Crackly sound with online video playback

[mckiernan]

Hi
I'm inherited a dell inspiron 9400 laptop with 1gb Ram running Wondows vista, and i'm trying to get it running smoothly but running into loads of problems.

The most annoying one at the minute is video playback when trying to watch streaming videos and movies online.  The files buffer really quickly and seem to play ok but the sound is really choppy and crackly.  If I scroll down so the video is still playing but not on the screen the sound is fine, but of course i can't watch anything. 

I've run ccleaner and superantispyware but another thing is that I can't seem to update superantispyware. 

Another annoyance is - I can't boot past the welcome screen without hitting ctr-alt-del

I know, one thing at a time.

I have another laptop running perfectly ok on the same internet connection so the speed my broadband shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for any advice or help you can offer me on this

Cheers

[Mulreay]

You may want to try pressing CTRL-SHIFT-ESC and then looking at processes running whilst trying to play videos.
You may be running to much RAM especially if your running a web-browser like Firefox. They can be hogs when it comes to memory.. see what is taking up memory and work from there.

[DivineRage002]

Might be your audio card lacking performance. I remember having the same problem on my old Dell.

If you lower the volume, do you still get a crackling sound? Try different volume levels and see if the problem persists.

[Mulreay]

If you lower the volume, do you still get a crackling sound? Try different volume levels and see if the problem persists.

One thinks not. It's nothing to do with volume, it never is. It's how your computer deals with sound with the available RAM.
As always my opinion is limited but my support is sincere.

[2x3i5x]

you might also want to check that you have the latest drivers for your sound card. it may help.

[rthompson80819]

Even though MS says Vista will run with 1 GB of RAM, I think the general consensus of users is that you need at least 2 GB.

[mckiernan]

Thanks all

Sound card is external, pretty decent usb tascam so shouldnt be any worries there.
I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that it must be ram too.  But why would they make and sell such a system?? How could dell sell a product that you can't even watch online videos with?

bye

[Carlos Medrano]

I had the same problem.
What I did is
1. open Control Panel
2. click on Hardware and sound
3. Click on Manage audio devices
4. Click on speakers
5. Click on Properties
6. Click on the Enhancements tab near the top of the window
7. Click on the Disable all sound effects check box
8. Click Apply
9. Click on OK
10. Click OK again
11. Clos Control Panel
12. Play a file
Good luck

[rthompson80819]

I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that it must be ram too.  But why would they make and sell such a system?? How could dell sell a product that you can't even watch online videos with?

I would be willing to bet the machine started out life with XP and somebody upgraded the OS.

[mckiernan]

Hi,

Thanks for the comment rthompson, but the vista is the laptop's original os. 

Carlos Medrano, tried that but to with no joy.  I'm using an external usb soundcard so speakers shouldn't be a problem. 

It seems like ram but I'm sure there are people out there running vista on 1gb and able to watch videos & movies online. 

If there is a video playing, such as youtube, It cackles and stutters but when i scroll down or minimise the page the sound is fine.  Some sort of video card/ram problem?

THanks again

[Carlos Medrano]

How much memerry does your video card has?

[mckiernan]

How much memerry does your video card has?

Hey, no idea.  How do I check?

[Carlos Medrano]

You go into system Imfermation
1. Click the start button
2. type system imfermation in the serch box
3. click system imfermation in the left pain
4. Expand components
5. click on display
6. look for adapter ram it should be there

[mckiernan]

I've plugged out my usb sound card and it seems to have sorted out the online video problem. 
Wonder why?

[Carlos Medrano]

Weird...