[Walter Clayton]

"Asin" <Asin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2020CA59-0B3B-4179-9D3D-AB4F4214AC72@microsoft.com...
> The problem's not as intense as Star Fleet Admiral Q's problem.
>
> However, while I can't say the same for the IBM ThinkPad T21's, the T30
> with
> a Mobile Pentium 4 at 2.0 GHz and 256 MB of RAM shouldn't do that.
> Neither
> should my Dell Inspiron 600m with an Intel Pentium-M at 1.3 GHz enhanced
> with
> Intel Centrino Technology and 512 MB of RAM.
>
> If I'm downloading something in the background, and then run a video in
> WMP
> 10, the video will pause for a split second every few seconds, in other
> words, stutter.

Is that streaming video from the 'net or something running local? Two
different possibilities depending on the source. However they both sources
have a common tie; audio and video drivers as well as possibly active AV
scanning...

Have you tried running with background AV scanning disabled?

> I've used the same testing methods as Star Fleet Admiral Q
> in terms of monitoring Task Manager.
>
> WMP 10 runs the video fine without anything happening in the background
> but
> will eat up at least 50% CPU on the Dell and at least 40% on the T30.
>
> A flash animation on a website will spike the CPU usage from Internet
> Explorer or Firefox to the said levels. However, if I expand Task
> Manager's
> window to cover the flash animation in the background from a web page, the
> CPU usage goes down to normal levels of 1-3% BUT still spikes to 70 or 80%
> every 10 seconds or so.
>
> Flash games on the machine will lag when there is a lot of animation and
> not
> just some little thing like an ad or something. Again, monitoring Task
> Manager shows a spike to around 30-40% CPU and staying constant while the
> game is active, and not necessarily "moving".
>
> Dell once mentioned something about SP2 being tailored to each system
> which
> is why the best way to get it is through Windows Update which will scan
> your
> computer for both software and hardware configurations. I don't buy that
> for
> a second, otherwise Microsoft would not have given out all those free SP2
> CDs.

Good thing you didn't buy that. ;-)

We'll not get into the issues with level 1 tech support. There are numerous
disadvantages to using Windows Update to drop SP2 on the machine whereas
there is *no* disadvange to either downloading the service pack seperately
or ordering/picking up the CD.

>
> The T30's Windows XP was installed from a CD which had XP and SP2 from
> Microsoft Licensing. The Dell was done with the original Dell Restore CDs
> and the included retail Windows XP with SP1 CD. Essentially, the Dell
> Restore CDs are just drivers and factory installed applications.
>
> This is getting quite annoying. Thank you both for offering to help. I
> hope that we can get to the bottom of this.


Side note: You may want to grab Process Explorer from
http://www.sysinternals.com - it gives a different perspective on what's
running on the machine.

Was everything honky-dory on SP1? Are you applying all post-SP2 patches or
trying with an unpatched SP2?

I'm thinking, that the issue in your case is video related, but I can't
prove that as yet. :-/

I'll be the first to admit that SP2 causes problems. This is one service
pack that caught everyone, including MS, by surprise.

[Asin]

Sorry about the late reply here. I was using Firefox to view this newsgroup
at the time and the formatting is a little different causing me to miss your
replies in your post.

"Walter Clayton" wrote:
> Is that streaming video from the 'net or something running local? Two
> different possibilities depending on the source. However they both sources
> have a common tie; audio and video drivers as well as possibly active AV
> scanning...

Both. I've tested it on both AVI and WMV files and streaming video from IE
since Firefox does not support the WMP plugin.

The codecs installed on the Dell Inspiron 600m are the latest DivX and XviD
1.0.3. The IBM ThinkPad T30 is a clean installation with nothing but WMP 10.
Other things like QuickTime were added later, but the problem was still
there on a fresh installation of Windows XP with SP2 slipstreamed from
Microsoft Licensing.

> Have you tried running with background AV scanning disabled?

There is no Antivirus software on the T30. There is however on the 600m.
The Dell has Norton Antivirus Corporate 9.0.

> We'll not get into the issues with level 1 tech support. There are numerous
> disadvantages to using Windows Update to drop SP2 on the machine whereas
> there is *no* disadvange to either downloading the service pack seperately
> or ordering/picking up the CD.

Yeah, so the Dell went from XP with SP1 to SP2 from CD. The IBM went
straight to XP with SP2.

> Was everything honky-dory on SP1? Are you applying all post-SP2 patches or
> trying with an unpatched SP2?

The IBM was running Windows 2000 Professional before the reformat, so I
cannot say for sure.

The Dell was never touched since I got it almost two years ago from them
using XP with SP1. I decided to reformat and then upgrade to SP2, clearly, a
poor move.

> I'm thinking, that the issue in your case is video related, but I can't
> prove that as yet. :-/

It has to be video related. Nothing ties Macromedia Flash with WMP 10.
Then again, nothing ties those two with Sygate Personal Firewall during a
download or upload.

Thanks.

[Asin]

Forgot one little bit.

The 600m was using SP2 with all updates including optional ones.

The T30 is the same. But the T21's that I worked on had a fresh
installation of SP2 and the problem persisted.