LYRICS FREEZING Hoster Crashes

[P Stephen]

Dell Laptop XP Pro. The last two shows, my lyrics have frozen 4 different times and hoster crashed. The music kept going. Had to restart Hoster each time. I've noticed when using the Singers Database, that it started delaying in opening and closing. After this is when the Lyrics Freeze and Crash started occuring. I've submitted a ticket on the 11th for having problems installing on a Dell XPHome Laptop That died (power supply) on me last year. SAys Hoster is installed on 2 Computers. I had it on my desktop at home, but removed it online, last week, before I reformatted it. Recently got it back. I am afraid to upgrade the Pro Laptop, as I can work with it like it is, but it sure is aggravating. BUT " I LOVE HOSTER " & MTU.
Waiting Patiently

[ddouglass]

What version do you have on the laptop?
What model Dell is it?
How much RAM does it have?
There should be no problem with upgrading it as that would be installing it on the same computer and will not change your registration any.
XP and any Windows version for that matter are notorious for slowing down the longer you use it. Seems like it just keeps storing more and more trash.
So first thing to do is check your hard drive space (free vs total). If it is down to less than 25% then it is definitely time to trim the fat.

1. Delete all your temporary internet files and history files from Internet Explorer.
2. If you have any programs that you no longer use, uninstall them.
3. Chack and make sure that any uninstalled programs do not have any files left in Program Files or in your profile under Documents and Settings. These would be in Application Data and/or in Local Settings/Application Data.
4. While you are looking at your profile go to Local Settings/Temp and delete all files in that location too.
5. Next delete all files in Windows/Temp.
6. Empty your deleted files from the Recycle Bin.
7. Defragment your hard drive.

See if this will free up enough space so Hoster can work without freezing. At this point I am presuming that the crashing is because of the freeze up. The biggest problem with laptops is they do not have dedicated memory for the video and borrow memory from the main RAM on the motherboard. When too much is running or too much swapping is going on between memory and the hard drive then everything slows down or comes to a screeching halt.

[P Stephen]

I'll give it a try when I get home this evening. I'm really not sure about the version, but I think it's 3. something. I'll get back to ya this evening. It is a Dell 5160 Inspiron. 1gb ram

[bryant]

Originally Posted by P Stephen

I'll give it a try when I get home this evening. I'm really not sure about the version, but I think it's 3. something. I'll get back to ya this evening. It is a Dell 5160 Inspiron. 1gb ram

I had one of those a while back. It was the worst laptop designed for video playing (at least in my experiences) and verified by many others on a DJ forum I was on that discussed the use of videos. I also remember my 5160 having issues with crashing during hoster and the video card seemed like it was always doing something different I (and no one else) couldn't explain. If you can afford a newer and different laptop, do it. Mine was in and out of the Dell factory once every two months, then finally they said, "here take another one(for free), which has worked okay so far.
But for the longest time I was against dell laptops (and still doubtful) when it comes to doing stuff pertaining to displaying videos.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by bryant

I had one of those a while back. It was the worst laptop designed for video playing (at least in my experiences) and verified by many others on a DJ forum I was on that discussed the use of videos. I also remember my 5160 having issues with crashing during hoster and the video card seemed like it was always doing something different I (and no one else) couldn't explain. If you can afford a newer and different laptop, do it. Mine was in and out of the Dell factory once every two months, then finally they said, "here take another one(for free), which has worked okay so far.

i have 7 Dell products, 4 pc's and 3 laptops ( e1505,1405 and inps. 1000 ) i got hoster on 2 of my laptops and i have diff. kinds of dj programs installed on both of them, and i also have MS installed on my main pc and on insp. 1000 and all kinds of dj programs ( also i have all my dj music on my main pc ) i have never had a problem running hoster or video files..i guessed it would help to prevent freezing and crashing if all your music files are on ext. drive, that way youll free up some space on your int. hhd.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by billyo

i have 7 Dell products, 4 pc's and 3 laptops ( e1505,1405 and inps. 1000 ) i got hoster on 2 of my laptops and i have diff. kinds of dj programs installed on both of them, and i also have MS installed on my main pc and on insp. 1000 and all kinds of dj programs ( also i have all my dj music on my main pc ) i have never had a problem running hoster or video files..i guessed it would help to prevent freezing and crashing if all your music files are on ext. drive, that way youll free up some space on your int. hhd.

I see you were one of the lucky ones with the 5160 then. As that model was notorious for freezing up esp. when memory got low.

[P Stephen]

Thanks for all the input. I have all of my files on an external Drive. I've been using the 5160 every since I started with hoster and have never had any issues until now. I didn't get to work on it last night, but plan to do that today. Right now, I'm going to try and install the upgrade onto the 5160 with Home on it and try it out before this weekend. Maybe I'll get to the Pro, today also. Will be posting again this afternoon. I probably need to reformat the Pro, but afraid to until I get the upgrade working in Home. Thanks Again

[Beavis]

if you didnt upgrade the laptop and it just started doing it out of no where, why dont you restore your computer to an earlier date. maybe windows did some updating for you !

[Roy Dennis]

I have a Dell Inspiring 5150. Must be about 7 years old now but worked fine until recently. I had a problem in Hoster with a time delay in the song cuing up after pressing play. Then last week I was doing some video copying to hard drive C. with Roxio DVD software which has a drive test function, on pressing this it showed drive C. as dropping 269 frames out of 400 but the external drive o.k. I then downloaded a drive test program from the Internet which showed the drive as only 40% and recommended changing.

I have now fitted a new drive 160GB in place of the old 60Gb.

Since doing this, the few hours testing I have done, seems to have cured the cue time delay in Hoster. I always had all my Music .KMA and video files on an external drive. but as the program runs from the C. drive I think it was causing these problems.
So what I am suggesting is get your internal drive checked. This could be a Warning of failure.

I had previously used Microsoft Chkdisk and defraged drive but that didn't
pick up the problem.

Changing the internal drive was quite easy I got a replacement internal drive from www.drivemylaptop.co.uk
They supply the drive with a docking caddy and a CD with "Acronis Migrate Easy" software. You just activate the program plug in the external caddy and choose Disk clone, when it's finished just swap the old drive for the new one switch on. In my case I had to press F2 and highlight boot from Hard drive & save. It then started up with no problems exactly as before but with a bigger hard drive.
In the event of failure to this new hard drive you can always put the old one back in to get you going again, a bit like system restore.

Roy.

[P Stephen]

The hard drive died while updating windows. Just installed a new one. Fixin to update windows and try install of Hoster. Will report back on this soon. Thanks Everybody.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by P Stephen

The hard drive died while updating windows. Just installed a new one. Fixin to update windows and try install of Hoster. Will report back on this soon. Thanks Everybody.

Bummer!!

[Roy Dennis]

Just to update everyone.
After doing my show Saturday night I found that I still had the cue delay so it had nothing to do with the fact that my drive was failing, the drive was failing but this was not what was causing the delay. It's funny how it seemed to work OK just testing it at home but when I was really into the show it started again I found the best way around it was to set play to auto then press pause till singer was ready to sing. I am going to check out the black viper site again and see if I can find the answer there.

Roy.

[ddouglass]

Roy,
When you are at home are you plugged into or wireless for internet network?
If so when you do your shows do you disable the network connections?
Reason I ask is if they are not disabled (especially wireless) then they keep searching for a network which steals time from processor to do this.

Are you using two different registrations in the forums??

[P Stephen]

I use a USB Modem for internet. I do not use it at my shows, but thanks for asking. Took me 2 days to update Windows, and I installed Hoster, yesterday. Haven't tried it yet to see if it's going to run without problems, but will test it out this week and post results.

[ddouglass]

Does that laptop have a built-in wireless network card? You should be able to find this by going to Network Connections in the Start Menu. If there is one listed there Disable it.

[P Stephen]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Roy,
When you are at home are you plugged into or wireless for internet network?
If so when you do your shows do you disable the network connections?
Reason I ask is if they are not disabled (especially wireless) then they keep searching for a network which steals time from processor to do this.

Are you using two different registrations in the forums??

Dale
I have a wireless connection during the show as I am using a remote sign-up program but I had this problem for some time now even before I used the remote sign up and never had a wireless card fitted. I also get it when I use another program (Rocket Pro) on my DJ only nights. It does not happen all the time it seems to be if there has been a pause in the use of Hoster or the other program, like when I play a fill in song using a digital player then come back to it. If I go directly to the next singer it does not seem to happen. It's like Hoster goes in to hibernation and you have to wake it up.
In answer to your other question, no I am not using two different registrations.
I did post with this problem some time ago but thought I had cured it then this was the original post: http://forum.mtu.com/showthread.php?...ight=cue+delay

Suppose I should have tagged it on to that post.


Roy.

[ddouglass]

I don't know whether more memory would help, but I really don't think it would. I think the problem is switching back and forth between the two programs.
Why not use Hoster for your audio song in between singers?

[Roy Dennis]

Dale
I think I may have found the problem. I am still testing it at the moment but I checked my virtual memory and for some reason it was set to 384MB.
At the bottom of this window it recommended 2500MB. which I set it too and it seems to be working OK.
I am going to try setting it to system managed size and see how that is.

I will report back after more extensive testing.

Roy.

[Roy Dennis]

Confirmation to above post.
I am now satisfied that the virtual memory was the reason my cue time was taking so long. Since setting it to system managed size I have run Hoster with wireless network, Spyware Doctor, and a recording program all running at the same time. It is now running flawlessly with no delays in the cue time.

So if anyone has problems with slow cue times check your virtual memory size.