PC Stuttering Issue

[OrbitzXT]

The specs in my profile are what I'm using now, though the i7 920 is running at stock speeds and voltages with HT turned off. Anyway, I've had this issue for over a year now. I notice a little stuttering in the sound which first tips me off. Eventually it happens more often and gets worse, eventually the computer will crash. My temperatures are kind of high, but I didn't think they were alarmingly high. My idle CPU temp is about 50C, under load it gets to about 68C. It's high considering I have an aftermarket cooler, but I don't think it should be causing these issues.

A reboot usually fixes the issue and I don't notice it again for a day or so. I've tried clean installations of Windows to make sure it wasn't a software issue. Should I apply new thermal grease and make sure the fan is on right to ensure its not a temperature issue? If that's not it, what else could it be?

Also I just had a new issue...rather than a blue screen or crash, the stuttering led to the computer shutting down. But it shutdown the normal way as if I told Windows to shut down. It closed the open programs, said it was shutting down and then did. That was new and I haven't seen it before. I'm going to look for the grease now and do that, but I'd be curious to hear any thoughts you guys have.

 

[n-ster]

Try taking out your sound card and using onboard

 

[OrbitzXT]

Try taking out your sound card and using onboard

I actually tried that already, thought it was the card but it isn't.

 

[erocker]

Could be not enough voltage to the CPU, bad RAM, sound drivers or a failing PSU.

Check the Event Viewer for errors and warnings.

Try manually setting your CPU voltage.

Test your RAM with MemTest.

Update drivers.

 

[n-ster]

Also try it with the bare minimum (1 stick of RAM, no optical drive, only SSD, 1 GPU (NO SLI))

 

[OrbitzXT]

How do I make sense of the event viewer? There's 564 Administrative Events, a series of errors and warnings. What kind of things should I be looking for?

A lot of the errors seem to say "The Superfetch service terminated with the following error: The system cannot find the file specified."

Also, there are a couple Critical errors that seem to have taken place during the times of the crashes but don't really give much info. They all just say "Source: Kernel-Power.....The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

 

[micropage7]

How do I make sense of the event viewer? There's 564 Administrative Events, a series of errors and warnings. What kind of things should I be looking for?

just like unusual like this
View attachment 43916

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Isn't 50c a little high for idle temps? Especially with an aftermarket cooler?

 

[Exeodus]

Isn't 50c a little high for idle temps? Especially with an aftermarket cooler?

I had two 920 systems and they both idled that high for me with a Xigmatek with push,pull fan config. It is a bit on the warm side, but well within the limits of the chip and not hot enough to cause instability. My guess is a failing power supply.

 

[OrbitzXT]

Could be not enough voltage to the CPU, bad RAM, sound drivers or a failing PSU.

Check the Event Viewer for errors and warnings.

Try manually setting your CPU voltage.

Test your RAM with MemTest.

Update drivers.

Just finished MemTest, no errors at all. What should I set my voltages to?

I had two 920 systems and they both idled that high for me with a Xigmatek with push,pull fan config. It is a bit on the warm side, but well within the limits of the chip and not hot enough to cause instability. My guess is a failing power supply.

Is there a way to know the health of a PSU? The one in there now was $120 and is only about a year old. Also the issue I'm describing does not happen too often. Maybe 3-5 times a month? And as I said a restart fixes the issue for awhile. I would think if it's a PSU issue, it might happen more often. The PSU is still nice and quiet and aside from the issue at hand, everything else seems to be okay.

I've disabled SLI for awhile to see if that makes any difference.

Hm, I just googled "sound stuttering crash" and the second result was this page that says the following...

Hi
During playing games the sound starts to stutter and then suddenly my computer crashes

I have already updated my sound and graphic drivers but the problem still persists with every driver that i have used until now

Something bizarre about this is that after the crash and starting playing games again the problem seems to disappear.

Somewhere i read that this may be caused by the ATK0110 ACPI UTILITY since i have an Asus motherboad (something about throttling causing erratic behavior with sound and abnormal behavior etc)

Anyone can help me of what should i do to fix this strange problem

This caught my attention since I have an Asus motherboard, so I went looking in Device Manager and couldn't find the ATK0110 ACPI the guy was talking about. But then I noticed I have an Unknown Device in "Other Devices" with no driver installed. I click properties and the location is "on Intel(R) ICH10R LPC Interface Controller 3A16", I click Details and the Hardware ID is ACPI\ATK0110.

Could this potentially be my issue? There were no follow up posts in the first link I listed. Do you think I'm better off installing the driver for this device, or purely disabling it?

 

[Neuromancer]

The driver comes from one of ASUS utilities, I forget off the top of my head. (TBH I doubt it is the issue, since I have not installed it MANY times even Ocing to well past 220 BCLK)

Set your computer to not automatically restart in event of crash so you can make a note of what the stop error is, (or find it in the event viewer) it will precede the kernel was not cleanly shutdown warning

If it one of acertain bunch we can identify if it is a voltage issue or if a driver issue it will point to that.

Another thing to consider... finger test your IOH and ICH blocks when the shutdown occurs and see if they are very warm. Might need a little additional sidepanel cooling if they are getting too warm.

LPC interface I would not be surprised if it is the legacy IO chip. Should not need a driver for that... but I will reedit in a second with the right DL info.

PRE-EDIT:

IIRC you can install the motherboard utiltiy and then uninstall it and the driver will stick, or extract the utility and point it to the extracted folder and it will install it automatically.

OK download the ASUS AIsuite from here

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/P6T/#download

Select OS

Extract teh ZIP file

Open device manager and right clcik the ATK bit and slect update driver. Point it to the freshly extracted folder, and you should be good to go.

Again I doubt it is the cause of your issue, as I think that for the LPCIO chip, but always good to have no issues in device manager

 

[OrbitzXT]

I also meant to mention that this issue only occurs while gaming. I've never had it happen at any other time, but once it starts...even if I close the game, the issue persists. The mouse cursor lags as well, everything does. It hasn't bluescreened in a very long time, generally if I let it go on long enough it just hangs frozen, forcing me to restart it. Lately, anytime I've heard crackling in the sound and know it's coming on I just restart to get rid of it. I suppose the next time it starts to happen I'll let it play out and see what happens.

I've also disabled the device in Device Manager rather than installing the driver. I've seen a few posts now while googling of Asus motherboard owners with similar problems. A few said installing the driver did nothing to help them, while a couple other said they disabled it and stopped having problems. I guess it's time to wait and see.

 

[Neuromancer]

Try uninstalling and reinstalling your Video card drivers then. the mouse lag issue I had that happen before and for the life of me can not remember what I did to fix it. But was video card related. WAY back in the day, whenever VGA drivers crashed in games, sound would skip horribly.. have not had any VGA crashes lately, but I am not a big gamer. (well, when I bench I have had VGA failures but I usually have sound and stuff disabled )

What are you monitoring your temps with?

 

[OrbitzXT]

Try uninstalling and reinstalling your Video card drivers then. the mouse lag issue I had that happen before and for the life of me can not remember what I did to fix it. But was video card related. WAY back in the day, whenever VGA drivers crashed in games, sound would skip horribly.. have not had any VGA crashes lately, but I am not a big gamer. (well, when I bench I have had VGA failures but I usually have sound and stuff disabled )

What are you monitoring your temps with?

I recently updated the nVidia drivers. Also I've reinstalled Windows a couple times since this began happening over a year ago, so I don't really think it's related to the GPU drivers. The mouse lag issue only happens when the sound stuttering and original issues begin. My computer runs flawlessly aside from these odd moments of the stuttering/lag. I've checked the temps in the BIOS, and using Core Temp.

 

[jsfitz54]

Last resort: Why don't you try and RMA Motherboard to ASUS. If something is bad on the board it's not worth the headache. I assume it is still under Warranty.

Newegg has lots of choices if you need to replace: Computer Hardware, Motherboards, Intel Motherboar...

It could also be the game software.

What Bios; Is it current?

 

[OrbitzXT]

There is one Bios update I saw on the Asus website, but it only adds support for new processors. No other changes or fixes or anything of that nature. I didn't think it was worth doing. I suppose it couldn't hurt to try it though. Also, this has happened with more or less any game I play. So I hesitate to blame the software.

If I was going to buy a new motherboard and CPU to do an upgrade, is now a bad time? Is there anything new coming out in say 3 months or sooner?

 

[Outback Bronze]

What type of sound output r u using? headphones, stereo sytem or desktop speakers etc. Does it make a diffrence if u use any type?

 

[OrbitzXT]

I've noticed the issued both through my headphones and through the optical out. I also had a sound card in that I took out to make sure it wasn't the issue. It happens with both the card and onboard sound.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Ok. It sounds like your mobo. If this sound keeps crackling through any of your input devices we could have a culprit.

 

[OrbitzXT]

I disabled that Asus thing I read causes issues, so I'll see if it still happens or not. But if I want to upgrade right now, what should I be looking to get? Is Sandy Bridge-E the best at the moment? What are some of the better motherboards I should look into?

 

[Outback Bronze]

Just wait mate. How long can u hang on 4? Thers sum new shit coming out soon so everything will change. Prices should drop on alot of things, then u will b able to determine what u need in your price range.

 

[OrbitzXT]

I suppose I can wait, I haven't been keeping up with tech news. Is Sandy Bridge-E coming out by the end of the year? I can wait for that I guess, gives me a chance to save up some cash to splurge =)

Edit: I found a post on Asus' forum where people describe very similar issues. They're all using P6T-SE motherboards whereas mine is just P6T...I don't know how different they are but I feel comfortable pinning the motherboard as the problem maker. Sadly I haven't really seen anyone mention a fix for this.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...38750&board_id=1&model=P6T SE&page=1&count=16

 

[Exeodus]

Is there a way to know the health of a PSU? The one in there now was $120 and is only about a year old. Also the issue I'm describing does not happen too often. Maybe 3-5 times a month? And as I said a restart fixes the issue for awhile. I would think if it's a PSU issue, it might happen more often. The PSU is still nice and quiet and aside from the issue at hand, everything else seems to be okay.

I've disabled SLI for awhile to see if that makes any difference.

Hm, I just googled "sound stuttering crash" and the second result was this page that says the following...

The only way I know is to use a basic power supply tester, but it only tells you if it supplies power to the rails. It doesn't tell you if it is not supplying enough wattage in regards to its rating. And a under-performing unit will cause the issues you are experiencing.

 

[n-ster]

If in your audio Drivers you see something called "GX" disable that, that caused me some problems especially with Dirt 3

 

[OrbitzXT]

If in your audio Drivers you see something called "GX" disable that, that caused me some problems especially with Dirt 3

I don't ever recall seeing that. Is there a particular place to check for it, and is it with certain brand sound cards?