m17x R3 High Kernel Latency

So I got my M17x R3 about 3 weeks ago... From the moment I have unboxed it I have been having strange latency issues. Ever so often (could be every 10 secs, could be every 30 secs) I get a temporary lag/freeze that lasts for 1-2 seconds. I have called Dell support trying to get some help and of course they had no idea what the hell I was talking about. I reverted to do a fresh install of windows, install all the drivers and the issue still persists.

I have been running DPC Latency Checker and LatencyMon to try and identify the driver or w/e that is causing the latency... The Kernel Timer is what keeps spiking horribly. So far I haven't had much luck figuring out what is going on.

Has anyone else come across this? Here are the results from all the scans I have been doing. (All attached)

Any help or pointing me in the right direction is GREATLY appreciated!


Thanks,
Joshua

 

I have never heard of this issue before Have you tried different Video drivers as well as running with just 1 DIMM of ram so you possibly isolate those ?

 

Likely the problem is caused by power management issues. Try disabling CPU C-States in the BIOS setup as well as Intel Speedstep and TurboBoost. Also disable variable CPU speed in the Windows control panel power management options.

The measured CPU speed is a fraction of the reported CPU speed. That means it is heavily throttled. Take a look at your CPUs temperature, HwMonitor is a good utility for that. Dell systems are not particularly well known for good thermal desigs.

 

I wonder if these 2 are related? http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/625953-m17x-r3-random-stuttering.html#post8098816

 

Sounds like it could be related. The M17x R1 had a lot of latency/stuttering issues.

 

I am going to try this as soon as I get home... I'll check back in as soon as I make these changes.

 

I thought that, too. I found a few 'fixes' online but none worked. Ultimately, I decided to reformat and resintall the OS along with the updated drivers. I've also disabe devices to try and identify if it is bad hardware/driver conflict. This has been just a huge pain in my . Dell's technical support is horrible now-a-days... Nothing like it use to be.


Thanks,
Joshua

 

Your DXDIAG shows:

Driver File Version: 8.17.0010.1056 (English)
Driver Version: 8.800.6.0

Since I do not have the AMD configuration, I'll just ask - is this the Dell AMD Driver? If not, I suggest going back to the current Dell Release driver and check again.

To avoid confusion - The 17xR1 DPC Latency problems root cause was the NVIDIA Display Driver. This issue was resolved long ago by NVIDIA.

 

Where is the setting for the variable CPU speed? I go to advance options under the Power Management and don't see anything besides a Min and Max CPU speed whether on battery or being powered.

 

I installed all of the drivers from the Resource CD that came with it. From there I updated all the drivers. I thought that was the complete list of drivers.

 

Not sure what you mean by 'from there I updated all the drivers'. Does this mean the AMD Reference driver from support.amd.com?

If you have a net connection, just use the drivers from support.dell.com. For the R3, the drivers are here:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19

The best way to troubleshoot this (as long as you are going down the road of clean installing), is to use AlienRespawn to restore to the out of box state. From there, you'll have a clear picture of what is going on. That is, if you still have AlienRespawn on the drive or you took the time to create an emergency rescue flash drive

 

Do you by chance have an SSD installed; if so, which one?

 

I went to the Intel site to get the updated Chipset drivers. So far I have tried all the original drivers and updated drivers I could find.

I found a post on here that had a link to the Dell AMD drivers. I got them from there as I have a 6990M and my resource CD only had the 6970M driver (wasn't sure if it mattered). I will try a fresh install again once I get home getting all my drivers from there.

No SSD yet. I was planning on getting one but decided against it until I get this issue resolved. I don't want to throw another possible issue into the mix at this time. Haha.

 

When troubleshooting these types of issues, I always approach it from a 'stock' driver perspective. If you do end up dealing with a level 2 or higher support rep, they will want you to be running the stock dell drivers. This makes it easier to pinpoint if its a Dell Driver issue or a reference driver issues.

 

Thanks for your help.. I will be starting fresh again tonight by installing the OS and stock drivers AGAIN, haha. I just know that I had this issue before I even installed or changed anything which lead me down the route of a hardware or driver/setup issue. Once I install the stock drivers I will try and change some things in the BIOS that pertain to throttling and see if that helps.

I'll post later once I get done. Yay for 4 day weekends! Haha.

 

Quick question -

you mentioned:

Can you describe the behavior a bit more? Is it lag in audio or video? What app/game do you see this behavior in?

 

can u post your complete specs too.

 

(This paragraph may be hard to follow - a bunch of thoughts all at once)
It's pretty much any application. When I click on the start menu or right click on my desktop. When I open applications it take a while before it even processes my mouse clicks.. When it first loads webpages or when I scroll on webpages with my mouse it won't do anything, so I keep scrolling with my mouse and then all of a sudden it just SHOOTS to the bottom of the page.. Almost like it queued up all those scrolls and didn't process them right away. Or when I am watching a blu-ray or netflix the sounds is constant but the picture jumps like it froze for half a second. There are a few times when it booted up and the first sound Windows7 makes was almost like a DJ scratching a record. (Lol)

It's really hard to explain.. Grr! Lol.


Thanks,
Joshua

 

Do you need anymore information than is in my DxDiag.txt I attached in my original post?


Thanks,
Joshua

 

ok nevermind didn't see it.
try uninstalling the killer wifi driver first see if that helps.

 

I disabled it at first and thought it helped, but didn't solve the issue. I went to their website and updated the drivers and that didn't solve it either. I will try it again when I get home.

 

I'd even go so far as to try removing the wifi card, and testing. WiFi cards are notorious for causing DPC Latency issues.

 

Okay, so after doing yet another fresh resinstall of Win7 and all the drivers from Dell's Driver page, I FINALLY have some success because of this.

I have changed the settings in the bios, and CPU temperatures are @51C low CPU usage.

I wasn't sure where to find the variable CPU speed in the Windows control panel power management options. Can someone direct me towards that?

Also, making these changes... Can anyone see any issues besides maybe high temps under full loads? Is this going to damage my CPU? Since I have an i7-2860QM @ 2.50GHz that has TurboBoost to 3.6GHz... Since I have the settings disabled Resplendence's post, will I get that boost to 3.6GHz? Is there a different way to fix my issue of it dropping my processor speed too low?


Thanks,
Joshua

 

umm as to the CPU usage ill get you a screen shot in a second. its under alien-ware fusion in the alienware command center. Once you get into the fusion tab, go into quick settings and you should see the CPU options tab. Just go and adjust to your needs hope this helps a bit

 

I've had the same issue on my Precision M6600. I've enabled and disabled damn near everything, tried different driver versions, etc. I think I may have found a fix in leaving the Free Fall Sensor /Accelerometer enabled in BIOS but disabling it in Windows. It's been driving me crazy since, like you, the thing that's spiking is simply the kernel timer latency, and is not attributed to any specific driver. I've used LatencyMon, DPC Latency Checker and xperf/xperfview trying to track this. The fact that it's intermittent is what makes it most maddening.

Give it a try! I don't even have the accelerometer driver installed, and have just disabled the "Unknown Device" that shows up under System Devices.

 

@JMMiller -- First, I would suggest that you undo any changes to the Bios regarding the CPU suggested by an earlier post, i.e., be sure that Intel SpeedStep and Turboboost are enabled. Also assure that C States are enabled, although IIRC those settings are not even exposed unless you have flashed an unlocked Bios, which you do not mention. The 2860QM that you have is a powerful, sophisticated CPU; let it function as designed. It is not the source of your problems.

The number and duration of latency incidents related to hard page faults suggest a memory or memory management issue. First, try the quick system diagnostics accessible through F12 at the boot screen. If the memory passes, you may need to run the extended Memtest, although I have had very mixed results from it, i.e., bad memory often escapes detection. I would try removing and reseating the memory modules and/or trying them one stick at a time if you pass the F12 memory diagnostics but the issue persists.

If you want to test the CPU in order to eliminate it as a potential cause, download and run the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19792. But use this utility only if you have good CPU temp control because it will run the CPU at 100% load at your 4 core TB frequency (3.3Ghz) for an extended period which can drive temps into the 90's or even to shutdown. And your problem is almost certainly not CPU based.

 

Okay.. So I am going to BUMP this thread because I am still having horrible issues and wanted to let people know what Dell had to say...

I've undone any changes to the bios I made and let the computer run it's course and just hope for the best (yes, dumb idea but I was out of ideas.)

I called again today and they tied to run a few tests on the HDD and on returned an error in which they jumped all over that and are sending me out a new one.

Can anyone tell me if the error that came up could cause the latency (micro freezes) anytime it seems like the HDD boosts from 600MHz to the 3.3GHz when the extra power is needed? (Anytime I was on the phone with them and they remotted to my PC, which disabled Aero, it seem to get a LITTLE better.) Here is the screen shot.





Thanks,
Joshua