new laptop (grounding issues? )

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SUPERBANANBOMB
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Post by SUPERBANANBOMB » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:26 am

Well fixing the ground loop is easy, but how to I solve the problem with my CPU?

I can only utilize my CPU's full power when I am plugged into the power supply. Say I want to be able to work on a track when I am on the city bus or at a bar... how the hell do I get my laptop to stop clocking down?

It's an Athlon 64 3700+ that runs a 2.4 ghz but when it's not plugged in, it only runs at 793 mHz, which sucks.

I have tried every setting I can think of and I have no fucking clue how to fix this.
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subterFUSE
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Post by subterFUSE » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:32 pm

SUPERBANANBOMB wrote:Well fixing the ground loop is easy, but how to I solve the problem with my CPU?

I can only utilize my CPU's full power when I am plugged into the power supply. Say I want to be able to work on a track when I am on the city bus or at a bar... how the hell do I get my laptop to stop clocking down?

It's an Athlon 64 3700+ that runs a 2.4 ghz but when it's not plugged in, it only runs at 793 mHz, which sucks.

I have tried every setting I can think of and I have no fucking clue how to fix this.
I was not aware that PCs had such a feature as reduced performance mode. Apple has commonly done this, but I never heard of PCs doing it.

I do know that in Windows you can adjust the power saving settings such as screen saver, sleep timer, hibernate, hard drive shutdown, etc.... But none of these options affects the CPU.
M-Tech D900T laptop, 17" WSXGA+ wide-screen, Intel Pentium 4 3.4 GHz HT (600 series) 2 MB cache, 2048 RAM (Dual Channel DDR2 PC4200 533 MHz), Dual hard drives: 80 gig x 2 = 160 gig SATA 5400 rpm (RAID 0 config)
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Tarekith
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Post by Tarekith » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:45 pm

Usually it's a setting you can disable in the BIOS, Intel's is called SpeedStep, not sure what AMD's is called.

4am
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Post by 4am » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:10 pm

glu wrote:
4am wrote:
looks much better than just removing the ground on the power socket...
but i can't find something similar for europe (switzerland) :(
I have read it's very bad to remove the ground. I thought it's there for a purpose (to keep you from being an electrical conduit, no?)
yes it is...
i wonder why macs don't need the ground on the ac adapter
and since i didn't find a good solution
i have to live dangerously and use my laptop without ground.

i'm just disappointed because i bought extra an expensive sony vaio, and a rme multiface II and i have expected to avoid this problem.
my previous system was a crappy hp laptop with a p4 and a m-audio inteface...
what do i have to buy to avoid this problems? mac?

pete1
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Post by pete1 » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:27 pm

i have made a temporary solution by putting a small amount of cling-film over the earth prong, which has solved the problem 100%

still looking for a better solution to the problem though
3.2Ghz 1024DDR XP M-Audio FireWire Live 6.0.1 Reason 3.0 BCR2000 MK249 2x 1210mk2 DJM600

pete1
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Re: new laptop (grounding issues? )

Post by pete1 » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:33 pm

FaX-01 wrote:
pete1 wrote:hi all

I bought a new laptop yesterday, toshiba eqiuium core 2 duo

installed my M Audio Audiophile Firewire, once thedrivers were installed and the card switched on, i got an distorted scrathchy noise coming through the speakers

The laptop came with XP Media Centre Edition on and thought, it would be a problem with the M Audio driver, they state on their website they have no supported driver for MCE

Anyway I am going to put XP Pro on my computer as the general concensious is that MCE is a no no for firewire soundcards and Ableton

However i noted that when i removed the power cable from the laptop and run the laptop off the battery, the distortion stopped

could this be a grounding issue and not MCE ???

my laptop was plugged into a 4 way apapter, when i plugged it direct into the socket on the wall, the distortion stoppped again temporarily but came back

anyone got any tips on best way to ground the power supply or could this still be a MCE problem with the soundcard ?? (i guess installing XP Pro will answer that one)

by the way the sound is fine at all times if i use the internal audio card


May I ask why in God's name you are using XPMedia edition?
Anybody who configures ProEnd PC based daws will tell you it's a dogs breakfast and should be avoided like the plague for pro-end audio work.

because getting hold of reasonable spec laptops at a reasonable prices without MCE in the UK seems to be a bit of a rarity, i own a copy of xp which i knew i could install.. I have now installed XP on my laptop, however i did try MCE for a while and didnt notice any problems (other than the ground loop) .. i only tested for a few hours though ;-)
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