M17x stuttering - Only in SLI

Hey everyone,

I've posted on here a couple times about stuttering on my computer and I wasn't able to really ever determine the cause.

However, I realized today that this is because I always use my computer in SLI. Today, I tested it using only one GTX 260M and it worked flawlessly. As soon as I went back to SLI, the stuttering started happening again.

Basically, the stuttering occurs whenever I'm using my computer. It doesn't matter what application or video, but it consistently experiences tiny 0.5-1 second bursts where the computer pauses, and then after this pause it rushes forward to catch up to what it missed. Sometimes, on a smaller scale, my sound/video will clip every few seconds (which gets VERY annoying, believe me) as well.

Also, when it occurs I always hear a whir-click combination. If you're looking at the screen, it's on the left side of the laptop, just under the '1' and 'Q' keys. There's a whir, everything pauses, and then a click, after which everything works normally again.

I'd love any help that people could offer me. I'm wondering whether the video cards were placed wrong, in which case I will ask Dell to replace them, obviously. It's worth noting that the problem still occurred even after a fresh Vista install. Is there any known driver that might fix this problem? I'm currently running the 186.82 driver for my GTX 260M's. Thanks a lot for your help!

EDIT: And to pre-empt the inevitable questions, I'm using Full Power mode, not in Stealth Mode, etc; I've checked everything Alienware/laptop related.

 

Failing hard disk would be my guess. The click and stutter you describe fits. Download hdtune and run a scan or do the scan from the Dell diagnostics DVD.

 

Here are two HDTune scans I did. I noticed about 6 downward spikes during the time I allowed it to graph the benchmark.

HD Tune Pro: ST9500420ASG Benchmark

Read transfer rate
Transfer Rate Minimum : 18.4 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 93.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 70.8 MB/sec
Access Time : 18.0 ms
Burst Rate : 68.1 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 4.5%

HD Tune Pro: ST9500420ASG Error Scan

Scanned data : 476749 MB
Damaged Blocks : 0.0 %
Elapsed Time : 0:49

 

that minimum seems way to low

It may be the hard drive

 

I agree with the guys above i had the same issue when i first got my Alienware M17X and it was stuttering every Few seconds. WOuld play perfect then slow down to a slow crawl for a second to three. My Rep sent me 2 New hard drives (Love my rep i suggest going them them if possible) Tech was usless for me over 3 calls discounted, and 8 online transfers. Try to get them to send you both hard drives if you have raid just in case. Hope you get it fixed good luck!

 

isn't stuttering just a byproduct of SLI?

 

if that were true no one would buy SLI systems.

 

I also heard of people having stuttering in systems with only one GPU, so I'm inclined to believe SLI is not the cause of the stuttering.

 

Hi

I have had exactly the same symptom ("whirr-click"), which I think is HDD prematurely head-parking in (possibly RAID). Usually in desktop mode rather than game mode, but hey it may be that I can't hear because of the explosions and enemies shouting "aaaaarrrgggg!"

When I spoke to Alienware support, they said the HDDs can be noisy, but I don't think this was the issue, and all HDD tests have passed fine, but yes I do get the odd pause - though not the full-on stuttering others have reported.

I've heard elsewhere than running Win7 has fixed this for other people, so look forward to putting that theory to the test in the next few weeks.

Wondering now if symptoms of stuttering, HD-parking (RAID?) and SLI may be related somehow (theory). Also knowing that Quad Core 9300 is two dual cores stapled together but potential bus bottleneck which might suggest that a chipset driver or BIOS update might help address or alleviate some of this (plus Win7 is way better processor optimised too).

Cheers

Trelawney

 

That type of stuttering is known as Micro-Stuttering which was an issue in the past but no longer is the case..

 

I dont think its the SLI rather than the Video card drivers.

I have disabled SLI many times, yet i still experience some stuttering in some games.

 

on a related note, how does one force SLI on through bios?
i've hybrid graphics set to enabled, but still only using 1 gpu

 

Its not in the BIOS its in the nVidia drivers select (Enable SLI)

 

damn, its not working when i do it from the control panel, gonna have to change drivers

 

I had to make an account just to reply to this thread. Thanks for all of the suggestions. I also just bought an Alienware M17x laptop, I absolutely love it but I have also had some major frustrations with the video cards/drivers and the sounds/video clipping.

I do not get the pause and whirl, my whole system does not stop so I do not think it is the hard drives. On the other hand, my sound will clip maybe once every 5-15 seconds if I am actively using the PC while listening to music or longer lapses between clipping if it is just sitting idle playing music. I have tried Media player and Winamp just in case it was the player. Also, when I am watching a video, I get a bar through the center of the screen that lags behind. Just a strip through the center of the video that continually lags and blinks if I use media player but not Winamp or media player classic that came with a codec bundle I use. Both of these issues I have not been able to figure out.

In regards to the video drivers.... don't download them from Nvidia. When I install them, I have to reboot 5-6 times and mess with the settings each time to get it right. One time it will not see the SLI and only boot from integrated, the next time all 3 video cards will be scene but the software will not be utilizing them. Just really odd errors. I have the best luck with the drivers that came with the laptop. And there is NO setting that you can simply tell the PC to ALWAYS use SLI no matter what. If you unplug the power and then turn it in, it will always boot from integrated and then my OS starts installing drivers again.

After fussing with these issues many times, I think I have finally given in and just think it is Windows Vista and I am going to try Windows 7 and hope for the best. But if anyone has any further comment, they would definately be appreciated.