Question about stability

[GDAVIS01]

I have been using esignal for almost a year and I like the system but recently I have done some new things and now I cant tell if the computer is corrupt in someway - maybe the registry - or - if the system is low on memory or if esignal just cant have that many pages or charts open at one time without becoming unstable.
First let me decribe my system : P-4 @ 2.4ghz w/512 ram, hooked up to 4 moniters and running on windows 2000 professional and esignal with approx 12 or 14 different charts LOADED but not neccesarily OPEN on the screens. I do have SOME of them shrunken at the bottom of the screen. I am also running a trading platform and internet explorer, and lastly a chat window which is a stand alone program.
i know this sounds like alot of stuff and that it could be memory intensive, BUT - when i check system resources, I am using only 37% of my physical memory and 29% of my page filing.
So the question is why does the system act funny with that many charts and indicators loaded. Is it that there needs to be a certain amount of free ram and i am over the limit or is it a limit imposed by the esignal program itself
Thanks
Graham Davis

[Gavishti]

I couldn't quite figure out what kind of problem you are experiencing from your post. FWIW I just figured out that PNF charts sometimes mess up the right-click pop-up menu. Not ony in the PNF chart, but also in other charts. Sometimes I can recover just by unloading the PNF chart. I've also noticed that some efs cause problems even though they appear to work. Had one that I downloaded from the forum wipe out the X axis (time) on a chart. Are these the type of problems you are experiencing?

[GDAVIS01]

yes and in addition :
If I right click on a chart thats NOT in my main window, and select "remove" - to remove an indicator, the indicators thats are showing in the "list" of the remove area - are NOT the indicators that are on THAT chart. The indicators that are showing after I select and then right click, then choose remove ---- are the indicators that are on the MAIN chart. The central chart that has the esignal background behind it - the other charts, the ones that are "outside" the esignal program are not selectiong right.

here is another example of the same type of problem
I go to a periphery chart - this is a candlestick chart in advanced charts. I select the periphery chart and want to change the "type" to a line chart. The only chart that chages is the one in my main window - not the one I selected.

I hope this makes more sense

I wasnt having this problem untill i loaded a certain number of efs files and /or charts.

Thanks,
Graham Davis

[Gavishti]

Graham,

WOW! Your problems are worse than mine. At least I've been able to isolate the problems and get rid of them. You may want to check your line lists on each chart. If there are too many lines it could bog things down. You might also try removing one efs from all of your charts for a while. See if it makes a difference. Cycle through each of your efs. A pain, but a way to find out if one of them is causing problems.

[FibbGann]

Some efs's or an abundant amount of them will slow your PC considerably. I am running dual processors 3.2 pentium XEON dual channels with 2 gig ram. My task manager runs at about 8 to 10% on average. But, I noticed that esignal is slower at loading than any other program I have used. I am not sure why, and have never really found a good possible answer to why. It would be nice to find out. I don't think I need to add any hardware to my pc, If I do I will probably start blowing circuits all over the office. I was hoping esignal had some more details on this, but I have not been able to find any reasonable explanation.

I would recomend dropping the windows 2000 and getting XP PRO, that does make a nice difference.

Fibbgann

[GDAVIS01]

Thanks you for both of your responses :
I have cycled through the efs before and that has helped in the past. But even then the question remains because I have effectively freed up memory for the system. So, if I add ram will this remedy the problem so I don't HAVE to remove the efs's that I want to run together.
The dual 3.2 ghz machine sounds like a dragster -
does it compute all kinds of efs and charts without going wacko on you?
I understand it get bogged down -
that I can handle -
But right when you have a trade on and all the sudden your stuck with a view and CANT change it without tweekin things is not conducive to good trading. so, if anyone can help....
I do plan on adding memory tomorrow regardless -
somewhere - I forget which thread, I saw someone recommend changing the time template from dynamic to a certain number of days for certain charts. That makes sense to me because the majority of my charts are intraday. I haven't had a chance to test that out yet as I am hoping that this will fix with the memory upgrade.
Graham Davis

I just heard from a friend that using W2000 Pro that you can install on multiple machines without having to deal with the draconian registration requrements of Windows XP where you have to buy new copies for each box.

Understand that I have XP on all my machines, but I was wondering if the performance is that much better than W2000 pro?

S

[GDAVIS01]

OS

I had better add that I am NOT able to change the OS because this is on a network. At least as faras I know - the network HAS to be compatible with windows 2000 pro - at least that was what I was told when I came to the office to setup.
Graham

[pj909]

The problem is centered around user annotations to chart files. When you reuse the same chart file(s) to look at many different symbols you gradually increase the amount of processing required. Every trend line, note, fib retrace, MOB, etc you add to a chart does not go away when you change symbols. It is simply stored in a list. That list is being processed everytime you change symbols. I just completed my 3rd upgrade in 15 months just to keep up with the ever slowing response of eSignal's application. I know it can be done differently, because I used the standalone version of AGET and it had no problem dealing with all of my chart annotations. This problem will NOT get fixed until enough of us complain about it. The solution is there just not the will to implement it!!!

[FibbGann]

Xp is alot more stable that is what I like and the performanc I have found to be a little better. Is it worth changing I IMO I say yes. I run one XP software on all my pc's, although they are at one location. (I have 7 copies of XP anyways) I run about 15 to 20 efs's on my monster pc (server) and I still have a significant amount of drag on chart switching. So, I think from this point it is a software issue. (don't hold me to that!)

Fibbgann

[FibbGann]

I agree PJ909,

Although I use 0 chart anotations on my platform. No lines, no AGET, just efs's. And still there is alot of lag in loading. A software change is my most anticipated update I am waitng for in esignal. I
IMO this is the biggest downfall of the great esignal program. This issue has been talked about many times, we will just have to wait and see.

Fibbgann