Two days ago I downloaded Biab Pro (build 299) to evaluate before possibly upgrading from Biab 2004 to the Ultrapluspak. Installed into the default location with no problem, but I can't get Real Tracks to play correctly. After I hit 'play', usually sometime within the next couple of minutes the audio will break up and slow down. This will continue for several minutes. All during this period from the time I hit 'play' Windows Task Manager shows bbw.exe as using almost 100 % of cpu. Meanwhile the controls and buttons stop responding and the dialog boxes will not open or only partially draw. If the song is set to loop then this can go on indefinitely. Sometimes the problem will resolve itself after a few minutes and the cpu usage will drop below 50% and the controls become active again. Here is what I have tried so far:


Shut off anti-virus
Shut off web browser
Turned off dsl modem
Changed audio drivers from a Sound Blaster usb card to the computer's integrated audio
Turned off DXi instruments
Turned off midi drivers
Changed default setting to not allow faster generation of Fast Tracks
Made song tempo match Real Styles tempo to eliminate stretching
Turned off reverb both in Real Tracks preferences and on the toolbar dialog.
Used the 'verify' button in Real Tracks Settings -- found no problem
Checked the help file, manual and FAQ for troubleshooting of audio breakup but could only find two suggestions -- to turn off video hardware acceleration which I did, and to ask on this forum.
I previously had used msconfig to use Selective Startup. I only have 5 items checked to start.
Have not defragged the hard drive recently -- will do so tonight.


Rarely I can hit 'play' and not have any problem at all. This happened a few minutes ago when I loaded my Biab file of How High the Moon at 140 bpm. I selected Real Style _JAZFRED which is also 140 bpm. From the moment it started cpu was under 50% and all controls were active. But while it was playing I hit 'freeze all tracks' so that it would not regenerate later, but after I stopped it and restarted it regenerated anyway (I did not force regeneration) and then immediately went into breakup. I was able to use 'freeze tracks' successfully once last night but I could not get it to work today with repeated attempts. It will say 'all tracks are frozen' but will regenerate them anyway.


The problem seems less severe if a style has fewer Real Tracks. For example earlier I played a demo file of a =CNORAHG style that only had a guitar Real Track. It was set to loop and it played through perfectly okay for 4 or 5 times before it started breaking up.


My system:
Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop
XP
Celeron 2.3 GHz (not a Pentium but speed wise it is supposed to equal a 1.4 GHz Pentium-M)
1 Gb ram (can't add more, already maxed out but at least XP doesn't hog it as much as Vista or 7)
Page file size 1533 Mb
Hard drive 5200 rpm 80 Gb, plus an 80 Gb usb backup drive.
Sigmatel AC97 internal audio; Soundblaster Mp3+ external usb sound card.
No external midi devices connected to the computer.
System and power settings setup for max performance.


I suspect that Real Tracks is just not going to work on my system. My question -- is this a known problem on certain systems and/or configurations?


Jim