Having skipping and choppiness with sound and video playback on your PC? Try these tricks.
My girlfriend's PC is an amalgamation of old and new parts. The ten-year-old motherboard went south and needed replaced, but the IDE hard drives were still in good shape. Seeking to merge the old with the new, it was upgraded from a 750MHz AMD Duron processor on a decade-old Gigabyte motherboard (hot when AGP first debuted) to one of the newer Intel Core 2 Duos with a Gigabyte S-Series motherboard. IDE is on the way out, replaced by Serial ATA, so I had to look specifically for that in whatever motherboard I was going to buy.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - Ian
Ive been dealing with this problem for so long... just getting pissed off that i couldnt play guitar with songs that i loaded up on youtube and what not... seriously man i love... i did this while i was at work and proceeded to jump around sprint until i was out of breath your a life saver man.
27 - Mark Buckingham
So glad it's helping people clear up this annoying and apparently widespread problem!
28 - Lance
Seems like a workable solution, however everytime i delete the keys, xp has them back in when i reboot. Any idea as to why? Also both keys were in 0001 and 0002. They both stay out of 0002, but both come back in 0001. I have my registry backed up if i made an error, not sure what to do.
29 - Mark Buckingham
The keys get replaced when you reboot and it auto-detects your drives. The keys aren't supposed to stay gone; what does it affect as far as the video playback issue?
30 - Lance
I dont know how to describe it really, but its just a little skip. Like playing a DVD with a little scratch in it. It happens with any music (i use itunes mostly) and it also happens with videos on the web. I play a few games and I dont notice anything as far as lag or skipping. They seem to play perfectly.
31 - Mark Buckingham
How old is the main hard drive in the system? Older might just be having problems streaming if it's wearing out. Could also be affected by how full the drive is and how long ago it was defragged.
32 - Dan
We have been struggling for weeks with this problem. Worked like a CHARM! Thank you, Mark! Fixed both choppy audio AND video! Nice work.
33 - Chaz
Thanks so much for this post. It didn't solve my problem (skipping audio playing from a hard drive I pulled from an older machine and put in a newer one w/ XP)..but it did lead me to a solution. My hard drive is an older IDE drvie. My CD/DVD was on the same IDE cable. By putting the hard drive as the last device on the cable so that the computer would see it as the master drive (compared to the CD/DVD), my issue went away. (I also switched the jumper on the hard drive to "Master" and kept the jumper on the CD/DVD drive at "CS") Hope this helps!
34 - Dan
Than ks for the fix, you dun did it... but... it came back after a windows media player crash
35 - TomesoR
I tried everything to fix my choppy video problems on my XP pro - Compaq v5204, and this little trick did it. Thanks a million!!!
36 - Mark Buckingham
Glad to see this info is still helping people!
37 - tony
not sure what to do. I'm not real computer savvy, but I followed every step you said and as a Vista user, I ran into the same problems the others did. I can't find SlaveIdDataCheckSum or MasterIdDataCheckSum. Also, When I tried the first technique, it doesnt give me the option to change it from PIO. can you help?
38 - Mark Buckingham
I don't use Vista, so I'm not sure what else to recommend other than to search the entire registry for those entries rather than that specific location, as noted in an earlier comment (#6):
"As for the Vista system, it's possible the keys are there, but in a different area. You could try hitting Ctrl+F (or go to the Find command under Edit on the top menu) and type in any of the specifics from above, like DriverDesc, Primary IDE Channel, or MasterIdDataCheckSum, and search the registry to see if they might be there hiding somewhere."
39 - Stu
Hey Mark, thanks for the help! The 2nd tip worked for me perfectly. Just curious as to how that works? What is it doing to fix the problem, and what is the problem?
40 - Mark Buckingham
I can't say for sure why it works other than that the drive may be communicating data incorrectly based on that checksum data value. Clearing the checksum and forcing it to rebuild itself could correct those miscommunications. That's conjecture on my part.
41 - Gareth
I had this problem, and it appeared out of the blue. I couldnt play video/audio without it chopping, and CPU was running at 100%. This fixed it perfectly. I am so grateful for the advice. Its good to find a resolution on the internet that actually works. Thanks Mark.
42 - Gary
Thanks so much for the registry fix. Not only can I watch videos & listen to audio smoothly, but this has also fixed other performance issues I have been having when writing large files to disc.
This really has made my day. Thanks so much for taking the time to share this information.
43 - Gary
This fix gets even better. Now I can use my computer while burning CDs & DVDs rather than being frozen out during the burn.
:)
44 - Mark Buckingham
Even better, Gary. I had no idea so many people were facing the same problems we were. :)
45 - Jim
I am so delighted to have this problem finally solved. Thanks a great deal!!
I have to wonder how the registry got messed up in the first place, but then again, my old computer was owned and operated by someone else before I inherited it. Thanks again, Mark.
46 - Phatmac
Mark, you are my guru! I tried everything, and even reformatted and resinstalled XP with SP3. I was going to toss the PC off the balcony, sure it's 4 years old, but it should still be able to play its startup sound! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
47 - Christy
I just want to send out a HUGE thank you!!! The guys at Microsoft and Dell did not offer me half the help that you did. You fixed my computer and I am most thankful. You deserve TECH of the YEAR!
48 - Mark Buckingham
That would mean MS and Dell would have to actually work at the problem rather than run through the usual suspects and then tell you to reformat. If you know of others who're having this sort problem, pass the link along! :)
49 - Medusa
Hi there,
I tried the key removal and don't think it totally worked. I say that because sometimes my videos do play okay, and they are today to a degree, but I still seem to be having some trouble.
My issue is not just the freezing up while loading more video, which does sometimes happen, but moreso the problem is that videos will play and the audio will be fine but the visual part will be choppy and stuttered throughout. This is really an issue because I watch a lot of dance videos and you can't enjoy them much when they look more like a slideshow. And the HD vids from my camera barely play at all- very choppy. Music files play perfectly fine other than the occasional blip. Some people blame internet but my daughters Mac plays everything perfect using my wireless, and then the PS3 is in between- plays stuff well but suddenly will get stuck in a loading phase. :o/
BTW, My computer does do a surprise reboot a couple times a day- don't know if that is a related issue or not. Any other ideas as to what to try Thanks in advance!
50 - Medusa
Sorry, missing a question mark after "Any other ideas...?" ;o)
51 - Mark Buckingham
The random reboots do point to a larger issue. I suspect one of a number of things:
1. The hard drive is old/going bad, causing both the choppy video and reboots.
2. The video card is underpowered for the video you're trying to play back. If the same videos work fine on other systems on the same internet connection, it's definitely something with that system's hardware or OS.
3. Overall age of the system. If it's more than 3-4 years old -- depending on how much use/care goes into it -- it might be time to put it out to pasture and upgrade.
4. Related to #3, if the system is fairly old and hasn't been wiped and had Windows reinstalled in a while, it could be bogged down with unnecessary processes, junk files, and the like. Back up your important stuff, throw you Windows/restore CD in, and give it a clean reboot.
5. Defragmenting the hard drive might help to a degree, but not if any of the previous suggestions are the underlying cause. Running a disk check also couldn't hurt. Both of these can be run by opening My Computer, right-clicking the drive, going to Properties, then looking under the Tools tab.
Hope that gets you going in the right direction!
52 - Medusa
Thanks so much, Mark-
This computer was given to me because the previous owner bought a nice new one and this one wasn't functioning (I think at the time they couldn't even get booted to the desktop but don't recall for sure) so I reinstalled Windows XP at the time I received it- about 9 months ago. That being said I've still managed to almost fill it up- I think about 8 gigs are free out of 32 at the moment- although most of my stuff is on an external drive (which is also almost full!!) But this weird reboot thing has been happening for quite some time- seems to be getting a bit worse but hard to say- some days it doesn't do it at all, other days 4-5 times. It seems to happen more when I'm doing a lot at once but then again sometimes it happens when I'm not even technically on the computer.
I have not been able to test the videos from my new video camera on any other devices- I tried once on daughters Mac but did not have the software necessary installed and since she is lacking space as well I didn't want to add more to her drive. Of course I can play them back in the camera so know they are fine-- the videos that play well on other devices were Youtube and the like. Since I wrote this note to you I did update my video card driver and DirectX (latter had years of updates to do!) and that did help some- I also installed 'Splash Lite' and so my HD vids play on there a bit better than they were before but still very choppy. Unfortunately the software that came with my camera works for uploading the files, but crashes when I try to even get to the section where you browse and view the videos- possibly this is also related to my lack of power...
I will defrag. How do I go about adding power to the video card? Buy a better card or is there some other tip? I have 1 gig of RAM and the system is a 2.6 GHz on an HP e300n.
I really appreciate you taking the time to write with all the tips. I'll keep working on it. Maybe someday I can buy a brand-new computer and hopefully not get a lemon! ;o)
53 - Mark Buckingham
If the computer is simply shutting down in the middle of doing things, that could be a sign of it overheating. This is especially true if it's more common when you're doing several things on it at once, keeping the hard drive, memory, and processor busy -- all of which generate heat.
The computer should be able to manage the heat inside, provided all the fans are working properly (should be one on the main processor, video card, inside the power supply, and perhaps one more on the motherboard somewhere...provided it's a desktop) and the vents aren't blocked or filled with dust bunnies. You should be able to clear those out with a can of compressed air. As for the fans, you can see most of them just from opening up the case. Take the side panel off, fire up the system, and see if any of the fans neglect to kick on. The one in the power supply will be blowing air out the back you could feel on your hand; if you're not feeling anything there, that could be bad. If any of the fans don't start up, you can get replacement fans for cheap if you know the system model or information about the component it's related to (processor make, model, speed; video card make, model; etc.).
Further, if any upgrades to the system have raised its power consumption higher than the power supply is rated to support, that could also cause shutdowns. You'd have to have a professional look at it and see if the combined power usage of the components is overloading the power supply, and see what they'd recommend.
Overheating is definitely linked to skippy performance. I had a laptop that would overheat a lot when running higher-end games, causing the framerate to plummet. Games, movies, music...anything can get choppy if the heat is building up inside, lowering the performance efficiency of the video processor and main processor.
Check into the system ventilation -- maybe even try running it for a little while with the side panel off to get more air in there -- and see if that makes a difference.
54 - Medusa
I kinda wondered about that- it runs pretty quiet compared to my others but then again I've always had kinda junky computers :o). I feel a bit of air coming out just towards the top of the back. I'll open it up and see if any fans are not working.
I do often see that CPU usage goes up pretty high, although I''m really not doing anything out of the ordinary- really no gaming or stuff like that.
Thanks again for the tips and advice- I will let you know if I figure anything out.
55 - Ted
Huge thanks! Got hit with some nasty spyware and two days after I removed it, my entire computer became sluggish. Not only was video choppy, but my entire computer nearly came to a halt if I did anything (burned a CD, downloaded a 3 mb podcast, extracted contents from a zipped file, etc.)
I tried everything suggestion I read online, but nothing worked. Didn't know if the registry was corrupted, or there was a hardware or software issue, or I some type of memory leak.
After I followed your instructions for the registry deletions and rebooted, everything appeared to run normally again.
56 - Yasmine
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!
57 - Cynthia
Have been living with choppy audio on my XP laptop for ages, that is, until today! Followed your suggestions and found that the secondary ide channel key was set to Master, as was the primary. Deleted the keys, and rebooted...and clear sound has (finally) been restored. Thank you so much!
58 - Mark Buckingham
I'm delighted that what started as a simple fix I unearthed has proven helpful to so many. :)
59 - Jonathan
You are the man. I wanted to throw my laptop out the window before I found your article. THANK YOU!!!!!!
60 - J
I don't know if this has been stated before, but Laptops running XP may switch to this mode to conserve battery power. When you have a fully charged battery or are running via an outlet, Windows may not toggle it back.
This is the explanation I gathered... sorry if this is old information (which it may be :D)
Anyway, thanks for the article, it's helped me more than once!
61 - Mark Buckingham
Thanks for the additional info!
62 - TC Lai
I recently had this problem - programs slow to launch, video stuttering. Tried everything, even new audio driver. Nothing worked. After running Malwarebytes (and getting rid of some infections - most likely caused by my none-too-PC-literate partner)), and switching off MS Services, it still did not work. Thanks, Mark, for your tip. It restored my PC video playing capabilities upon restart. Now with the other fixes, my PC is super fast, and with proper video/audio playback. Thanks again. :-))
63 - Dallas
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
64 - AwokeKnowing
Worked for me!!! fixed. thank you. thank google. mostly you.
65 - Aira
Hey Mark,
i had the same problem with the choppy music and videos. My laptop used to play them smoothly without misses or skips until i recently updated my Windows.
I'm running on WindowsXP SP3. I tried doing the first option and hit a dend end since both were running on DMA. I tried the second option and encountered this message "Registry editing has been disabled by the administrator" even if i'm running on an administrator account
please help....
66 - Aira
OMG!!!
i was able to finds scripts that enabled me to edit my registry and did what you said and IT WORKED!!! thanks a lot
thank you
my laptop booted faster than usual and was able to play videos and music smoothly
again, thanks
67 - Gary
I'm back! The same problem has re-emerged, not immediately but about a week after installing a new power supply. I have definitely reconnected my master & secondary hard drives to the same configuration as they were before, which happens to be both on the same data cable. Once again everything slows down while writing to either drive, so if I'm downloading anything pretty much all other tasks grind to a halt, and audio & video playback is choppy once again all of the time. Another clue that this is the identical same problem is that uTorrent reports "Disk Overloaded" - I have a 10Mb connection but downloading at anything over 200kB/s results in the hard drive light staying on all of the time & the Disk Overloaded message showing. Nothing more can be downloaded until the drive I am writing to catches up & the hard drive light starts flashing again.
I went into the registry hoping to apply this simple fix again, however the MasterIdDataCheckSum and/or SlaveIdDataCheckSum simply aren't there for me to delete.
Any ideas are very welcome.
68 - Lisa
Omg! Thank you so much, you finally fixed my computer. I love you lol.
69 - Mark Buckingham
Gary, glad you gave a specific error to work with, as you might find some helpful info here and here, on the uTorrent forums. The latter thread has a post that seems to have helped one user, and reads:
"ok i got same problem and fixed it hehe this is what you do open utorrent go to preferences then click on advanced from there click disk cache then under basic cache setting click where it says override automatic cache size and adjust it to something higher the 50-100 mb depending on your ram.. then wala its fixed"
Not sure if that'll fix it for you, but it's something to check out.
And Lisa, thanks. I
70 - Gary
Thanks for the response Mark, I really appreciate it. I mentioned the uTorrent thing as another symptom I experienced along with choppy audio & video playback when I first came here & got fixed a few months ago.
I'd already tried everything the uTorrent community could suggest last time around as that was the first thing I noticed when I had problems last time. When I subsequently dicovered the audio/video playback problems I was also having is when I found your very helpful article.
As soon as I applied your fix, not only could I play audio & video smoothly, uTorrent could once again also happily download files without everything grinding to a halt. I'm in absolutely no doubt that the root cause for both issues is the same; writing to disc slows everything down. So if I want to watch a Youtube video or listen to an mp3 clip I can, but only once the whole thing has fully loaded. I'm still at a loss as to why playing video or audio files from my hard-drive is an issue though, unless windows is constantly writing to the hard-drive & this is interfering with the data flow.
The only other thing I can add is that I was infected with the Conficker worm a while ago. I'm now clean but have no idea if this might have any bearing on the problems I have been having. It's very possible the problems might have started around the same time I first suffered this infection. (I say the first time as the nasty little thing had wriggled onto my phone's memory card & I kept reinfecting myself without realising!)
71 - Mark Buckingham
Gary, a lot of troubleshooting is figuring out the timing. If the choppiness issues started around the time Conficker got loose on the system, that could be more than coincidence. In that case, I'd recommend trying out some other tools like MalwareBytes.org's Anti-Malware or ComboFix to make sure everything's been cleaned up. I can give you more info on those if you like, but Google will get you everything you need. :)
If not that, did you search the entire registry to see if maybe those keys had moved? Also, what OS are you running (apologies if I missed it earlier)? Vista builds some things differently than XP, and I'm sure Win7 has its peculiarities as well.
Can I assume you also went back to the earlier parts of the article with PIO settings and such, and tried flipping those back and forth?
Roughly how old is the hard drive? It might just be getting too old for its own good, depending.
72 - Gary
Further to my previous comment, glitches on playback coincide completely with the hard drive light indicator flashing.
73 - Lowe
Hi Mark, Im not sure if this question has been asked asked but im stuck with the instructions you give on Registry Editor. I too have the same problem of videos both saved on my computer and online as well as music being choppy and the audio lagging. When i get to 4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 folder and open it i have key folder 0001-0009 including properties. Some of these folder do have "driverdesc" in them on the right side, but thats where im stuck. All of the ones i have only say "IDE Channel" without the word primary or secondary. Also, i dont see anything saying "master...." or "slave..." in either pane. Am i doing something wrong or looking in the wrong place? Thanks In Advance!
74 - Mark
Lowe, if you're using Windows Vista or Win7, these instructions may not apply correctly. Could also depend on your system configuration or age of the hardware. Maybe it's a system that doesn't have an option for primary and secondary IDE, and thus it only has "IDE Channel." I have a laptop that's about 3.5 years old and despite only accepting one hard drive, it still has Primary and Secondary IDE channels, so it may not be specific to form factor.
Also, if you don't have ANYTHING that says Master or Slave, that could be something else altogether. I show MasterDeviceTimingMode, MasterDeviceType, SlaveDeviceDetectionTimeout, and so on, alongside the MasterIdDataChecksum in the right pane.
Take another look, and/or let me know some details about your system make/model and current OS, and I might be able to find out more.
75 - Dave
Thnk you so much. I thought that I had tried eveything there was to fix this and when I read your solution it made perfect sense. I had been having choppy video for some time and when I read your registry solution about IDE controlllers it dawned on me that the problem had started after the replacement of my second hard drive. Followed your directions and VOILA!!, problem solved.