Vista Stuttering

[mujjuman]

afreet, I mean your Windows installation... something must have gone screwy and is causing your computer to do those things.

I also advise a reinstallation, but I know how it is when you have too many important files on your harddrive to do that.

In that case, if you CAN afford to buy a new HDD then please do so. I wouldnt want you to lose any important files, etc. accidentally as a result of some Neowinians telling you to reinstall on the same hard drive :p

That said, I've done a few "reinstalls" where I let it rename my Windows folder, etc. (as well as overwrite in some cases) but it still ended up messing up my computer really badly, so I was just forced to reformat all those times. Just my own personal experience, that's why I am advising against it.

[afreet]

Hi again everyone, I've had time now to reinstall everything on a new hard drive and unfortunately I'm still having similar problems :( I'm happy to have the new drive because now everything is backed up fully, and I got it pretty cheap, but I really need to figure out what's going on! The problem is very similar, but now generally causes less stuttering and more prolonged stalls (several seconds at a time). During these stalls I can still maximize/minimize stuff, and I can move around in some programs but not others. Sound still cuts out, and web browsers completely freeze (firefox and internet explorer).

I'm starting to notice that the problem only occurs when I do something that connects to the internet, but connecting doesn't always cause it. For instance, I can start up firefox (or internet explorer, makes no difference) and browse for a while fine, then suddenly everything freezes, while other times it freezes up immediately upon starting the browser. The % highest active time on the hard drive shoots up to 100% and now instead of repeated spikes, it plateaus at 100% for the whole time of the freeze, even though the actual read/write amount is frequently minimal during this plateau (see the image below, where I missed the beginning but the end is exactly where the plateau drops back down to nothing and I could once again browse). Once the freeze is done I still can't connect to any web sites for about another minute or so, though everything else goes back to normal. The same thing can happen when I'm only accessing my router through my browser, and also happens most times that I reboot my computer, which I'm starting to suspect happens because startup programs are accessing the internet. I just this morning realized that I had been playing an offline game for several hours yesterday with absolutely no problems, so then I tried playing an online game and after 10 minutes the entire computer froze (both games were similarly and highly graphics and processor intensive).

I really don't have any idea how my networks connection could be causing the % highest active time of the hard disk to spike and freeze my computer, and I don't know whether one or other other or neither are the symptoms or causes of the problem. I now have tried reinstalling windows on a new hard drive, I've tried taking out 2GBs of RAM, then the other 2GBs just to see if my RAM was causing it, I've replaced the power supply, and I have yet to fix whatever is going on. I'm thinking at this point is has to be the motherboard because there's not much else physically in my computer, and with the new suspicion that my network connection is part of the problem and I don't have a separate network card, I'm hoping this will work (oh yeah, I have integrated sound as well). Does anyone have any ideas that could save me from having to buy a new motherboard?

[WHS]

I have 2 suggestions:

1. run Process Explorer and look specifically at the Hardware Interrupts and DPC's (usually found directly behind the Idle process on top). If those use a lot of CPU (say more than 3% each), then you may have a buffer overflow somewhere.

2. run this program and read the whole page so that you understand how to interpret the numbers. If things do not seem normal, you can then venture into the debugging mode as they suggest.

[afreet]

Ok, I followed your suggestions but have to admit that I only have a partial understanding of what they're talking about... Anyway, the DPC latency checker shows massive spikes repeating regularly every 3-4 seconds, and corresponding perfectly with the % highest active time (see below). The process explorer during this time kept popping up 4-8% CPU utilization spikes for the DPCs that seemed to correspond with the DPC checker. The website you pointed me to suggested disabling a number of different devices, the only two of which I have are integrated sound and network. I tried disabling both during a round of stuttering but didn't see a drop, though I'm not sure if it should be immediate or not. The stutters still seemed to last about the same amount of time as they always did though. The only way I can consistently initiate the stutters is by accessing the network (I would say internet except that it happened accessing my router through the web browser as well), and I was still able to initiate it after disabling the sound, but even if the network connection isn't the problem I don't know how to initiate it without using the network, so I can't get it stuttering while the network is disabled. Just to reiterate (because I know someone is thinking it already :) I have already tried all of the latest device drivers to no avail.

Here are the performance monitor and DPC latency checker graphs for the beginning and end of two different batches of lags:

[WHS]

Hmm, very interesting. Massive Q'ing of interrupts going on. Those interrupts must be coming from somewhere. From what you described, I can only imagine it coming from the disk or the internet connection. I have to think about that (it is 1.30AM in my neck of the woods). I will get back to you tomorrow. In the meantime you could check 2 things:

1. Get off the router and connect directly to the modem. Just to eliminate the router as one source of the problem - (the modem being the other possibility).

2. Check the OS disk (I assume that is C:) for errors. You can do that either in the C: Properties > Tools > Error Checking or in Command Prompt with CHKDSK C: /R - or any other good method you usually use.

[soldier1st]

run process monitor and see what it says and go under the start menu and run sigverif and see what drivers are digitaly signed and as your running 64 bit vista you need to run signed 64bit drivers and if it only happens when you connect to the net it sounds like you may have malware also have you checked the event viewer and spotted any errors and app hangs n such?also could you generate a health report and see what it says?also if your HDD is being accessed alot then thats strange as the disk should not be accessed 24/7.

[afreet]

WHS: I just checked the router and had the same problem when I was connected directly to the modem, so that's not it. I also use a laptop through the router (and thus the modem too) and have never had a problem with it, and furthermore the laptop does not experience any of the problems even while the desktop is freezing and stuttering away. I don't know if that helps :) As for the OS, I have run chkdisk in the past and have even found errors, but am experiencing the same problems even after doing a clean install on a brand new hard drive.

soldier1st: I'm getting 3 unsigned drivers in c:\windows\nvtmpinst: nvcpl.chm, nvcpl.cpl, and nvcplui.exe, which are all nvidia things. I haven't seen anything popping up in the event viewer, nothing hanging, and I don't think it could be malware because like I said above, this is a fresh install on a new hard drive, same problem. I also run spybot regularly and keep avast always on (tried symantec too, also tried getting rid of them just in case they were the problem).

[Typhon]

What about PCI latency settings? Try setting it to 32 in the bios. Can anyone confirm if this could be it? Oh yea did you tri new drivers for audio and Ethernet controller?

[afreet]

I have tried new drivers and they definitely don't work. I just tried changing the latency to 32 (it was at 64) and it did not solve the problem either.

Is it still even possible that this is a software issue? I'm really close to getting a new motherboard, but at this point my wife would kill me if even that didn't solve the stuttering...

[afreet]

Hi everyone, just to add to what I've already said, I tried this time completely unplugging the cable modem during the stuttering and the DPC spikes kept going for their normal amount of time, and I have now completely replaced the cable modem and still am having the same problem, so I'm pretty sure now that the problem is not caused by any of the peripheral network hardware. My motherboard is still under warranty so unless I can figure this out tonight, I'm sending it back tomorrow and will hopefully get it back within a week or so, at which point I'm sure the problem will still be there and I can officially consider my computer haunted :)

[zhangm Supervisor]

Hi everyone, just to add to what I've already said, I tried this time completely unplugging the cable modem during the stuttering and the DPC spikes kept going for their normal amount of time, and I have now completely replaced the cable modem and still am having the same problem, so I'm pretty sure now that the problem is not caused by any of the peripheral network hardware. My motherboard is still under warranty so unless I can figure this out tonight, I'm sending it back tomorrow and will hopefully get it back within a week or so, at which point I'm sure the problem will still be there and I can officially consider my computer haunted :)

Once you prove that it is haunted, you can sell it on E-bay and make enough to buy a new one.

[McSmiggins]

Just out of interest, can you post a "normal" process list for your machine?

Also, what parts of the nVidia software do you have installed? Most importantly, do you have their firewall/App Armour/Network Access Manager software installed?

[BluDrgn]

When I had this issue, it was due to a corrupt memory module. Try downloading and running memory tests to see for sure.

Have you tried to run chkdsk and scan for bad sectors?

You may also need to update your motherboard bios - it can become corrupt and can cause problems like this or sometime the version that shipped with it did not include code for new hardware that may be connected -

[afreet]

BluDrgn: I tested the memory by completely removing half of it, then the other half, so unless I have the exact same problem on completely different sticks I don't think that's it. I did run chkdisk, but have also had this problem on consecutive brand new hard drives now. I have also updated my motherboard bios and that didn't help.

McScmiggins: During different reinstalls I have had a range of nVidia software installed, but at the moment have nothing beyond the basic drivers. Here's my process list at the moment, though I've also tried quitting everything I can and still haven't been able to get rid of the problem:

Process PID CPU Description Company Name

System Idle Process 0 96.92

Interrupts n/a Hardware Interrupts

DPCs n/a 0.77 Deferred Procedure Calls

System 4

smss.exe 404

csrss.exe 472

wininit.exe 516

services.exe 572

svchost.exe 740

dllhost.exe 4748 COM Surrogate Microsoft Corporation

nvvsvc.exe 824

rundll32.exe 1256

svchost.exe 852

svchost.exe 888

svchost.exe 208

audiodg.exe 460

svchost.exe 304

dwm.exe 296 Desktop Window Manager Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 332

taskeng.exe 1392 Task Scheduler Engine Microsoft Corporation

taskeng.exe 2336

taskeng.exe 4508

svchost.exe 680

SLsvc.exe 1028

svchost.exe 1056

svchost.exe 1232

aswUpdSv.exe 1376

ashServ.exe 1416

spoolsv.exe 1648

svchost.exe 1672

AppleMobileDeviceService.exe 2660

mDNSResponder.exe 2676

svchost.exe 2728

svchost.exe 2808

svchost.exe 3020

SearchIndexer.exe 3056

ashMaiSv.exe 2376

ashWebSv.exe 2620

FNPLicensingService.exe 2200

iPodService.exe 3088

lsass.exe 588

lsm.exe 596

csrss.exe 536

winlogon.exe 772

explorer.exe 1384 Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation

MSASCui.exe 2244 Windows Defender User Interface Microsoft Corporation

rundll32.exe 2268 Windows host process (Rundll32) Microsoft Corporation

TeaTimer.exe 2276 0.77 System settings protector Safer Networking Limited

iTunes.exe 1864 iTunes Apple Inc.

firefox.exe 3760 Firefox Mozilla Corporation

procexp.exe 3688 Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

procexp64.exe 2328 1.54 Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

ashDisp.exe 2472 avast! service GUI component ALWIL Software

iTunesHelper.exe 2512 iTunesHelper Module Apple Inc.

acrotray.exe 2532 AcroTray Adobe Systems Inc.

GoogleUpdate.exe 2860 Google Installer Google Inc.

[Raikou Tch]

I have this same problem. For me, it's the video drivers (NVIDIA) which keep doing it. Perhaps the hard drive spike corresponds to a loading of data into the graphics memory buffer or something like that. The only thing that stops the stuttering is to "disable" the card in Device Manager, which just temporarily kills the drivers.

[hadouken]

Last time I had stuttering like this, it was caused by a faulty power supply that couldn't provide enough juice to all of my components. At the time, I read that mouse cursor stuttering is a good indication of power issues although you've replaced the PSU. What make/model have you got now?