M17x R2 DPC issue plese help

I have m17 x r2, i have constant stutter just like the video in the link below, my spec are 8 Gb ram , 2 x hd 5870 in cfx, i7 920xm, i have tried everything from clean install to factory reset, installed OS on ssd , installed OS on hdd, but the problem still persists, updated to latest bios and vbios and ati drivers, still it persist, cleaned vents, mind you i do not get fps drops, just that annoying stutter, have issue with all windows update and no without updates at all too.All my cpu , and gpu temp never cross over 85 C on gameplay, and remains below 50 C at idle, this stutter happens irrespective of what temp my machine is at, i use dpc latency checker and it has loads of red bars while playing videos or playing games, even while i m on skype. someone please help

here is the video link, the video posted is not mine but the problem is exactly the same

Stutter or strange sound on Alienware M17x Part 2 - YouTube

 

I'd say codecs, but you're playing games, not watching movies. But, that sort of stutter is EXACTLY what just happened when I tried to watch a movie with my HTPC. Oddly enough, it was the sound drivers and the audio codecs, and they had to be reinstalled. You may want to check out your sound drivers & codecs.

 

Hello, 5HT, the stutter in the video you linked was a M17x issue (not M17x R2) to which a fix has been found.

A few questions though:
- what video driver are you running.
- if you disable crossfire, do you still have the same issue?

 

Thanks for prompt reply , i know video is of m17x and not m17 x r2 but i have exactly same issue with same game and even while watching videos or listening songs or chatting on skype and it happens both with crossfire disable and enabled , i have latest ati drivers from ati website , changing back to lower drivers also didnt help

 

Are your cards able to reach full 3D clocks (I'm thinking of stealth mode too)?

 

How do i check those

 

Download the attached Stealth Mode Indicator, extract it and run it.

As for the 3D clocks, run a benchmark with GPU-Z in the background and see if your GPUs reach their full 3D clocks.

View attachment Stealth Mode Indicator2.zip

 

I know this might not be relevant, but you mentioned playing games and skype...are you using a wireless card or are you cabled directly to your router? One thing you could try (if it seems to happen worse when playing games online or with skype) would be to disable your wireless card and plug an ethernet cable directly into your router.

If it's happening even with movies and such being played out of the DVD player (with no internet connection), then don't have much more useful tips besides what the folks above have already commented on.

Good luck though!

 

I have used LAN(wireless disabled), wireless only (LAN disabled) problem persists , i have never used dvd player to play movie, online watching or watching from hard disk still the problem is there, problem remains same for games, movies or skype for both individual run as well as combined run, i will post my 3d benchmark result in a while and let u know if my cards 3d clocks run or not

 

Here are my 3d mark scores
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-950 Processor,Alienware score: 14133 3DMarks
this is on cfx disabled

 

Things are getting confusing here, can you clarify? first you state that you have dpc latency problem on 17x R2, then you post the video from an R1, and then a link to a desktop equiped with what seems like an i7-950 & 5870 desktop card?

 

I post the video on R1 cause thats exactly the problem i have as shown in video, and i own R2 , the link i showed is exactly the link where i was directed to by 3dmark after benchmarking, i will post jpg of screen shots in a while




if someone can help me through team viewer please do so, i m online and waiting for reply, my 3d mark06 score on webpage shows different CPU i m not sure why

 

Remove the battery and then check if the problem persists.

 

have tried that too, tried running on batteries alone too but no change

 

Run DPC Latency Checker ( download here) for a while and then post a screenshot.

 

i ran that software, it is because of that i knew i had dpc issue, i m also using latency mon trough which i got to know it was mcafee drivers that was causing latency,i uninstalled it completely now dpc latency shows normal but latency mon shows numerous hard page faults, mostly by firefox and winamp, still have to make sure if it is really mcafee or not, cause i got one red bar in dpc latency checker in 10 minute run till now, before there were numerous

after disabling paging, hardfaults have reduced but not completely cured, i will defrag and post again the results, then i will install the game in video again and play and see if i still have same problem

 

Was just doing some more thinking (dangerous I know). Has this been going on the entire time you've had the laptop? Did you happen to add a secondary card? Are you running off the 240W power supply?

Just throwing out some thoughts.

 

Also, by any chance have you installed/updated audio drivers? I had one third party audio driver installed once for the usb SB i'm using that resulted as the culprit for a dpc issue i was having (the result was audio crackling, popping sounds and so)

 

no i have all the stock hardware had 2 gpu's from the start and psu is what dell had given, no changes in hardware except hard disk, i added one more, i have this laptop now for 1 year and 9 months, i haven't been experiencing this issue since start, it just started over some months ago, i don't remember exactly when(too busy to notice and troubleshoot cause of exams and job), also i m using all dell drivers except for gfx that is from amd, that too after vbios update

Finally after every test my system is stable no dpc spikes at all running games, skype video chat, online hd videos and online music all at once and no spikes at all, all i had to do was uninstall mcafee, should have known better when i got the machine i did not order mcafee with it i used kaspersky after that expired i switched to mcafee and dpc issue started around after that as far as i know, been running my machine for hours now without any issue except hardpage faults in red level on bar in latency mon but no noticeable difference visibly, now my only concern is with crossfire disabled my secondary gpu stays at constant clock speed which is over normal clock speed . the following are screen shots


primary gpu at watching hd video and skype video chat cfx disabled


primary gpu at cfx disabled only skype video chat


secondary gpu at cfx disabled witn hd video on and skype video chat


secondary gpu at cfx disabled with only skype video chat



so is this normal ?, with cfx disabled my secondary gpu should completely rest at 100 Mhz and 150 Mhz not at 300 and 400 mhz, can someone enlighten?

Here are the screenshots and text report of latencymon after uninstalling mcafee, i haven been playing online HD video on youtube along with playing halo and skype video chat for more than an hour now using lan connection without any dpc issue. Now i m getting the hang of using forums for uploading images and other stuff, if anyone wishes i will revert back to old system with mcafee using system image created by using acronis and post the figures here, so anyone who wants to know can take a comparative look

 

Hrrmm, funny you mention this issue. I was having this when gaming (typically BF3) and playing music through Winamp at the same time. It was not as bad as posted in the video though and it only happened with Winamp.

I put it to running music off the external HDD....

I kinda ignored it and it went away, so I don't know what I did/if I did anything to change it...

Fat lot of help I am eh

EDIT:: You mentioned that switched to McAfee and it started happening? I switched from McAfee to Kaspersky not that long ago...seems it was Mcafee that was causing my issue Are you still symptom free?

 

i m still symptom free as of now with no mcafee installed and no antivirus at the moment, i have kaspersky and will install it today and see the results, no mcafee anymore for me, its sad that i have still 190 days of subscription left plus i have 2 other copies of mcafee for 3 users each left in stock

 

Must be a new version of Mcafee.

Cause I ran Mcafee for the full subscription and only started happening when I installed the 6990's (was running 5870's before). Which was not THAT long ago..

I also remember McAfee released quite an update version of the application, cause I remember they made it so you could not remove the stupid icon from the desktop easily..

Perhaps they changed something and it is now causing these issues.

 

If u want i can revert back to old system image and post the snaps here, so we can know which mcafee drivers are causing the issue