Hi guys

My toshiba laptop has developed a problem in the last couple of days. Any sound whether a windows default sound or music playing through wmp or real player is distorted exactly when the light signalling computer activity is lit up. I presume that this light signals hard-drive or processor activity. For example, when I open a pdf document and am playing music in wmp, the music sounds like it's skipping (as if i were playing a cd that had scratches on it) in time with the light flashing signallin that the laptop is working to open the document. I can't think what might have caused this so any help on this matter is very greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Fried

Hello, and Welcome to techhelpforum.

What O/S (Operating System) are you running?

Windows XP pro. I've noticed that page file usage has been particularly high (yesterday it hit 1.06gb) - if that's important.....

'... this light signals hard-drive or processor activity."

Yes, you should have a POWER LED and a Hard Disk Activity LED on the front of the system.

What is the exact model number etc of the laptop?

How much memory (RAM) do you have in this system?

I have 512MB RAM. It's a Toshiba Satellite Pro with 1.7Ghz Petmium M processor and 80GB hard drive (2mb l2 cache). I don't remember the exact model number. I have noticed that the CPU usage as measured in the task manager has been hitting 100% a lot since this problem came about. Also, there is a generally stickness in the cursor as it moves across certain points and the whole system isn't as responsive to commands as it was. It is possible that the problem with the sound is caused by the laptop being overworked (or thinking it's overworked because in reality I usually only have real player, internet explorer and ms word open). Could it be a virus? I've run a virus scan but it didn't pick anything up..... It's strange that it should happen all of a sudden like this..... Any help is very much appreciated

Have you used the PC Diagnostic Tool Utility to examine the system? (If your machine has it. Isn't there any model number evident? ie; P100, A100, A110?)

http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.gr...1&product=5617

Discontinued models:
http://www.toshiba.ca/web/products.g...on=1&group=223


Click Start, All Programs, Toshiba, Utilities, then PC Diagnostic Tool in the Protect & Fix tab of Toshiba Assist.

There may also be issues with your Virtual Memory (settings) as 1GB seems excessive. But first see what the above utility turns up.

Post back with your results.

It's an Satellite Pro L10 (PSL15E-00Z018EN). I ran the diagnostic test and everything passed.

CPU usage and PF usage have been very high again today. How many processes should be running on average at any time? I have approx 75 running and I don't know what most of them are so I don't want to end them. Internet explorer is the largest memory user of them all though (sometimes it hit 128,000kb)

It's a mystery to me why it should be running so slowly and why the sound keeps getting interrupted......

OK, it looks like this model (or, it's predecessor);
http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.gr...5590&category=

Lets investigate your Virtual Memory and Browser settings.

What are your current Virtual Memeory settings? (Click Start, Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance - Settings, Advanced, Virtual Memory - Change.

Is it set to "System Managed" for the disk/partition where XP is installed?

If so, what are the settings currently at? (Initial Size & Maximum Size. This will be shown as (example only) 100-800 to the right of each partition. See attached picture.)

If you have two physical hard disks, it's a good idea to set a page file on the first partition of each disk. I use a setting of 100MB Initial & 800MB for Maximum. These settings however, must correlate with the available space on each disk partition.

Browser
Do you have multiple BHO's (Browser Helper Object) engaged in your browser?
You mentioned IE so, in the IE menu bar, click on Tools, Manage Add-ons. What's listed?