Hi Stroud,

I would suggest trying the DPC latency checker to look for any system issues.

www.thesycon.de

It works by scanning for any latency, IRQ conflicts or other issues.

To use the software run ITCH and run audio then load DPC.

You will be shown a bar graph , GREEN (SAFE) Yellow (Caution) Red (Dropouts)

You will also be given a report of any conflicting hardware.

OK. Ran the latency checker, and got messages about bad drivers. Directions to try turning certain devices on and off. None of my attempts seemed to alleviate the problem. Seems it might be something to do with the USB drivers, but I'm not really experienced at this sort of thing.

Reading some other peoples' posts, it seemed a few people have had a similar problem with Toshiba laptops. Is this a general case, or does the same type of problem occur with a similar incident rate on other brands of machines (PCs)?

It doesn't seem Toshiba was much help to those users with problems who contacted them. Should I be trying Toshiba though?

HIt me back with some direction, I'm stressin'...

Hi Stroud,

What would be great if you could post up a list of your IRQs using this link.

www.helpwithpcs.com

Then I can advise you what is the cause of the issue.

Do I need to have the NS7 plugged in when I do this? I have the list pulled up. Really long, probably around 100 items. Should I have the NS7 plugged in when I view it? I don't see an indication of it on the list. Can I send screen shots of the list, or is there a way to export the list as text, or will I have to manually duplicate it?

Here is the IRQ list, without NS7 plugged in (didn't know if that would change things, but it was easier to do the work this way). I first re-enabled all the devices I had disabled in trying to sort out problem myself. I hand copied these from my itch/ns7 laptop, I believe they are all correct after double and triple checking. Summarized the long strings of the same readout.

(ISA) 0 High precision event timer
(ISA) 1 Standard PS/2 Keyboard
(ISA) 100-119 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
(ISA) 12 Synaptica PS/2 Port TouchPad
(ISA) 120-129 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
(ISA) 13 Numeric data processor
(ISA) 130-190 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
(ISA) 81-99 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
(PCI) 11 Intel(R) ICH9 Family SMBus Controller - 2930
(PCI) 16 Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 2 - 2942
(PCI) 16 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2937
(PCI) 16 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2936
(PCI) 16 Mobile Intel(R) ICH9 4 Series Express Chipset Family
(PCI) 16 Realtek RTL8102E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)
(PCI) 17 Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter
(PCI) 17 Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 2940
(PCI) 17 Intel(R) ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 5 - 2948
(PCI) 18 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2939
(PCI) 19 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2935
(PCI) 19 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293C
(PCI) 19 Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
(PCI) 21 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2938
(PCI) 22 High Definition Audio Controller
(PCI) 23 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2934
(PCI) 23 Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293A

Hi,

Its not needed to connect the NS7 as this does not have its own IRQ.

This is not an issue with the NS7 directly, its a problem with the internal routing of the devices in your system

Your Wireless card and Lan cards are conflicting with your roothubs which route to the USB ports.

I would suggest that you contact Dell again with this information.

They need to support you in resolving this problem as they manufactured the computer. We cannot unfortunately advise further on resolving the conflicts as we do not have the details needed to do so.

My bad you need to speak to Toshiba.

I'm sure you are used to dealing with frustrated customers in my situation and won't take this personally, even as I am becoming more frustrated by recounting my situation...

Of course Toshiba Tech Support was of no use with this problem, and any visit from a Toshiba technician will have to be from someone out of town and likely end up costing me money as they will no doubt be blaming it on the audio interface and software as Tech Support is already are doing.

I should have known better than to get a new product so soon after its release, even one I had heard was so thoroughly tested. I got Final Scratch when it first came out and had unacceptable problems with it. They actually came out afterwards with a list of specific laptops it did work properly on, which seemed strange to me even at that time. Unfortunately I had already bought mine and was screwed, and certainly not encouraged to see it through with the multitude of issues they had at the time. I ended up switching to CDs from vinyl about then and used Pioneer's CDJ 1000s happily for years. In the past couple of years I started using computer programs and USB controllers again and hadn't had any problems and figured this sort of thing was a part of the past. Obviously not. To have bought a a computer that exceeded the manufacturer's minimum requirements and yet does not perform properly is unexpected, especially with no warning of computer incompatibility being a possibility other than the processor brand (which doesn't apply to me). I'd never heard of this being an issue with Scratch Live either. Should I have really been prepared for this? I can't remember the last time I bought any peripheral that didn't work properly with any of my computers since Final Scratch (when was that, like 2000?).

Obviously I am frustrated that my $2000 DJ setup not working properly and being faced with the issue of researching and spending more money on a laptop that I am fairly certain will work with it. From what I've seen written in the forums online, a number of people are having similar problems. I guess I'll be using my reliable but less desirable M-Audio component/software for the time being, which has worked just fine on the same computers. Aarrggghhh!

Macs are the way to go for solid DJ performance.. Vista PCs are great for standard office jobs.

I fully understand your frustration and sorry for them no one likes to be without their setup.

Personally I love Serato and the NS7 (which is why I do what I do) I am keen to assist you where possible so you can too.

Please try to bare in mind that due to the for mentioned system issues it is your computer which is the missing link in the chain here not serato or the NS7.

I am personally surprised that Toshiba have not been able to advise you further over the phone.

I own a older Toshiba system which I use as a backup which uses the AC10 bios I believe they still use this.

I know no one likes to be told that their computer has a problem so here is some further suggestions, which I hope you find useful.

As I do not work for Toshiba I do not the exact settings for your laptop but you should be able to access the IRQ list in the BIOS under "hardware assignments"

This will allow you to see all the hardware and change any matching IRQ channels.

Say you have two devices for example your Network card and your roothub on 16 you would change the network card to the next available free number.

Additionally while it is out of our normal area of service (we are putting allot of care into the NS7) I cant help you reassign the IRQs directly but if you would like I can remotely access your computer. This would be done via a secure connection, to look at other areas of your system we can optimize to reduce the symptoms.

To do this all I would need is you, your laptop, the NS7 and an Internet connection.

I am based in London in the UK I see that you are based near Virginia which is on the EDT time zone. If you would like to go ahead with this please drop me a PM with your contact details and when would be a suitable time to contact you.

Turns out I was coming down with the flu yesterday, which no doubt was a factor in me getting so worked up. Should make for a miserable gig tonight.

I have been unable to access the IRQ list in the BIOS. I've accessed the System Utility on boot, and don't see any way to access it there. There is a Toshiba utility that provides access to some BIOS settings. but no IRQ list. I had a buddy over last night with a decent computer IQ looking things over and doing some updates, and a DJ friend I ran into out at the club (who spoke very disparagingly about Toshiba for laptop DJing) had some other suggestions which I tried today but did not produce enough of an improvement in the latency issue.

So, yeah, I'd appreciate some help before I decide to spend money on another computer.

My email is stroud@miningvinyl.com. Let me know what else you might need. Haven't used any messenger software for a few years, so I can set up an account (if I don't already have one) with one of your choice if you want to use that method.

Monday and Tuesday would be good days for me, assuming I'm not bed ridden in the miserable condition I ended up in last night. Tuesday would probably be the best bet if you need me during your business hours.

From what I've seen throughout the forum Toshibas seem to be at the root of most problems NS7 users are having. I'm using a HP G70-250US with Pentium dual core and 4GB RAM with my NS7. Intially I had a few issues but once I tweaked my laptop using the tips found throughout the forum I've had no problems at all. Just my 2 cents.