SB2 "jerkiness" in playback, menus?

[pricebrad]

Hello,
I'm running Slim Server 6.2.1 on Mac OS X 10.3.9. I have SqueezeBox 2 with the latest firmware, connected via 802.11g WPA at 70-80% signal strength.

Most of the time everything works wonderfully. Once in awhile, the SB2 behaves in a manner that I can best describe as "jerky". If in play mode, the music comes through in half-second "blips" with 2 or 3-second gaps between. Navigating the menus becomes almost impossible. If not playing any music when this happens, then menu navigation becomes extremely slow (2-3 seconds for each command.)

Any ideas on what might be causing this? It seems when this happens if I try to use the web interface to slim server on the server Mac, it's also very slow. If I stop slim server, restart it, and power off the SB2 and power it back on, everything works again. This isn't bad for me, but it's unlikely that other members of my family will put up with this.

I don't think it's a wireless issue, although if you think it is, I could possibly rig up a wired connection to test.

[danco]

You might want to open Activity Monitor and see what is happening.

It seems that some process (and I'm still not sure whether it a perl process associated with SlimServer or whether it is Safari) is just using nearly 100% of CPU, which block everything else.

[DrNic]

Accepting when you are using the web interface, does this happen with any timed interval. Every 30 minutes?

Nic

[pricebrad]

I did check Activity monitor, and yes it's the "perl" process that takes up about 95% CPU. However this happens from time to time anyway. That is, I often notice the CPU meter spike, and find it's the perl process, even when squeezebox is behaving normally.

Regarding a timed interval like 30 minutes, no I would not say the problem occurs at a timed interval. I could use SB2 for days and have no problems (family is using the Christmas playlist heavily these days) and then one day I'll have the "jerkiness" problem. Once it happens, I almost always have to restart slim server and power cycle the SB2 to fix it.

[pricebrad]

Oh and regarding the perl process... I can't be certain, either, whether this is a perl process related to slim server or something else, but I'd be inclined to say it's slim server, since I can witness this when I'm doing little else on my Mac (e.g. no other user apps running.)

Is there some way in Mac OS X I can ID the slim server process so I can "nice" it?

[pricebrad]

I've tried everything I can find though the slim server web admin interface, I rebuild the index nightly, tried resetting the SB2... nothing seems to get rid of the menu slowness, although I've not experienced the music playback problem with the gapping... I think the playback problem is related to CPU usage on the server. It seems to happen when I'm using the Mac for something else. I don't think slim server or SB is to blame for that.

However the menu problem persists. It's driving my wife nuts. She understandably expects the remote for SB2 to be as responsive as the remote for the CD player was. Instead, when navigating the menus there's a 5-10 second delay. What could be causing this?

[haikf]

I had the exact same problem on my side.
Closing some non used applications on the Mac helped a bit but mainly disabling or setting very high the frequency when slimserver is scanning the iTunes library for updates (by default it is every hour) solved the problem. Your problem might come at the same interval as it is set.
My SD2 works 99% perfect now.

[Skunk]

What could be causing this?

spyware. can't you reformat your mac?

edit: or itunes as noted above :)