[Solved] Watching Video?

[scobe]

Hi

 

After replacing my hard drive recently, viewing video streams has become a pain. It wasn't perfect before replacement with the occasional sticking/freezing & moving on. If that makes sense?

Now though, it does it constantly, making viewing a real pain.

Is there anything I can do/program I can download to improve the streaming?

 

Dell Dimentia 2300. Windows XP. Service Pack3. 160g memory. 768mb Ram. Intel pentium4

 

Steve

Edited March 23, 2012 by scobe

[Plastic Nev]

Have you any video already stored in a file or folder, and does that play OK Steve?

If so, it may be an internet connection problem of slow download speeds, have you checked your dowmload speed from your ISP?

 

Nev.

[scobe]

Hi Nev

 

Got some music video saved in itunes on my PC, yes that sticks/stutters aswell.

 

I wouldn't know how to check my internet connection. Although it was OK prior to this new hard drive.

 

Steve

 

As an aside I also can't change the font style when viewing browsers. The monitor icons, clock, taskbar are smaller than before. Iv'e had to go to large fonts in display properties & they're still smaller than before.

Edited March 23, 2012 by scobe

[Jelly Bean]

Im with Nev it could be your internet speed or how much or little RAM you have,the hard drive could be a slower one such as IDE,your processor if older could be an issue,or a combination.

[Plastic Nev]

Hum as Jelly Bean points out, the new drive, did you take note of its speed, and check it was as fast or faster than the old one? Let us know please.

Also you only have a small amount of RAM at 768Mb, that really isn't enough for good video playback. You could do with more installing.

 

There could also be other issues tied up with whatever is running in the background, such things as anti-virus for example can hog system resources.

 

The icon sizes and text size sounds like screen resolution settings have been altered, which may be the case due to the re-install of the system onto the new drive. It may have gone back to default settings and not picked up the settings of your monitor.

 

To get to resolution settings, right click on an empty area of the desktop, you should find some reference to graphics and settings listed there. Each graphics make tends to be slightly different, and not knowing as yet what you have I can't go further than that at the moment.

 

I have found the Dell manual here=

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/SYSTEMS/dim2300/index.htm

 

But that doesn't tell me much, such as the original hard drive fitted and its speed, nor much about the integrated graphics.

 

Other than that, this is quite an old model, apart from a little more memory in RAM, the maximum stated is only 1GB, I would be reluctant to spend much money on it. A graphics card would cost more than just the card as the power supply is too small, that would need upgrading too.

Nev.

[scobe]

I bought this hard drive...http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-WD1600AAJB-160GB-Drive/dp/tech-data/B006Z4IRT6/ref=de_a_smtd

Although I didn't check that was the one I was sent before fitting.

 

I removed a Maxtor 80GB ata/133 HDD

 

No idea how to tell speeds & such like.

 

 

I did the right click graphics thing you mentioned, I have an intel® extreme graphics controller, not sure if that's the info needed?

 

I already upgraded my RAM, filling the other two slots on the mother board. I think I am just about at the max my system can use.

 

My system is quite old now, but it does what I need.

I would just like to play music & get streaming the same as it was. As I said before it wasn't too bad prior to the new hard drive, music played consistently & streaming was OK, with the occasional hicup.

 

 

Thanks for your time

 

Steve

[RandyL]

Your new drive is fine so that's not it.

 

Check your internet speeds as suggested.

 

Yes your memory is low.

 

Also as noted.

Since you just reinstalled Windows then it could be that you have not optimized it and have too many programs running at startup.

 

Since you just reinstalled Windows then it could be that Windows is updating in the background.

 

Since you just reinstalled Windows then it could be that you have not gone to Dell's site and upgraded your ethernet and video drivers.

 

Try fully updating Windows and your Dell drivers and such first.

 

After that stop as much as you can from running at startup from the programs themselves. Then use msconfig to disable other un-needed programs from startup.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, to check your connection speed, click on this then run a test of speed, ignore any other things as they are adverts trying to sell you registry cleaners or other junk you don't want.

 

http://www.speedtest.net/

 

Let us know the results of that test please.

 

Nev.

[scobe]

Hi Randy

 

Good to know my hard drive is fine.

 

Sorry to be a complete novice, but...........

 

Don't know how to check my internet speed.

 

At the moment I have a Netgear DG 2000. (Bought seperately). After installing hard drive everything seemed to load automatically. I presumed my PC auto detected this router & settings? I made no settings for this.

 

How do I update the ethernet driver? PCLINE 10/100 Nic Card, also bought seperately.

 

Also don't know how to update Dell drivers?

 

I have already done the startup optimization. My PC loads & starts virtually instantly.

 

I have checked update for windows, this is fully up to date.

 

After looking on Dells site it say Drivers should be loaded in a particular order. I did not follow any order, would this make a difference?

[scobe]

Ping 47ms

Download Speed 6.31mbps

Upload Speed 0.36mbps

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, first, that speed is OK now, I got around that this afternoon, but I know from experience it will slow down in the evening as the net gets busy, that is when I see stop starts in trying to stream video from Youtube or similar.

 

As far as downloading the drivers from Dell, yes it may make a difference if not in the right order.

You could try it again and in the right order as they may install over the drivers that are there. If not, you will have to delete them all and start again.

 

Nev.

[scobe]

This is the drivers install list..........http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?docid=268873&doclang=en?c=us&l=en&cs=04

 

I dont have half of those including number 1

 

I re-installed the ones I have in the order they are shown in the above list. They give me the option to over write, which I selected.

This has made no difference.

 

The issues I appear to have:

Music plays OK but not as consistent as before

Streaming video is very poor with lots of stuttering

Desk top icons & Task bar smaller than before

Speakers: The left speaker is louder than the right even though the balance is equal & the speakers are the same distance appart. Untill I turn the volume up, then they equalize.

Viewing browsers: The text is smaller than before & am unable to alter fonts. (Not sure how to anyway!) Tried in the browsers tools but makes no difference.

 

I have internet, pages load well.

 

All programs seem to be running well.

 

That's all I can think of now

 

Steve

 

Spellcheck doesn't work anywhere

 

It's almost like I haven't installed something?

Edited March 25, 2012 by scobe

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, just wondering if perhaps it was a poor initial install of Windows onto the new hard drive in the first place, it can sometimes happen with Windows XP, but will leave it for further comment from others before recommending a re-install, and all the hassle that will give.

[Jelly Bean]

Hey scobe.

 

Ive just been through your specs of your computer etc.

 

You got an older computer with 200 watt PSU.

 

A slower prossesor,older mainboard etc.

 

I have done a search on this computer and replacement parts.

 

I am afraid to say the issue could be the max hard drive this computer can handle is 80 gig.

 

Your mainboard is struggling to read the new hard drive.

 

However if you bought a new upto date IDE cable and did a full install of XP again this may help with the lag issues.

 

Your max RAM you computer can take is PC133 1 gig.This RAM is a very slow data transfer.

 

I would sugest going back to the 80 gig hard drive and new IDE cable.With a reinstall of XP.

 

This may impove things a little for you but proberly not much.

[RandyL]

JB I may be wrong but I have to disagree that the size of the drive matters. I've used huge drives in old DOS base systems that would not even recognize the full drive size. Windows 98 and ME.

 

Videos never did render right even before the new drive.

 

I think it boils down to the memory and proccessor. That SDRAM is slow and with Windows XP SP3 he has only 700 something.

 

200 watts? Jeez. Unplug everything. Seriously under powered execpt for the basics.

 

Scobe don't try to make a silk purse out of a sows ear by upgrading components with this model.

[scobe]

OK Randy mate,

 

I'll just stick with me sows ear, LOL

 

Every thing seems to be running OK.

I had been using Firefox, but after playing in Internet Explorer, streams seem more stable.

 

I don't seem to have spellcheck anywhere on my PC. How do I enable it?

I also want Internet explorer to remember Usernames, but not passwords. How do I enable that?

 

Thanks again for your help

 

Steve

[scobe]

Thinking about it, would spellcheck/dictionary be loaded with the Windows XP disc or from somewhere else?

[Jelly Bean]

Thats ok RandlyL your welcome to dissagree,however I have upgraded old ME computers and some struggle and some didnt....

[RandyL]

Spell check for what? OE,Word,Works?

[scobe]

Word & Browsers. I don't think it's working for anything.

[RandyL]

Microsoft Office Word does have the spell check feature. You have to make sure it is enabled. What version of Word do you have. Is the spell check icon on the toolbar? Do you mean auto flag mistakes in Word. Was Word installed seperately as it is not a native Windows program.

 

IE and Firefox do not have spell check. For that you need a browser add-on.

[scobe]

Thanks Randy

 

Sorted now.

 

As you said, what I have now is as good as it's going to get.

 

Steve

[RandyL]

Good to hear. I think we should mark this thread as solved if thats ok with you Steve. You can always start a new thread if you have any additional issues.

[scobe]

OK Randy, thanks.

 

I think in the end most of my problems were:

1. Me not knowing what I'm doing.

2. The browser I was using.

 

Thanks again!

[Plastic Nev]

Just to add a final bit to this, Firefox is very memory intensive when running, if as in your case, not much memory to start off with, video being also memory intensive will struggle to run. I wish I had asked which browser you were using, I might have seen the problem then.

 

 

All the best with it till you can afford a new and better machine, but glad Randy saw what I had missed and problem, maybe not solved as such, but at least you know what it is.

 

Nev.