GA-MA790GP-DS4H stuttering audio & video

[emilepeeters]

Since 28th of january I'm the proud owner of a GA-MA790GP-DS4H motherboard. I bought this in combination with some other components to act as the basis for my HTPC. However, I've got nothing but issues with it.

My main issue is that audio and video stutter:
- when combining tasks like watching a movie with background copying or downloading
- when combining tasks like listening to music with background copying or downloading

Other issues:
- after some operation time, the MCE part of the installation wil not show visual or audio, regardless of previous tasks. I can only watch TV right after rebooting. Almost like something fills up a queue.
- the core issue prevents watching and recording of TV shows at the same time (got a Hauppage WINTV PVR with dual tuner).

What I've tried:
- Running setup with a minimum of requirements (one disk, one piece of memory, no peripherals attached)
- Running setup with SATA in IDE native or AHCI mode - no difference
- Installing: Windows XP MCE, Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit, Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit (tests were performed on the latter)
- Different mediaplayers, different torrent clients, different codecs, different drivers for the various components.
- Disabling Zonealarm (known to have some issues with utorrent)
- BIOS is the latest version (F3)

Few weeks back I also reported (on another forum) a stutter issue, which was (partly?) caused by a defective TOSlink cable. This one is now replaced and working correctly.

Results of DPC Latency checker:

Using the DPC Latency checker I looked at the DPC behaviour while performing different tasks:

Example 1 - Copy only across 2 disks
Example 2 - just playing iTunes
Example 3 - just playing avi
Example 4 - Playing avi + download
Example 5 - Playing avi - utorrent paused

Below a partly extract of Everest:
Computer:
Computer Type ACPI x64-based PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Internet Explorer 7.0.6001.18000
DirectX DirectX 10.1
Computer Name MCE
User Name Emile
Date / Time 2009-03-09 / 12:08

Motherboard:
CPU Type DualCore AMD Athlon 5050e, 2600 MHz (13 x 200)
Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H (2 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)
Motherboard Chipset AMD 790GX, AMD Hammer
BIOS Type Award Modular (01/13/09)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics (640 MB)
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics (640 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon HD 3300 (RS780D)
Monitor Generic PnP Monitor [NoDB] (150016843009)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter ATI RS690 HDMI @ AMD RS780(M) Chipset - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter ATI RS690 HDMI @ ATI SB700 - High Definition Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Storage Controller AGPIA5M0 IDE Controller
Storage Controller AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller
Storage Controller AMD RAID Console
Storage Controller Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
Disk Drive WDC WD10 EACS-00D6B0 SCSI Disk Device (931 GB)
Disk Drive WDC WD10 EACS-00D6B1 SCSI Disk Device (931 GB)
Disk Drive WDC WD10 EACS-00D6B1 SCSI Disk Device (931 GB)
Disk Drive WDC WD32 00AAJS-00B4A0 SCSI Disk Device (298 GB)
Optical Drive PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110D ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:40x/32x/40x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)

Bios:
Vendor Award Software International, Inc.

Physical Memory:
Total 4096 MB
Free 2296 MB

Swap Space:
Total 7393 MB
Used 1693 MB
Free 5699 MB
Utilization 23 %

Virtual Memory:
Total 10974 MB
Used 2977 MB
Free 7996 MB
Utilization 27 %
Version F3

Now
Currently I'm out of options as to what to try next. Any suggestions?

 

[SunnyD]

Try removing all but one HDD and not using RAID (if you are using RAID that is). My DS4H runs without issue.

 

[emilepeeters]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Try removing all but one HDD and not using RAID (if you are using RAID that is). My DS4H runs without issue.

As in my initial post:
"What I've tried:
- Running setup with a minimum of requirements (one disk, one piece of memory, no peripherals attached) "

By the way: not running RAID at the moment either.
Anyway - if this board will only run properly with one harddisk the 6 SATA connectors seem a bit overdone

 

[HeavyD]

What power supply do you have? I think these motherboards need 500watts min.

 

[emilepeeters]

Sorry for the late reply, i had to open my case (again) to answer that question. The HTPC is powered by a 400 Watt Nexus NX-4090. Can you argue the 500 Watts requirement? My CPU is supposed to be energy efficient (passivly cooled by the way) and only got 4 drives, 1 optical and some 3 case fans blowing. Doesn't seem like a whole bunch actually.

 

[HeavyD]

Originally posted by: emilepeeters
Sorry for the late reply, i had to open my case (again) to answer that question. The HTPC is powered by a 400 Watt Nexus NX-4090. Can you argue the 500 Watts requirement? My CPU is supposed to be energy efficient (passivly cooled by the way) and only got 4 drives, 1 optical and some 3 case fans blowing. Doesn't seem like a whole bunch actually.

I have the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H and the owners manual states to use a 500watt or greater power supply. Some people had similar issues with this motherboard and updated the Bios, motherboard drivers and still had issues until they read their owners manual and upgraded their power supplies. I have an Ultra X-Pro 600 with no issues. And don't forget your PSU is also driving your video and sound.

Of course I could be wrong so check your owners manual it can't hurt.

 

[SunnyD]

DPC is a driver issue, not a power issue (or shouldn't be a power issue unless it's a high-draw peripheral causing instability on the driver side - possible but improbable).

I have the same motherboard, and I haven't had DPC issues with it. Then again, I'm also not using the onboard video, raid, and have several other things (ports,etc) disabled for non-use.

Did you by chance follow the troubleshooting instructions on the DPC Checker website? Particularly the part which says manually disable devices one at a time in the device manager until (hopefully) you find the offending device/driver?

 

[emilepeeters]

Well, still not sure on the power question however - I forwarded the question to Gigabyte support.

However, the 500 W is something that Gigabyte is suggesting, but when reading the manual (and I did ) it much depends on peripherals like videocards that lead to that suggestion.
In this power consumption test the board is tested with with a 9850BE (which has a higher TDP then the 5050E that I'm running). With the onboard GPU running, the max load is 195 Watt.

That would leave me at least 205 Watt to spare on 4 drives and 3 case fans and one PVR.

@HeavyD... I'm absolutely open for the suggestion for more power - can you maybe post a thread in which this has resolved the issue?

 

[HeavyD]

Can't find the site. Hope you find the solution soon.

 

[msco]

quite an old thread to revive, but still... emilepeeters, did you find a solution to your problem?

 

[emilepeeters]

Hi Msco,

No, I didn't find a solution. Started to use a different machine (and completely different setup) by the way also using uTorrent... Same problem. Appears to be the software rather then the hardware.

 

[msco]

As far as I could see, my problem (related to your setup) was ZoneAlarm; it was not enough to disable it, I had to uninstall it then I was OK; it seems one of their device drivers or TCP stack/winsock drivers is causing troubles; my machine is a Vista 64 Ultimate.

 

[emilepeeters]

Well... ok, I could try that this weekend (when time is more a commodity then during the week). I'll keep you posted

 

[coolVariable]

Mmmmh. Seem to have a similar issue to you.
I just bought a ASRock A790GMH/128 mainboard and have a similar issue.
At some point in time Live TV (standard def via the analog tuner) stops working.
HDTV and playing of recorded TV works fine.
Cannot pinpoint what is wrong.
Tried W7 64bit (twice) and Vista 64bit to date.

Same CPU (bought it 1 week ago from newegg).
The most frustrating ever since the issue really only crops up after 1-2 days of use.
Also have issues with sleep/the HTPC waking up for scheduled recordings not working.

 

[coolVariable]

Tried Win7RC 32bit - now I am getting a Low Bit Rate error for Live TV. Arrrggggggh!
Changed the codec Win7 MC was using to ffdshow ... will see whether that works.
Also hate to loose 1GB of RAM with 32bit.

Could it be the laptop HDD (7200rpm 8MB cache) not being enough as the system drive?
Using a new 1.5TB Seagate as Recorder Storage.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: coolVariable
Tried Win7RC 32bit - now I am getting a Low Bit Rate error for Live TV. Arrrggggggh!
Changed the codec Win7 MC was using to ffdshow ... will see whether that works.
Also hate to loose 1GB of RAM with 32bit.

Could it be the laptop HDD (7200rpm 8MB cache) not being enough as the system drive?
Using a new 1.5TB Seagate as Recorder Storage.

These are definitely codec issues.
Using ffdshow as codec for Media Center (libmpg2 or whatever it is called) fixes all media center issues under Win7 with choppy video, tuner not found, Low Bit Rate etc.
In return I sometimes get a copying prohibited error (probably some fvcking DRM thing that is caused by a "non MS" codec).

 

[emilepeeters]

Originally posted by: msco
As far as I could see, my problem (related to your setup) was ZoneAlarm; it was not enough to disable it, I had to uninstall it then I was OK; it seems one of their device drivers or TCP stack/winsock drivers is causing troubles; my machine is a Vista 64 Ultimate.

Finally I came around to test the solution you offered. Removed Zonealarm, installed McAfee.
Problem solved!!

Kudos to the suggestion.