Malibal Lotus P151HM1 / Sager NP8130 Sound Stuttering Issues

Current Laptop Specs:

i7 2670QM Processor
NVIDIA Geforce 560M (1.5GB)
8 GB 1333MHz RAM
750GB @ 72000rpm -x2-

The Problem:

Whenever I am watching a video, playing a game, or listening to music, the sound on my laptop stutters for a half-second, then returns to normal. This usually happens every 5 or so minutes, but happens at random. It happens using files from my computer as well as watching on-line videos. It is getting very annoying, and I would love to know how to get rid of this issue.

Additional Details:

Current Nvidia Driver Version is: 285.62
Current Realtek High Definition Audio Driver Version is: 6.0.1.6482 (Audio Codec for this is ALC892, if this helps.)

This is a highly edited version of a previous post of this issue, with more accurate information and findings added.

Any help will be greatly, greatly appreciated, this is extremely annoying, and I can't play any games, movies, or music without this happening.

 

Interesting...I always advise doing a process of elimination in this situation. The very first thing would be to run a memory test, like memtest86+ to eliminate RAM as a suspect.

My main suspicion would be the hard drive, as sometimes a hard drive going bad or having bad sectors can cause this. You can try running HDTune to take a look at the S.M.A.R.T. of the drive first, and maybe try the manufacturer's repair utility (SeaTools for Seagate, Data Lifeguard for WD) and eliminate this as a suspect.

If it is still happening, I'd suggest the audio drivers but it looks like you updated those already. The last step would be a reinstall of Windows but you could probably troubleshoot quite a bit before it came to that.

 

I have already done the second two things you have suggested, but only now have I done the first. I used it as a bootable USB, and ran the test on my RAM - there were no errors, but something struck me.

Under the settings for the ram, it said that it was 665MHz, instead of the ram's supposed 1333MHz, how do I fix this? This might be the problem, but I'm unsure of how to change it.

It's still stuttering, I'm not sure what to do otherwise. Sometimes it is Video as well as Audio, but most of the time it is the later. I'm not sure what to do any more, and it's getting worse.

 

Bump, the sound and video stuttering is getting really bad, now lasting upwards of a second.

 

As JP pointed out
Rule out hardware is your first step
Its a process of elimination
If its not a hardware fault , its software
This is harder to deal with

Run benchmarks ,and if you are streaming from the intenet run benchmarks on internet speed, open device manager and look into performance tab
Look to see if something unusual is running in the background that may occasionally max things out

If nothing shows up, fresh load and test from the start, and continue as you add programs/software

 

I've tested the ram, and used Seagate tools for the hard drives. I've updated the drivers for the video card and the audio, what other hardware should I check? And what software would cause this? I have nothing running at the moment I haven't used without issue before on my old laptop, so I'm not sure where to start with the "process of elimination" from where I am now.

If I'm being honest, I'm not the most adept at fidling with computer like this, and I just want the problem out of the way... Any help on what I should check for would be great...

EDIT: Okay, I've tried running the task manager performance tab on my main screen while listening to music on my TV through HDMI. I can confirm that the stutters in Audio/Video are accompanied by large CPU spikes to around 50%.

 

You have to look at what program is causing the increase in cpu
That is listed in the processes tab

 

I did, it was my McAfee, I un-installed and hopefully that's the end of the issue, I will update you all with the end result in a day or so, after testing thoroughly.

Scary how it'd boost the CPU to 50-70% at random for a second at a time though.

 

I had that issue before with Norton , it would spike and slow down my computer
Using AVG free now

 

It seems as if the anti virus was the issue. Anyway, now I have a dead/stuck pixel on the right side of my screen.. Am I just really unlucky with this? I have the 3 year warranty, but that doesn't cover them.. Ugh.. It's really annoying..

 

Uh oh, dead pixels are never any fun...Most resellers have a 30 day return policy. You may have to pay for shipping, but it is an option if it starts to get too annoying.

Also, on that RAM thing, where it said 665MHz? Thought I'd clarify that for you. DDR3 stands for "double data rate type three synchronous dynamic random access memory" (what a mouthful!) but basically you multiply that 665 by 2 and you get 1330MHz (roughly 1333Mhz), it isn't unusual for your RAM to do that though. It is just a slight frequency variation.

 

Is it stuck or dead? Stuck pixels will be literally "stuck" as another color. If it's dead, it'll just be completely turned off and black. If it's stuck, you can try the link below to see if that fixes it.

5 Ways To Fix A Stuck Pixel On Your Screen

 

I've tried the J-Pixel Fixer thing, as well as running UDPixel right now. The pressure one didn't do anything, I was afraid of just causing more damaged pixels.. Hopefully this works if I leave it on while I'm at college.

MALIBAL, what is your policy on this? Since it's within 30 days of my ordering, can I get it fixed? Or is that only for returns..? I'm really picky with these kinds of things, I didn't upgrade to the 95% gamut screen to have a dead pixel on it..

 

You can either pay for a new screen install it yourself, ship it back to malibal to get it fixed, or return the entire laptop, get your money back and order a new one with the pixel guarantee...

Before you go there, I'd say try to software. It's worked for a few people.

Mr. Mysterious

 

If this helps, whenever I tap the stuck pixel with my knuckle (don't want to smudge/damage the screen) the bottom half of it turns green. The entirety of the pixel also goes green whenever I have a black background displayed on it.

EDIT: I think it's actually two stuck pixels, one on top of another - one that changes from red/green, and one that's always red..

 

Lol yes...You can't have half a pixel functioning like that It's a switch mechanism. Either the entire thing works or it doesn't.

Mr. Mysterious

 

So it seems I have TWO stuck pixels. That's just great...

 

My options at the moment would either be:

Give up.

Send for free repair - but pay to and from shipping.

Send in for return, and use money to buy an identical laptop. (Prices have gone up though it seems.)

Let it be and hope I stop getting ridiculously distracted by it.

Which would you recommend?