[chefpt]

Whenever I play anything with video/audio, it "hiccups"...for lack of a better word. It starts and stops and starts and stops. I have a Dell Dimension 521 desktop computer with Windows XP. I also have Media Player 10 and Adobe Flash Player (not sure the version). It doesn't matter what it is though, it hiccups. It doesn' t matter if I have several windows open or one, it still hiccups. Help!

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by chefpt

Whenever I play anything with video/audio, it "hiccups"...for lack of a better word. It starts and stops and starts and stops. I have a Dell Dimension 521 desktop computer with Windows XP. I also have Media Player 10 and Adobe Flash Player (not sure the version). It doesn't matter what it is though, it hiccups. It doesn' t matter if I have several windows open or one, it still hiccups. Help!

Does "anything" include commercial DVD?

[SD Fido]

I have the same problem. At work I recently got a brand new computer, a Dell Optiplex 760 with Intel Core2 Duo and Windows Xp. It is nice and fast, but the only problem is that whenever I try to play music, whether it is on Pandora.com or a YouTube type thing from the web, or on WMP whether it is a CD or a saved/ripped file, it does that hiccup thing and it is very annoying. Sometimes it goes for a long time without a problem, but it always recurs.

I tried using the sound troubleshooter and I installed a new driver that was digitally signed by Microsoft, but that did not do it.

What can we do?

[DvdB]

It sounds a lot like the 'lagging' of media that happens when Windows decides to switch from DMA to PIO modus.

You can find these settings under the "Primary IDE Channel" an "Secondary IDE Channel" under the Hardware Monitor. If (a big IF) one of them (the one with a DVD-CD device attached) says PIO, you might need to unistall these devices and reboot to solve it. But before you do, just check if that is the case.

Hope this helps.

[SD Fido]

I went to the Device Manager and found Primary & Secondary IDE Channels under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, double-clicked them both to show the properties and checked all the tabs. But I did not find anything that said PIO. So that didn't help. Was I looking in the right place? Anything else you can suggest? Thanks!

[DvdB]

You checked the right place, so my suggestion is not an option.

What I make from your original post is that ALL media give hiccups? What about the startup sound of Windows itself? If this sound is a little shaky to you should first check your drivers.

[SD Fido]

I never noticed the Windows startup sound having a problem. But then, the problem tends to be sporadic rather than constant. I don't know what other drivers I would have to check anyway, or what exactly to check them for.

[DvdB]

check on the dell site if there are new drivers. Or try to contact the Dell helpdesk, maybe its a known issue.