OT. Oh why my mp3's stutter?

As it says, randomly and never repeatable my mp3's stutter or crackle sometimes even slowing down when played off my hard drive through itunes or virtual dj. Thought being online might be it so powered down my router but no avail. Pc forums come up with 4-5 year old answers that mean little to me. It does like getting warm and running the fan and I guess it's more noticeable deep into a set but then it does seem totally random.Laptop specs here, http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/acer-aspire-7720-review-49293331/specs/
Big gig on Saturday, can't f*ck up. Ideas and abuse all welcome. I'm northern.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

But seriously, it could be a number of things.

Do your still hear these problems as soon as you turn the computer on, or does it take a while for the stuttering to start? If it takes a while for the problems to start, it could be the CPU failing when overheating.

Have you tried testing the memory for defects? Use memtest86+. Possibly it's caused by a memory defect, but this is very unlikely.

What happens if you play a long mp3 off a USB stick, or you play a long youtube video? Does it still stutter? If they play fine, it could be a problem with your harddrive, or accessing your hard drive. Try some HD benchmarking tool.

Try using another software mp3 player (e.g. VLC or Winamp). Does music still stutter regardless of which mp3 player you use? That means it's a problem with hardware or the operating system.

Try using a Linux live boot cd (e.g. Ubuntu) and play music from your harddisk using that. Does it still stutter? If yes, it's most likely a hardware problem. You could buy a usb soundcard.

Most likely it's a software issue though; have a look at the running processes next time your hear the problems. Is CPU usage spiking when you hear the errors? Can you identify which processes are causing the spikes? Have you tried disabling any anti virus you have running?

You may just need to get rid of Vista.

Look in the settings in virtual DJ and raise the latency - anywhere above 10ms should be fine.

Have you double-checked for hot air balloons?

Check the CPU usage through task manager, if the CPU is getting cained by another process including viruses then the mp3 will stutter. If the CPU is running at 100% or near it then you have found your problem but not the cure. Google any processes that take up seemingly most of the cpu percentage.

If it's not CPU related then I guess there's one of two things left:

• Flakey or not enough memory, and VirtualDJ is running out of cache
  
• Physical hard disk issue(s)
  
  

For the latter, doesn't look like you've got firewire on that machine but maybe you could connect an eSata drive and try putting the MP3s on an external drive?

Try downloading WinAmp and seeing whether the MP3s stutter then.

I'm inclined to say it's either CPU or HDD throughput. Your laptop specs shouldn't be a problem at all for an MP3 player, so I'm further inclined to say that there could be some other problem with your laptop and that MP3 playback stuttering is just a symptom of that.

Try WinAmp first... and if that fixes it, cool, if not then go get "Process Explorer" and see if your CPU actually is idle when you're not doing anything. i.e. Do you have background processes and programs running that is affecting things.

..like rtvscan

If the laptop is pretty old get to the fan and hoover out the years of dust.
Mrs Quinn's laptop had so much fluff in there it was preventing the fan from turning.

take out and replace or clean your fan, place your laptop on some kind of spacers, things that raise it off the surface, to allow for airflow underneath.....

yep hoover and a brush.

Cheers for the advice all. I hoovered the exposed fan a couple of weeks back as I do twice as a year or such. I don't think it's heat per say as it was stuttery right from start up the other morning. It is probably a process or updated software that's using to much memoery and cheesing off the soundcard but there's nothing in task manager that sticks out and no halting of process has an effect.
Now, I can live with it but I've got the biggest (and likely the last) gig of my life on Saturday so have borrowed a laptop and loaded up and tested all the software and files and it's fine.Just can't get used to the mouse pad. So I'm taking both, will start with mine then when and if it screws up switch to number 2.
Not what I needed right now but then what would playing at my own wedding for 3 hours be without a few challenges eh ?

As I said before it's 100% to do with the latency settings in Virtual DJ

Just google Latency/skiiping/virtual DJ

http://de.virtualdj.com/forums/105625/PC_Version_Technical_Support/VDJ_5_2_and_Denon_DC4500_sound_issues__very_slight_hiccups__or_stuttering___Help.html

Hi DaveH. I played with latency and didn't see a change, however the llink you set has more detailed advice regards the checking/un-checking of boxes but my version of virtual dj (Free 7) does not have those options. Just latency speed. and in sound just wether it's a laptop or desk top etc...... Any ideas ?

if adjusting your latency don't work then it's a problem that can't be fixed.

When you adjust the latency it reduces the CPU spikes that causes the skipping noises. it sounds as if your laptop needs a clean up or a re-install.

Or you could just get a MAC ;)

A what ? I'll be getting a 'fixie' next. Ok so I set latency to auto (As per the advice on that link) and realised the other advice was for the guys Dennon thing so I'm now set as per I should be. I'm giving her a big work out now and everything is ok, but who knows.
One thing is that even when I unplugged the wireless router my laptop still searches and finds neighbours connections so I'm going to disable wireless at the venue, put her on stilts for air flow and shut the shit down of every other process and cross my fingers. Otherwise I'll be switching to the Frankentop. If I could just chisel the rest of this fossilised tissue mulch offf the screen.

It was (I think) the wireless network search setting. I disabled it and banged out 5 hours of stuff no problem. Got home, switched it back on and the stuttering was back. We are done.

Sure you're not just listening to Stutter Rap by Morris Minor and the Majors?

Aw come on, that was brilliant! ^

Maybe they aren't old enough to remember Stutter Rap. I shamefully do :-(