Stuttery video

[Xesh]

Hey all, I put this thread here b/c this could be a mobo issue or a video issue or hd or... anything?

I get video that freezes for split seconds every few secs and then continues as normal (some call it stuttering, others hitching, others jittering) when I scroll in 2d apps like Firefox & Picasa2 or when I play 3d apps like HL2 (problem well documented) or Civ 4 (not). The fuzzy box in ATITool does the same!

Specs:
MSI K8T Neo2-F (VIA K8T800Pro, S939)
A64 3000+
1GB Kingston PC3200 (low-end)
Radeon 9800 Pro (Sapphire) w/ AC ATI Silencer
120MB Seagate 7200RPM HD (ATA100, on integrated IDE controller - not SATA/RAID)
20MB WD HD (don't even know the specs on this one)
Santa Cruz sound card
D-Link wireless PCI
Cruddy floppy drive
1 CDRW, 1 DVDRW
Enermax 431W PSU (20A on +12V rail)
XP SP2

I've tried messing with BIOS Settings, disabling AGP8x, raising/lowering AGP voltage, Catalyst 4.12, 5.12, new VIA AGP drivers, MS AGP drivers (incl. w/ SP2), & a host of other things I don't even remember.

There *may* be some correlation between HD access and the stuttering. Can't be certain, though.

I'm currently booted w/o the WD HD, CDRW, & floppy and still getting the problem, so a power issue seems unlikely (plus, I bought my current PSU four years ago to fix a problem -- it wasn't fixed, and I was out $85). The D-Link & Santa Cruz are recent installations (that is, since I first noticed this).

I'm preparing for a reformat/reinstall, but I doubt it will help, as I think I got this problem before my last reinstall.

I've read posts and posts on other forums about related problems. The fixes I found didn't work for me. Many posts just ended, unresolved.

Please help! Fixing this would make me SOOOOO happy.

 

[Matthias99]

Is your CPU being pegged by some virus or piece of spyware? And/or you're out of RAM? I would assume you've checked this stuff already, but just in case.

Beyond that, horrific 2D performance is almost always bad video or chipset drivers somewhere (or just a flat-out bad video card), but it can be very hard to narrow down problems like this. If you have another video card you can swap out, try that, and use Driver Cleaner to remove any trace of the current ATI drivers. You might also try reinstalling DirectX, and make sure that hardware acceleration is enabled in Windows.

 

[Xesh]

Thanks for the reply!

With a gig of RAM, I shouldn't be running out of it when I'm just using Firefox, and I don't think I am. Task manager shows my System Cache at ~600MB, though (I don't have large system cache enabled). I've tried cleaning viruses & spyware. Hardware acceleration is at full, write combining disabled, but I've messed with these settings already to find something that works.

So, as painful as it is, I think I'm gonna try a reformat/reinstall, without SP2 (I'm currently transferring 12GB via a wireless connection to my laptop. It's slow. Shoulda just used DVD's, but it's almost done now.). I'm also gonna reflash BIOS - in one failed attempt to fix this, I flashed the most recent one, but it's not for Winchester cores, and now I can't disable my onboard ethernet (weird). But I want to do it properly: so which drivers and in what order? Should I use mobo drivers from MSI or VIA? Old or new? Should I continue w/ Catalyst 4.12 since the 9800 is an old model, or should I use 6.2? Something in between? Omega? Any tips on BIOS settings? I think I'll also stop being so tweak-happy when in comes to XP.

BTW, I did not get this problem with a GF2 awhile back. So, it's possible that the vidcard is damaged, especially since it was overheating for some time before I installed the ATI Silencer (stock fan couldn't hold on to its oil). Nevertheless, I think it's okay, and if it's not, it's probably too late to RMA it since I installed the new HSF (and damaged the stock fan while trying to repair it ) I'm inclined to say it's a compatibility problem. Worse comes to worse, I *may* be able to try the card in another system.

One more thing: though 3d and 2d scrolling stutters are more frequent, I also get keyboard stutters sometimes, and these do seem related to hard disk access.

 

[Xesh]

INTERESTING: I just quickly scrolled in Firefox with Task manager running, and that simple act casued the CPU usage to rise from 5-10% to 99%!!!! Moving the mouse around real quick got it around 20%!!!!

Is this normal? If so, forgive my surprise, but it seems like a pretty trivial task for an Athlon 64 3000+.

If not, I have an Intellimouse Optical on a USB port. Could the mouse/USB drivers somehow be bad? (Related note: will I need SP2 to use USB 2.0?) I'm not certain, but I think I had the problem before going PS/2 to USB, with the same mouse.

 

[royalk4]

check in task manager when you do that and see if something is running all of your CPU usage

Task Manager->Process->CPU then rank in order of CPU usage. It might be your AV or something that is taking up all of that space.

 

[Xesh]

Nope... if I scroll in Firefox, it's the program using the CPU time. If I even type in Firefox, it's again using the CPU time. When not typing or scrolling, some service (svchost.exe) is using 2%. Otherwise, it's all the System Idle Process.

Is it possible that graphics ops are taking more CPU than is necessary? If so, why could that be? I could just be underestimating the processing required to scroll, but it seems like it's just data transfers between main memory and the video card.

Darn file transfer had an error... maybe DVD-R's the way to go after all...

 

[saltedeggman]

just tested with "scrolling", the CPU usages does jump up....

 

[Xesh]

Edit: double post

Like I said, I could just be misinterpreting the massive jump in CPU usage. But still, scrolling is very stuttery, laggy, whatever. There seems to be a bit of ghosting, maybe some tearing. I've tried changing refresh rates for this: if not for the stuttering in 3d, I'd chalk some of it up to a crappy monitor. But there's definitely more than that going on here.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Xesh
Edit: double post

Like I said, I could just be misinterpreting the massive jump in CPU usage. But still, scrolling is very stuttery, laggy, whatever. There seems to be a bit of ghosting, maybe some tearing. I've tried changing refresh rates for this: if not for the stuttering in 3d, I'd chalk some of it up to a crappy monitor. But there's definitely more than that going on here.

If your CPU usage for the process spikes when you scroll windows, etc. -- you don't have hardware acceleration for your desktop for some reason. It's trying to draw everything through the CPU routines, and no, basically, the CPU is not fast enough to do it smoothly at high resolutions.

Either your drivers are badly screwed up, you have disabled hardware acceleration (under Control Panel/Display/Settings/"Advanced...", IIRC), or the card itself is not functioning correctly.

 

[Xesh]

UPDATE: I finally reformatted and reinstalled Windows. Haven't installed HL2 or Civ 4. The scrolling in Firefox is plenty smoother, but there's still a ton of ghosting if I scroll using keyboard. Now I might be willing to believe it's the monitor...

HOWEVER, I decided to download MSI PC Alert 4 to check my voltages. 5V is at 5.05V, 12V is at 11.52V, and the 3.3V is coming up at 0.56V! This must be wrong. But the software comes from the mobo manufacturer. And with that kind of error, I don't know whether to believe the slightly low 12V number.

Also, when I drag windows around, their edges get all funky. Normal?

EDIT: Better voltage numbers from Core Center: 3.46, 5.05, 11.72.

 

[Xesh]

Okay, another example: when dragging the MSI CoreCenter window around the screen, it frequently stops for a second and continues. Damn!