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Does This Make Sense to Anyone? (Another Computer Question)

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by arkoe, Jul 14, 2003.

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  1. arkoe

    arkoe (ง'̀-'́)ง

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    I'm still trying to figure out why movies that I've burned to cd skip. They skip in pretty much the same place everytime, but if I copy the movie from a cd to my hard drive, they work fine off my hard drive. I've added memory to my computer, which fixed some of the problems, but not all of them. Any suggestions?
     
    #1 arkoe, Jul 14, 2003
  2. Rockets2K

    Rockets2K Clutch Crew

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    Whats happening is that your cd drive cant move the data fast enough to keep up with the computer.

    This could be caused by several things...

    How fast is your cd drive?
    Are your IDE channels ATA33/66/100?
    Have you defragmented lately?
    Is your video card up to spec? AGP? and VRAM amount?
    What position does your CDROM occupy on the IDE bus?

    Alot of these things are pretty technical, and you may not be able to get the answers...but if you can, it would help in diagnosing the problem.
     
    #2 Rockets2K, Jul 14, 2003
  3. arkoe

    arkoe (ง'̀-'́)ง

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    I don't know what half the questions you asked mean, but I'll do my best to answer them.

    My cd drive is a SAMSUNG CDRW/DVD SN-308B, which is apparently 8x8x24 CD, 8x DVD.


    The only thing I can find about IDE anything is that I have this:
    Intel(r) 82801AA Bus Master IDE Controller
    Intel(r) 82801CAM Ultra ATA Storage Controller-248A
    Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
    Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
    Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]

    I don't know what any of that means.


    I've tried defragging, which has never helped any. The movies always skip in the exact same spots.


    Here's what I can find on my video card:
    Video type
    128-bit hardware accelerated

    Data bus
    4X AGP

    Video controller
    NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go™
    ATI Mobility™ RADEON™ 9000

    Video memory
    NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go™
    ATI Mobility™ RADEON™ 9000

    LCD interface
    LVDS

    TV support
    NTSC or PAL in S-video and composite modes


    For VRam, if this is what I think it is, I have it set to an initial size 384 mb with a max of 768 mb, but apparently I can change that to as high as 9289 mb.


    I've got no clue about that fifth question; I don't know even where to start with it.

    I hope this helps, and thanks for looking at this for me.
     
    #3 arkoe, Jul 14, 2003
  4. bnb

    bnb Member

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    While we're on the topic of computer questions:

    What does it mean when my laptop screen periodically flashes funky colours -- either switching to a pinkish background, from its regular grey, or lots of green dots over pictures? It seems to enjoy green and pink at random intervals.

    Seems to happen now and then, though I can't tell what triggers it -- ie sometimes on battery, sometimes not, sometimes with many programs running, sometimes with just one...

    At first I thought it was just psychodellic flashbacks from my youth, but, alas, others have seen it too. Any ideas?

    Thanks so much. (PS - I offer no help on arkoe's problem -- I too, did not understand most of the follow up questions...)
     
    #4 bnb, Jul 14, 2003
  5. CRC

    CRC Member

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    Arkoe,
    What's your CPU & how much memory have you got on your computer? besides that, Your hardware seems ok.

    If its not the hardware issue, you might want to clean your CD/DVD before playing... if the surface is dirty, the DVD ROM won't be able to read the data properly.
     
    #5 CRC, Jul 14, 2003
  6. Supermac34

    Supermac34 President, Von Wafer Fan Club

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    Is it a CD or a DVD? If its a DVD, you might be seeing the layer change.
     
    #6 Supermac34, Jul 14, 2003
  7. Rockets2K

    Rockets2K Clutch Crew

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    Hate to break it to ya...but the likely suspect in your case is probably defective video hardware.

    You can try re-installing the drivers...but the last time I saw something like you are describing..it was the monitor.


    Arkoe, I'll get back to you soon on yours..I have to run down to Galveston and move our trailer that is 100 yards off the beach.


    just in case..
     
    #7 Rockets2K, Jul 14, 2003
  8. bnb

    bnb Member

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    Thanks for the reply 2K. Will be checking the warranty,

    Good luck with the storm.
     
    #8 bnb, Jul 14, 2003
  9. arkoe

    arkoe (ง'̀-'́)ง

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    I have a 1200 megahertz Intel Pentium 4 with a gig of ram, so I doubt that's the problem.

    I doubt that my problem is that the lens is dirty, because some, not all, of the movies skip, and all in the exact same place. I'll try cleaning it anyway.

    It's a DVD that's been ripped that I've then copied to a cd. I don't know what a layer change is, but that doesn't make much sense to me because when I copy it back to my hard drive I have no problems. I would just copy them all back to my hard drive before playing them, but it takes like 45 minutes; I guess because I didn't format the cd's. Normally though if I do format the cd, I no longer have enough room for the movies.

    Thanks R2K. I hope you're able to protect your property and that everything works out.
     
    #9 arkoe, Jul 14, 2003
  10. Kam

    Kam Member

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    how do you find out what kind of video card thing you have
     
    #10 Kam, Jul 14, 2003
  11. HoneyNut Ichiro

    HoneyNut Ichiro Member

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    A possible solution: get better CDs. What kind of CDRs are you using? Anything other than Made in Japan is pure crap. I've found that, with good CDRs, not only do the files load up faster and skip less, but the life of the CD increases dramatically as well.
     
    #11 HoneyNut Ichiro, Jul 14, 2003
  12. arkoe

    arkoe (ง'̀-'́)ง

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    I found mine by looking at my computer's specs on Dell's website. If you still have the invoice from when you bought the computer, it should tell you.

    I swear by Memorex. I've tried burning the same movie to another cd, still skipped in the same place as the other

    Let me clarify what I mean by skip - it doesn't so much skip as it does kind of pause up for a second, then continue.
     
    #12 arkoe, Jul 14, 2003
  13. OmegaSupreme

    OmegaSupreme Member

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    man, i hate to break it to you, but your laptop sounds gay.
     
    #13 OmegaSupreme, Jul 14, 2003
  14. London'sBurning

    London'sBurning Member

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    Right click on your Desktop background and select Properties. A window should pop up giving you tabs like Themes, Desktop, Screensaver, Appearance, and Settings. Click on the Settings Tab, and right in the middle of the Tab it should say this.

    Display: And then the name of your video card should be listed here.

    That's it. :)
     
    #14 London'sBurning, Jul 14, 2003
  15. Rockets2K

    Rockets2K Clutch Crew

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    I've had good luck with Memorex CDRs also..so that shouldnt be your problem.
    Your hardware looks to be in order..as long as its all working as it should.
    Stupid question....have you tried shutting down all running programs while you play the movie? Even the ones running in your system tray (the lower right-hand side of the taskbar)?

    The only other thing that is unknown at this point is where the CDROM is located on the IDE bus...Since it is store-bought, I would assume that they wouldn't put the CDROM on the same cable as the HD...if it is, that *could* cause a problem with large amounts of data transmitting from the CD..

    You might also want to adjust the size of your swap file. That is the amount you quoted as VRAM..
    Set it for over 1200 M and see if it makes a difference.

    FYI...VRAM is Video RAM..the amount of RAM that your video card has...but yours has enough of that...so dont sweat it.
     
    #15 Rockets2K, Jul 15, 2003
  16. arkoe

    arkoe (ง'̀-'́)ง

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    None of that seemed to work. Thanks for trying though R2K.
     
    #16 arkoe, Jul 15, 2003
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