I have a tick timer and have written a script to reset the timer so that my character can rest just before the tick happens so I can decrease spell memorization time. This works perfectly on my work computer which runs Windows 98 with and AMD 533 processor.
However, at home I'm using Windows ME on a Compaq with an Intel Celeron 566 processor, all other hardware is pretty much the same. The problem is the timer lags, even on the first firing it is lagging. I set it for 1 minute and it lags about 15-30 seconds on the first firing, then gets worse by 5-20 seconds each consecutive firing.
The program run timer on the bottom of the screen sometimes stalls at home, but it will catch up. At work the run timer never seems to stall.
Any ideas?
Imlet
That is very bizarre. It is hard to imagine that an inbuilt timer is so far out that it can be off 15 seconds per minute.
Do you have other problems on the PC with the lag? eg. hanging or slow response?
Funny you ask, actually yes I do have lag with sound whenever a wav file is played either by MUSHclient or another software program as an alert. The whole computer will freeze for approximately 2 seconds, but this is only after I have opened many software applications simultaneously and have had them open for a while. A re-boot fixes that problem.
This lag has stumped my MIS guy at work too. Possibly it is an issue with Windows ME.
Imlet
I would have to guess that the lag is affecting the timer response. I've never had anyone complain that the timers are about by 25% before, and you say yourself that it only affects one of your PCs.
I know how frustrating these problems can be - I have a PC here right now that just freezes up (in any program) if you leave it alone for an hour.
Check your systems hardware and drivers. I have a similar problem in 98se, but I know it is caused by a slightly faulty AGP slot that is causing a memory leak. If you open a lot of programs on a system which has a small obscure leak you eventually get odd behaviour in some programs. It can effect almost everything, but some (like Infernal Exploder) will crash quickly as a result. Others will just produce progressively unusual behaviour, such as your timer delay and sound playback problems. It may also be secondary programs that are loaded at startup. For instance an older version of the zip drive tasks that maintained info on the drive icons and what is on a disk, etc., caused the task manager to become unstable. After removing it the computer worked fine, only it now can't tell that a disk has been ejected and a new one inserted. Gotta remember to look for a new driver for that one of these days, but I don't use that computer much myself anyway. ;) Unfortunately it is usually a lot harder to find the source of a problem than it was on either of my computers.
Unfortunately my AGP is built in to the motherboard, wonderful Compaq design, and it's a soldered on BGA. What I plan on doing is taking a known good (my work computer) and ghosting the hard-drive and putting the hard-drive into the Compaq (possibly with minimal drivers) to try to narrow down whether it is a hardware or software problem. I may try the opposite also, from home to work. Until then one of my MUDing groupies sets-up their timer. :-)
Thank you for the responses,
Imlet