Thursday, March 22, 2007

Vista + Windows Media Player = SLOW! - Page 2 - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

Vista + Windows Media Player = SLOW! - Page 2 - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

Had a weird problem in windows media player on the new laptop. Periodically the music would stall and stutter. Watching movies over wifi at home was quite painful pausing and continuing the movie like a streaming problem.

The link I just found above described that it took a long time to change songs. So i tried changing songs and sure enough it took about 10 seconds to change to the next track. So I tried the fix which for the sake of convenience (and its slightly different for my audio drivers) will repeat.

Problem: takes ages to start/change songs. experience stuttering and freezing as the DMR stuff does its thing.

Here's how I fixed it:
Start > Control Panel > Sound > Playback Tab > Double-click "Speakers/Headphones" > Enhancements Tab > Check "Disable System Effects"

I figure most of those effects wont make much difference for headphones... but I might experiment with it later to see if i can tell the difference.

Anyway, it's not skipped a beat since so hopefully thats that. (touch wood)

77 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, I had this problem and was considering getting rid of Vista, you saved me a lot of time! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

You little lifesaver you!!!

I´ve been so frustrated with Media Player in Vista that I actually considered getting rid of Vista!!!
Thanx a lot!

Anonymous said...

hi,

worked for me too. I found it quite interesting, that none of the enhancements in the box below the checkbox actually were checked themselves.

Obviously even when no specific Enhancement has been enabled it still makes a difference.

patricia said...

Finally, I can listen to my music without wanting to attack my new laptop! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thank God for forums like this, just bought a new AMD (always been a pentium fan) and I thought I made a big mistake going with a AMD with Vista, and was going to ride Dell/Mircosoft really hard for one of the most used programs in Windows and have such a problem with it. Thanks for figuring this out, works great and have not noticed any difference. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Such a life saver - just got a new AMD laptop from dell and thought it was f**ked. works great now

Anonymous said...

The steps you described worked perfectly, thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

Love you baby. I called tech support and everything for this. Couldn't believe my system couldn't even handle media player!

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

thanks mate you're a genious!!

Anonymous said...

OH MY THANK YOU SO MUCH

i thought my new laptop was just rubbish even considered downloading iTunes :/

haha

Anonymous said...

wow thanks man. my first computer with vista worked perfectly fine, and i ordered a second one, with some upgraded parts, and i found windows media player to take 15 seconds to load a song, and then start skipping everytime there was 20 seconds left.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU!! It worked PERFECTLY. Couldnt believe my new laptop couldnt even handle media player. Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

Niiice! Never thought of that.

Anonymous said...

GREAT! Thnx dude!!

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH I DONT WANT TO SMASH MY LAPTOP ANYMORE!!!!

Moridin said...

Wow, that was a huge improvement. I had also noticed that audio bells had a rather long delay between when I pressed an invalid key and when the audio sound would actually make it to my speakers. Thanks for the setting!

Anonymous said...

Damn that really makes my day !

My first AMD and Dell pc. Thought i bought a piece a junk. Man that really made a bit difference, no more friggin lag....YIPEEEEEEEE!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mate, You're a life saver, I just wish I'd found this answer before I'd re-installed Vista twice.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, finally I can use Media Player!!

Anonymous said...

ITS REALLY DISSAPOINTING THAT WINDOWS MEDIA SHOULD BEHAVE IN THIS MANNER! i have 4 gig of ram in my laptop so MEDIA PLAYER lagging baffled the crap outta me. MICROSOFT itself is disapointing. I bought a 100 gig laptop expecting maybe 90 gigs of space after system files but it turns out everything vista comes with takes up to 40 gigs! SAD

Anonymous said...

Fucking Genius :D xx

Anonymous said...

Wow!!! it was amazing, has been using ma sony note book from 6 months with real player, dat was a big relief, trucks of thanks.

Anonymous said...

Simply Amazing! God bless you, the waiting and stuttering was wreakin my head!

Unknown said...

Very nice! You saved me a lot of aggravation. I hope your post moves up the Google results list, because it was a huge help.

Anonymous said...

Amazing - Why the hell would Microsoft send something out that so many people are having the same problem with. IT WAS DRIVING ME INSANE. Many thanks for the fix

zurchguy said...

I just tried this fix while WMP was running, don't know if its fixed it but I sure do appreciate the help.

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much. My new Dell w/Vista Ultimate, Core Duo 6600 with 2GB ram would take 10 seconds to switch between songs, and would often skip in the middle of play. This fixed everything instantly.

Anonymous said...

YES!! you're awsome for posting this fix. So glad people take the time for the good things. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure I want to give you a hug right now.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! Solved my prolem!

Anonymous said...

AMAZING, thanks so much. What an easy fix.

Anonymous said...

THANKS.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much. Media player was one of the few things I still used on laptop, was very close to giving up on it. Your a life saver!

Anonymous said...

Excellent work!

This problem really should have been corrected by microsoft before releasing the software. I thought my computer was broken and hated the idea of having to switch to itunes just to avoid the lag. Thanks a bunch.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU!
This was SO annoying!

Anonymous said...

thanks very much for the tip....worked like a charm.

Jeff O said...

Great tip! Worked like a charm.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so so much!!!
I'm amazed at how great it works now. You'll receive awesome karma. haha. cheers :)

Anonymous said...

Hmm. I think my comment disappeared. But anyway, THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH. I am sure you'll get great karma for this!! :)

Anonymous said...

Music just isn´t the same when it stutters... =)
Wonderful man, thanx alot!

Anonymous said...

Thanks!!!!

worked for me too. I thought something was bad with my laptop. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

You are my HERO

Anonymous said...

Safe Man, Nice one!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you sooo much i was experiencing this problem! was really annoying as i love my music !!! thanks again Hero

Anonymous said...

Perfect, will actualy consider keeping vista.

Anonymous said...

I think that altough everyone esle is saying it... THANK YOU!!!

Anonymous said...

more thanks from someone else who is glad to be done with that problem.

Anonymous said...

thank you thank you thank you! I was worried my brand new laptop was crap or something. Honestly I've only had problems with vista. I want XP back!

Anonymous said...

thankyou, i love you

Anonymous said...

omfg!!!!!!!! you are a hero!

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much, you were a great help!

Anonymous said...

This is great! All fixed now!

Anonymous said...

i don't know how many more times it can be said, but thanks mate

big love

Anonymous said...

Live Saver!!!!!!!

Thank you SOOOO much!!!

Was about to thorw laptop out of window but restrained myself, googled the problem and found this!!

Anonymous said...

Mate, i think you'd turn me... legend.

Anonymous said...

thought some phishy would be there but dint imagined that it is this simple to do .... Thanks a lot

Anonymous said...

thank you, I was getting ready to waterboard torture my system into fixing itself!!!

Anonymous said...

thanx soooooo much, you are amazing!!

Anonymous said...

Wow. You're my hero. I can stop pulling my hair out now. You may not be reading these comments any more, but my life just got better because of you. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

LOL! I googled 'why is windows media player so slow' after getting seriously ****ed with my laptop, and found this page first hit! YOU'RE A HERO! THANX!

Anonymous said...

Love you forever! Been using winamp for playback, but that's another headache. Now I can go back to my organizations in Media Player. And great burning playback TOO!!!!

Anonymous said...

One google search and ten seconds of following your advice and a major annoyance in my life is gone! Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much - ive been frustrated with it for a long time.

THANKS

Unknown said...

this should be stickied to google search. i as well had to deal with windows media player taking 30 seconds to load one song.. disable enhancements like you said and it plays faster then i can click them almost...

Anonymous said...

YOU ARE LEGEND!!!!

1337c4mp3r said...

excellent stuff! thank you! no more waiting 5+ secs for songs to change.

Anonymous said...

I was so getting annoyed with WMP for being so slow at changing tracks. This has sped it up a bit, but still not what I'd expect with 4GB of RAM >_<

Anonymous said...

You are a genius! Almost for 2 years I've been living with hell (i mean I've been putting up with the awefull lag (12 to 15 seconds!) between mp3 track selection in Windows Media Player in my newly bought Dell PC with Vista).

Now after doing what you have recommended, what a difference - it's almost instant change. Wonder why Vista enabled this shitty enhancement as Default. Sound like the enhancement is no good to anyone.. Thanks heaps!!

Anonymous said...

Thank youuuuuuuuuu, finally, it works like a charm, really stupid how it's just that

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot! This issue has been pissing me off for a long time now. Thanks again a lot!

Anonymous said...

LOL SMILEY FACE............

Anonymous said...

thanks so much man i was about to buy a valid copy of xp when i was on my phone browsing and say ur post, thnx sooooooooooooo mmmmmmmuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

ROCK ON and THANK YOU!!! IT WORKS!!!!

Dhanur Bhagat said...

well, it might have fixed the problem, but there is a DEFINITE deterioration in sound quality. I'd rather battle with a slow media player than bear the torture of poor audio quality. isn't there any other work around?

Anonymous said...

awesome, fixed the problem, this was driving me crazy! thanx!

Anonymous said...

Holy CRAP!!! it did work with windows 7 a friend told me to check this out cuz it happen to him and help, Thanks, \M/ \M/

Anonymous said...

My computer does not show the "disable system effects" box. Instead it says "Disable all enhacements". Tried that one and did much better. Thanks a lot for sharing your tips.