"Stutter" problem

[bjsjr]

I've run into a strange problem with a new build and I'm hoping some of the experts here can share some advice. Here are my stats:

[*]Motherboard: Epox MF570SLI[*]CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4600+ EE[*]Video Card: XFX GeForce 7900 GS[*]Power supply: Antec Truepower 2.0 550W[*]Memory: 2 x G.Skill PC6400 1GB (4-4-4-12)[*]Hard Drives: Seagate 7200.10 320GB & Samsung 160GB SATA2[*]Optical: NEC 550A & Lite-On XJ-HD166S[*]Sound: Realtek HD Audio[*]O/S: Windows XP SP2

The problem I'm having is that I cannot play any games whatsoever. Any game I attempt to play (Madden 07, Half-Life 2, UT2004, so far) experiences the same problem. Every couple of minutes the game will freeze and the sound will start to "skip". After about 5-10 seconds the game will carry on as if nothing happened. After this happens 3 or 4 times the games will either lockup or cause a reboot.

I also experience a similar effect when I'm not playing games but it only happens maybe once an hour and it has yet to cause a reboot or lockup. What happens at the desktop is that the mouse will freeze for about 5-10 seconds then the screen will turn black for about 3-5 seconds and then turn back on. The I'll get an information bubble that says "A jack has been plugged in." The Realtek Cp thinks something has been plugged in but I don't know why.

Here's a list of some of the things I've tried to solve this problem:
[*]Updated MB and Optical drive firmware.[*]Reinstalled XP on 3 different occasions and tried using SP1 but had the same problem.[*]Swapped out the two G.Skill modules with a single Corsair XMS2 1 GB module. Verified all of the BIOS setting for the appropriate modules.[*]Installed the AMD Dual Core Optimizer, AMD processor driver, MS "performance state" hotfix, set the affinity for each game, and disabled the Nvidia dual core driver optimizations.[*]Tried the Nvidia 91.33, 91.47 & 92.91 video drivers.[*]Updated my Nvidia chipset drivers and Realtek HD audio drivers.[*]Power supply voltages all seem to be in the appropriate range.[*]Ran SP2004 test for over 16 hours to test RAM and CPU with no errors. Also ran BurnInTest successfully.

There's probably more that I'm not thinking of right now but that's a fairly complete list. The system is running at about 33C and the processor at 47C so I don't think heat is a problem. I'm not overclocking anything and the only odd reading I'm getting is the CPU speed is reported at 2411Mhz instead of 2400Mhz but I'm not sure that that could cause my problem.

I have also received the following error in my Application event log once:

Faulting application mainapp.exe, version 0.0.0.0, faulting module mainapp.exe, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x002d88f2.

mainapp.exe is Madden 07.

In the System event log I get this at varying intervals:

The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period.

I assume that has something to do with one of my optical drives.

I'd appriciate any help anyone has to offer. 🙂

Thanks,
Bill

 

[elmer92413]

Try this...
Start->Run->dxdiag
Sounds like a problem with DirectX...
I've had something similiar happen in my old Command & Conquer games...
I had to go there and disable hardware accelerated sound...
...
..
.

 

[bjsjr]

I tried your suggestion and then started Madden. I experienced the stutter witihn 2 minutes of starting the game.

The effect is starting to happen more often and more pronounced. It's got to be some kind of hardware issue. I've swapped out evey part except for the processor and motherboard so I guess I'll just take a shot returning the MB for a new one while I'm still within my 30 day return period. :frown:

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[xtknight]

See if it happens with OpenGL games (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a free one you can try).

Have you tried any NVIDIA 8x.xx series drivers? Try turning on and off VSync. The CPU is reported at 2411 because the FSB is 201 (1 off for some reason) and the multiplier is 11. 2400+(1*11)=2411 MHz.

You've installed all the dual core patches, right?

Use RivaTuner to record your GPU temperatures during gameplay.

It does sound like some type of loose hardware connection if devices are constantly being detected, etc. When that happens, things can slow down. If there's any way to disable the automatic jack detection I would do that. Maybe you'll want to disable the onboard sound altogether and see if you get any freezes. Make sure to uninstall the driver along with it.

 

[imported_Seer]

Go into your power settings, and see if you have your hard drives set to spin down after a certain amount of time. This could be causing the problem. That, or a bad harddrive.