PTE won't play on laptops...

[goddi]

I have been using PTE for a long time. The slideshows always work on my desktop (P4, 2Gb RAM). Recently, I tried to play a 47Mb slideshow that I brought to a friends house. I played it off a Cruzer 512Mb memory stick on his laptop and it froze-up after a minute or so. Then I played the file, using the memory stick, on his desktop. It froze again. I didn't have time to examine exactly what type of processors he had and assume it was just some low powered PCs or a USB1 port.

However, now I am looking to buy a laptop and I am using these slideshows to test laptops to be sure I will not having a problem showing them on it. I went to Best Buy with my memory stick loaded with several slideshows. When I played the 47Mb slideshow (playing it off the memory stick), the show froze up. The music continued to play but the screen freezes. I expected this to happen on the Celeron M processors, maybe. But it also happens on faster processors. The only one it played without freezing up was a laptop with a Pentium 4 processor and 512K RAM. It also froze up on a Gateway with the Athlon 64 processor (1.7Gh?) with 1Gb RAM. I thought, maybe, it was due to playing it off the memory stick. I also copied it to the HD and it still froze up on the Gateway.

I want to get a laptop that will not have these problems. Can anyone tell me why this is happening? Is it the RAM or the processor or.....what???? Can anyone tell me what are the minimum specifications that I need for a laptop to play PTE slideshows without this type of problem???

Thanks.... Gary

[Igor]

Slide-show have to work on any PC with any Windows.

Maybe screen saver is set for 1 minute on those notebooks and desktop? Or log-off option in Windows after 1 minute?

Of course, I'll check up for this situation tomorrow, maybe I'll buy new notebook for more testing.

Please try with another slide-shows, if it possible.

p.s. I think that you have EXE file created with v4.40 or later?

[goddi]

Slide-show have to work on any PC with any Windows.

Maybe screen saver is set for 1 minute on those notebooks and desktop? Or log-off option in Windows after 1 minute?

Of course, I'll check up for this situation tomorrow, maybe I'll buy new notebook for more testing.

Please try with another slide-shows, if it possible.

p.s. I think that you have EXE file created with v4.40 or later?

I don't think a screen saver had anything to do with the slideshow freezing up. All these laptops were on display at the store and the salesman closed down all the background programs. I can't say for sure but it seemed that only the large PTE file would freeze up, rather than the smaller sized ones. If you care to try my slideshow, I could upload it to you but it is pretty big...46.3Mbs. I have broadband so I don't mind. But it is strange that I tried about 5 laptops and they all, except for the Pentium 4, froze up. After a few minutes, the current slide would just stay frozen on the screen but the music would continue playing. I created them recently in 4.43. Maybe it is just this one slideshow but it is difficult for me to do any testing since I do not have my own laptop. But I will try further testing.

Gary

[Guest Techman1]

I don't think a screen saver had anything to do with the slideshow freezing up. All these laptops were on display at the store and the salesman closed down all the background programs. I can't say for sure but it seemed that only the large PTE file would freeze up, rather than the smaller sized ones. If you care to try my slideshow, I could upload it to you but it is pretty big...46.3Mbs. I have broadband so I don't mind. But it is strange that I tried about 5 laptops and they all, except for the Pentium 4, froze up. After a few minutes, the current slide would just stay frozen on the screen but the music would continue playing. I created them recently in 4.43. Maybe it is just this one slideshow but it is difficult for me to do any testing since I do not have my own laptop. But I will try further testing.

Gary

Gary,

I've got an old PIII-450Mhz Laptop that I use to show PTE slideshows on and they work. Not so great from the CD, but when I copy them to the hard disk drive, they run as they should. I don't believe I have any that have been 40+MB's in size, but I know some have been well over 25MB's.

Did you try copying the slideshow onto each of the Laptops or only on the one Gateway? I take it that this slideshow runs fine on all desktop PC's?

Let us know what you find out on your further testing. I would be very interested in your results.

Good luck.

Fred

[ContaxMan]

If I try to show direct from a memory stick, large files sometimes fail - I guess due to access times. My solution is always to copy to the computer's memory then I have no problems.

[Gilio]

Do you have think of the video chip is it a shared memory in the laptop??

For memory stick usb 2.0 your need on windows SP1 or SP2.

[davegee]

No problems up to 100Meg shows on Pentium 4, 3Gig laptop with 512Mb Ram and NVIDIA card.

DaveG

P.S. The symptoms you describe sound as though you have transitions too close together - could it be that they will run on higher spec machines but falter if the spec drops because of the transitions and not because of the file size?

[Igor]

Gary,

I just sent you email with request about additional testing.

Please read it. If you didn't receive it, write me to int_support@

Your help is very important or us!

[Marianne]

I have had problems in the past with screensaver taking over my show. I always give a helpfile along with my shows which I give to other people.

But wouldn't it be possible to let PTE disable the screensaver for the time the show runs?

Igor?

[Igor]

As I just again checked up, screen saver may not start while PTE EXE slide-show is started.

[Conflow]

Igor and Goddi,

One thing comes to my mind !....would it be that Goddi's Laptop has the "Power Saver Utility" switched on ?

This same problem drove me mad with my Toshiba Laptop which 'blanked' the LCD Display after 20 minutes but the 'Music' kept running. Solution:-go into Power Settings and re-adjust......just a thought !

Brian.Conflow.

P.S

Igor, my counter seems to be running again ~ many thanks.

[goddi]

Igor and Goddi,

One thing comes to my mind !....would it be that Goddi's Laptop has the "Power Saver Utility" switched on ?

This same problem drove me mad with my Toshiba Laptop which 'blanked' the LCD Display after 20 minutes but the 'Music' kept running. Solution:-go into Power Settings and re-adjust......just a thought !

Brian.Conflow.

Greetings, Thanks to all for thinking about this problem. I just FTP'd the file to Igor. I hope he can dissect the problem. I don't think it is a "power saving" issue. These laptops were on display do they were not set to shutdown or go to a screen saver. I can't come up with any 'reason' for this to happen. And unfortunately, I don't have access to any laptops to do any more testing. I don't think the store appreciate me going from PC to PC with this large file. They were helpful once but I don't want to push it. I think Igor will be able to figure it out and it will be the right answer.... And just to be clear, the screen doesn't shutdown or go blank. The screen will show a little 'flutter' just as it is about to freeze up and then the current slide will just freeze up on the screen and stay there but the music will continue to play. Strange or what???

Thanks... Gary

[Igor]

Yes, really there is a problem. I reproduced it with EXE file you've sent me.

I think it's a bug in PTE which happened in this particular slide-show.

Combination of factors: MIDI music + auto synchronization, so some slides were shown with a little delay and became too near to next slides.

I think that MIDI music is not a good and reliable solution for slide-shows and it better to use MP3.

I'll try to solve it.

Thanks!

[goddi]

Yes, really there is a problem. I reproduced it with EXE file you've sent me.

I think it's a bug in PTE which happened in this particular slide-show.

Combination of factors: MIDI music + auto synchronization, so some slides were shown with a little delay and became too near to next slides.

I'll try to solve it.

Thanks!

Hi Igor... Thanks for looking at it. When I have played it on my desktop PC, where the problem does NOT show up, I do, however, notice that some slides do seem to be displayed a for a bit less time than the others.

Gary

[Conflow]

Hi Goddie,

Out of curiosity I had a chat with my people at BSL Computers concerning your "512mB USB Memory Stick"and your experience with this on various Laptops.

Firstly, they advised that you CANT go from Laptop to Laptop and try out your Pte Show with your Memory Stick.

The simple explaination they gave is as follows:-

a)

Each and every Laptop Manufacturer uses different "Memory Matrix Management" and it is absolutely vital that you read the 'Laptop Instruction Manual' to find out what 'Format of Memory Stick' is supported and 'How Much Additional Memory' the Motherboard can support and finally how that additional Memory shall be installed and managed....all this is in the Manual.

Yes, all Laptop PC's will start off reading most 'USB.2 Memory Sticks' however the PC can then run into 'Memory Cache' problems of incompatibility and sometimes only recognises half the Memory Stick Matrix and then freezes. This has nothing to do with Processor Speed or amount of inbuilt RAM, its everything to do with the 'Memory Matrix Mapping' which is critical on Portables.

The 1st.thing to fail will be the Video Graphics System as it uses the largest 'on board cache' provided it can get access to the data streaming from the '512 Stick' which depends on the Memory Matrix Management doing that job.

c)

They advise that any competent Sales Technician (not Salesman) should have advised you about this and taken the time to choose a suitable Laptop Portable capable of supporting that particular type of '512 Stick'.

I hope this may be of some use to you, or at least that it point's your nose in the right direction.

Regards,

Brian.Conflow.

[goddi]

Firstly, they advised that you CANT go from Laptop to Laptop and try out your Pte Show with your Memory Stick.

Brian... Thanks for checking further with this. The explaination about Memory Matrix Mapping is very interesting but way above me. I don't quite get it. I have never heard of someone needs to do something to the laptop to use a memory stick. Do you mean that the Virtual Memory setting has to be set in a special way? Since Igor had the same problem with my file, and he sees some strange things going on, maybe it will be something he can tweek in the program so it will avoid having to tweak the Laptop. But, just to make it more complicated, I had the same problem playing it on a friends desktop PC. Igor said that the new version of PTE might solve this issue. Hope so... Thanks again... Gary

[Conflow]

Brian... Thanks for checking further with this. The explaination about Memory Matrix Mapping is very interesting but way above me. I don't quite get it. I have never heard of someone needs to do something to the laptop to use a memory stick. Do you mean that the Virtual Memory setting has to be set in a special way? Since Igor had the same problem with my file, and he sees some strange things going on, maybe it will be something he can tweek in the program so it will avoid having to tweak the Laptop. But, just to make it more complicated, I had the same problem playing it on a friends desktop PC. Igor said that the new version of PTE might solve this issue. Hope so... Thanks again... Gary

Hi Goddi,

I do appreciate that Igor thinks that there may be a 'soft bug' in the Pte Program, i did explained that to the BSL Computer people (they are Microsoft OEM PC.Manufacturers) and they have had a lot of problems recently with '512mB Memory Sticks' of which there are 2 Types.

One version has 2x256 mB embedded Chips and the latest version has 1x512 mB Matrix Chip both versions are sold as 512mB Sticks. Other 'Sticks' such as 68mB and 128mB don't have such problems unless they are running on an older PC. Even newer Sticks all the way up to 8 Gigabyte have serious problems.

Its not about 'Tweaking' the Laptop, its as follows:-

When you first used your 512 Stick on your personal PC, the PC said to you:-"Found New Hardware" and then offered to install Drivers for that Hardware, it also moved your Drive Letters down one place,ie:- Your CD. D-Drive now became your CD. E-Drive ~ this is because Sticks have a higher priority than CD-Drives. The same applies to 'Eternet LAN Cards' and to 'Wireless Modem Cards' and 'PCM-Cards' and other devices.

It may be that your PC was 'Ready Set-up' for you and you were not aware of the 'set-up' requirements. Again I say, its in the Manual.

In the installation process the PC is re-mapping its Memory Matrix (Where everything should be) and reassigning IRQ Port Addresses so it can communicate with the new devices (Its in the PC.Manual) Unfortunately,sometimes it "Finds" Hardware that it can't map-in (because it wasn't set-up), yes it tries to run it but it chokes on it at some stage. Why should you think that a Laptop is anyway different than a PC ?

One has to remember that Memory Sticks are 'add-on accessories' and "Showroom Laptops" would not necessarilly be set-up to run such devices, why should they be ? on the off-chance that a person may like to try his New Accessory with a particular Laptop.

Thats more than likely the reason that some Laptops failed to reproduce the Pte Program from a Memory Stick, but not withstanding that there may be a 'soft bug' in the Pte Program, so there are 2 possible failure modes to look at ~ the question is, which one is it !

Brian.Conflow.

[goddi]

Hi Brian... Your discussion above is quite interesting. It has really peaked my interest. And it creates even more questions in my head. I went to see the Properties for my memory stick and found that the Policies tab allowed for 2 choices: optimize for quick removal and optimize for performace. The choices allow for enabling and disabling write caching. Not sure if this has any relevance to the problem but interesting. On my desktop, I have the 'optimize for quick removable' selected, but the icon to 'Safely Remove Hardware' still shows and I do go through that process before I remove my memory stick. I also wonder now where my memory stick fits in the 2 types you mention. But I assume both types are causing 'problems'. I am tempted to put the file on a non-512 memory stick and test it but I don't have the stick or the laptop. Maybe I am just looking through rose colored glasses, but I would think that all memory sticks would be plug and play--as it would be for a floppy disk, or external hard drive, etc. , not needing any "setup". (What would you look for in a Manual for this Setup you mention?) Well, it will be interesting to hear what Igor comes up with and whether the never version 5 will do away with this 'problem'.

Thanks... Gary

[Conflow]

Hi Brian... Your discussion above is quite interesting. It has really peaked my interest. And it creates even more questions in my head. I went to see the Properties for my memory stick and found that the Policies tab allowed for 2 choices: optimize for quick removal and optimize for performace. The choices allow for enabling and disabling write caching. Not sure if this has any relevance to the problem but interesting. On my desktop, I have the 'optimize for quick removable' selected, but the icon to 'Safely Remove Hardware' still shows and I do go through that process before I remove my memory stick. I also wonder now where my memory stick fits in the 2 types you mention. But I assume both types are causing 'problems'. I am tempted to put the file on a non-512 memory stick and test it but I don't have the stick or the laptop. Maybe I am just looking through rose colored glasses, but I would think that all memory sticks would be plug and play--as it would be for a floppy disk, or external hard drive, etc. , not needing any "setup". (What would you look for in a Manual for this Setup you mention?) Well, it will be interesting to hear what Igor comes up with and whether the never version 5 will do away with this 'problem'.

Thanks... Gary

Hi Gary,

Just to give you a few leads:- When a PC is Manufactured it has no Operating System except for the internal Microprocessor Dos Commands. Your OEM Supplier such as Dell etc,etc installs a 'Licenced Operating System' such as Windows XP or Win 2000 or Linux or Apple Mac,etc....

The 'Operating System' also contains a (popular) Library of 'Device Drivers' which will give simple 'Functionality' to Hard Drives, Printers, Scanners, Modems, Sound Cards, Graphic Cards etc,etc.

You know these devices as 'Plug and Play Devices' ~ They are ONLY Plug and Play if in the 1st. instance the Device Manufacturer made his product compatible to the generic Microsoft Drivers ~ most do !

However with the rampant advances in Technology it is impossible for the generic Drivers to cover everything, thats why most 'Modern Devices' come with an Installation Disc (even Hard Drives) the reason being to install the proper Drivers for the 'New Hardware'.

I not that you have 'Quick Stick Removal' selected ~ in your case thats a wrong choice, it should be 'Optimised for Performance' as you are running an Exe from the Stick. You also have the 'Write Cache' disabled which means that the Stick is trying to "stream data" to an unknown Computer ~ in 90% of 'Demonstration Showroom Laptops' that won't work because the Laptop needs to talk to the Stick and 'cache' the download in blocks of data which it can digest. The same thing happens when you access your Hard-Drive although it's not apparent to you. For example 'older' Laptops fail to render a PTE Show either because they have no Memory resources but more likely the Hard-Disc Cache is so small that its virtually useless for anything other than Documents and a little Music. The 'Modern Laptops' are up to the job but need to be told what to do ~ It makes sense really !

Ken Cox recently commented to someone 'RTFM' ~ it was good advice (although naughty) ~ you need to spend a little time getting to grips with how these things work. It's time well spent as the days of the Generic Drivers are coming to an end, unfortunately that's not good news for those who rely on Plug & Play devices.

Best of luck, hope this points you in the right direction....

Brian.Conflow.

[Igor]

I found that this MIDI file has an incorrect length.

It shows on 1.5 second more than in fact.

If you open and play this file in Media Player 10 you will notice same

thing that it stops on 1 second earlier that cursor reaches end of the file.

So exact synchronization in PicturesToExe can't work when MIDI file has

incorrect way and current position of playing jumps to forward.

(This problem never occurs with MP3, WAV, OGG or WMA music files.)

However we'll fix this problem in the v5.00. I can't add to v4.4x

because it requires to change all synchronization mechanism in the

program.

So for now I recommend you:

- to take another MIDI file;

- or convert that MIDI file to MP3.

- or disable synchronization.

[goddi]

I found that this MIDI file has an incorrect length.

It shows on 1.5 second more than in fact.

If you open and play this file in Media Player 10 you will notice same

thing that it stops on 1 second earlier that cursor reaches end of the file.

Igor... Thanks for the information. But I am not sure which midi file you are talking about. I have 4 different midi files in the show. The one I think might be the one is FUN7.mid. It seems to stop playing about 1 second before the stated time length. Is there a good way to detect a 'bad' midi file before I put them in a show. They all play correctly in Media Player and WinAmps. Since the problem only appears in some PCs and laptops, I guess the best thing is to wait for the 5.0 update to fix this problem. Thanks much for your testing.

Thanks... Gary

[Igor]

Gary,

I reproduced this problem also in Microsoft Media Player 10. The first MIDI file in your slide-show stops earlier on 1.5 second.

Please look at attached screenshot.

So I recommend you:

- Make this slide-show not synchronized.

- Or visit Time-line window, press Timed points button. Click "Add arranged points".

Then find all places between music files (vertical blue lines) and set at least 6 seconds for slides which placed between two music files.

Unfortunately it's not our bug with MIDI files, and it difficult to solve it right now in PTE.

[goddi]

Gary,

I reproduced this problem also in Microsoft Media Player 10. The first MIDI file in your slide-show stops earlier on 1.5 second.

Igor... Yes, I see what you mean now. Thanks so much for spending time on this problem. I would have never guessed it was in one of my midi files. I will see if I can replace it with one that works and does not have that blank space at the end. But, great information to know and how to examine the midi's I use in the future. Thanks again.... Gary

P.S. But not to beat a dead horse, the big question in my mind is 'why doesn't the problem occur on my desktop PCs?' I create the slideshow and it plays just great but then if given to someone, it might not work due to a unknowing bad midi file. Perhaps, Brian's discussions come into play and it is just something we have to deal with on a PC by PC basis.

[Igor]

All sound cards play differently MIDI music files. As a play of two musicians.

So some sound cards give more long delay on MIDI ending and incorrect position of playing (several jumps to forward and backward) falls synchronized show of slides.

Many MIDI files may give above mentioned problem and I highly recommend to use reliable and exact in playback MP3 music files.

[Conflow]

I found that this MIDI file has an incorrect length.

It shows on 1.5 second more than in fact.

If you open and play this file in Media Player 10 you will notice same

thing that it stops on 1 second earlier that cursor reaches end of the file.

So exact synchronization in PicturesToExe can't work when MIDI file has

incorrect way and current position of playing jumps to forward.

(This problem never occurs with MP3, WAV, OGG or WMA music files.)

However we'll fix this problem in the v5.00. I can't add to v4.4x

because it requires to change all synchronization mechanism in the

program.

So for now I recommend you:

- to take another MIDI file;

- or convert that MIDI file to MP3.

- or disable synchronization.

Hi Igor,

That's nice of you to investigate Gary's problem and indeed you found a 'soft-bug' with his Midi-File. Now I also use Midi Files with some of my Shows and I never had a problem with them on my 2000 Pro that's the reason I was trying to advise him concerning proper usage of his 512 Memory Stick.

Of course like everything else with PC's it all depends on how the Music File was created and how the Show was downloaded to the Memory Stick in the 1st. place and certainly we here at BSL Computers have had many problems with large Memory Sticks and I thought that was only fair to point that out.

I hope that did not cause any confusion, and perhaps someday one of your Technicians could 'Post' some instructions on the Forum as to how Members should download a PTE Show to a Memory Stick because this appears to be the future development in 'Solid State Recording & Playback' of PTE Presentations.

Regards,

Brian.Conflow.