my computer has the "hiccups"

[IDAFC21]

I dont quite know to explain this, but i guess the best way would be to say that my computer has the "hiccups" It kinda like hangs for a second every so often, its apparent when im listening to music cuz it causes the music to like "skip" when it hangs. its done this before in the past, but tonight its doin it really bad and its really getting annoying, like every 5-10 seconds. it happens mostly when i dont move the mouse....if i move the mouse around it seems to keep it busy and doesnt do it. but the second i stop moving it. i dont know what the hell it could be. anyone have any theories? usually after a while it stops....hopefully it will soon again, but it'd be nice to know what was causing it

 

[boombexus]

I can't call a day complete until I've read your daily threads about your computer problems.

So many problems. Sorry man.

 

[IDAFC21]

haha, this isnt realy a problem, just more of an annoyance. but yes. i do seem to be cursed

 

[LoudMusic]

What OS are you running? I noticed things like that in Windows 98 quite a bit (ever so back in the day). Have you installed anything of 'suspicious origin'? Anything that might include spyware? Does anyone else have access to your computer - physically or through the wire? What about a webcam? Mine snaps every 15 seconds and the software is old and clunky. It used to almost completely hang my computer when it would snap. My newer computer and newer webcam software don't phase it at all.

More info!

 

[IDAFC21]

im runnin xp pro, dont know about anything of "suspicious origin" or spyware....no one else has any access to my computer, not physically, and not thru the wire (that im aware of) no webcams. it seems to have settled down now....shrugs

 

[miata13B]

Possibly power managerment. If it is not that there are a few other possible things that are causing it. . . -> One being incompatible hardware. I would look at Microsoft.com to check the compatibility of hardware with Windows XP. They have a link to the HCL which is what you would search for on MicroShaft's site. Also go into power management and disable sleep mode, Also a major, that turn off hard drive option -> change it to never. While your at it disable System standbye, see if that helps

 

[Solid Fro]

You probably still want to install Ad-Aware just in case there is Spyware running in the background.

http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/

 

[GilesGuthrie]

It's got "hardware drivers" written all over it. You haven't got a Canon printer have you by any chance?

Open the Task Manager, click the Processes tab, then click the column header marked CPU. This will show you all your processes ordered by CPU usage. You should find that "System Idle Process" is near the top, and then the other processes will be fluctuating around it. If you have a process whose CPU usage jumps in time with the music stopping, you have your rogue. Search the Microsoft knowledgebase and Google for the process name, and it will tell you about that process and what to do with it.

 

[Shannon]

Originally posted by IDAFC21
im runnin xp pro, dont know about anything of "suspicious origin" or spyware....no one else has any access to my computer, not physically, and not thru the wire (that im aware of) no webcams. it seems to have settled down now....shrugs

Is all your hardware plugged in (printer, scanner, etc)? For some unknown reason, XP skips if you unplug installed hardware. I unplugged my printer and XP started skipping. Plugged it back in it stopped.

 

[IDAFC21]

grr, its still doing it. i do have a printer and scanner, both are plugged in tho. i tried looking at the processes when the music skips, but it hard to tell if anything in there is causing it cuz they fluctuate so much

 

[Shannon]

Originally posted by IDAFC21
grr, its still doing it. i do have a printer and scanner, both are plugged in tho. i tried looking at the processes when the music skips, but it hard to tell if anything in there is causing it cuz they fluctuate so much

Monitor? I had my old monitor plugged in and it skipped. Plugged the original in and it stopped.

 

[IDAFC21]

monitor? hmm...i dont know. this is the only monitor ive ever had plugged into it and its never started this until somewhat recently. i wonder why it only does it when im not moving the mouse around, if i have the mouse moving it doesnt seem to happen as much

 

[Shannon]

Originally posted by IDAFC21
monitor? hmm...i dont know. this is the only monitor ive ever had plugged into it and its never started this until somewhat recently. i wonder why it only does it when im not moving the mouse around, if i have the mouse moving it doesnt seem to happen as much

I don't know then. You seem to have way too many problems.

Format.

 

[IDAFC21]

no thanks. i'll deal. as long as the damn thing boots up thats enough for me.

 

[Solid Fro]

What type of mouse are you using and what connection does it have?

 

[IDAFC21]

its an HP optical mouse w/ a usb connection

 

[IDAFC21]

well i may have found the source of my "problem" i THINK...my hard drive is crapping out on me again. last night i kept hearing my hard drive click off, and shortly after i'd get a BSOD, and today, when i tried to boot up it wouldnt boot and said i had a "disk boot error" and to insert the system disk blah blah blah, and i couldnt even get into safe mode, so i checked my hard drive, and found for some reason there wasnt a jumper on it to designate it as a "master" even tho thats the only drive i have hooked up, so i threw a jumper on it and it booted back up into windows, but a few minutes ago i heard the hard drive click off again, and shortly after all my icons disappeared from my desktop, my sound was gone, and the only thing still open was in IM window i was talking in. i dont know whats goin on. but the fact that i can hear the hard drive clicking on and off tells me i think its almost ready to go. which really pisses me off since this god damn thing is barely 6 months old......will i ever know peace? someone, please, just shoot me in the face, go ahead, the pain would be far less worse than what i go thru w/ computers. what the hell did i do to deserve all this?

 

[IDAFC21]

well i guess my problem wasnt related to my dying hard drive, cuz even w/ the new hard drive installed, it still does it. SO even w/ a fresh drive, everything freshly loaded, i still have this problem. so obviously a format wouldnt have done ****. and im also now completely baffled.

 

[Solid Fro]

Ok, let's do some troubleshooting here. Format both of your drives (backup your data).

Just do it.

Install Windows XP with NTFS. Now, here is the important part; install your hardware and software one by one. For example: install one program, restart, and see if the problem comes up. Install your printer, restart, and see if the problem comes up. Keep doing that until the problem appears.

 

[IDAFC21]

somtimes the simpleist explanations are the correct one. lets think here, sound skips all the time, i know its not hard drive related, ram related, or the effect of not having somthing plugged in, COULD be software related, but before i un-necessarily deleting everything and putting it back in one piece at a time. (which could take me a week) why not check out the sound card itself. i plugged my speakers into the integrated sound board that came on my mobo, and i dont wanna speak too soon, but SO FAR so good. no skips, no hangs, nuthin, where as it was quite bad thru my pci sound card. im gonna leave it hooked up this way for a little while and see if it acts up. but if it doesnt, i may have found my culprit. (tho ive said that before) if it IS my soundcard, i'll have to figure out if maybe its the pci slot i have it in, or the sound card itself is past its prime. wouldnt doubt it, was kind of a cheap sound card (good, but cheap) had it for probably at least 3 years or so now...ancient in the computer industry. haha

 

[Solid Fro]

If you use a PCI sound card and have a motherboard that has intergrated sound, you need to disable the intergrated sound through the BIOS.

That's one reason why you get skips in your sound.

 

[IDAFC21]

hmm, i'll have to look into that. i had to install the dirvers for my onboard sound to even work in the first place, but i didnt know you could control it thru the bios too