RATZA FRATZIN 'PUTER....

[filkertom]

I don't know if it's the minimal software I've added on, or the XP SP3 which certainly seemed to work before the damn CPU/mobo went belly-up or if I've got the wrong connections on the drives or if USB 2.0 isn't as fast for me or what, but ever since I had to do that full re-install last month, I've had nearly constant system stuttering. As in, every few seconds, the thing will just stop for a moment. Or audio or video will stall.

Doesn't matter what program, doesn't matter how big or small.

Something seems to be constantly polling the drives, but I can't narrow it down.

Needless to say, this is an extreme ass-pain for playing games or listening to music. But when you're trying to create music, it's a deal-breaker.

I ended up getting a new sound card, because the new mobo's onboard sound is crap and Creative's alleged driver update system doesn't effing work and the system keeps saying my X-Fi Xtreme Gamer "cannot start (code 10)". This is, apparently, a fairly common problem, which I'd never heard of because the damn thing worked fine on my previous install.

The biggest difference is that the last computer was an Intel Core 2 Duo, and this is an AMD Phenom II X2 555 (Black Edition). I've never had problems with AMD before, and if I had the money I would go over to Micro Center and get an Intel CPU/mobo and an OEM copy of Windows 7 and just say fuggit.

I have tried real-time monitors. I have tried overclocking. I have tried BIOS settings. I have tried AMD-specific dual-core optimizers. I have tried Raoul Mitgong, but he didn't help much. I have tried defragging, process hunting, service shutdowns, virtual memory rearrangement, and swapping the slots of actual memory chips.

At some point in the next three weeks, I'm likely to redo the whole damn thing again. Not looking forward to it, but there it is. Any other suggestions? Suggesting switching to Mac or Linux will be met with wads of wet toilet paper.

Comments

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Thanks. The process analyzers I have now want me to kick in $30 to give me any information. Although Anvir Free does add some really cool stuff to the system (most notably, and used all the damn time: a history of folders you've recently loaded from/saved to, so you can get back and forth in Load/Save dialogues a lot faster. If there's a small open-source program that does just that, I'd love to hear about it).

[ttamsen.livejournal.com]

You can obtain Process Monitor and Process Explorer from Sysinternals (now Microsoft-owned) for free. All their utilities are top-notch and deeply technical. Process Explorer is a Task manager replacement which allows you to drill to stack-trace level in individual threads of specific processes attached to given windows, etc. It'll show you what files, handles, objects, ports, etc are in use by any given system component.

Process Monitor is kind of the same thing, except it collects the information and logs it. It is *very* useful for identifying the kind of periodic slowdown that you're experiencing. The only real caveat is that with its default capture settings, it logs an unholy pile of data. Which is what you want, since you don't know specifically what is causing the problem. As you start to get a sense of what it might be, though, you'll want to turn on filters saying either "just capture this" or "don't bother capturing that" to get a clearer look at the pertinent data.

It's at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx. Many of the other Sysinternals utilities are worth a look as well, just to keep in your toolbox.

I sure hope you track the culprit down and stomp on it!