Computer running slow

[Patr1ck]

Anything less than a gig isn't really going to get the job done. What kind of processor do you have?

I'd say 2 gb of memory minimum. It's cheap enough, too.

[rise]

2GB should be sufficient, but your computer itself is pretty old. RAM is pretty expensive and you can buy a whole new computer with 2-4 GB of RAM quite cheap. I tried upgrading my old XP (256MB RAM) up to a gig of RAM and I didn't even notice a difference. If your computer is four or more years old, I don't recommend even trying to buy more RAM for it.

[shadowgrin]

I had 512 mb, for Win98.

[Stress Fracture]

If your computer is four or more years old, I don't recommend even trying to buy more RAM for it.

My laptop's 7-8 years old right now.

[Andrew]

I'd save your money, put it towards a new PC.

[koberulz]

I'm trying to import an m2v file into Encore at the moment, and it locks up at 0% if I use an existing project file, but if I start from scratch it locks up at 90%. I think it's a filesize issue, based on the fact that I've had no trouble importing smaller files, even into the same project. A similar-length m2ts file causes the same issue. They're both HD; I've had no problem with SD m2v files.

Fixed the above. It locks up, and then stops responding if you click anywhere in the window, but I left it there, went to watch TV, came back after a while and the footage had imported, so evidently it's only a temporary problem. Got it all the way to burning an actual disc and finally got to watch it on a TV.

Tried importing an HD m2ts file. It locked up, I left it, it imported. I saved. Encore closed itself. Encore refused to reopen. I rebooted. Opened Encore. Opened the project file. Firefox stopped responding. Encore closed. Encore refused to reopen. Rinse, repeat. Firefox is now working fine, but I haven't attempted to reopen Encore since I last rebooted. It seems to work fine unless I'm working in HD; I had no problem burning the last 6 discs and it all works fine until I open the Blu-Ray project file, at which point Firefox stops responding and refuses to start responding (or if it does, does so only briefly before not responding again), and then Encore closes and I have to reboot.

When the graphics card was changed over, there was a POST RAM error. Was down the computer shop at the time, so they had spare RAM and between trying that and pulling out and reinserting the original RAM, they got it to work. Apparently you have to remove and reinsert the RAM when changing the graphics card, or something, and a POST error isn't unusual. However, it took a bit more than that to get it fixed. I wasn't involved, so I don't know what they tried and what did and didn't work, but I do know one of the RAM things (whatever they're called) is in a different slot to what it was before. Dunno whether it is a faulty slot or it was just a coincidence. It is still the original RAM, though.

So there's the possibility of it being a memory thing, but I did run memtest when trying to sort out my graphics card issues a while back, and it came up clean. Which to me indicates the RAM is fine.

Anyone got any other ideas?

[benji]

Still sounds like hardware failure.

Did we say to post your temps yet?

PSU?

Apparently you have to remove and reinsert the RAM when changing the graphics card

No.

[koberulz]

Did we say to post your temps yet?

How do work that out?

PSU?

It's a 500 watt Antec BP500U, by the look of it. Anything else?

[benji]

Speccy, linked on the first page will tell you temps. Plus what your motherboard, etc. are.

[koberulz]

CPU's 53-55, GPU's 31-33. Encore now works, albeit really slowly and it's still causing Firefox to not respond, but Firefox is now back and Encore hasn't closed. Why is it that things fix themselves whenever you try to get tech support?

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67 GHz. 4096 MBytes of DDR3 RAM. Intel DX58SO motherboard. nVidia GeForce GTS 450.

Looking at the sound tab, there are four NVIDA High Definition Audio entries, and one Realtek High Definition Audio entry. All the playback and recording devices are using the Realtek High Definition Audio, not sure why the NVIDIA entries are there.

EDIT: started transcoding the video in Encore, CPU temp's up to 71-73.

[koberulz]

It got up to 80-81 at one point. And the 81 was in red, which I'm guessing is probably not good.

I do have a fan on the top of the computer that occasionally quarter-turns or so, really loudly, but never actually gets going, which might be the problem.

[shadowgrin]

I say we take off and nuke the entire PC from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Patr1ck]

I say we take off and nuke the entire PC from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Not if it ends up being user error.

[shadowgrin]

Fuckin' A!

[koberulz]

Tried to import an HD M2TS file into Premiere, and Firefox and Premiere both stopped responding. Took five or so minutes for Speccy to even open, but when it did it showed a temperature of only 52, which leads me to believe that is perhaps not the problem. Even after closing Premiere, the computer continued to be horribly slow and I had to reboot.

Also, when dragging a video clip into a Premiere sequence, nine times out of 10 the audio will appear below the three audio tracks the sequence already has. Then when I release the mouse, 'Audio 4' appears around the audio, and I can't drag it back up to Audio 1. Anyone know why this is happening?

[Patr1ck]

Last time I remember, you can't drag audio to another track unless it has the same bits and frequency, but that was years ago. It shouldn't really matter since it will all end up encoded into the same audio track as long as it is not muted. You could just delete the unused audio tracks as well.

[koberulz]

I think this one, having looked at it further now that my computer's not running so slowly, is a stereo/surround issue. The sequence was 5.1, the file I was importing was stereo, by the look of it. Doesn't explain why it happened every other time, but it's a start.