Good day to you all.
I am having the most difficult computer problem I've ever encountered. I'm making this question worth 500 points becuase I've been trying to solve it for about 3 months now, and am at my wits' end. I'd make it worth 3000 if I could. Here is the issue. Roughly six months ago my computer started acting weird - I noticed it first with audio, then video, then the entire computer. It's this strange "lag" that happens every second or so that affects anything going on with the computer. The audio lags, the mouse cursor has a delay in it, the video lags - everything, for a split second, every second or so. I have attached two video clips to demonstrate what I mean, and an audio clip. I will explain in more detail as I go on.
My Computer: (standard) being parts that came with the computer, (aftermarket) being something I added later.
Dell Inspiron 9300
Hitachi HTS721010G9aT00 7200rpm Hard Drive (aftermarket)
TSSTcorp CDRW/DVD TSL462C (standard)
Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz Processor (standard)
Sigmatel C-Major Audio Processor (standard)
-Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS Notebook (PCMCIA card aftermarket)*
1GB of RAM (standard)
*I have tried:
-disabling the on-board audio via the BIOS and using solely the PCMCIA card
-Not disabling the on-board audio and letting the computer switch to the PCMCIA card on its own
-Using the on-board audio only, (without the drivers for the PCMCIA card even installed)
-Using the o.b. audio when the PCMCIA card is installed
I have the same output regardless of which sound device I am using - there IS however, MORE scratchiness and what sounds like latency-clipping when using the on-board audio vs. the soundblaster card. While there is definitely a difference, the problem still occurs in one way or another. I tried downloading a tool which allowed me to increase or decrease the amount of latency to any component in my computer, and I tried setting that latency (which defaulted at 60ms) anywhere from 20ms - 500ms with no avail, it did not change at ALL.
Let's discuss the audio clip that I have attached. The song is Enya's "Anywhere Is" and should be familiar to many, and if not, the audio should still be horribly wrong enough to convey what is happening. If we listen to the audio clip it's obvious that something is going wrong. Not only is the audio sample rate changing, (slowing down, pitch change), but it there is this "clipping" noise that happens every second or so. This is common with any audio that I play, but the thing is - it doesn't ALWAYS happen. Sometimes audio will sound fine, then other times this will happen. I have tried endlessly to determine exactly what the change is between it happening and it not happening, but I haven't been able to figure it out. I have tried rebooting, formatting, installing a different OS, using the built-in audio chip vs. using my external PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Notebook - nothing makes a difference.
I use audio because it is the clearest example of what is going wrong, but by no means is this solely an audio problem. The next problem is more difficult to explain - but I believe a symptom of the same cause. If I move the mouse cursor in an endless circle, it lags as well, in sync with the other problems, like the audio one mentioned above, and it's constant. I believe it is an overall SYSTEM lag that is affecting everything, mouse, video, audio, etc. If I play a game, the game has the split-second lag as well that falls in line with everything else, and makes it difficult to play anything.
I realize this is very difficult to grasp exactly "what" is going on, unless you were to sit down at my computer and see for yourself.
Here is what I have done so far to troubleshoot. I have done every SINGLE thing I can think of... so I have no where else to turn :)
I've downloaded every driver and firmware update for every piece of hardware in my system and installed it. This has not helped. I've used different drivers from the latest ones to see if maybe it was the latest driver that caused the problem. This also did not help.
I've formatted and tried installing Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista - the problem exists and is similar no matter what OS I am using. Like I stated before, this does not ALWAYS happen, roughly 90% of the time when I bootup, within minutes, it starts happening. The INITIAL loadup sound/music always plays fine - so my idea is that some service or startup program was causing the issue, but even without ANY services or startup programs running, it still happens sometimes. The problem seems to get worse the later the edition of Windows I install, if this means anything. I always reformat whenever I install anything new, (deep format, not quick.)
This goes without saying, but, I have also ran virus/spyware checkers, (this doesn't really apply since I have reformatted several times,) and checked my task manager for programs using 100% of the cpu. Often times, I've found that svchost.exe is using 99% of the resources (only under Windows XP,) but this is misleading since it is a catalyst for several Windows services, and shutting it down makes no real difference. SOMETIMES the svchost.exe that is causing the trouble is linked to the Windows Audio Service (I believe) becuase when I shut it down the computer's audio stops, and I have to open the services menu and restart the Windows Audio service. This has fixed the problem in the past once or twice, but it's NOTHING like an actual solution, it seems too random for that.
I have tried running the computer in normal boot-up mode with every service and startup program disabled. This is the interesting part. If I run Windows XP/Vista with EVERY service and startup program (that is possible to stop) disabled, the problem goes away. I have tried enabling solely the Windows Audio Service and its dependencies (Remote Procedure Call, Multimedia Class Scheduler, DCOM Server Process Launcher,Windows Audio Endpoint Builder, and Plug and Play) and the problem exists. I went back and disabled these services, rebooted, and the problem does not exist (about 50% of the time). This seems impossible to believe that 4 services would be making this system lag even through repeated formats and DIFFERENT Operating Systems, when in my 15+ years of computing experience I've never once had this problem, and the fact that this only SOMETIMES solves the problem leads me to believe that this, also, is not a solution. After each format have nothing installed, no anti-virus, NO programs or services running that are not native to Windows Setup either.
The only way I have gotten the "lag" to not occur is when running the computer in SAFE MODE, even safe mode with Networking. This fixes it until reboot. Of course, I cannot use any sound, and video is limited to 800x600, with no directx. About two months ago I did the whole format, and reinstalled with Windows XP SP2, (clean install) and the problem went away for about a month, then one day it just started again. Of course I catolouged *A*N*Y* changes I had made in the last 24 hours, and I had not changed any single thing. Nothing downloaded, no service installed, no auto update of any program or Windows OS, nothing. I thought that maybe it was my computer overheating, so I started monitoring my system heat, even to the point of running a fan underneath it to keep it EXTRA cool, and nothing changed.
So - this is where I stand. I consider myself pretty smart when it comes to computers, and I've never run into a problem I can't fix, so you must understand how frustrated I am by this. The sucky thing is this is a laptop, not a desktop with easily replaceable parts, but if what it comes down to is meddling around inside the laptop and swapping out parts, I will do that too, I put too much money into this computer to just junk it, but that is exactly what I feel like doing right now.
Here's to 500 points, (and keeping me sane.)
Brian
Below are the links to the attached files, to better demonstrate my problems.
Audio Clip 1:
-
http://www.brianpowellmusic.com/problem/problem1.wmaVideo Clip 1:
-
http://www.brianpowellmusic.com/problem/problem.wmv
