Summary: Tuning Notebook (Laptop) for Music Production

Hi ,
During certain period of time I had unpleasant pops and clicks while recording music on my notebook. Seeking for solution I read through a number of topics related to such issues on this very forum and few other music dedicated forums. There were presented a number of  ideas  and  when compiled  together  it allowed  me  to  tune my notebook properly. So, please, find  this info  in a summarized form.  Let say... that’ s my way to say THANKS to people who have shared  their experience on the matter. There are no great details on each step.  If better info needed , please, search  the forum or Google by key words from the text below. 
 
 You will need the following utility software (either  freeware or at Torrent) to apply recommendations below :
-         Starter and  Proсess Explorer (both included in Total Commander package)
-         DPC Latency Checker
-         PCI Latency Tools
-         Powermizer or Riva Tuner
-         SpeedSwitch or RMClock
 
Common recommendations:
1. Install  Win XP SP3 with all possible updates  (Windows 7 probably good , but had no chance to test)
2. Updated  BIOS and video drivers 
 
I.  Proven actions to optimize notebook’s performance for music production :
 
1. It was found out , that NVIDIA Service  is damaging  sound flow due to generating huge  number of hardware interrupts (DPC’s latency spikes)  while supporting  perfect graphic effects even when  you are not going to play games . If you have NVIDIA then it is obligatory to switch it OFF, both as a)  NVIDIA as  service and  as b) starter of this service. The utility Starter is very helpful to deal with it.
2. Antivirus software to be switched OFF
3. If you plan to have both internet and music on the same notebook then create two hardware profiles , for example: COMMON  and SOUND  (MyComputer/Properties/Equipment/Profiles) . At SOUND profile one can cancel (select option “ Don’t use this item in this profile”)  all equipment which has no relation to music production like:  WiFi, modem, Ethernet, USB camera, card-readers, build-in sound card, COM and LPT ports which are not in use ,  build-in bus of  High Definition Audio.
4. Change default power consumption scheme to Desktop (ControlPanel/Power = Desktop)
5. Switch off all windows services which are of no use  (use Starter utility for this ). Note:  if you plan  to listen music using internal build-in sound card under COMMON profile then leave Windows Audio service working.
You can find a lot  of info on tweaking Windows services at Google, however, let me list services which remain working  on mine machine and are  enough for proper operations:

-Remote procedure calls( RPC)
- Themes
- Telephony (to connect Internet  via mobile phone )
- System of events СОМ+
- Server
- Workstation  
- Protected Storage (could be switched off too)
- Identification of shell’s equipment
-Server processes  DCOM
- Remote access dispatching  (could be switched off  too)
- Windows audio
-Plug and Play
- DNS client
- DHCP client
There colud be some services installed to support user software, like :
- PCI Latency Tool
- NI Hardware Service
Note: The installation of additional hardware like printers etc. may require to start few other services .

6. Define optimization of processor time and memory usage (MyComputer/Properties/Additional/Speed/Parameters/Additional/) where set: Processor time = Programs; MemoryUsage=Services (System cash)
7. Switch off swop-file (MyComputer/Properties/Additional/Speed/Parameters/Additional/Virtual Memory/Change )
8. Switch off windows sounds (ControlPanel/Sounds and Audio/SoundSchemes)
9. Switch off  “System Recovery “
10. Switch off  Maintenance of Journal on System Errors (MyComputer/Properties/Additional/Speed/Parameters/Boot and Recovery/Write event into system journal) 
 
II. Actions to optimize  SONAR  :
 
1. It is not obligatory but recommended to use ASIO drivers for sound cards if available. In case WDM drivers are performing stable and with acceptable latency, then there is no need to change it. If WDM performance is not sufficient and there are no original ASIO drivers then use shareware ASIO4ALL drivers . Note: there is no need to apply very last version of  ASIO4ALL , for example, version 2.7 was more stable at some configurations then 2.8 and etc. In addition, if you move to ASIO4ALL then take care to switch off with the help of Starter any start-up utilities of original WDM drivers, otherwise Sonar will spend long  time on load in tattempts to define  which driver to use. For example, Sound Blaster  WDM drivers are installing start-up utility with strange and long name  “SPI …bla bla bla.” Just switch it OFF.
2. Check and define reasonable buffer sizes in Sonar
3. Reread Sonar help on INI files. These files contain several parameters that allow certain optimization. 
 
III. Other actions to optimize notebook ‘s performance (confirmed but not always possible):
 
1.      Install shareware software PCI Latency Tools. It allows to define hold time (latency) for each of device on board. The longer latency-the longer  the device holds  PCI bus to exchange  data with it. Latency times is set in ms from  0  till 255 with 8 divisor ). However  too long  hold  time helps one device but spoil the work of another device, so don’t set maximum possible latency, apply just certain increment over  to get better performance (try+16 or +32 0r +64 ). Not all devices allow you to program their latencies. For example, I was able to program latencies of  FireWire , card-readers and PCI Express port only . When installed, PCI Latency Tools are recognized in the system both as driver and as a service.
2.      NVIDIA PowerMizer technology allows to manage number of parameters related to power consumption of the notebook. However, when operating it may conflict with sound cards resulting in pops and clicks due to too generating hardware interrupts too often. PowerMizer could be switched off inside NVIDIA Service, but if NVIDIA Service already disabled (as it was recommended above) then Powermizer could be switched off with the help of shareware Powermizer utility (or Riva Tuner). Note: these two utilities are not working if latest NVIDIA video drivers are installed. Then, you can change settings manually at windows register: see branch \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\  and there are several sub branches like: \CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\
Change 4 parameters like follows:  PerfLevelSrc = 2222, PowerMizerEnable =0, PowerMizerLevel = 1, PowerMizerLevelAC = 1
 It is easier to find these parameters with FIND command.
Can’t say it gives significant improvement, but certain improvement on quality of sound performance could be noticed.
3.      The fan in the notebook before switching ON and OFF is generating short but strong hardware interrupts (DPC latency spikes)  which are creating short one-time clicks in audio material. You can try to change BIOS settings or use utilities like SpeedFan or Hmonitor or RivaTuner  to make fan rotate permanenly without changing speed, iIf you notebook will allow such tuning. I personally failed to control speed of the fan on my Acer .
4.      Use PS2 mouse instead of  USB one
5.      Replace Ricoh FireWire chip set with chip set from Texas Instruments
6.      Force CPU to run in a single mode (with maximal performance) using utilities like SpeedSwitch (or more flexible one: RMClock)
7.      To reduce speed of the mouse ( ControlPanel/Display/AdvancedSettings ) if any creaks when moving controls on the screen
8.      To reduce quality of colors down to 16 bit  to free up certain memory. (looks like not so important for modern computers)
9.      To delete all applications (exe files) from desktop (only links are allowed) to free up certain memory. 
 
IV. Other ideas to optimize notebook’s performance (had  no chance  to test)
 
1. To replace  NVIDIA  video drivers with  Intel video  drivers
2. To replace  SATA АНСI drivers with  SATA IDE  and to change  BIOS settings for SATA from mode  AHCI to IDE mode
3. To update  from AGP video  to AGP8X
4. To reinstall Windows  as if for desktop computers (press F5 on launching Windows Setup ) and get chance to set  real IRQs manually for those devices that  are competing on physical bus.
5. To tune the following BIOS settings:  PCI-to-DRAM Prefetch (important for FireWire devices)  and  PCI Latency Timer
6. Disable НPET (High Precision Event Manager) in the  BIOS (section PowerManagement )
7. To verify that the type of Firewire device is stated properly in  the windows register : FW 800 (1394b) или FW 400 (1394a). Problem occurs if you connect a 1394a or 1394b FireWire device to a 1394b port." 1394b can handle either 400 or 800 whereas 1394a can only handle 400.
8. In case of manually update Windows from SP1 to SP2 you need to verify the bandwidth of Firewire device in windows register: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/ENUM/yourcardpart1/yourcardpart2. To find out your specific card numbers go to device manager and look up there properties there, big long alphanumeric no's one long line seperated by a /. add a DWORD value called SidSpeed = 3 = 400-800 (other values: 0 = 100; 1 = 200; 2 = 400 )
 
Hope it helps, 
Best regards from Russia