Anybody ever do a re-install of XP?

[DanS]

I don't want to reformat, just re-install XP.

 

I have a funky midi timing problem within VST32, which apparently is due to XP being loaded in ACPI mode, instead of Standard mode, and all the wonderful stacked IRQ's it entails.

 

Simplified, this means when I record midi, the notes get recorded 1 beat after I play them.

 

So is re-installing XP a major pain???

 

TIA

 

Dan

[Dave Pierce]

It works flawlessly 95% of the time, in my experience. TAKE DATA BACKUPS FIRST!

 

If it fails, be prepared to do a full reformat and reinstall. That means knowing what drivers you need, having install media and keys for all your apps, etc, etc.

 

Hopefully you won't need that, but if you need it you need it bad.

 

--Dave

[konaboy]

May I add a similar question to this thread?

 

I will be doing a clean install of XP on an brand new empty 120Gb hard disc nezt weekend.

 

I prefer to partition my drives into a couple of smaller ones, say 20Gb for the OS and applications, and 100Gb for music, recordings etc.

 

I've done many Win98 installs previously and there I have used FDISK to create the partitions.

 

Is there any easier/quicker way with XP?

[Slowly]

I wish you luck, for real. I had so many problems, I think one of my hard drive flubbed everything. Once I got it running again, I brought a 4 gig hard drive, loaded XP and copied all my good stuff on it, some pictures and songs, downloaded software, links, settings, etc. So If it crashes again, I won't have to start from zero. Kcbass

[pygmallion]

be carefull when re-installing XP.

Actually,

I would reccomend going the extra mile, backing everything up, saving what you need and reformating the machine.

 

I have seen so many screwed up PC's because XP was re-installed...

Since you are using it for studio work, you want the machine clean.

 

I've done XP re-installs but in the end decided to re-format afterwards.

 

It is worth it.

 

-pygmallion

[joegerardi]

If it's mainly because of the IRQs being stacked and doubled up, there's an easier way than reinstalling...

 

Click on Start>Run and type "Regedit". Once the Registry Editor loads up, drill down to HK_Local_Machine and click on the little plus sign next to it. Find a folder named "Enum" and delete it. This removes all hardware components from the Windows Registry. Upon reboot, it will start finding everything again, from the system clock, through the processor, all the way down to your MIDI device, and reinstall them. Note that you will need any and all driver disks for whatever is not native to XP.

 

The best thing about this is that it rearranges all the IRQs and reassigns them as it finds them, rather then stacking them up based on the preferred in the setups of the programs. It also keeps you from having to go to the MS site and installing 12 gazillion updates to XP.

 

..Joe

[seclusion]

Dan,

One of those Xp optimizing pages showed how to switch from one mode to the other... I went from ACPI to Standard without reinstalling anything.. Took a bit then it reboot and away you go!.. Sorry I wish I knew where the page was... I used the Tascam one for sure at one time... But those site's were all over the place a while ago.

Bri

[DanS]

Thanks guys. I have documention on how to do the switch from within XP. I have heard though that it's not as clean as doing a reinstall. I will try the easier routes first however. I'm in the process of doing my backups 'in case/when' things go horribly wrong. Thanks for the 'enum' tip Joe, I may go that route too.

 

Dan

[seclusion]

Dan I never noticed any changes in performance. I have a P3 1 gigger with maxed out 512 ram. I did the optimizing just to see... I noticed more of a change adjusting the video card graphics "for best performance" from anything else.

Later

Bri

[pygmallion]

Originally posted by joegerardi:

If it's mainly because of the IRQs being stacked and doubled up, there's an easier way than reinstalling...

 

Click on Start>Run and type "Regedit". Once the Registry Editor loads up, drill down to HK_Local_Machine and click on the little plus sign next to it. Find a folder named "Enum" and delete it. This removes all hardware components from the Windows Registry. Upon reboot, it will start finding everything again, from the system clock, through the processor, all the way down to your MIDI device, and reinstall them. Note that you will need any and all driver disks for whatever is not native to XP.

 

The best thing about this is that it rearranges all the IRQs and reassigns them as it finds them, rather then stacking them up based on the preferred in the setups of the programs. It also keeps you from having to go to the MS site and installing 12 gazillion updates to XP.

 

..Joe

I didn't know this, cool!!.

I want to try and unstack a couple devices that are sharing an IRQ.

 

thanks for that info!

 

-pygmallion

[Michelle ggurl]

Wow, that's cool, Joe! Where'd you learn that trick? Anybody have a WinXP tips & Tricks book they like?

 

Furthermore, anyone know how I can get MS communities to stop popping up when I'm online? It just happened to me. Tell me what to delete from my startup menu if you know.

[DanS]

So Joe, just for the sake of removing all doubt, after doing the 'enum' edit, it makes no diff if the machine stays in ACPI mode?

 

Thanks,

Dan

[dementia13]

I've done many Win98 installs previously and there I have used FDISK to create the partitions.

 

Is there any easier/quicker way with XP?

For what it's worth, I used to partition all my drives. Coincidentally or not, I never had a drive live up to its life expectancy. Since I stopped that, I've started having drives last more than a year. It's a good idea as far as organizing things, but if you want a performance benefit, you need to have separate drives. Partitioning doesn't necessarily actually create separate regions on the drive. For recording especially, you want to have a drive dedicated to the task. There's no shortcut.

[joegerardi]

Originally posted by DanS:

So Joe, just for the sake of removing all doubt, after doing the 'enum' edit, it makes no diff if the machine stays in ACPI mode?

 

Thanks,

Dan

Correct. Your IRQ's should work much better, and not be as stacked as they were. There will still be some that *are* stacked but generally they won't be an issue, and are IRQs that don't get a lot of requests.

 

Geekgurl:

Once I realized that Windows is nothing but a very extensive database program, I started screwing with it big time. This was all the way back with Windows 95. I have a spare PC that use solely to pound on Windows- adding things here, and removing things there, and when it crashes, I just reload the OS. I really got into messing with the Registry, and have all these little things I can do...

 

Basically, I'm just a "Geekguy!"

[DanS]

BTW, for those of you doing the "enum" thing, it's actually found under the following in regedit:

HKEY CURRENT CONFIGURATION

SYSTEM

CURRENT CONTROL SET

ENUM

 

Dan

[seclusion]

So Dan, did that do the trick??

[DanS]

ummm..you first....

 

I ended up loading up some Acid vocal samples into Kompakt & messing around with that instead. Came up with a funky little choir for the next time I get inspired to write The Omen VII soundtrack.

 

Maybe tonight...

[joegerardi]

Originally posted by DanS:

BTW, for those of you doing the "enum" thing, it's actually found under the following in regedit:

HKEY CURRENT CONFIGURATION

SYSTEM

CURRENT CONTROL SET

ENUM

 

Dan

Dan:

My bad! I was thinking of where it is in the 95/98/Me world...

 

..Joe

[DanS]

Well Joe, you may want to check your numbers as far as XP goes. I tried deleting ENUM twice, rebooted, and it's still there.

Any other suggestions?

 

Dan

[DanS]

For anyone still interested, this is what I did to correct the midi timimg problem I was having (so far it's working, and I notice improved performance).

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Mar02/articles/pcmusician0302.asp?session=9f67a007b24f981ce909ca5dcdfec936

I followed the section "Removing ACPI From An Existing Installation", and did the first suggestion. I first created an ACPI profile, and a Standard profile, just in case I ever need to use the machine in ACPI mode. The default on bootup is Standard PC though.