Live 5.2.1 - Audio dropouts with Dell laptop

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:21 am

Hi there,

I'm new to Live and have been trying to get the demo version working on my new Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop. I keep experiencing dropouts. The sound disappears and the levels drop, however the track keeps playing, ie it keeps scrolling along in Follow mode as if it were playing - there is just no sound. If I stop the track (eg space bar) and start it again, the sound returns.

I've tried using the M-Audio ASIO drivers, ASIO4ALLv2 and Direct-X, and the problem occurs with all drivers.

Some info about the laptop itself, just incase there are any known issues with Live and any of this hardware. It's a 1.83GHz Core Duo laptop with 1Gb RAM (1 stick DDR2 SDRAM) and a 100GB SATA HDD (not sure if it's 5400RPM or 7200RPM). It has an onboard soundcard (Sigmatel) and I've also purchased an M-Audio Transit USB external 24/96 device for use with Live. I'm also using a BCR2000, and a wireless optical USB mouse, so that's three USB devices plugged in.

Does anyone have any experience or suggestions on how to remedy this issue? I'm going to dig into it further but thought I'd post this prior incase people know how to fix this.

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:40 am

Here is an example. I have used a 70 minute 128kbps mp3 to get some exact times on how long it takes for the audio to drop out after the sound stream starts. This mp3 has been warped into Ableton.

They all stop at exactly the same time! After 11 minutes 10 seconds, or 243 bars!

M-Audio Transit USB/direct X drivers/960,1168 input/output samples: 11 mins 15 seconds (243)
M-Audio Transit USB ASIO drivers (low latency): 11 mins 10 seconds (243)
M-Audio Transit USB ASIO4ALL (1024 samples): 11 mins 10 seconds (243)

It does it on the onboard audio too!

What is going on?

heyfreak · Post by **heyfreak** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:17 pm

that doesnt sound good.....

have you tried contacting dell support?...

and have you tried reformatting the whole laptop?..

Hedroom · Post by **Hedroom** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:00 pm

I have audio dropouts with my Dell laptop too. They are very small and happen sporadically even when CPU is low. My system is incredibly streamlined and set up for audio.

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:05 pm

I haven't done a reformat since it was purchased. I was considering doing one to remove all the Dell stuff from the OS, and just install a plain version of XP. That might be the next thing to do.

I'm not too sure about what Dell Support could offer - as this is only happening in Ableton and not in other software.

My CPU is low as well, there's no spike or anything when these drop outs occur.

heyfreak · Post by **heyfreak** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:01 am

mmm..that doesnt sound good...im about to buy a dell inspiron 6400 1,8 with 1gb ram...
So its basically the same as yours...im getting it because its been reccomended very strongly to me, since its quality at a good price...
But now im a bit put off by this...
Then again, i have friends who have it, or the 9400, and they have no problem at all...

Let me ask you, is this dropout happening each 11 eleven minutes or so? or just at the first 11 minutes, and then the sound keeps going...?..
In any casy, i reccomend you format, and reinstall the asio drivers once again, these can be a pain in the ass sometimes...

Anybody else has expierence with the Dell Inspiron 6400?...Good or Bad?

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:52 am

It's a great laptop otherwise - no complaints!

It happens at the same spot (243 bars) and then the sound stops. I need to stop the sound stream (so the bar counter goes back to 1) and then start it again. It repeats again after the next 243 bars. Chances are a format could fix it.

Yeah, I'll format it this weekend I think. Don't have the time to do it during the week.

[Galo] · Post by **[Galo]** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:59 pm

Settings-> Controll Panel-> System -> Advanced -> Preformance -> adjust for best preformance (or turn everything off)

Then goto Advanced and check Background Services instead of Programs as well ass System Cache, that did the trick over here,...

gl

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:26 am

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've tried it and it's made no difference. I've also gone through musicxp.net to see if theres anything else I can try.

Looks like a format is still on the cards for the weekend. I kinda needed to do it anyway so I could create a backup image and partition the drive how I wanted rather than the factory 100Gb single partition.

heyfreak · Post by **heyfreak** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:59 pm

Yes, next mission, format.
That should fix it, if it doesnt, then Dell should be responsible for what going thru...

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:52 pm

Yep.

I'll format it all, install Windows and get it up to date, and install the device drivers, and then install Ableton and I'll try and run it off the MME/DirectX drivers for the onboard audio with nothing else installed.

If that doesn't work then I'll format again and try installing Windows in Standard PC mode with no ACPI.

heyfreak · Post by **heyfreak** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:17 am

good luck with that then mate..

let us know what happens after with the formatt...

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:34 am

I think I've fixed it. It was my Live template!

I deleted it just to see if it would make a difference, loaded a track onto a blank set and it seems fine. I've remapped my basic BCR config to the three audio tracks like how it used to be, except now it's fine as well.

Weird. Will keep playing and see how it holds up.

heyfreak · Post by **heyfreak** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:46 pm

hahahaha
well then, that fixed it all??..

how funny....

hrsy · Post by **hrsy** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:19 pm

Yeah very weird.

It seems okay at the moment. I managed a 300 bar mix last night with no problems, however it was getting late and I had to get to sleep. Will play with it a bit more on the weekend.