Any idea why videos "skip" when played on my laptop?

2 year old Tosh (see sig). Been a problem from day 1. Dual core cpu, 4 GB RAM. Set to "performance" mode. Not multitasking. Even though it isn't exactly a Kray, shouldn't be a problem, right? But any video file stored on my laptop's HDD skips every once in awhile when played, and more often during action type scenes. The problem persists even though the HDD has been swapped out for a new one (needed more storage space). I added a second HDD in my optical drive bay a couple months ago (many thanks for the guide, nando4!). The very same videos when stored on the secondary drive play flawlessly, and NEVER skip or stutter. Both drives are the exact same model 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue. Please keep in mind that this has been a problem since day one, when the original HDD had very little on it.

Any ideas?


EDIT: Just to clarify, the skipping occurs multiple times per minute, not as infrequently as I made it sound ("once in awhile").

 

Since the issue is from the OS drive there apparently is something hitting the drive. To be sure first though do you have the wait for hardware cache off? If there are intermitent writes and the OS is waiting for the writes this could be an issue.

You may also want to try DPC lateny timer to see if the system is having issues there. If it is be sure you are on AC and high performance mode, my U81-a gets hit every 10 seconds on battery saver with a 2000 ms latency that would be an issue.........

 

Many thanks for the reply, TANWare! To be honest, I'm fairly computer illiterate. Can you steer me to the things you mentioned? Sorry for the hassle. By the way, always plugged in on ac, and always in performance mode.

EDIT: I have enabled write caching (it WAS off), and the problem has somewhat improved. A certain video (a vob of Terminator 2) that skipped every few seconds during action scenes has only skipped a few times in the last minute. So it isn't perfect yet, but certainly closer. thanks for the help! Now to just get it that last inch...

 

hard drive bandwidth, chipset bandwidth, memory bandwidth. look ay any other running applications running (including the OS and anti-virus/malware) that impacts that bandwidth.

 

Appreciate the suggestions! But you're dealing with a computer luddite here.
Does remind me of a couple lines from the movie MAD MAX though. "Much damage?" "Metal damage, brain damage; are you listenin' Bronze?"

 

Tried DPC Latency Timer. This is what I got (and I'm in WAY over my head):


So it says I should disable devices one at a time in Device Manager to see which drivers are acting up. I open Device Manager, and the list is a mile long. Are there any that might be more likely to cause problems than others? Or do I need to go through the entire list? This is DAUNTING!

 

Well, until you find what is hitting your C drive, keep your video on the D drive. At least till someone gets lucky and hits on an easy fix for you?

 

Try looking at CPU-z and GPU-z while playing through one of these action scenes and see what is happening clock/temperature wise. If the Tosh is the one in your signature, then you have the HD4200, or better, and should have no problem playing movies on it.

EDIT: ok, so this thread is moving fast... ignore that

EDIT2: Have you tried updating your video drivers, or audio drivers for that matter? DPC checker doesn't look particularly healthy.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I have been doing that. And the ones on my C drive that I want to watch, I simply copy to the D drive, watch, and then delete. It has proven to be a workaround, but not a particularly convenient one, lol.

 

I go into device manager, and right click a device, and select update driver. It says it is checking online, but always comes back saying the drivers are up to date. Is there a different procedure that would be better?

And yes everybody, I know folks like me shouldn't be allowed to operate PCs. Sigh.

 

What is your specific video card and audio vendor? I'm going to bet it's an AMD/ATI video card, with realtek HD audio. If you list them, I'll get you links to the latest drivers.

EDIT: You can see what they are from the Device Manager, like from above. And Windows Update drivers are always behind.

 

it might be a dying hard drive or something but if this is only happening for videos , i guess it is

1. Driver problem
2. wrong codec or player..
3. CPU maybe crapping up if its a HD video.. after all TL60 is like a old core duo..

 

Says ATI Radeon X1250 for display adapter, and just Realtek High Definition Audio.

Low end stuff, I'm sure. But my freakin' netbook can play the same videos without issues, lol.

 

Thanks for the input! Doubtful it is a bad HDD, as it has done this with both the original drive from day 1, and the replacement. Not HD video, even though 720P files play fine from the second drive. Don't think it is a codec or player problem, as the vids span many different types, and any of 5 different video players I've used still act the same. You agree with DPC Latency Checker. Says bad drivers. But the list of stuff in Device Manager is so freaking long, I don't know which to disable first to pinpoint the possible problem. Are some more likely to cause issues, or are they all equally likely to be the problem child?

 

*Here* are the latest ATI Catalyst Drivers for Vista HP x64.
*Here* is the absolute latest Realtek audio drivers.

 

I are a moron. Turns out I have Vista 32bit. But when I went to the link for the video drivers, it said something about not available for download anyway. So I did the driver search thing at that website, by filling in the boxes with info they ask. There was no choice for X1250, so I chose "all other radeon mobility products." I then got this:
"Advisory:
The display driver supplied by the laptop manufacturer is customized for the built-in flat panel display, and the graphics features and functions specific to the laptop. It is strongly recommended to use the supplied drivers.

If installing a different operating system other than the one included with the laptop, the laptop may not meet all the requirements, and supported drivers may not be available.

The laptop manufacturer is the exclusive provider of driver updates. If the required driver update is not available at the laptop manufacturers’ website, it is recommended to contact the manufacturer directly, to see if an updated driver will be made available in the future.

AMD cannot provide driver updates directly from AMD.com.

AMD has provided a list of the major laptop manufacturers and corresponding support websites below for your convenience.
-------------------------------------------------------
I checked Toshiba's website, and found no video driver version newer than the one I already have for my model laptop.

 

No probs... *here* ya go. x86 Vista HP ATI Catalyst 10.2 from Feb. 2010.

EDIT: BTW, the X1250 is now Legacy Hardware and any update you might find in the future will come from AMD/ATI's page only, as the OEM will not release anymore driver updates.

 

Thanks for your continued patience. FWIW, I edited my sig to show 32-bit, lol. Updated the audio driver, still no change. Will update video driver and get back to you. Thanks again.

 

LOL! They must not allow direct linking to their drivers, poor AMD. Their interwebz bills must be expensive. Anyways, here is the page link

ATI Catalyst? Legacy Display Driver

 

Ok. Downloaded and ran/installed the Catalyst Suite. Would I be correct in assuming that when all was said and done, that it updated my video driver?

I still get the same stuttering of video from my primary HDD, and DPC Latency Checker still shows major red spikes and claims drivers are acting bad.

I really appreciate all the help and time involved in trying to fix this for me. I am someone that generally doesn't like to bother people for help, especially when the problem seems like it might be fairly complicated and time consuming for others to deal with. But after putting up with this issue for 2 years, I just felt like I had to get help with a possible solution.

 

If you've re-started after installing both of those drivers, and if the problem really gets on your nerves as much as it would mine, then the only thing I can advise would be to try your luck on Windows 7. Toshiba has released official drivers for Windows 7 for your notebook build. The thing I was going to say was to update the BIOS, but they don't have any updates for that, that I can see.

EDIT: or if you don't want to buy Windows 7, try a fresh "squeeky-clean" install of Vista and just use the Product Key that's on the bottom of your machine. That can help tremendously!

 

I thought the problem was identified very early by TANWare. Something is hitting the drive?

Why we are ever talked drivers when the video works fine on secondary drive is just not making sense. Also it was improved by allowing write back caching. Everything points to an issue related to that drive. Not that drive itself something involving. That is not video drivers, if it was the problem would happen on the secondary drive.

It was suggested on the first page "anti-virus"? That is a good guess as it likes to steal clocks. It is not the stealing of clocks that is the problem it is the location and movement of the heads.

A possible diagnostic is run HDTune. If you get a graph that spikes all over. Is not a descending "flat" line. It is other things interfering. Run it on your secondary. It will have less spikes.

Is it AV is it indexing I do not know. But I do know driver updates and OS upgrades should of never crossed anyones mind at this point.

Turn off AV. Play a vid how is it? If not good run HDTune there is free version. Are there a lot of spikes? If so the problem is found. The hard part might be to identify. But if we get there we will deal with then. Good luck. It is not a driver or OS issue 100% as your secondary and likely even a CD would not have.

 

Even if the problem has been identified as a bandwidth issue between the OS drive, then ok. But graphics drivers have been a root cause of DPC latency issues for quite some time now, and even if it doesn't solve this issue, it's still good to have the latest drivers. What can it hurt? Anyways, I agree, try things with AV turned off. Just make sure to disable your wireless or wired internet connection, because likely your AV has firewall, and anti-virus control. Taking both down at one time could be ugly.

 

But the secondary drive has no issues? Why would that make it anything other than a failing primary, which I doubt. Or the primary getting multiple read write requests which it cannot handle. The allow write behind cache improved, it indicates to me that the drive is being over taxed.

I think it could be anything but I think a diagnoses must be methodical and logical. If you get off that point you are at a point of no return. If it ends up video drivers cool but we are not there yet.

I do not have the fix. I only know what I would do to try and resolve.

 

OK. I tried video after shutting off my wireless and anti-virus and firewall. Still stuttered. Turned it all back on, and in frustration, rebooted the system one more time. For some unknown reason, heavy action vid has been playing stutter-free for maybe a half hour now. Even have it running on an external monitor while typing this on the laptop monitor. Go figure.

Doesn't matter to me whether the thought processes behind the troubleshooting seemed logical to everyone involved or not. The problem for the moment seems cured, even though I'm still getting those huge red spikes in DPC latency check.

Sincerest thanks to all that offered ideas and advice. Even though nothing seems to sink in to my head, I spend a fair amount of time perusing other computer forums in addition to this one. But this one always seems to (at least in my mind) have the largest quantity of both helpful and learned folks.

And an extra special thanks to XGX2007 for being so patient and for going that extra mile to help find a cure. I owe you at least 2 beers, and the rest of the guys as well.

For the first time in 2 years this thing is truly fully functional. Unfreaking believeable.

Group hug, lol?


P.S. Still wonder what that latency issue is all about.

 

Happy to hear all good. Just so you know DPC is an audio feature. It takes many ideas sometimes to solve.

 

Just played a 1080p video without stutter too. Although my monitors only show it in 720p (is downscaling the term?).

I have no clue what DPC Latency Check means, or how to cure the red spikes it claims drivers are causing. I just ran it per someone else's suggestion.

I'm usually pretty good at following directions, even if I have no clue what the results mean afterwards.

 

yeah that dpc latency checker thing even gives me the red sometimes even though everything is fine. with that said though there have been some cases in which the firewire drivers cause it on some laptops ive used (why? i dont know)
I always mention you should try disabling it to see if it fixes it only because such a small percentage of people actually use it. usually its labeled as 1394.

if you can get into the bios (usually its f2 or some other button you push on the first screen you see after turning the computer on) anyway if you can get into the bios try disabling things you do not use. If your unsure what something is in the bios DO NOT mess with it just ask what each thing you dont know means and im sure someone here can let you know what it is and what it does.

 

OP please do not play with the BIOS. I beg you. Look in Windows and see what is running but for the love of god not the BIOS.

 

It's a special moment when something works like it's supposed to, and to its potential

I'm glad the issue is fixed. I cringe everytime I think of my previous M17x, as it stuttered in the audio, not video. But DPC issues were the cause of me returning it and getting a Latitude E6400 and a partial refund..lol. For me, audio and video have to be flawless (not glitchy), or I'd rather not watch at all.

EDIT: I have a thought as to why it occurred in the first place. How did you turn your internet off? Device manager, toshiba app, or just clicked disconnect from the little wireless menu?

 

Why it occurred in the first place? You mean since day 1? I seldom if ever turn off my internet. If I do, it is just by flicking the wireless switch on the front of the laptop to off. If you are referring to how I just disabled it for the test, I went into device manager and disabled "Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter".

 

My bad. Missed this one. Did a fresh install of Vista just a couple months ago. I usually do at least once a year. I like the idea of Windows 7, but funds won't permit that until I'm employed again.