kXmixer problems

sybesma · Dec 15, 2002, 04:47 AM

I've noticed a very severe (#1 SERIOUS on your list of severity) bug since I installed the kX package with version number of 5.10.0.3528 just this week.

It's causing frequent lockups and drastic slowdowns since I've installed it. When I did so, I took great pains to make sure all the previous Creative Labs software had been deleted from my PC, down to using their instructions to remove several files that the uninstall program fails to remove, and removing a registry entry, as well as checking for any phantom entries in Device Manager when booted up in Safe Mode. Pretty thorough, eh?

This seems to be related to some kind of serious memory leak caused by the kxdriver. I've noticed two things so far which will cause the problem. I enjoy playing SimCity Classic for Windows every now and then (I love them oldies-but-goodies, hey). On my machine, it was never a problem to play it. My machine handled it easily along with other programs run at the same time. Now, with the kX driver installed, the MIDI music in that game slows to a crawl after a period of time (not right away, mind you) even when it's the only thing running! Also when I tried running Norton AntiVirus (I never use the Autodetect feature) and then tried opening a webpage while it was running, my machine locked up, which never happened before.

Using Close Program to terminate the kXmixer also did not help much, but in one situation where the bug had already taken effect by not allowing me to open the control panel, closing kxmixer in Close Programs suddenly released something in memory so that the Control Panel finally opened.

I have a generic PC I built myself composed of an AMD K6-2 550MHz CPU with VIA MVP3 chipset (one of the chips is a 686A), 384MB of PC133 single side SDRAM, a SB PCI 512 sound card, an NVidia GeForce 2MX 400 video card with 64MB, a Linksys 10/100 NIC, a Zoom PCI internal modem.

I am running MS Windows 98SE with all the latest updates as of today.

Prior to installing the kX drivers, everything was just fine.

I maintain my PC quite well and am constantly trying to work little bugs out of it that develop over time, and never just delete files when uninstalling programs.

Thanks for any help and hope this gave you some insight into the nature of the problem,

Steve Sybesma
Englewood, CO

**Eugene Gavrilov** · Dec 15, 2002, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Now, with the kX driver installed, the MIDI music in that game slows to a crawl after a period of time (not right away, mind you) even when it's the only thing running!

and if you exit the game and restart it, does it solve the problem?
also, if you switch to another task [that is, try to play another midi file], does it sound correctly?

Quote:

Also when I tried running Norton AntiVirus (I never use the Autodetect feature) and then tried opening a webpage while it was running, my machine locked up, which never happened before.

well, antivirus software is not always written correctly because it has to use system 'quirks' and 'undocumented features' -- this might affect kX driver. but in general this should never happen.

Quote:

Close Program to terminate the kXmixer also did not help much

well, this proves that kX is not necessarily the cause of this behaviour [because the driver itself is a kernel-level application that never affects user-leve software, such as games]

Quote:

I have a generic PC I built myself composed of an AMD K6-2 550MHz CPU with VIA MVP3 chipset (one of the chips is a 686A), 384MB of PC133 single side SDRAM, a SB PCI 512 sound card, an NVidia GeForce 2MX 400 video card with 64MB, a Linksys 10/100 NIC, a Zoom PCI internal modem.

do you have all the VIA patches installed? (including Via 4in1 driver and latency patch? -- read our article for details)

Quote:

Prior to installing the kX drivers, everything was just fine.

try disabling the driver in the control panel [don't forget to unload the kX mixer] -- does it solve the problem with the antivirus?

/Eugene

sybesma · Dec 15, 2002, 06:41 PM

Eugene,

You'll be glad to know the problem now appears to be solved in large part.

I did the following things (I think I did them in this order):

turned off nView in the NVIDIA Media Center (made no difference)

installed VIA 4-in-1 version 4.45 (installed over version 4.43)

reinstalled DirectX 8.1b (because of error with DSOUND.DLL)

installed the VIA PCI Latency patch version 0.19 by George Breese

used RegClean 4.1a to remove old/invalid entries and fix any possible problems

It took about 2 or 3 reboots and then VOILA! All problems gone!

I even noticed one other problem went away that I was experiencing, which was that even though in Taskbar Properties "Always on Top" and "Auto Hide" were selected, the taskbar wouldn't popup when I moved the mouse cursor down to it anytime I was in an opened/maximized window. This problem seems to have gone away also.

In a nutshell -- everything is working like a charm again.

MY LAST question to you: Since I completely uninstalled DOS support for the PCI 512 card (as well as the other Creative Labs software for it) I no longer have SB 16 emulation for DOS. How should I go about getting my sound card to work with DOS programs again?

Thanks Eugene,

Steve Sybesma
Englewood, CO USA

sybesma · Dec 15, 2002, 07:21 PM

Eugene,

Oops! I may have spoken a bit too soon.

I just tried running DXDIAG for the first time since doing the other things I mentioned before. My machine then locked up on me so that CtrlAltDel didn't work and I had to hit the reset button to break out. Upon reboot, both my CD and CDRW drives diappeared.

Last night (it's now 11:20am my time) I failed to mention I changed a setting in Device Manager under VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller (Settings tab) to "Both IDE Channels Enabled".

I wonder if this has anything to do with it, even though things seemed to be working nicely for several hours.

Gonna change it back and let you know.

Steve

**Eugene Gavrilov** · Dec 16, 2002, 04:47 PM

it seems that your hardware (or software) has certain troubles with it...
I recommend you reinstall your OS and make sure you don't install any additional drivers except kX and video -- check that dxdiag works correctly.

[in general, people have never experienced problems with dxdiag provided they have their system configured correctly]

/Eugene

sybesma · Dec 17, 2002, 01:25 AM

Everything's back to working normally again.

I changed the setting I last mentioned and my CD drives showed up again, then changed it back after a couple reboots to see if everything was working again, and my drives were still there.

It may have been when I reinstalled DirectX something got shaken up a bit, but everything seems to be back to normal again.

I tend to like to push my machine to make it perform, so I end up tweaking things sometimes that can cause it some problems for a while. This is how I learn sometimes. I'll keep you posted if there are any other problems.

Steve

imperia · Dec 18, 2002, 08:16 AM

i don't know about PCI 512, but with my sblive(ct4830) i have to use VDMSound program to make dos games work.

**Eugene Gavrilov** · Dec 18, 2002, 04:12 PM

>> VDMSound

it should work practically for every soundcard

/Eugene

RIV@NVX · Dec 18, 2002, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by imperia
i don't know about PCI 512, but with my sblive(ct4830) i have to use VDMSound program to make dos games work.

Where to download it?

sybesma · Dec 19, 2002, 02:23 AM

I need something that works in real MS-DOS, not the fake DOS of Windows NT/2000. VDMSound is for NT/2000 only, not Win9x.

See verification of this at:

http://sourceforge.net/project/shown...lease_id=46941

Soeren_B · Dec 19, 2002, 11:39 AM

For _real_ DOS support you can still use the original Creative DOS drivers for you card (loaded from config.sys/autoexec.bat). This won't affect the kX drivers (.... well, perhaps it will if you decide type 'win' in DOS mode to start win98 with kX installed). ;-)

/Soeren

sybesma · Dec 19, 2002, 06:59 PM

OK, very good. Thanks!

Steve

Dec 15, 2002, 04:47 AM	#1
sybesma DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Englewood, CO Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	kXmixer problems I've noticed a very severe (#1 SERIOUS on your list of severity) bug since I installed the kX package with version number of 5.10.0.3528 just this week. It's causing frequent lockups and drastic slowdowns since I've installed it. When I did so, I took great pains to make sure all the previous Creative Labs software had been deleted from my PC, down to using their instructions to remove several files that the uninstall program fails to remove, and removing a registry entry, as well as checking for any phantom entries in Device Manager when booted up in Safe Mode. Pretty thorough, eh? This seems to be related to some kind of serious memory leak caused by the kxdriver. I've noticed two things so far which will cause the problem. I enjoy playing SimCity Classic for Windows every now and then (I love them oldies-but-goodies, hey). On my machine, it was never a problem to play it. My machine handled it easily along with other programs run at the same time. Now, with the kX driver installed, the MIDI music in that game slows to a crawl after a period of time (not right away, mind you) even when it's the only thing running! Also when I tried running Norton AntiVirus (I never use the Autodetect feature) and then tried opening a webpage while it was running, my machine locked up, which never happened before. Using Close Program to terminate the kXmixer also did not help much, but in one situation where the bug had already taken effect by not allowing me to open the control panel, closing kxmixer in Close Programs suddenly released something in memory so that the Control Panel finally opened. I have a generic PC I built myself composed of an AMD K6-2 550MHz CPU with VIA MVP3 chipset (one of the chips is a 686A), 384MB of PC133 single side SDRAM, a SB PCI 512 sound card, an NVidia GeForce 2MX 400 video card with 64MB, a Linksys 10/100 NIC, a Zoom PCI internal modem. I am running MS Windows 98SE with all the latest updates as of today. Prior to installing the kX drivers, everything was just fine. I maintain my PC quite well and am constantly trying to work little bugs out of it that develop over time, and never just delete files when uninstalling programs. Thanks for any help and hope this gave you some insight into the nature of the problem, Steve Sybesma Englewood, CO

Dec 15, 2002, 06:41 PM	Thread Starter #3
sybesma DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Englewood, CO Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	Eugene, You'll be glad to know the problem now appears to be solved in large part. I did the following things (I think I did them in this order): turned off nView in the NVIDIA Media Center (made no difference) installed VIA 4-in-1 version 4.45 (installed over version 4.43) reinstalled DirectX 8.1b (because of error with DSOUND.DLL) installed the VIA PCI Latency patch version 0.19 by George Breese used RegClean 4.1a to remove old/invalid entries and fix any possible problems It took about 2 or 3 reboots and then VOILA! All problems gone! I even noticed one other problem went away that I was experiencing, which was that even though in Taskbar Properties "Always on Top" and "Auto Hide" were selected, the taskbar wouldn't popup when I moved the mouse cursor down to it anytime I was in an opened/maximized window. This problem seems to have gone away also. In a nutshell -- everything is working like a charm again. MY LAST question to you: Since I completely uninstalled DOS support for the PCI 512 card (as well as the other Creative Labs software for it) I no longer have SB 16 emulation for DOS. How should I go about getting my sound card to work with DOS programs again? Thanks Eugene, Steve Sybesma Englewood, CO USA

Dec 15, 2002, 07:21 PM	Thread Starter #4
sybesma DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Englewood, CO Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	Eugene, Oops! I may have spoken a bit too soon. I just tried running DXDIAG for the first time since doing the other things I mentioned before. My machine then locked up on me so that CtrlAltDel didn't work and I had to hit the reset button to break out. Upon reboot, both my CD and CDRW drives diappeared. Last night (it's now 11:20am my time) I failed to mention I changed a setting in Device Manager under VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller (Settings tab) to "Both IDE Channels Enabled". I wonder if this has anything to do with it, even though things seemed to be working nicely for several hours. Gonna change it back and let you know. Steve

Dec 16, 2002, 04:47 PM	#5
Eugene Gavrilov kX Project Lead Programmer and Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,106 Rep Power: 73	it seems that your hardware (or software) has certain troubles with it... I recommend you reinstall your OS and make sure you don't install any additional drivers except kX and video -- check that dxdiag works correctly. [in general, people have never experienced problems with dxdiag provided they have their system configured correctly] /Eugene

Dec 17, 2002, 01:25 AM	Thread Starter #6
sybesma DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Englewood, CO Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	Everything's back to working normally again. I changed the setting I last mentioned and my CD drives showed up again, then changed it back after a couple reboots to see if everything was working again, and my drives were still there. It may have been when I reinstalled DirectX something got shaken up a bit, but everything seems to be back to normal again. I tend to like to push my machine to make it perform, so I end up tweaking things sometimes that can cause it some problems for a while. This is how I learn sometimes. I'll keep you posted if there are any other problems. Steve

Dec 18, 2002, 08:16 AM	#7
imperia HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sofia, Bulgaria Posts: 174 Rep Power: 0	i don't know about PCI 512, but with my sblive(ct4830) i have to use VDMSound program to make dos games work.

Dec 18, 2002, 04:12 PM	#8
Eugene Gavrilov kX Project Lead Programmer and Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 3,106 Rep Power: 73	>> VDMSound it should work practically for every soundcard /Eugene

Dec 19, 2002, 02:23 AM	Thread Starter #10
sybesma DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Englewood, CO Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	I need something that works in real MS-DOS, not the fake DOS of Windows NT/2000. VDMSound is for NT/2000 only, not Win9x. See verification of this at: http://sourceforge.net/project/shown...lease_id=46941

Dec 19, 2002, 11:39 AM	#11
Soeren_B kX Project DSP Engineer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 94 Rep Power: 0	For _real_ DOS support you can still use the original Creative DOS drivers for you card (loaded from config.sys/autoexec.bat). This won't affect the kX drivers (.... well, perhaps it will if you decide type 'win' in DOS mode to start win98 with kX installed). ;-) /Soeren

Dec 19, 2002, 06:59 PM	Thread Starter #12
sybesma DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Englewood, CO Posts: 6 Rep Power: 0	OK, very good. Thanks! Steve