I need some suggestions for song book and DB
 

I sure hope I am posting in the right place. I am a newbie to Hoster.
I have a couple of issues to discuss. cornfused> :?

1. sometimes when a song is playing, the audio goes into severe scratchy distortion. This will last a random amount of time, usually 5 to 15 seconds. The graphics also go distorted and both audio and graphics seem to slow down. after a few seconds, it comes back instantly to normal. It may do it again a time or two, and it may not. It has happened on three or four occassions in the last week. I am still running shakedown runs in the garage. I happens to different brands of music and did not happen to the same song twice.

I have 2 gb Ram and 256 mb on the video card. Can this be a mechanical problem with the hard drive? or does anyone have any suggestions?


Now the other question. when loading song tracks to the hard drive from CD's, how can a string of tracks be removed that were erroneously added?

In my experimentation, I added a vocal CD to my CDG songbook list and I can't get it off. I know it is a simple thing but I can't find it.

Anyone who can explain it, do it like you are giving a rank beginner the instructions, because that is what I am.

I am having a lot of fun with this program but it does have a good learning curve to it.


Thanks, Happy now> http://forum.mtu.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Phil in mid Illinois

Not knowing your processor speed or audio/video cards, I would be inclined to say you may have a background program like an anti-virus program or something that is kicking in when you don't want it to.

If you know what bookid you assigned to it, then you can open the edit screen (Tools/Edit Songs), click on the Search Multiple button, click on the search button for BookID, enter the number in the blank and click search. Hightlight all the songs on that disc and click delete. That is all there is to it.

Hard drive problem not likely, If it were the HD the file would simply stop working and you'd get an error mssg or Hoster would crash. I'm not a techie but something to investigate is whether you've got things running in the background (virus scanners etc), make sure thats off.
Try running Hoster with the Task Manger running and note what the CPU usage is when the sound distorts or graphics slowdown - also note which processes might start running at the same time.
Although you didn't provide much in the way of specs, it sounds as if you've got plenty of resources, so I would suspect something in the background.

some other suggestions:
Make sure you have DirectX 9 from Microsoft
Make sure your Windows are all updated.
Make sure your audio and video drivers are updated, preferably from the maker not from Microsoft. And while your at it make sure the firmware for your cdrom is the latest.
There is a section in the manual (available from the HELP tab) about dealing with troubleshooting audio drops, listing a number of steps you can take to free up computer resources.
Click the tools tab at the top of the playlist screen, then click edit songs. in that screen you can find the songs by song title, artist or book id.
Highlight the song you want to get rid of and click delete.
At the top of that screen are buttons to give you the option of deleting one at a time or multiples, use which ever seems appropriate and/or you are comfortable with.

Ahhh It's not that big of a curve, it's just a matter of starting at the top of the manual and checking out each feature hands on while you're reading about it IMHO.

Hopefully this will help some or at least give you something to try until someone smarter comes along.

Sam

*****************
BTW: Welcome aboard

Alright Dale, How'd you beet me to this by 15 minutes?:)
Well at least I beat Beavis to the Windows update bit:c

Sam

What can I say Sam? I'm quick on the keys!:r :g

did anyone ask him what version of hoster he was running ?? he might have an old version that didnt work properly.

more than likely windows updated a hardware driver. I hate when that happens !!!

That is why I have the Automatic Update set to "Notify" me that updates are ready and I use the custom setting rather than express, so I can see what Big Brother is doing to MY computer!!:e :g

Judging from his lack of knowledge about Hoster, the fact that he is still testing, and his join date, I didn't figure his version was too very old, but good point. I should have asked about his Windows updates too....guess I dropped the ball on that one.:f So, N181RV make sure you Windows are up-to-date.

the year he joined was the first thing i looked at, and its the first thing i check when someone posts. it tells a lot ! :g :g

i think the one thing that has never been asked here is:

does it matter if your having problems with Hoster and you are not up to date with windows updates, then you update.

or should you uninstall hoster after you are done installing all windows updates, then reinstall Hoster ?????

admin ?? MTUSUPPORT ???

Doesn't say as mush as you think. I believe the join date is when they first joined the forums, not when they first purchased and started using MTU Products.

Take a look at somebody with just a few posts and a recent join date that suddenly pops up and says they've been using a product for 4 or 5 years. Happens every now and then.

Part of the silent majority.

On the other hand, we have one gentleman that probably goes back to 2002 or so who the last I knew has yet to acquire anything except a Hoster Demo. ADMIN knows who I mean.

Thanks for suggestions.
 

This sure is a nice place to get fast information.
I'm so new to this here place that I didn't even notice the join Dates of us newcomers.

Well, I got the songs deleted. Now to find the distortion problem.

Here is some more info. I just got the machine from HP a couple of weeks ago. It has a 2.0Ghz AMD duo core processor. Running XP pro. and a hundred gb HD. I have a pretty fresh issue of Hoster, perhaps a month old.

I Probably have plenty of resources. I only have 2300 songs and I have dedicated the notebook to MTU and Adobe Photoshop.

I have not checked for Soundcard driver updates but I will. I Have the auto up dates turned on for Windows but it always asks me first. I think I need to turn them off and go through the list once in a while to see what is needed and go that route.

I have not setup Norton yet and may not if I keep this machine off the internet. But that don't mean it won't keep trying to get me to load it .

I had that distortion problem happen again tonight and it went long enough that I changed songs and the new song came up With the distortion and pretty soon it stopped. It may have lasted a minute and a half or two minutes over all. I did some checking and the graphics were Not slowing down and the graphics were not distorted. Although Saturday, They were distorted and appeared to run a bit slower. I will analyze this more as I continue testing it. I do not do this for a business so I am not in a bind for it. I will be doing some church things for kids and I want it to run as good as I can make it.. I have a JVC changer and I can always fall back on it if I need to, but the more I use Hoster, the better I like it.

Over the weekend, I had some CD drive problems (it wouldn't open, except with a paper clip) so I called the Tech support. It is almost always a mistake to do this. They ran me through their "cheat sheet" gamut and finally we got it working for a day then it shot craps again. I called in to explain this and they took me on a different road race, but when we finished, it was opening ok again.

So this morning while you all were at work, I got up about 9 am and turned on the laptop. The secondary monitor would not work. I went into control panel and set everything the "right" way and it still would not show the graphics. I got a blue screen and boot up graphics would come up but soon as I got the desk top screen on the laptop, the second screen just stayed blue.

I went to "restore" and engaged the "time machine" and took it back to Saturday. Presto, the second graphics worked and the cd drive still opens up. So somewhere between Saturday and Sunday, I got something installed that it didn't like.

At 67 years old, I just don't like complicated things. Since my old lady is at Bingo tonight, I think I will just turn the flying squirrels loose in the living room and enjoy myself with a good movie...

Bear with me and soon I will be operationg like an "old" pro...

Thanks again...
Phil in Illinois

Shouldn't make any difference what Windows is doing for updates. However, like any program, if things just aren't working right, doing an Update of Hoster will usually fix it. Computers can get farkled! :w

Phil, great to hear you are helping out kids at church. I'm updating our church also to do this. A well done Karaoke show can expose kids to a talent they may not have realized God gave them, and lift their spirit. Peers can be brutal, and having them all get together and sing can be a big life changer for all. :w

The problems you are describing are definitely not normal Hoster actions. As the friends here are pointing out, look for something running in background, or going haywired. Until you get Hoster down pad, I wouldn't run anything else at all, especially in background. Do check the Task Manager for what else is running. Its a matter of hunt and seek to beat computers into sumbmission sometimes. :e :c

i would go to the manufacturers website for your audio card and update the drivers.



thanks admin.

I hate to say this but it sounds like the op system did not load right at hp

when you shut down it did not save your video setting that is why you had to go back to a old restore

with all the diff problem you are seeing i whould have them reload the op system or if you know how to do it your self try a few more things if it does not help reload you op system good luck

operating system..
 

Yes there may be some facts involved here. I am going to play with it more and find out just exactly what is happening because I don't have a lot of stuff on here yet. It should be almost a virgin system.

Thanks for the suggestions. This is what keeps me motivated.

Phil, Litchfield, IL http://forum.mtu.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Phil, I just hope we don't overwhelm you with help.:e All of the people who have offer suggestions are good well informed (educated?) computer users and technicians.
Since you have said you just got the system, I totally agree with Bill Moore and would have HP reload Windows and the programs they include with the package. Then go to their website and get all of the latest drivers for the video, sound, and motherboard. Many times the larger manufacturers will lag behind on updating their setup discs by as much as 6 months.

Your problem here most likely would be that the secondary monitor wasn't on when you fired up the laptop? This will cause the secondaries settings to revert to default (off). Be sure you have the secondary on, power up the laptop, right click on desktop and go to properties (shorter than going to control panel), go to last tab (Settings) click on monitor #2, check to make sure "extended desktop" is on, right click again on #2 and "Activate".
Next time you turn the laptop on make sure the second monitor is on first.