PC crashing with Zoom of 20+ people

[Ron Stoppable]

Hi!

I bought a PCS PC in 2011 without a graphics card as I only intended to do office work and audio editing.

I'm now doing video editing (Adobe suite) and OBS streaming to Zoom but the Zoom always crashes at least once an hour when I've got around 20 people on Zoom, while also running OBS, chromium-based browser, soundboard, and virtual audio mixer. I can't replicate the problem when I've only got a few devices on Zoom.

Please can you suggest how I can solve this issue?
Maybe upgrading a component or maybe a gfx card?

Many thanks

 

[ubuysa]

When you're fully loaded open Task Manager, click on the Performance tab and then the Memory icon on the left. Post a screenshot of that.

 

[Ron Stoppable]

When you're fully loaded open Task Manager, click on the Performance tab and then the Memory icon on the left. Post a screenshot of that.

Won't be able to replicate the Zoom conditions til next Monday.

From what I remember though, having left Task Manager open during Zoom streams:

• RAM - Never seen usage above 8. There's 16 available.
• 
  
• CPU - Usage jumps up and down. Never consistently above 50% but often above one second and below the next.

Drives - OS and apps are installed to SSD. Files used in OBS are on the HDD.

 

[ubuysa]

Won't be able to replicate the Zoom conditions til next Monday.

From what I remember though, having left Task Manager open during Zoom streams:

• RAM - Never seen usage above 8. There's 16 available.
• 
  
• CPU - Usage jumps up and down. Never consistently above 50% but often above one second and below the next.

Drives - OS and apps are installed to SSD. Files used in OBS are on the HDD.

OK, but the first thing to check is whether any resource (including the network) is at capacity.

After that (and bear in mind that I've never used Zoom) check that the settings for Zoom are appropriate for the numbers of sessions you have.

Is it just Zoom that crashes or do other apps also crash when under load?

 

[Ron Stoppable]

Here's the Task Manager when Zoom's crashing.

Managed to recreate it on someone else's Zoom.
Typically Zoom (and no other application) crashes 3-4 times before going stable.
Pared down OBS to minimal scenes and filters.

 

[ubuysa]

That's Windows 7 isn't it?

 

[AgentCooper]

That's Windows 7 isn't it?

Oh no...

 

[SpyderTracks]

If that is still windows 7, you absolutely HAVE to upgrade to windows 10, it's not secure at all, and any troubleshooting is worthless as the OS is completely compromised and unprotectable:

Can you still get a Windows 10 upgrade for free?

Microsoft kept giving away free upgrades to Windows 10 on old hardware for more than eight years. The upgrades officially ended in 2023, but I've seen scattered reports that it still works for some people. So, do you feel lucky?

www.zdnet.com

 

[Ron Stoppable]

If that is still windows 7, you absolutely HAVE to upgrade to windows 10, it's not secure at all, and any troubleshooting is worthless as the OS is completely compromised and unprotectable:

Can you still get a Windows 10 upgrade for free?

Microsoft kept giving away free upgrades to Windows 10 on old hardware for more than eight years. The upgrades officially ended in 2023, but I've seen scattered reports that it still works for some people. So, do you feel lucky?

www.zdnet.com

Thanks Spydertracks - I'm backing up stuff and upgrading to Win10 this weekend. Seemed odd that CPU and RAM weren't maxing but Zoom crashes.

Also ever since I got the machine (so it's not just a Win7 thing) I occasionally I get random restarts where the bios says it can't find the C drive (SSD). I can fix it by turning off at the plug, waiting for a bit, then turning on again but could there be anything else causing it?

 

[ubuysa]

Also ever since I got the machine (so it's not just a Win7 thing) I occasionally I get random restarts where the bios says it can't find the C drive (SSD). I can fix it by turning off at the plug, waiting for a bit, then turning on again but could there be anything else causing it?

This I can see is a SATA SSD, so try unplugging it and reinserting it fully. It's not unusual to find it's just an iffy connector. One the other hand it might be a flaky SSD. When you boot the PC the boot drive has to come ready before the boot loader looks for the boot drive, one of the symptoms of a flaky (or even failing) SSD could be that it takes so long to come ready that the boot loader has already passed it over and decided it's not there.

 

[Ron Stoppable]

If that is still windows 7, you absolutely HAVE to upgrade to windows 10[/URL]

Thanks Spyder, I'm going to get a new machine.

Oh no...

Oh yes. But switching.

Just need a bit of a pointer on what to get.

After 9 years with a tower, I want a laptop with no numpad and a reliable trackpad. Mainly as a daily driver with weekly OBS-Zoom streaming at 1080p and occasional video editing.

The 14" Lafite Pro is the only chassis available on the site with no numpad and decent gfx options, but I don't know how good the trackpad is (Clevo NV41ME).

Both my potential options have
os win10 | gfx 1650 | ram 16gb | ssd 1TB NVMe

The differences are:
£1126 for PCS Lafite Pro 14" | i7-1165G7 | 3wd build then next day delivery
£1332 for Dell XPS 15 (2019) | i7-9750H | next day delivery

I'm leaning toward the Dell only because of the lack of information about the Lafite Pro (Clevo NV41ME) build quality, screen, keyboard and trackpad.

Please can you help?

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks Spyder, I'm going to get a new machine.


Oh yes. But switching.

Just need a bit of a pointer on what to get.

After 9 years with a tower, I want a laptop with no numpad and a reliable trackpad. Mainly as a daily driver with weekly OBS-Zoom streaming at 1080p and occasional video editing.

The 14" Lafite Pro is the only chassis available on the site with no numpad and decent gfx options, but I don't know how good the trackpad is (Clevo NV41ME).

Both my potential options have
os win10 | gfx 1650 | ram 16gb | ssd 1TB NVMe

The differences are:
£1126 for PCS Lafite Pro 14" | i7-1165G7 | 3wd build then next day delivery
£1332 for Dell XPS 15 (2019) | i7-9750H | next day delivery

I'm leaning toward the Dell because of the lack of information about the Lafite Pro (Clevo NV41ME) build quality, screen, keyboard and trackpad.

Please can you help?

You obviously don't see the absurdity in trying to use PCS's fora to get advice on whether you should buy a Dell?

We can ONLY offer advice on here about PCS builds I'm afraid.

 

[Ron Stoppable]

You obviously don't see the absurdity in trying to use PCS's fora to get advice on whether you should buy a Dell?

We can ONLY offer advice on here about PCS builds I'm afraid.

I know PCS are brilliant with PCs and gaming laptops and I want the Lafite Pro but need to know more before shelling out that amount on a laptop.

I've tried searching the forum for others' experiences with the Lafite Pro but can only find "don't use it with Linux and NVMe SSDs" and a checkmyspec from 10 days ago with no replies.

I don't know anything about the build quality, keyboard or trackpad of the Lafite Pro and it wouldn't do to order, only to send it back if the keyboard's too spongy or the trackpad is as crap as the one on my work laptop.

 

[ubuysa]

I know PCS are brilliant with PCs and gaming laptops and I want the Lafite Pro but need to know more before shelling out that amount on a laptop.

I've tried searching the forum for others' experiences with the Lafite Pro but can only find "don't use it with Linux and NVMe SSDs" and a checkmyspec from 10 days ago with no replies.

I don't know anything about the build quality, keyboard or trackpad of the Lafite Pro and it wouldn't do to order, only to send it back if the keyboard's too spongy or the trackpad is as crap as the one on my work laptop.

I can certainly appreciate that, but remember you have the opportunity to return it for a full refund if it's not to your liking.