m15x Seemingly Unique Stuttering Issue!

For the past 3 months my games have been stuttering. It's not a normal frame rate problem though. This is something different that it doesn't seem a lot of people have.

All of my games, or at least most of them, run perfectly fine at around 60 fps. The problem shows up whenever the game loads a new area, plays a new sound, or just generally does something different then it's been doing for a while. When this happens the game sort of stutters for like a half a second or sometimes a bit longer, and then it goes back to a normal 60ish fps.

I have a temporary fix, which is when I enter a new area, I can just rotate the camera 360 degrees a few times. This usually makes the issue less apparent in some games, but it's still there usually. The weirdest part is that it happens in all of my games regardless of what I put the settings at. Hell, it even happens in Bit. Trip Runner sometimes.

Another point is that I self-upgraded my GPU from a ATI 5730m to the Nvidia 460m shortly before this started happening, so that may have something to do with it, but my temps are fine at around a max of 60 Celsius. I'm pretty sure that means my pasting was good, so I just don't know.
Please help. This has been going on too long...

My specs:
Intel i7 Q740 @1.73Ghz
4GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 460M
1920x1080
300GB HDD

 

It sounds like the stuttering occurs when the disk drive is accessed. You might start by going to Start>Computer>(right click) c: drive>Properties>Tools and under Error Checking, click on the "Check now" button.

 

are you using McAfee Antivirus?

 

Ok, I'll try that now. And @noelho, I read other threads where you were saying that McAfee causes other problems that sounded a lot like mine! and I was in fact using McAfee! so I deleted it, and installed MSE. The problem didn't go away, although my computer does seem slightly faster.

 

=( ... hopefully you will get the bottom of it

 

Okay so I ran the disk check, and it took like 2 hours, but said that it was clean. So I'm assuming that means that my problem is being caused by something else?

 

Check your startup items in ccleaner, and I would check the drive derag settings too. Make sure "scheduled defragging" is turned off.

 

Wait, I thought Defragging was good? Why would I turn it off? also, what do you want me to do with the startup items in Ccleaner?

 

some things to consider
activate and than deactivate stealth mode
check to see if your gpu is reaching maximum clocks and or throttling(i use hwinfo and fumark combo)(and or create a log while gaming)
might consider a fresh windows install if all else fails.....

 

My next ideas are to underclock my gpu and try using driversweeper.

But the throttling might be a good idea to look into. I already checked for my CPU with throttlestop and it was always at 100 so I don't think that's the problem.
Anyways, how do you check for GPU throttling with hwinfo? because I already use that for checking temps.

 

Hey wait! one thing I just noticed is that the Nvidia control panel is saying my DirectX is DX10, not 11.... Anyone know why it would say this?

 

i actually rather log with gpu z since hwinfo complies data in .csv format which is a pain to view . gpu z uses a friendlier txt file which on notepad is very nice. anyway on hwinfo on sensor at bottom of window click log and give it a name, same with gpu click sensor at top of window and then click log check box at the bottom and it saves to my documents

 

Cool Thanks, now what about my dx10 issue?

 

alright, click start, type run press enter, type dxdiag press enter, now check near the bottom of the window if your directx version is not 11 then go here Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - DirectX End-User Runtime , but i dont think this will help your issues since most game dont run on directx 11.... on the other hand u will be up to date

 

try running chkdsk in command prompt. If there are problem reported, use chkdsk /f again to fix them.

 

No problems in chkdsk. I do have dx11 when I look at dxdiag.
I used driversweeper and sweeped all ATI driver files, it made no significant difference. I tried underclocking my GPU, did nothing. I have yet to use GPU z and see if it's throttling, so that's likely my next step.
Also, lately I've noticed that occasionally when trying to boot up my computer, it will not. Instead the scroll lock lights up, while caps and num lock are flashing on the touch panel. This seems significant in some way.

I recorded 2 videos with Fraps and put them on youtube so everyone can see what it looks like when I first start a game. I used DA:Origins for the example, but it happens in almost all of my games regardless of settings.
First video (Highest settings):
DAOrigins 2011-09-24 14-27-37-95.avi - YouTube
Second video (lowest settings):
DAOrigins 2011-09-24 14-38-56-96.avi - YouTube

 

have u tried run the pre boot diagnostics(F12 at boot)?

 

That LED sequence code reflects a memory error, requiring the user to reseat or replace the SODIMM ram modules. Though it may be intermittent, memory errors can manifest themselves in all sorts of odd ways. Check your ram.

 

I have ran diagnostics and it found no issues. Also, Revelator, how should I check my RAM?

Also, here are my results from GPU-z while playing Dragon Age Origins.

 

It's very tough to identify memory errors when they are intermittent. Just remove the memory modules, wipe off the contacts and reseat them. If you have recently installed new DRAM memory, you might take it out and put the old memory back in to see whether it eliminates the problem. Finally, you can try one memory module/stick at a time and then one slot at a time by alternating one module between slots. The memory diagnostics are pro forma, but rarely report any problem even when one exists. Good luck.

 

Okay so I checked the RAM and everything looked fine, but I wiped off the contacts anyways. My games are still screwed up. I'm really not getting anywhere with this problem. If it seems like a hard drive problem, then does anybody think it could be caused by Intel RST or something? I already sent my m15x to Dell a month ago, and the only thing they did not fix was this problem...

 

Well there could be two things.. Have u tried cleaning u the drivers completely and thn dng the power drain and then reinstalling them? Also Uninstall the Nvidia system monitor and then do this

Secondly you should go for this, Most of the people recovered their stuttering from fixing this value

http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/486478-fix-win7-i7-sluggish-performance.html

 

Okay 2 questions: Should I download the Nvidia drivers from the dell m15x page or the drivers from Nvidia's website? and should I uninstall them with add/remove programs and then run driversweeper to sweep anything Nvidia left over? some people say driversweeper sweeps too much...

 

I personally, never had a problem with drivesweeper, also with your gpu-z i forgot to mention to check the second box on the sensors page...... To continue updating while at background

 

Wow I feel stupid now... Here's my new updated log file ranging from the start of the application to when the problem stopped being as apparent.

GPU-Z Sensor Log 2.txt

 

Hey I fixed it!! Everything runs perfectly now! I'm so happy
Steps to fix for me:
Used add/remove programs to remove all Nvidia drivers.
Rebooted in safe mode and ran driver sweeper and installed new drivers.
Now everything works great. Thanks so much everyone for trying to help!
+rep to all!