Computer Question

[Larry Harp]

I've always said, if you want to know something about a computer you should go to a boating & fishing message board, RIGHT?....makes perfect sense to me.



Anyway, I bought myself a new computer a couple of weeks ago and everything is working fine except one thing. When I play a CD using Windows Media Player (version 10) it sounds like I'm driving down a rough road. The sound quality is good except it's very choppy, for lack of a better description. The guy who built the computer told me that Windows Media Player 10 won't play CD's and that I should use the add-on CD player that he installed. He said that WMP is trying to convert the analog CD into a digital signal. HUH? A CD is a digital signal, isn't it? I would really like to use WMP to play CD's instead of the other CD player. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the CD drive since it plays fine with the other CD software. I'm also sure that Bill Gates is too smart to sell something that won't even play a CD. I thing there is just something wrong in the configuration, but I can not figure out what it is. Any ideas, you guys???

HEEEELP!!!!



Harpo

 

[Steve Rizza]

My Media Player plays CDs just fine.

I always rip the music off of them and store them on my cumputer so its just click and play.

Never had any choppy sounds.



Steve

 

[Bob G.]

Ditto to what Steve said.



Bob G.

 

[Jim B]

Harpo this is most likley the deal, i have run into this many times. There is no reason media player cant play cd's, ts one of the things its designed to do. I wont get into the technical details but it sounds like your drive is in PIO mode not DMA mode. Ill outline how to change it.



1) open the control panel

2) open the system control panel

3) click the hardware tab

4) click the device manager button

5) click the little + sybmol next to the ide ata/atapi controllers icon.

6) right click on the secondary ide channel icon, select properties

7)click the advanced settings tab

8) make sure both the primary and secondary deivces have dma if available selected. if they are set to pio only change them click ok and restart when asked. That should fix the problem, if you need help i can call you and walk you thru it.

 

[Larry Harp]

Jim, both devices already had "dma if available" selected. What now????



Thanks for the help.



Harpo

 

[Steve Rizza]

a BFH.........

 

[Jim B]

OK try this. Go into the options menu in medis player snd click the devices tab. Then double click the cd drive icon inside that tab. Try checking off the error correction and if that dosent work try selecting analog playback.



If that dosent correct it you may have something going on like incompatible hardware ir and interrupt conflict, hard to tell without seeing it.

 

[Bruce Yeaton]

Do you have more than one drive you can try the disc on?



If it plays fine with the other player, the two players might be fighting for associations. Try unistalling WMP and reinstalling it. If that doesn't work, make sure you have a copy of the other player first and uninstall that one, then try WMP.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Then turn around three times, kill a small chicken, bury the feathers under an oak tree and praise Bill Gates while turned twords Mecca.



Life is complicated.



TOXIC

 

[Texas Transplant]

Tox forgot to include the part about the red sox on your left foot, and when you turn it must be counterclockwise.



Tex

 

[Larry Harp]

Jim B,

YEAAAAAAH!! That fixed it. The error correction boxes weren't checked so I checked them and that gave everything an echo chamber effect so I clicked the analog playback and now Steeley Dan sounds like Steely Dan and not Toxic after a long day of hard boiled eggs and vienia sausage.



Should I have the analog box checked for both copy and playback or just playback?



AND...Why is analog needed to playback a CD? Isn't a CD a digital format?



Thanks a million!!!



Harpo

 

[Jim B]

Just playback is most likley ok. I think the reason they have the options there is because not all hardware reacts the same. some can play digital and and some cant. If you want to try the digital again try turning off the srs wow effects, they make everything digital sound like its in a tin can. to turn it off on the view meny check off show enhancements. Then go to srs wow effects and turn it off.

 

[Larry Harp]

Turning off the srs wow was one of the things I stumbled across and tried myself. It didn't fix the problem.



Do you do this for a living?



Thanks again.



Harpo

 

[Jim B]

I would just stick with the analog then. Its not going to hurt anything for sure.



Yea i do do this stuff for a living. I do mainly Desktop standards and SMS admin duties now but a few years ago i was a deskside tech doing hardware/software support for about 3500 seats.