Computer Glitches

[MacGravey]

I'm New on the block. I've been doing home recording for about 8 years. I have an interview service, recording the spoken word. My machine is is an old one. Custom build. XP home, AMD 1800, Maxtor HD 350G, 2.5G ram, Cubase SE, M-Audio Delta 66 w/Omni I/O. Until recently this machine was connected to the internet. Started picking up bugs of various sorts. I guess they were bugs. During editing playback the CSE started chattering. My deffinition of chattering: The project cursor would start and stop at a fast pace. The audio would be broken up. I would change the buffer settings (which I don't understand) and sometimes it would inprove and other times not. After disconnecting from the Internet, I uninstalled everything not related to recording, cleaned with Internet Eraser and gained a big improvement. Recently I started getting and error msg during export: "An error occured during export". I noticed the audio export window is slow to get started. When the export transfer started, it runs about 30 seconds before the error msg. I'm on the verge of buying a new Imac, but I'm trying hard to keep what I have and not have to shell out $1200. I would be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks
Mac

[brandondrury]

Hey Mac,

Without a doubt, you are do for a formatting. You can gain back all your old performance by backing up all your important files, formatting your hard drives, and reinstalling Windows. Make sure you have all the drives you need first and all the software necessary to install.

Your computer will be as good as new then. If you really want to go online, I recommend a dual boot setup.

Brandon

[MacGravey]

Thanks Brandon. I'll have a go at this.
Mac

[357mag]

The thing about a dual boot setup is to make it really worthwhile, you would need to run Linux on one drive and Windows on the other. I recently tried doing that. I put Ubuntu on my second drive with XP on my first drive. But the problem was that there are no drivers for my E-MU card other than what is called ALSA drivers. And the problem with trying those is that one of them is a firmware driver. And I like to listen to my CD's while I surf so I didn't want to go without sound. There was no way in hell I was going to flash my card with some Linux driver, just to use Linux to access the web. No way in hell. Even E-MU told me not to try it as it would void my warranty.

It wouldn't make sense to dual boot with two versions of Windows installed either. Because if you did get a piece of malware on your system, the malware could still reek havoc with your other installation of Windows if it's programmed that way.

I have one computer that I use for everything. Recording, email, web-surfing, photo-editing, and word processing. And it works pretty damn good. I highly recommend dumping Internet Explorer and switching to Opera though. Opera is a much more secure browser since it doesn't support Active-X and VB Script, which is what the malware writers use to infest your Windows computer.

For many of us having a separate dedicated computer just for recording plus an additional computer for everything else is simply not a realistic option.

[MacGravey]

Brandon
Mac here. During the process of formatting my PC I ran into a deal on an Imac 10.5.5 Leopard. Don't much about the mac. This one is loaded with stuff I'll probably never use but I purchased it any way. The sound card info says it's a "Intel High Definition Audio". Now having trouble installing Cubase SE 1.07A. Getting an error msg during the install. My research has come up with "must have ASIO on board" to use Cubase. I heard about a download for SE to fix this. Any ideas?
Thanks
Mac

[brandondrury]

The thing about a dual boot setup is to make it really worthwhile, you would need to run Linux on one drive and Windows on the other.

I'm 100% lost how this would benefit a Windows user. Asking a person to switch to a totally different operating system seems like a totally different discussion. You can get FULL benefit from using two XP operating systems.

One operating system allows you to do email, games, internet, etc. The other allows for a super clean operating system that DRAMATICALLY improves the reliability and performance of your recording rig.

you would need to run Linux on one drive and Windows on the other. I recently tried doing that. I put Ubuntu on my second drive with XP on my first drive. But the problem was that there are no drivers for my E-MU card other than what is called ALSA drivers.

How on Earth can you tell people they "NEED" Windows on one and Linux on the other when you can't even find drivers for your audio interface in Linux (one of the major Linux problems now and for the forseeable future)?????

I find this shocking! Are you trying to confuse people?

It wouldn't make sense to dual boot with two versions of Windows installed either. Because if you did get a piece of malware on your system, the malware could still reek havoc with your other installation of Windows if it's programmed that way.

This is debatable. It depends highly on the piece of malware at hand and how it works. I have no doubt that the chances for problems are DRAMATICALLY reduced even if they aren't 100% perfect.

For many of us having a separate dedicated computer just for recording plus an additional computer for everything else is simply not a realistic option.

Haven't we already been over this?

I highly recommend dumping Internet Explorer and switching to Opera though.

Firefox and Opera are both very good browsers.

The sound card info says it's a "Intel High Definition Audio".

This sound card was named by politicians. Does that help illustrate the insignificance of that title?

My research has come up with "must have ASIO on board" to use Cubase. I heard about a download for SE to fix this. Any ideas?
The robo cheap, non-ideal route is to try ASIO4ALL. I'm not sure if that works with Mac. The better route is to use a real deal audio interface designed for home recording. Home Recording Soundcard Wizard / Audio Interface Search Tool

[357mag]

If you've got Windows on your first drive, and Windows on your second drive you've still got a 100% Windows system. Let's say you've only got internet enabled on your first drive, not on the second where you do you're recording.

All it takes is to get a piece of malware on your first drive that can easily be programmed to also affect your second drive. Malware can be programmed to easily infiltrate and corrupt any other drive that happens to be connected to your computer at the time of the infestation. It can happen.

I too though of putting XP on my first drive with internet, and XP on my second drive with no internet. But it's simply not the best solution for a dual-boot.

What I would do is put Windows on the first drive for the recording end of it, and put Linux on the second drive for accessing email and browsing the internet. That would be inherently more secure. I did not mean to start recording with Linux. No. It's simply not very realistic.

However what I ended up doing do to the fact that I would have no sound while surfing was to just stick with Windows and switching to a more secure browser. Internet Explorer is the worst browser available. It supports the use of Active-X and VB Script, both of which malware writers use to exploit your system.

Opera does not support either so it is inherently a more secure browser.

[brandondrury]

All it takes is to get a piece of malware on your first drive that can easily be programmed to also affect your second drive. Malware can be programmed to easily infiltrate and corrupt any other drive that happens to be connected to your computer at the time of the infestation. It can happen.

I'm not disputing this. However, how many Malware bots are programmed to find every instance of Windows. Maybe some, but certainly not all. They'll find the first X folder and toss the necessary files there.

So few systems use dual boot systems that it seems unlikely that anyone would bother programming in this way.

My gut says there is a way to make the other Windows system unwritable when using the internet computer. I'd have to look into it, but I bet it's possible to make it bulletproof or close to it.

What I would do is put Windows on the first drive for the recording end of it, and put Linux on the second drive for accessing email and browsing the internet. That would be inherently more secure. I did not mean to start recording with Linux. No. It's simply not very realistic.

Fair enough, however, I think it's a big step asking people to give up EVERY piece of software they have ever purchased or used. While I'm aware there are great GPL alternatives to Dreamweaver and Photoshop, I'd lose so much productivity learning the new system that it would never pay for itself.

On this topic, a person can use a piece of junk old computer they can find used for $100 on their internet computer and then just use their new computer for recoriding. A $30 KVM switch solves the problem of video monitors and such.

However what I ended up doing do to the fact that I would have no sound while surfing was to just stick with Windows and switching to a more secure browser. Internet Explorer is the worst browser available.

I totally agree! I've forced all family members to switch to Firefox and it's saves me a good 100 hours per year of computer fixing.

[357mag]

I was not suggesting that people give up their Windows software. What I meant was to only use Linux to access the web and check email. That is all it would be used for.

All your favorite Windows programs plus your recording program would still be on your Windows drive.

I personally have always liked Windows plus the software that is made for it. I've discovered that Windows programs run pretty damn well for the most part and have very good interfaces. And both Windows 2000 and Windows XP have shown to be very stable and reliable.

Plus setting up a Windows computer is pretty easy compared to configuring a Linux computer which requires learning how to use a command line and trying to understand these cryptic commands which mean absolutely nothing to most of us.

[brandondrury]

Installing ANYTHING other than bare essentials needed for recording puts the whole system at risk.

I agree that XP has been a good operating system. I've been very productive on the XP platform and seldom have problems. So why would I want to switch select programs over to Linux. What would that serve?

Brandon