PC OPTIMIZATION GUIDE for Windows XP (updated 11/5/02)

These tips and tricks have been tested out and have proved successful in many occasions. If you follow this document to the "T" you will have your system in true optimum performance. They are listed in decending importance.

1) Make sure you don't have ANY IRQ conflicts of any sort (Windows will not always tell you if you do.)

Right-Click MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES.
Select the HARDWARE tab, and DEVICE MANAGER.
Go to VIEW, select RESOURCES BY CONNECTION, expand INTERRUPT REQUEST.

This will show you a complete list of all the IRQs in use. If you see more than 2 devices on the same number, you might have an IRQ conflict.

Any device can, without problem, share with IRQ holder for PCI steering, or ACPI IRQ holder for PCI IRQ steering. Some other devices that will not usually cause problems are System Management Bus or SMBus, and SCI IRQ used by ACPI Bus.

Devices to watch out for (especially when they're sharing the sound card's IRQ) are:
Other sound cards, SCSI controllers, USB controllers, Network cards, Video cards, and many others.

If you have a conflict and you want to fix it,
The best way to move the IRQs around is to move the card in question to another PCI slot. This may mean trying 2,3, or even 4 different slots. You may need to move another card to a different slot to allow the audio card to use that PCI slot. All unused PCI cards should be PHYSICALLY REMOVED, not just disabled in Windows, as this does not always truly free up the resource. Remember to power down your system before changing hardware; you should NEVER install or remove hardware while the computer is powered ON, except for USB and Firewire devices.

Some BIOS manufacturers may allow you to assign a specific IRQ to a PCI slot (from within the BIOS under PCI configuration - see below), but you should try to avoid IRQ 9 because it is cascaded to IRQ 2. It will allow you to assign PCI slot 2, for example, to IRQ 5.

Some more tricks for freeing up IRQs are to disable one or more COM (serial) ports, printer ports and USB (if you're not using them), or on-board audio (Sometimes called AC97 or Legacy Audio) from within the BIOS (see below). You must check with your motherboard/computer manufacturer to find the correct way to do this. Disabling devices within the BIOS will remove them from the system, and possibly allow a device or two to jump to a free IRQ, reducing the amount of troubleshooting you must do.

To get into your computer's BIOS, you'll need to reboot (or turn on) the machine. Immediately when you see the bootup logo or memory/hard drive check, press the appropriate key (which varies from computer to computer - check your computer's documentation if you're unsure) until it enters the setup. This will be before Windows boots, and typically it only waits for 1-2 seconds for you to press the key. The most likely keys are DEL, F1, and F2, but could also be any of the F-keys (you can usually press multiple keys at the same time if you're unsure.) Within the BIOS, you should select Integrated Perhiperals. If you don't see this option, try Advanced, and within this menu, look for I/O Configuration, Perhiperal Configuration, or something of the like- it varys from system to system. This is where you'll see the options to enable/disable hardware. This is also where you'll change the parallel port mode if you are using a parallel port midi interface. Then follow on-screen instructions on how to exit and save changes.

Another option within the BIOS, which may be under almost any menu, again depending on the computer, is PLUG AND PLAY BIOS or INSTALLED OS. This will have two choices, one being Windows, and one being non-Windows (the wording may be different.) This setting determines whether the BIOS or Windows will control resources. You may want to try switching the option to the other choice. If it doesn't work as well, it can always be changed back.

* If you're using a USB device (either audio or midi interface), you'll want to have the USB on its own IRQ. Most new computers actually have two USB devices: One pair on the back and one which is either connected to the front or not connected at all. Resolving IRQ sharing with USB is more difficult because there is no way to control which IRQ it uses, so usually you must move devices off of the USB IRQ by moving or removing the PCI card in conflict. Also, if you can avoid it, don't use any other USB device on that pair of USB ports. This will decrease the bandwidth for your audio/midi device and possibly create conflicts. Especially avoid hubs and high-bandwidth items like modems, ethernet controllers, hard drives or cd-rom drives, printers, and scanners.

* If you're using a Firewire audio device, you'll want to have the Firewire IEEE 1394 controller on its own IRQ just like it is your sound card. All firewire ports on a card share the same resources, so it shouldn't make a difference where they are plugged in unless there is a physical problem with the card.

Also, while in Device Manager, you may want to check for multiple driver installations. Go to View - Show Hidden Devices. Don't worry- you'll see alot of other devices which you didn't see before- this is normal. This should allow you to see if you have 2 or 3 (or more) of the same device installed of your audio/midi interface. If you do, right-click on the extra devices, and go to Uninstall. Reboot after removing the extra ones, and go back and check again. You may need to remove all of a particular device to get the driver installed just once. This step is typically not needed, but in some cases where you have gone through driver installation several times, it is worth checking.

1a) ACPI mode
If you have all your device on IRQ 9 or 11 and changing PCI slots doesn't change this, or if you have devices on IRQs higher than 15 in Windows XP it's because you are running in ACPI mode. This can cause problems due to sharing and IRQs the hardware doesn't know how to handle. Here's how you can switch back to the normal Win98-BIOS-controlled IRQs.

* This step is not recommended for DUAL PROCESSOR machines - disabling ACPI will disable dual-processor support.

* WARNING: YOU MUST HAVE ALL HARDWARE DRIVERS AVAILABLE AT RESTART. This will re-detect ALL your hardware, and any hardware drivers needed will be asked for. THERE IS A (slight) CHANCE THIS WILL RENDER YOUR SYSTEM UNBOOTABLE, do this at your own risk.

To disable ACPI, please change the system setting from 'ACPI-PC' to 'Standard-PC'. Right-Click on My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Computer -> Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC -> Driver -> Update Driver -> Install from a list or specific location -> Don't Search.. -> Standard-PC.

Note that changing this means that all drivers of your hardware are re-installed (keep the driver disks available). Additionally, make sure that PNP OS INSTALLED in BIOS is set to NO (very important). Also note that disabling ACPI mode may cause your computer to not power off when you perform a Windows shutdown. Simply push the power button after performing a shutdown.

Reversing this step - re-enabling ACPI - is as simple as repeating this step and choosing ACPI-compliant PC instead of Standard.

2) Check for Windows XP Service Pack 1.
Right-click on MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES.
This will display Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition and on the 2nd line, Service Pack 1 if you have it.
If you do not have it, we recommend you download it at www.microsoft.com This download is 133mb, so we recommend finding a high-speed internet connection and a cd burner for this task, or you can order a CD from Microsoft. Download the 32-bit version, not the 64-bit version. It's best to get the Network install, which contains all of the updates in a single file for burning to CD. The Express install performs the same task, but downloads the data as needed throughout the update and therefore cannot be saved for future use.

3) Make sure no extra programs are started up when you launch Windows.
Go to your START MENU, RUN, type MSCONFIG and hit OK.
Select STARTUP tab, and deselect everything.
If there is a question about an item, disable it. You can always re-enable it simply by checking the box in the future and rebooting.

4) Disable Virtual Memory and Visual Effects.
Right-click MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES.
Click the ADVANCED tab, under Performance, click SETTINGS.
Select ADJUST FOR BEST PERFORMANCE.
Go to the ADVANCED tab, under Virtual Memory, click CHANGE.
Select each drive letter shown, and select NO PAGING FILE and press SET.
Hit OK a couple of times to get out of this menu, reboot.

5) Check your sound hardware/software manufacturers' websites for updates. Many times an updated driver is the simple solution for an error. If possible, you should keep your old driver just in case, and be aware of beta (not fully tested) drivers and updates.

6) Disable System Restore.
Right-click MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES.
Click the SYSTEM RESTORE tab, and checkmark the DISABLE SYSTEM RESTORE.

7) Multimedia Settings. ** Very important for SONAR & PRO TOOLS **
Go to START MENU, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL, SOUNDS & AUDIO DEVICES.
Select the SOUNDS tab, select No Sounds and answer NO to "Save current scheme?"
Select HARDWARE tab, select your pro audio card wave driver & hit PROPERTIES.
Go to the PROPERTIES tab, expand the device, double-click the newly listed device and checkmark the box "DO NOT MAP THROUGH THIS DEVICE" and hit OK.
This will disallow Windows from using your audio card while you're in a recording program. If you have a Soundblaster-compatable card still installed, Windows will now use it for Windows sounds.

8) Motherboard chipsets - VIA motherboards
The chipset on your motherboard can be as important as the actual processor because all the data to and from the processor goes through this chipset. Intel chips are recommended because of their dependability.

If you're unsure which chipset your motherboard has, you can go into Device Manager and open System Devices, and look for your CPU-to-AGP or CPU-to-PCI bridge. The brand name of this device (Intel, AMD, VIA, SIS, ALI, or nVIDEA) will tell you what type of motherboard you have.

If you have a VIA chipset on your motherboard (VIA makes chipsets for both Athalon and Intel PIII/Celeron systems), you should download the 4-in-1 drivers which include updates for Windows at www.viatech.com

9) Parallel port midi interfaces - * no need to follow these if you don't have a midi device on your printer port. These are several extra steps which must be done to get them working properly.

First, Right-Click MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES.
Select the HARDWARE tab, and DEVICE MANAGER and go to Ports (COM & LPT).
Double-click on Printer Port (LPT1), go to Port Settings, select Use any interrupt assigned to this port and Enable lagacy plug and play detection, hit OK.

If the Parallel Port says ECP Parallel Port, the mode must be set in your computer's BIOS to EPP (default is ECP.) See step #1 for steps to get into the BIOS.

Legacy SoundBlaster emulation:
It is known that many Soundblaster cards will share the parallel port IRQ without telling you.
Right-Click MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES.
Select the HARDWARE tab, and DEVICE MANAGER and look for Creative Misc. Devices.
If found, double-click anything that says Legacy Emulation, and checkmark the Disable. Hit OK.
If not found, check in your Sound, Video, and Game controllers for anything that says Legacy Emulation or Legacy Audio and disable that.

10) Remove Microsoft Messanger from your startup.
Go to Start Menu - Run, and type this exactly:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
and hit Return. A text window will popup and disapper and then prompt for a restart.

11) Optimize your Windows XP for programs or background services.
This is one to try and see which works better on your machine. Windows XP can optimize its multi-tasking for either programs (one at a time) or background services (your plugins and audio drivers). Programs is the default when you load Windows XP. You can try one or the other - the best setting is not yet agreed upon in the audio industry.
Right-Click MY COMPUTER, select PROPERTIES.
Select the Advanced, go to Performance Settings, Select Advanced, and under Processor Scheduling, select the one desired.

These settings have been tried and tested, and are known to solve most problems. Some more tips are to:
* Windows XP recommends 256mb of RAM or higher to run properly, check to see if you have at least 256mb.
* Limit the programs installed on the computer to as few as possible. If at all possible, limit use of this computer to audio.
* Defrag your hard drives regularly (depending on use)
We recommend purchasing a system utility to do this such as Norton because it is faster and does a better job.
* Use a separate hard drive for audio (7200 rpm minimum)
* If you're still getting clicking in audio, try adjusting the buffer size of your audio card in its control panel. Usually increasing the buffer size will reduce pops, but sometimes reducing the size will also. Try both. A smaller buffer size will decrease latency.
* Make sure if you're recording FROM a digital source to your computer, you have word clock on the audio card set to external, sp/dif, ADAT, TDif, Word clock, or whatever source from where you are recording.
* Always remember to BACKUP your audio, even if it is only onto another hard drive in the system.