real player 10 and nvidia NFORCE2 sound chipset

Thu Nov 25 16:36:29 UTC 2004

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004, James Wilkinson wrote:

> Carlo Orecchia wrote:
>> i have problems using real player 10 with the nforce sound chipset. If I
>> use a sound card like a creative pci 64 everything works fine. But with
>> the onboard sound chipset real player hangs at some point when reproducing
>> a file. The audio stops and the image is played very very slow.
>> Does anybody have any clue why this is happening?
>
> I asked:
>> Can you take a look at the top program (from the shell) while you're
>> using "Real Player"?
>>
>> I'd be interested to note what happens to the CPU percentages: does the
>> system spend a long time under "sy"stem, or is it all "us"er?
>>
>> Also keep an eye on exactly which programs are taking up system time.
>>
>> Are you playing "Real Media", or are you playing MP3s?
>
> He replied:
>> this is my ps aux
>>
>> carlo     8376  0.0  0.1  4376 1056 ?        S    22:43   0:00 /bin/sh
>> /usr/bin/realplay
>> carlo     8381  1.3  1.7 55672 13296 ?       Sl   22:43   0:01
>> /usr/local/bin/realplay.bin
>> carlo     8383  0.0  0.6 22200 5220 ?        S    22:43   0:00
>> /usr/local/bin/realplay.bin
>> carlo     8384  0.0  0.6 22200 5220 ?        S    22:43   0:00
>> /usr/local/bin/realplay.bin
>
> Interesting, but not sufficient.
>
> If you aren't sure what I was looking at in top, can you start playing
> something, run
> vmstat 5 5
> from the command line and post the results?
>
> I can't see whether you are CPU limited, and if so, what the CPU is
> doing.
>> i play real media and mp3s. For both the problem is the same. Whem i play
>> mp3 is very low and the commands are executed seconds after.
>> I don't understand why if i change sound card i have no problems.
>> Could it be because the sound chipset i use has very poor drivers? I can't
>> mix channels for example and so i can't execute 2 or more sounds at the
>> same time.
>
> For good measure, could you post the results of
> lsmod
> please?
> I want to see which module you're using for sound.
>
> Thanks,
>
> James.
>

vmstat gives me

[carlo at numb ~]$ vmstat 5 5
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- 
----cpu----
  r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   so    bi    bo   in    cs us sy id wa
  1  0    116  11192 164112 403052    0    0   186    10   69    20  1  0 98  0
  0  0    116  10480 164120 403500    0    0    90    36 1330  1432  4  2 94  0
  0  0    116  10472 164128 403500    0    0     0    17 1259  1355  3  1 96  0
  0  0    116   9376 164128 404368    0    0   154     3 1341  1516  5  2 93  0
  0  0    116   9300 164136 404468    0    0     0   216 1348  1372  3  1 95  0

lsmod:

[carlo at numb ~]$ /sbin/lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
radeon                136964  2
parport_pc             27456  1
lp                     12524  0
parport                46536  2 parport_pc,lp
ipt_state               2176  20
ipt_REJECT              7296  1
autofs4                28036  0
iptable_filter          3200  1
ip_nat_ftp              5616  0
iptable_nat            26180  2 ip_nat_ftp
ip_conntrack_irc       72496  0
ip_conntrack_ftp       73392  1 ip_nat_ftp
i2c_dev                11904  0
i2c_core               24320  1 i2c_dev
ip_conntrack           45620  5 
ipt_state,ip_nat_ftp,iptable_nat,ip_conntrack_irc,ip_conntrack_ftp
ip_tables              17920  4 
ipt_state,ipt_REJECT,iptable_filter,iptable_nat
md5                     4608  1
ipv6                  269376  14
ppp_synctty            12416  0
ppp_async              13696  1
crc_ccitt               2432  1 ppp_async
ppp_generic            41364  6 ppp_synctty,ppp_async
slhc                    8448  1 ppp_generic
hsfusbcd2              46736  0
hsfmc97ali             53780  0
hsfmc97via             51864  0
hsfmc97ich             53648  0
hsfpcibasic2           59024  1
hsfserial              24228  7 
hsfusbcd2,hsfmc97ali,hsfmc97via,hsfmc97ich,hsfpcibasic2
hsfengine            1222820  1 hsfserial
hsfosspec             107876  8 
hsfusbcd2,hsfmc97ali,hsfmc97via,hsfmc97ich,hsfpcibasic2,hsfserial,hsfengine
hsfsoar                52608  4 
hsfmc97ali,hsfmc97via,hsfmc97ich,hsfpcibasic2
button                  6928  0
battery                 9220  0
ac                      5124  0
ohci_hcd               25348  0
ehci_hcd               36996  0
snd_intel8x0           38348  1
snd_ac97_codec         73552  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss            61992  0
snd_mixer_oss          21120  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm               122632  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              36100  1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         10760  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport                5376  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart        10368  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi            31268  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device          8968  1 snd_rawmidi
snd                    64228  11 
snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore              11232  1 snd
forcedeth              21760  0
8139too                30336  0
mii                     5376  1 8139too
floppy                 65712  0
ext3                  120040  2
jbd                    88728  1 ext3

that's it
thanks for your help
carlo

-- 
Animula vagula blandula
E-Mail: carlo at numb.darktech.org
Web: http://numb.darktech.org/carlo/