Windows ME Stability

[fresh_meat]

I know this is a mighty topic because I tried the DUC Search and it froze my computer!

what are the top things i can do to make my system (P3 866mhz, 512ram, 7200 firewire drive) more stable.

any suggestion are welcome and appreciated


thanks

[fresh_meat]

PS

i have already followed the instructions for optimization in the manual

[mdbprime]

In my opinion the answer would simply be to format the drive and install win98se. From my limited experience with WindowsME I can say that it is probably the worst windows release of them all. After upgrading to it from a perfectly stable win98se machine( I did a full reinstall)it repeatedly crashed. Not only that but during these crashes it would lose everything I had added to that point. The registry would simply reset itself. Do yourself a favor and get rid of that OS immediately and save yourself some grief.
If win8se has stability issues well then it is most likely hardware related. But winME is a really bad test bed to find hardware problems. Probably not the answer you were looking for, but good luck to you!

[Mark_Knecht]

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Really [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

In my (alternative) opinion the answer would simply be to format the drive and install Win ME, and then to go through the Windows Update process via the web. Following that, load PTLE, and then make music.

I run 3 machines with Win ME today. All three of them are completely stable. Two of them (my PTLE machine and my wife's PC) are overloaded with applications and have no problems. The 3rd machine has Win ME and GigaStudio. GigaStudio crashes, but that's not a win ME thing.

All that said, none of these machines had any problem what-so-ever with Win 98SE either. One ran NT 4.0 for 2 years with no problems.

I hate hearing about experiences like mdbprime's. I know people go through this stuff all the time. I remain unconvinced that the fault lies with Win ME only. I have not had a single experience that would lead me to believe that.

You ask about 'more stable'. Is there a particular problem you're having? I run firewire on two of my machines. It's fine.

Best wishes,
Mark

[fresh_meat]

first of all thanks for the replies. i havent really had any problems with Me other than this. an example of a problem would be that during recording in PTLE i will be halfway through the take and everything stops and gives me an error message to the effect that my computer has put off doing an interupt request for too long and must do one now.
these arent giant 4or5 minute takes theyre just 20 or 30 seconds.
another problem seems it might be the firewire drive. it is a Maxtor 60gb 7200rpm that is freshly defragged. is there anything i an do to that drive to make it better for this application?


thanks again you guys

[citi]

7200 should be fine. I think your problem lies somewhere else. You said you use the vaio. I know that it comes pre configured with way to much stuff. Do you have things running in the background? Check and make sure. Also, are you using a modem or network card for your internet access? Is your USB active?

These are the types of things that bog down your processor/hold your irqs, etc.


citi

[citi]

Oh Yeah,

What other cards are you using in your pc?
What is the speed and size of your other hard drive?

[Mark_Knecht]

citi's point are right on. You need to look at interrupt configuration, how your hard drives are configured, and what other software is running in task manager. Most likely there is somethign that can be cleaned up to fix this.

[Stone Knife]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR> In my opinion the answer would simply be to format the drive and install win98se. From my limited experience with WindowsME I can say that it is probably the worst windows release of them all. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Amen.

Best application for WinMe is a Mossberg and some #7 birdshot.

[GuitarEasley]

Here are notes from what I did for the heck of it and personally haven't had any problems.(However I never had any problems before I did this stuff either.) Keep in mind I know a lot of the following stuff is probally extravagent & unnecessary, but here's what I did anyway:

"My WindowsMe Customizing and Tweaking & Optimizing Audio for Computer”


My System:

Dell Dimension4100 series
Pentium III Processor at 933MHz
256 MB SDRAM at 133MHz
40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Plexwriter16/10/40A
using Windows Me
Audiomedia III soundcard from digidesign


1) Startup & System Tray Maintenance

Go To Start , Run Type in: Msconfig
Push Enter
Then Choose the Startup Tab
uncheck every thing
when you reboot you will see a selective startup screen check off don’t show this again.


2) I disabled the system restore function.

Right click on 'My Computer',then click on the Performance tab and
click on 'File System'. then the troubleshooting section,
choose 'Disable System Restore'.

3) Virtual Memory

I have decided to 'Let Windows manage my virtual memory settings'

until I run into a problem if... I ever do...
Even though It is sometimes advised to Reset your virtual Memory
(this advice is less common for newer computers like mine)
and set it to 1.5 to 2 times the amount of actual RAM you have.

If I ever do change my virtual memory settings, I might try the following:
Right click on 'My Computer'
then click on the Performance tab and then click on 'Virtual memory'.
Now select 'Manually specify Virtual Memory settings'
and set the two values (min. and max.) to the same value as recommended above.
(ignore the warnings windows gives you).
4) Make sure that DMA is activated for all IDE disk drives

Right click on 'My Computer', and go to Device Manager,
Click on the + sign next to diskdrives.
This will show you all of the IDE drives in your system.
Double-click on each one,
Click the Settings tab, and check DMA.


5) Turn off all Auto Insert notifications (data and audio).

Right click on 'My Computer'>'Device Manager'
and double click on the CDROM section.
Now double click on each of your CD/DVD drives and un-tick the Auto-Insert notifications.

6) Disable system sounds.

go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>
'Sounds and Multimedia' and select Scheme 'No Sounds'.
(while you're there, remove the tick from the box next to 'Show icon on Taskbar').

7) Disable power profiles.

go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Power Options'
and select scheme 'Always On'
and then for the rest of the
options set all drop-down menu options to 'Never'.

8) Disable Automatic Updating.

go to 'Start'>'Settings'>Control Panel>'Automatic Updates' and disable automatic updates.


9) Disable screen savers.

right-click on the desktop and select 'Properties'
then click on the 'Screen Saver' tab and select 'None' from the drop-down list.
10) Displayed Control Panel Options from the Settings Menu:

Right-click the task bar
click 'Properties'
click 'Advanced'
Then click 'Expand Control Panel'

11) Disable Logoff Display

Right-click Taskbar
click 'Properties'
click 'Advanced'
Uncheck 'Display Logoff'