is before the pci card grinds to a halt. The performance of the onboard video is just not that good. Also, I could not get Power DVD 5 to play using the shared video (it gave me some error about not being able to play CSS with th TV-tuner out). <sigh> so, I installed an older version of Power DVD, and the DVD did play for well over 20 minutes with no sign of problems (other than the reduced performance).

Any ideas on what I can do here? I THINK I may have a compatibility problem with the pci card. I'll try an AGP that a friend has, but I want to rule out a DVD-RW problem...

John

Discussion is locked

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Forgot Windows specs
Oct 31, 2005 3:03AM PST

If it helps-

I run Windows XP, SP2 (updated 10/29)
Symantec Anti-Virus
ZoneAlarm
Spybot S&D


-John

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Just a thought.
Oct 31, 2005 3:27AM PST

1. No mention of drivers.

I ran across exactly the same issues and the owner had run DRIVER UPDATE and accepted a driver from Microsft. Fun to unravel and install the maker's drivers.

2. No mention of drivers.

Another owner had installed very few drivers. I got to install the motherboard and more drivers.

3. No mention of power supply.

Small power supplies continue to plague owners. In your case the fact it ran for some minutes may poing to power or cooling issues.

4. SPYWARE.

In short, never allowed. I read your post twice without finding what OS. Try EWIDO from download.com

Hope you spot the pumpkin in this post.

Bob

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Ah yes-
Oct 31, 2005 3:35AM PST

OK, I didn't include enough detail-

1&2- I installed all the drivers from the motherboard CD. This included the IDE, AGP, Direct X, USB, etc. The board also comes with a smart updater, so all the features, including the BIOS, are as new as they're gonna get.

3. Power supply is 300W. I checked the cpu temps and it hold at just under 60 under load. I've got 3 case fans in it. I'd wager a power problem before a cooling problem. I could try disconnecting some of the case fans and see if it makes a difference in performance.

4. It could be- I ran all the spyware stuff I have- nothing came up.

Oh well-
John

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Boing. 300 Watts.
Oct 31, 2005 4:17AM PST

While it may be enough "Watts", the Athlon is known to take a big gulp and the power supply will sag with deleterious effects.

Try this. Look up GEEXBOX on google.com. See if DVD playback works with this small boot CD.

60C is fairly hot and the CPU may slow to protect itself. Try removing the case cover.

Why such a small PSU? Recycled unit?

Bob

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well...
Oct 31, 2005 4:27AM PST

It's a microATX case-

I bought it myself in the interests of space, though I may be forced to get a slightly bigger case if it means a bigger power supply. It's not a HUGE deal, I think I spend $30 on it or something. What is an ideal power supply for an Athlon XP? I'm not a high gamer or anything- about the most I'd need is a DVD playback.

Yeah- the cpu usually hovers between 55 and 60. I have it set to shut off at anything higher than 60 and it has never shut off.

Before I bought a better fan for it, I was having serious thermal issues- upwards of 70-75C *yikes*.

-J

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How did the geexbox test fair?
Oct 31, 2005 5:08AM PST

It's less than 7 megabytes, and is what I use to sniff out DVD playback issues.

Cheers,

Bob

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will check it out...
Oct 31, 2005 5:25AM PST

I'm away from that computer at the moment...

Will try tomorrow evening and report back.

-John

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Well, what worked and what didn't
Nov 2, 2005 6:53AM PST

I tried that thing you had mentioned- still a problem. I had choppinness all over.

So, I had a friend bring over an older AGP card (only 32 MB) and we replaced the pci card with the agp...oila! No problems whatsoever in DVD playback. In fact, putting the AGP card also freed up the remainder of the shared video memory, so I am running with the full 512.

It must've been some compatibility problem with the pci GeForce card and my motherboard. A friend suggested that it might be related to slower transfer speeds in a pci slot and/or the pci video card sharing bandwidth with the other pci cards I had installed in the system.

Eventually I may buy a slightly newer AGP card, but for now the problem is solved.

Go figure-

-J

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The thing (GEEXBOX)
Nov 2, 2005 8:32PM PST

That's my ACID TEST to see if the hardware is up to the task. It saves us from endless Windows tweaking.

Glad you found the bottleneck.

Bob