[blindLaw] FW: [JAWSBeta-Info] TSN: On Dell computers, Windows becomes sluggish, Virtual memory errors appear, or applications unexpectedly close or crash when Waves MaxxAudio Service is running.

Capelle, Michael capellem at fastmail.com
Thu Feb 24 16:12:33 UTC 2022 

With my experience, I have had better luck with Lenovo and HP, nothing but issues with dell.

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Lauren Bishop via BlindLaw
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2022 10:08 AM
To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Lauren Bishop <laurenbishop96 at icloud.com>
Subject: Re: [blindLaw] FW: [JAWSBeta-Info] TSN: On Dell computers, Windows becomes sluggish, Virtual memory errors appear, or applications unexpectedly close or crash when Waves MaxxAudio Service is running.

I have heard that if you have headphones plugged in before you boot up your computer, the computer will recognize them. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 24, 2022, at 10:52 AM, Maitreya Shah via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Thank you for this helpful note, David. I have been tired of these 
> issues with my Dell XPS.
> Although the performance significantly improves after disabling the 
> waves max audio service, the laptop stops recognizing all external 
> devices including headphones. I do need to plug in headphones 
> frequently, so it is a bad tradeoff.
> I was wondering if there is an alternate to waves max audio that would 
> work with the Dell machine?
> All best,
> Maitreya.
> 
>> On 2/11/22, Andrews, David B (DEED) via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hello Everyone
>> 
>> For some time now, some people who use the JAWS screen reader 
>> occasionally experience periods of unresponsiveness, slow downs, 
>> freezing up, etc. While this information was anecdotal in nature at 
>> first, it turns out there was a cause. It applies to some Dell laptops and some software they use.
>> 
>> Personally I had this problem, and have disabled the service on my 
>> computer – we shall see.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Subject: Fwd: [JAWSBeta-Info] TSN: On Dell computers, Windows becomes 
>> sluggish, Virtual memory errors appear, or applications unexpectedly 
>> close or crash when Waves MaxxAudio Service is running.
>> 
>> This message may be from an external email source.
>> Do not select links or open attachments unless verified. Report all 
>> suspicious emails to Minnesota IT Services Security Operations Center.
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I thought it would be a good idea for all of you to be aware of this 
>> issue with Waves MaxxAudio Service that comes with many Dell systems. 
>> This can affect users with JAWS, Fusion, or ZoomText installed:
>> https://support.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Bullet
>> in/1786<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%
>> 2F%2Fsupport.freedomscientific.com%2FSupport%2FTechnicalSupport%2FBul
>> letin%2F1786&data=04%7C01%7Cdavid.b.andrews%40state.mn.us%7Cbd244a65d
>> 30140be40c008d9ec1fc7ee%7Ceb14b04624c445198f26b89c2159828c%7C0%7C0%7C
>> 637800443507475455%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIj
>> oiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=bjiAzw%2F7d3Cxq
>> 0mMs2bPIaVvHPegHRvy6MvoHIbcPbs%3D&reserved=0>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Short Description
>> 
>> On Dell computers, Windows becomes sluggish, Virtual memory errors 
>> appear, or applications unexpectedly close or crash when Waves 
>> MaxxAudio Service is running.
>> 
>> Problem
>> 
>> If your Dell PC or laptop uses the Waves MaxxAudio Service for its 
>> onboard audio chipset, problems may occur the longer you use the 
>> computer. Windows® may become sluggish. Applications such as JAWS® 
>> or Microsoft Teams may close or crash unexpectedly. Virtual memory errors might occur.
>> 
>> See the Detailed Description section below before continuing to the 
>> Solution if you wish to have more background information.
>> 
>> Solution
>> 
>> To disable or enable the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application:
>> 
>>  1.  Open Task Manager (the shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+ESC).
>>  2.  Press the TAB key once. If this navigates to More Details, then 
>> press the SPACEBAR to show more details.
>>  3.  Navigate to the Startup tab.
>>  4.  Navigate to the list of items table.
>>  5.  Type w to navigate to the items starting with the letter w.
>>  6.  Press the DOWN ARROW, if needed to navigate to Waves MaxxAudio 
>> Service Application. If it is not in the list, then this is not the 
>> cause of the problem.
>>  7.  With Waves MaxxAudio Service Application selected, press ALT+A 
>> to disable it.
>>  8.  Restart the computer.
>>  9.  Use the computer for a few hours or so, without rebooting, until 
>> you are convinced the performance issues no longer exist. This may 
>> take several sessions.
>>  10. If the problem persists and you want to reenable Waves MaxxAudio 
>> Service Application, follow steps 1 through 8 but in step 8, press 
>> ALT+N to enable it.
>> 
>> Note:
>> 
>> The only real downside to disabling the Waves MaxxAudio Service 
>> Application is that the PC will no longer dynamically respond to 
>> plugging in a different output audio device. For example, if you plug 
>> in headphones, the computer will not use them until rebooting.
>> 
>> Detailed Description
>> 
>> Problem: Many computers include an onboard audio chipset that uses 
>> the “Waves Sound Maxx Audio Service†. When this service is 
>> running, your system performance is impacted when your system’s 
>> on-board audio is being used by various audio apps. Accessibility 
>> software is an example of audio software which makes use of the 
>> system’s audio interface in a way which has an impact on how the 
>> Waves Maxx Audio Service processes audio. The result is that over 
>> time, your system memory is not freed as applications like a screen 
>> reader submit audio to be output. Eventually, your system will begin 
>> making heavy use of the Virtual memory and memory pages. At some 
>> point enough memory will be used where Windows will need to begin closing applications to recover memory so that the system can continue to operate.
>> When Windows unexpectedly closes application processes an application 
>> will either gracefully quit or an application may crash. For example, 
>> the Microsoft Teams software will often crash, whereas Google Chrome 
>> may simply exit gracefully. No crash dumps are generally generated 
>> when these symptoms occur.
>> 
>> Troubleshoot: To troubleshoot your system, run the msinfo32 app and 
>> tab to the system summary of information and if you find that the 
>> amount of available physical memory is less than 2 GB, typically as 
>> low as 850 MB of available memory, and if the system is using a large 
>> amount of virtual memory as much as 3 to 4 times your physical amount 
>> of memory, and your page file space is significantly greater than it 
>> usually is when you first boot up the machine, then it is very likely 
>> you have this issue. You can check this by rebooting your system and 
>> then load msinfo32. Examine the memory values that are listed under 
>> Summary. Once you know your startup values you can use the machine 
>> for 3 or 4 hours. After that time, if you examine the same msinfo32 
>> information and you find you have little memory left or unexpectedly 
>> large amounts of memory is being used when you have almost no 3rd party apps running, then you likely have this issue.
>> 
>> For example, for a typical system with 16GB of physical RAM we would 
>> expect Windows 10 to bootup and have all services running with around 
>> 12.8 GB of RAM available of use. The total Virtual memory would 
>> typically be 18GB of RAM with the available virtual memory of 14.8GB 
>> and a Page file space of 2.8GB. If after 8 hours of use we close all 
>> applications and reexamine the
>> msinfo32 summary information we should find the memory values to be 
>> near the values we had when we first booted up. It may be a little 
>> bit lower but if you have the issue described here then you would 
>> find the amount of physical memory to be less than 1GB of RAM and the 
>> total Virtual Memory to be 48GB or greater and the amount of Page 
>> file space to be more than 8GB. We have seen that Windows can have 
>> significant performance issues and even will begin closing apps in as 
>> little as 2 hours of use. This largely depends on how much one is using the machine.
>> 
>> Cause: The issue is not an issue directly caused by the accessibility 
>> software or by audio software like Teams. It is actually caused by 
>> the Waves Max Audio Service. We are in discussion with the 
>> manufacturer to see what can be done. But, for now, there is no good 
>> solution that Vispero can programmatically implement in our software 
>> which solves the problem. Intel will need to implement a solution on 
>> their end. Fortunately, the Waves Max Audio Service is not essential 
>> to the functioning of your computer’s audio. Applications, 
>> including screen readers and low vision software and other 3rd party 
>> applications that use audio can make use of the Realtek audio device without the use of the Sound Maxx Audio Service.
>> 
>> Workaround Solution: Follow the Solution section above to prevent the 
>> Waves MaxxAudio Service Application from starting when the computer turns on.
>> 
>> The following command line is another option to temporarily end the 
>> Waves MaxxAudio Service until the next reboot if you still want the 
>> service to automatically start up when the computer turns on:
>> 
>>  1.  Open cmd.exe as an elevated Administrator.
>>  2.  Type the following command: “taskkill /F /IM Wavessvc64.exe† 
>> and press ENTER.
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> --
> Maitreya Shah (he/ him)
> LLM Candidate and Dean’s Merit Scholar, University of Pennsylvania Law 
> School (2021-22) Associate Editor, University of Pennsylvania’s Asian 
> Law Review (2021-22) B.A. LL.B (Hons.), Gujarat National Law 
> University (2015-20)
> +91 8320964462 | +1 908 720 8795
> 
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