Background music player

[gotrich]

I have an issue where randomly a song will pop and then just hiss. Hoster locks up and wont stop even if I close Hoster. The only way to stop it is to CTL ALT DEL and stop the hoster process.

Anyone else having this?

[gotrich]

anyone had this problem? how do i fix it?

[Roy Dennis]

It seems like no one else has had this problem.
Just a few suggestions, from your heading I take it that it is just the background audio that this applies to.
Are they in a zip format ? if so try extracting them and play from that format.
You have probably tried this anyway but have you tried loading a different folder to play from ?
If you double click one of these song files without Hoster running, what program do they start in ?
If it is some program other than windows media player do they play alright in that program ?
If they play alright in the default program, try changing the default program to Windows media player as that is what Hoster uses, perhaps there is a conflict somewhere.
The only other thing I can think of is something else running in the background, try running with your ante virus turned off see if that makes a difference.
One other thing, how much memory have you got installed ?

Roy.

[gotrich]

They are not in zips its mp3s
they play ok in winamp.
its random when it happens.

The hoster will loce the sound card and the only way to stop is to restart or ctl+alt+del and go to the process and stop it then when I open Hoster its ok.

I cant figure out casue its so random.

Dell 1525 2.0 D core 3G ram and 350 HD

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by gotrich

They are not in zips its mp3s
they play ok in winamp.
its random when it happens.

The hoster will loce the sound card and the only way to stop is to restart or ctl+alt+del and go to the process and stop it then when I open Hoster its ok.

I cant figure out casue its so random.

Dell 1525 2.0 D core 3G ram and 350 HD

Are you also using the visualizations with the background audio? If so how much Video ram do you have?
Try watching the Hoster process in Task Manager and see if the amount of memory and processor time it is using is jump way up. It should stay between 10 and 15% on the percentage of usage.
Are you running Vista, Windows7, or XP?

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by gotrich

They are not in zips its mp3s
they play ok in winamp.
its random when it happens.

Do they play OK in Windows Media Player as that is the program Hoster uses to play the files.

Roy.

[gotrich]

I am not using visualizations.

I am using windows xp and I have all the updates.

I will try windows media player and see but it does it on all 3 dell laptops

as far as video speed.. no idea standa dell inspiron 1525 laptop.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I am not using visualizations.

I am using windows xp and I have all the updates.

I will try windows media player and see but it does it on all 3 dell laptops

as far as video speed.. no idea standa dell inspiron 1525 laptop.

Is that Auto Updates or have you updated through the Custom Updates on Microsoft's web site?

How much free space is there on your 350GB HD?

Most likely your video RAM is shared memory from the main memory bank. That is the norm with laptops.
Does this seem to happen anytime during a show or does it tend to be later in the show when it starts?
I am getting the feeling that the Background Audio is not something you are going to be able to use with this laptop. You aren't alone in this. A lot of the people using laptops are finding that they just don't have enough resources to use either Background Audio or Visualizations.

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I am not using visualizations.

I am using windows xp and I have all the updates.

I will try windows media player and see but it does it on all 3 dell laptops

as far as video speed.. no idea standa dell inspiron 1525 laptop.

Your answer stating that it does it on all 3 Dell laptops makes me think that you must have something in common installed on your 3 laptops.
I think something is operating in the background and causing this. Now one common thing that may be on all 3 is your Virus or malaware protection, did you try running with it disabled while Hoster is running as I mentioned before.
Also, have you got Roxio 6 installed on these computers as that has known conflicts with Hoster.

I think you may have to try uninstalling some of your other software programs one at a time and see if you can find the culprit.

I have a Dell inspiron 5150 eight years old now and it will run with every thing enabled in Hoster although I have to keep it well ventilated else it gets very hot, but I am still using for my shows.

Roy.

[gotrich]

I have not tried on the other 2 yet. I am the beta tester for my company. I try things, learn about things, and work out things. I thought maybe it was a certain song but no. Its completely random. I updated the windows media player to 11 from 9.. still no dice.

I am at a loss.. it sounds like static from a tv and locks the soundcard.

With dual core processors and 3 gig of ram and over 70% free on the HD I should have plenty of resources.

I have checked the windows updates every day and it will show nothing then an hour later the yellow shield shows up and wants me to update more.. seems like at least once a day there is an update. So i keep doing them.

What could I be missing?

[gotrich]

I will try the other machines to see if they do it
I only have 2 other 3 total sorry

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I have not tried on the other 2 yet. I am the beta tester for my company. I try things, learn about things, and work out things. I thought maybe it was a certain song but no. Its completely random. I updated the windows media player to 11 from 9.. still no dice.

I am at a loss.. it sounds like static from a tv and locks the soundcard.

With dual core processors and 3 gig of ram and over 70% free on the HD I should have plenty of resources.

I have checked the windows updates every day and it will show nothing then an hour later the yellow shield shows up and wants me to update more.. seems like at least once a day there is an update. So i keep doing them.

What could I be missing?

I am wondering are you listening through your laptop speakers or is this coming through your show system speakers. I know my Dell laptop's speakers are really bad sounding?

Open task manager when you are testing and watch the processes to see if Hoster's per centage of processor time starts climbing when you are playing the background audio. It should stay between 5 - 15%.

One thing that might work is to use a USB external sound card. Some of the people use them and swear they are better sounding.

[gotrich]

No this is at my show. It almsot sounds like hoster starts to play it real loud then brings the Vol down a little then static...