Winamp starts skipping whenever I surf!

[eSDee]

I don't know what is causing it but I used to be able to run all sorts of programs and surf the web all the while listening to my MP3's on Winamp. Now, however, whenever I surf to a new page or open another application, my winamp songs start skipping! I have to pause the song, then start playing it again to get it back. Needless to say, this is getting a hell of annoying.
Any suggestions? If I had a Mac I could increase the memory that WinAmp uses. Is there any such thing for a PC running Windows ME?
Thanks.

[hapoo]

are you using a modem (56k?)
does this happen only when you surf, or also when you scroll

[eSDee]

I am on DSL. Not sure if when I scroll it happens but its not just the browsers either that make it happen. Whenever I start any new app it starts messing up as well.

[IrishSS]

How are your system resources? Are they pretty well tapped out? How much RAM do you have? It might be as simple as that. Also, you can run Winamp in High-Priority mode by adding -h to the end of the command line, if I'm not mistaken...

[hapoo]

open winamp, go to the preferences window and select input from the left menu. double click on "Nullsoft MPEG Audio Decoder", it will open a window. In the top right hand corner of the window theres a section called Full File Buffering, The higher you set this number the more winamp will buffer the song on the hard drive. (keep in mind whatever # you enter, thats how much ram it can use. I'm assuming from your discription that your problem is because your hard drive is either slow, or for some other reason. Try messing with this setting and see if it helps

[eSDee]

I have 192 MB of RAM and my Hard drive is 7200 RPM. I increased the Full File Buffereing to 4MB and it seems to be working a little better now. I am curious though, when I start up I check my system resources and they are at 70%. Does that sound right for 192 MB running WinME? How can I make sure that there isn't a bunch of crap starting up that I don't want to?

Also, IrishSS how do you add -h to the command line?

Thanks hapoo and IrishSS!! You cool!

[eSDee]

Ok I put full file buffering at 8MB and it started skipping on a 4 MB file. System resources were at 55%. I don't know what the deliyo.
Perhaps I should make WinAmp a high priority?

[hapoo]

In that case its an IRQ problem, make sure your sound card isn't sharing an IRQ with another device (Especially the video card!!)

[helius]

There're still IRQ conflicts in this day and age (for MSWindows products)?

[Blu]

Originally posted by helius
There're still IRQ conflicts in this day and age (for MSWindows products)?

I wouldn't say "conflicts", but there are still issues with putting sound & video or video & NIC cards together. Windows just hiccups when it comes across that stuff.

Anyways, have you tried a reinstall? Or maybe a different player, like Sonique would help.

Blu

[Realrammstein]

You know 70% sounds way low. I have 192 MB RAM, WinME, and 7200 RPM HD also(Maxtor). Currently I am getting 90% at startup. I have a feeling you let yourself install a program that is a major resource hog(behind the scenes). I would highly reccomend you download Wintrasher Gold(free demo of course) and check to see what programs are in your startup folder(getting rid of anything suspicious). Hope that helps.

[coleslaw]

Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Sytem Information->Tools->System Configuration Utilty->Startup Tab

See what kind of junk is starting in the list! For optimal start-up resources, you should only have a few things checked, such as load power profile, scan registry, and system tray, and task monitor. If you have an Intellimouse, you will want pointer32 loading also. Other than that, anything else just takes time and resources in booting and runtime.

[IrishSS]

Definitely try and ax some programs running in the background to help get your resources back up to at least 80-90%. You can make it high priority by adding -h to the end of the command line, i.e. D:\winamp\winamp.exe -h. Just right click your shortcut, hit properties, and add it in the target.

[hapoo]

wimamp uses less than 5%!! And thats on my crappy computer!
he has the ram/cpu power, but something is getting in the way. sounds like a IRQ problem.

[eSDee]

Sh!t I just healed it. First, you all were right about having too much stuff working in the background without my permission. AOL IM is a b!tch there were 2 of those running for some reason. Anyhow, what finally ended up working was me removing WinAmp, then reinstalling it. Its working quite well now.
I appreciate having such a wise group of people to turn to for answers. I used to be decent at solving PC problems until I started college, then everything went to Mac! I tried to represent by keeping my PC roots but now it seems I don't know sh!t anymore! All those who agree say I!

[hapoo]

I!!
Studies actually prove you lose IQ points if you switch over to a Mac.
Glad we could help; all 6 of us.

[eSDee]

Thanks to hapoo, IrishSS, coleslaw, Realrammstein, TheBluGuy, and helius. You guys kick ass!

By the way Rrammstein, you aren't from Germany are you? I used to live in Bad Kreuznach, which is 1/2 hour from there. If you do, then you know that already!

[AmRivlin]

Can you prove that IQ lossage on the Mac deal... I would love to show to one of my friends.... HEHEHE he is a mca attack fan...he gets real mad when I wear my Win2k tshirts... Doh (no im not a dork)

[hapoo]

Originally posted by AmRivlin
Can you prove that IQ lossage on the Mac deal... I would love to show to one of my friends.... HEHEHE he is a mca attack fan...he gets real mad when I wear my Win2k tshirts... Doh (no im not a dork)

hehe, i was just messing around. But if you really want to prove it, ask him to set up a fully functional PC. (he'll probably give you some crap about not being able to do it because the MAC is so advanced that you dont need to do that stuff.)