Solved occasional half-second audio/video stutter in windows 8.1

Dan Szat

New Member
Messages
7
***SOLVED***
Problem was an older PCI SATA I controller with a VIA chipset (NOT THE GTX 670). Replacing it with a newer PCIex1 SATA III card with a ASMedia chipset has eliminated the occasional stutter
************************************************************************************************************************



My PC

CPU: i7 2700K
MoBo: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 670
Surround Sound Receiver: Onkyo 515
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro


Hello,
My pc has been running great for about two years now, but starting a couple weeks ago I have been noticing an occasional audio "hiccup" once or twice per hour where everything seems to lag out for a half-second. If a computer could fart it would sound like this stutter I am talking about.

This audio stutter occurs whether i am listening to music, watching videos, or playing games.
I have since performed a clean re-install of windows 8.1, and run the system file checker to verify the integrity of my OS files, but the problem persists. I have tried two of the most recent Nvidia drivers (including a beta) for the GTX 670, and will try reverting back to older drivers next.

I don't believe it to be a problem with the receiver because I have tested it on other inputs (TV, PS3) and the problem is not seen (heard) there.

Any ideas of what may be causing this problem?
Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 2700K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16GB Samsung Low Voltage RAM (1600)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 670
    Sound Card
    Onkyo NR-515 Surround Sound Receiver
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ASUS VS247HP, 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung 830 SSD,
    8x 3TB 7200rpm drives (Barracudas and Hitachis)
    PSU
    Seasonic 750-X
    Case
    Cooler Master Storm Sniper
    Cooling
    Phanteks PH-TC14PE
    Mouse
    Logitech m510
    Internet Speed
    15Mb down, 1 up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast (free)
How many programs are you running? Post your complete System Specs in your profile. How are you connected to the AVRS?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Mint 17.2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite C850D-st3nx1
    CPU
    AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon (tm) HD Graphics 1.40 GHZ
    Memory
    12GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon™ HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    Crucial M500 240GB SSD
    Mouse
    Logitech M525
    Internet Speed
    45/6 - ATT U-Verse
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    None needed. It is Linux.
    Other Info
    Arris NVG589 Gateway; Router - Cisco RV320; Switch - Netgear GS108 8-Port Switch & Trendnet TEG-S50g 5-Port Switch; Access Points - Engenius ECB350, Trendnet TEW-638APB; NAS - Lenovo ix2-4; Printer - Brother HL-2280DW; Air Print Server - Lantronix XPrintServer

    A/V UPS - Tripp-Lite Smart 1500LCD 1500 Va/900 W.
**System specs added to profile**


Monitor 1 connected via DVI from GPU. Monitor 2 connected to Onkyo receiver, which is connected to GPU via HDMI.

OS on 256GB SSD. All other media and games on other 3TB 7200rpm HDDs.

I have a couple torrent clients constantly running, as well as 10 or so google chrome tabs, logitech setpoint, avast, and potplayer or media player classic playing audio or video.

**EDIT
I have not had this problem for the two years preceding these past few weeks even though I regularly did quite a bit more multitasking than I am doing now. Yesterday I was seeing the stutter problem while playing FTL (a small indie game that uses very little resources) and nothing else running besides utorrent, qbittorrent, and setpoint.
Task Manager shows CPU utilization at under 10% in most situations (Only video encoding brings it near 100%).
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 2700K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16GB Samsung Low Voltage RAM (1600)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 670
    Sound Card
    Onkyo NR-515 Surround Sound Receiver
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ASUS VS247HP, 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung 830 SSD,
    8x 3TB 7200rpm drives (Barracudas and Hitachis)
    PSU
    Seasonic 750-X
    Case
    Cooler Master Storm Sniper
    Cooling
    Phanteks PH-TC14PE
    Mouse
    Logitech m510
    Internet Speed
    15Mb down, 1 up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast (free)
You can try: Process Lasso Portable (32-bit) - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com
To monitor all the running processes in your PC. In addition, it will re-prioritize the processes to improve responsiveness.

You can also look at the Windows Search index database Windows.edb under:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows
If this file is too big in size (can grow to many GB's) then it can slow down your PC. Open Services and disable Windows Search, delete the file Windows.edb then enable Windows Search again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
You can try: Process Lasso Portable (32-bit) - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com To monitor all the running processes in your PC. In addition, it will re-prioritize the processes to improve responsiveness.

You can also look at the Windows Search index database Windows.edb under:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows
If this file is too big in size (can grow to many GB's) then it can slow down your PC. Open Services and disable Windows Search, delete the file Windows.edb then enable Windows Search again.

For the past few days I've been using screen capture software to record process lasso and task manager while running games, video or music to see what's happening when the stutter occurs.

When playing back the recordings to the moment of the stutter I am not seeing any strange processes pop up near the top of the list when I sort them by CPU usage.
Furthermore, at the moment of the stutters/freezes, there isn't a spike in CPU usage at all. The stutter events that I have recorded have all been at below 20% CPU usage.
When I listen to music at the same time as running Handbrake to encode videos, the CPU regularly runs near 100%, but that doesn't seem to cause any higher incidences of stutter events. So it doesn't seem to be a matter of the processor becoming temporarily overloaded by some rogue process.

One interesting thing about recording the stutter/freeze events with the screen capture software is that the stutter is not seen or heard when I watch the playback of the recording. At times when I remember the sound freezing up for a moment, the playback is perfectly smooth and stutter free.


I tried deleting the windows.edb file and restarting windows search but that didn't do anything (I didn't expect it to since I had just recently reinstalled windows 8, and the file size was <700MB).


My next step is to take everything apart tomorrow and put it all back together again to make sure all my connections are good because I have moved the pc around a bit in the recent past and maybe something came loose. Kinda running low on ideas.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 2700K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16GB Samsung Low Voltage RAM (1600)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 670
    Sound Card
    Onkyo NR-515 Surround Sound Receiver
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ASUS VS247HP, 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung 830 SSD,
    8x 3TB 7200rpm drives (Barracudas and Hitachis)
    PSU
    Seasonic 750-X
    Case
    Cooler Master Storm Sniper
    Cooling
    Phanteks PH-TC14PE
    Mouse
    Logitech m510
    Internet Speed
    15Mb down, 1 up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast (free)
No progress today. Took the pc apart and re-assembled it but that didn't help. Tried a different video capture program (ShadowPlay) to record a couple freezes, but again, playback of the recordings of the stutter/freeze events shows no stutter.

EDIT:
Tried using the optical toslink to see if this problem could be isolated to the hdmi connection, but no, the stutter occurs when using the optical cable as well as the hdmi.

Tomorrow I will connect a different pc to my surround sound receiver and see if the stutter occurs on that one as well.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 2700K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16GB Samsung Low Voltage RAM (1600)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 670
    Sound Card
    Onkyo NR-515 Surround Sound Receiver
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ASUS VS247HP, 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung 830 SSD,
    8x 3TB 7200rpm drives (Barracudas and Hitachis)
    PSU
    Seasonic 750-X
    Case
    Cooler Master Storm Sniper
    Cooling
    Phanteks PH-TC14PE
    Mouse
    Logitech m510
    Internet Speed
    15Mb down, 1 up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast (free)
Today I installed the HD3000 graphics for the 2700k and used the motherboard outputs to connect my monitors and sound system. Using the integrated graphics, the stutter did not occur in 4 or so hours of testing. When I hooked the 670 back in and disabled the iGPU again a stutter occurred with 45 minutes of playing a game.

So now I know that the problem has something to do with my GPU (GTX 670).
I have tried a number of the most recent drivers available from Nvidia but the stutter occurs no matter which driver I use.
I guess that means it must be a hardware issue, so I will take this problem to Nvidia next.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 2700K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16GB Samsung Low Voltage RAM (1600)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 670
    Sound Card
    Onkyo NR-515 Surround Sound Receiver
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ASUS VS247HP, 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung 830 SSD,
    8x 3TB 7200rpm drives (Barracudas and Hitachis)
    PSU
    Seasonic 750-X
    Case
    Cooler Master Storm Sniper
    Cooling
    Phanteks PH-TC14PE
    Mouse
    Logitech m510
    Internet Speed
    15Mb down, 1 up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast (free)
Now that you mentioned NVIDIA. Have you installed the latest version ?
Version:
340.52 [SUP]WHQL[/SUP]
Release Date: 2014.7.29
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 2700K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16GB Samsung Low Voltage RAM (1600)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 670
    Sound Card
    Onkyo NR-515 Surround Sound Receiver
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ASUS VS247HP, 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung 830 SSD,
    8x 3TB 7200rpm drives (Barracudas and Hitachis)
    PSU
    Seasonic 750-X
    Case
    Cooler Master Storm Sniper
    Cooling
    Phanteks PH-TC14PE
    Mouse
    Logitech m510
    Internet Speed
    15Mb down, 1 up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast (free)
If you own a Dell you can get rid of this problem by deleting the following files: Dell Support Assist & Dell Support Assist Agent. This worked after I had spent hours checking to make sure that I had all the correct/new drivers and various other diagnostics.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron
    CPU
    Intel i7
    Memory
    8.0GB
    Antivirus
    Norton
Solved

If you own a Dell you can get rid of this problem by deleting the following files: Dell Support Assist & Dell Support Assist Agent. This worked after I had spent hours checking to make sure that I had all the correct/new drivers and various other diagnostics.
Thanks for the response. I determined the cause of the stutter to be an old SATA I controller with a VIA chipset that I had connected to my PCI slot (NOT THE 670). Replacing it with a newer PCIex1 SATA III controller with an ASMedia chipset solved my stuttering issues.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 2700K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
    Memory
    16GB Samsung Low Voltage RAM (1600)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 670
    Sound Card
    Onkyo NR-515 Surround Sound Receiver
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ASUS VS247HP, 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung 830 SSD,
    8x 3TB 7200rpm drives (Barracudas and Hitachis)
    PSU
    Seasonic 750-X
    Case
    Cooler Master Storm Sniper
    Cooling
    Phanteks PH-TC14PE
    Mouse
    Logitech m510
    Internet Speed
    15Mb down, 1 up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast (free)
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