Audacity stops recording

[kozikowski]

<<<Maybe this has been a bit of a red herring. >>>

Not only is it hidden, it's actively managed by Audacity, so it comes and goes.

So, so far, Audacity and the computer are in perfect working order and your internet connection fails. Various applications deal with interrupted bitstreams different ways. Audacity is pretty simple. It just fails.

I use Total Recorder to capture from the internet on Windows, WireTap for the Mac.

Koz

[steve]

Can Avast be used to do a one-off scan as you describe without my uninstalling my present antivirus, Kaspersky?

Avast will by default ask to do a boot-time scan when you install it. It will then ask you to reboot and assuming you say OK to both of these your system will be rebooted and Avast will do a full system scan before loading windows. The only issue that you may have is if Kaspersky has a "virus vault" and has anything in it, in which case Avast may detect viruses present there and pause the scan until you tell it whether to delete them or not.

There is a theoretical possibility that one anti-virus program could incorrectly identify the virus definition files of the other anti-virus program as a whole bunch of viruses, however I have never know this to actually happen, so for a one off boot time scan it should be OK.

If Avast says "clean" then (although nothing is 100%) you can be pretty confident that it is virus free and uninstall Avast.

Maybe this has been a bit of a red herring. ... I think I was unable to find the file by "search" because it was in a hidden folder.

I'd agree - "red herring".

... and your internet connection fails....

Just a thought on this - you are not using a broadband modem with a USB connection between your computer and the modem are you?

[charlie7]

<<<So, so far, Audacity and the computer are in perfect working order and your internet connection fails.>>>

The internet connection doesn't fail. If I'm try to record, say from Youtube, when Audacity freezes in recording the internet connection remains intact and you can still see the video on Youtube playing; you just don't get any sound. Remember also, if I try to record from a CD, the Sound Card or the CD playing software or both of them fail and I have to restart the computer before I can produce sound again.

<<<... USB connection between your computer and the modem are you?...>>>

No! I have an ethernet cable from router to PC.

[steve]

No! I have an ethernet cable from router to PC.

Oh good. That rules out one nasty issue.

If I'm try to record, say from Youtube, when Audacity freezes in recording the internet connection remains intact and you can still see the video on Youtube playing; you just don't get any sound. Remember also, if I try to record from a CD, the Sound Card or the CD playing software or both of them fail and I have to restart the computer before I can produce sound again.

In both of these situations the sound card is having to function in "full duplex" (data in and out at the same time). This would seem to point the finger at the sound card / drivers. It is a lot more work for a sound card to work in full duplex rather than just playing OR recording.

This is becoming a rather long topic - perhaps you could just remind us of a couple of points:
What sound card do you have?
Are the sound card drivers up to date?
Are you aware of any changes to your computer between the time when it worked and when it didn't?

[charlie7]

<<<What sound card do you have?>>>

SoundMAX Intergrated Digital Audio - Driver Provider: Analog Devices - Driver Date: 28/03/2005 - Driver Version: 5.12.1.5410
Not too sure whether this is out of date. Opening Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>Sound, video and game controllers then double clicking SoundMax Intergrated Digital Audio gives me an option to update the driver using the wizard. This is where I get a bit stuck because I'm told that if the Hardware came with an installation CD or a floppy disk, insert it now. Surely the drivers on that CD of floppy would be out of date? So, I suppose the answer could be that the driver/s are out of date. Is there more than one driver for the sound card?

[kozikowski]

I think I'd start getting used to the idea that the soundcard may not have enough poop (technical term) to do this job. People's computers that ran just fine through multi-page spreadsheets and enormous Photoshop pictures go face-first into the mud the first time they're asked to do something data intensive in real time -- like audio or video. Oh, yes. The video people have the same trouble. "Why do my videos have stuttering frames?

Because the computer can't keep up.

Koz

[charlie7]

soundcard may not have enough poop (technical term) to do this job.

Koz

So how did it manage before?

[charlie7]

Sorry, I've wasted enough of your time, guys. I'll keep trying to solve the problem and if I do I'll let you know.

Thanks for all your efforts.

[charlie7]

Feel I had to mention: Played a song on Youtube and recorded it on Windows Sound Recorder. It recorded for the full 60 seconds by which time I'd opened another Windows Sound Recorder and started it recording. I repeated this a third time making a three minute recording in all without everything freezing. The recordings were successful as I was able to play them back. When I played it back and tried to record on Audacity, it lasted less than 18 seconds. I don't know much about the workings of the sound card but this seems to prove the system was working in full duplex mode. Any thought?

[steve]

I have a theory - it goes like this...

Your sound card IS capable of full duplex, but only just. When put under a bit too much strain, it aborts.

Windows Sound Recorder is a good test to see if the hardware is functioning, but it is only designed to handle a single stream. Audacity on the other hand is more demanding because it chops the audio into little pieces as it records, and updates its record of where all those little pieces are, plus additional information about them such as which track they belong to, their peak amplitude,.... Audacity needs to do this to enable it to perform all of the miraculous editing, processing and mixing things that it does in a multi-track editing environment.

It's a bit like these weird USB problems that we see (too frequently, but almost always with what I presume are poor quality components in a particular range of USB turntables) where the USB interface can just about manage to cope and works perfectly, then a moment later the strain tips over the threshold and the USB connection looses sync and the audio dies.

If you lived locally I would lend you my Behringer UCA 202 external sound card to try - my bet is that the problem would instantly disappear. Do you know anyone that you could borrow such a thing from?