P170HM Stuttering in Games (6990m / Q2760)

Hey guys,

This is about to drive me up the wall!

As of yesterday evening, my brann spankin' new laptop has developed a 2-3 second stutter (actually more of a freeze) that occurs every few minutes. I have observed this in SWTOR and Crysis 2; also possibly Youtube. Basically, everything locks up for 2-3 seconds, then returns to normal. Input seems to be detected during the stutter.

These are the software changes that occurred yesterday:

1) Download and installation of Office 2010 (needs to be activated)
2) Installation of QuickBooks 2010 (already had 2011 installed)
3) Installation of tax software (I think that problems occurred before this)

There have been no setting or power changes that I am aware of. I may have tweaked a few settings in Catalyst Control Manager, but I have since uninstalled it (not the drivers) based on suggestions on another forum, and I put the settings back before the uninstall.

The stutter occurs at all graphics levels. My temps are in low 60s every time. I do not have any GPU overclocking active (I played with Sapphire Trixx a few days ago but have not run it since). Since the problem started, I installed Fraps for the FPS counter; I have observed it at 60 right before a stutter; I don't believe that it actually updates to account for the stutter itself.

By the way, I am also noticing some micro-stuttering in SWTOR, especially when I change camera angles or run through a crowded area. With FPS generally in the comfortable 60s, why would a stutter be taking place? Seems like I am missing something. This also occurs on all graphics levels.

Please let me know what info you need to help me troubleshoot these problems. I honestly do not have time for this as I am in my busy season, and I want to be able to enjoy some light gaming on breaks instead of being frustrated by this mess.

EDIT: an ancillary issue that I may as well discuss also; the black metal varnish on the P170HM is beautiful, but seems to be picking up oil stains and the like. What is the best method by which to keep the surfaces clean? Also, what do you guys use to clean out the speakers (inevitably develop white specs a'plenty).

EDIT 2: forgot to mention; there were also quite a few Windows updates yesterday.

 

First thing I would do is uninstall and then re-install the graphics drivers since you say it never stuttered before. Get the non-preview ones from AMD.

 

Micro stutter doesn't exist in single GPU setups. That's CFX/SLI only.

I would put my money on the drivers.

However, are you running Windows 7 Service Pack 1? If not, that's probably the problem.

 

Thanks for posts guys. How can I definitively determine which service pack I am on? I see the following in DxDiag: 6.1, Build 7600.

To clarify the "micro" stuttering; basically I can perceive jerks and micro-second freezes throughout what should otherwise be, say, smooth movement through Fleet on a speeder, or a smooth pan of the landscape.

I will go ahead and plan to un / reinstall my ATI driver. Should I run any utilities to clean up driver files, etc? I have heard that simply uninstalling is not sufficient at times.

Any suggestions on cleaning the metal surfaces?

I have another question. I have been noting that core temps are very low (low to mid 60s), even under high load with the Radeon pushed to 800 / 1000 (diamond paste is probably helping this). Coming from an Asus G73JH; I am used to having CPU turbo / overclocked. Is there any similar option for the 2760QM? Yes, I know that GPU is the bottleneck in gaming, but I do tend to do some processor-heavy tasks such as recalculating thousands of formulas within Excel every few seconds, etc.

Finally, can someone please give me a layman's explanation of the settings within Catalyst Control Manager, and what I should avoid in general for notebook graphics in order to maintain beautiful but smooth graphics?

 

It sounds like you aren't running SP1. I could be wrong, but I think standard Win7 is build 7600 and SP1 is 7601. Grab it from here if Windows Update isn't getting it automatically:

Download: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB976932) - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

Uninstalling and reinstalling video drivers doesn't require any extra work unless you're having artifacting or other problems. It doesn't sound like a driver problem to me though because it just suddenly started happening. Driver sweeper can be used to remove old drivers, but it can at times cause more problems than it fixes.

I'd only recommend cleaning the machine with a microfiber cloth to start with. If you need more than that, there are electronics cleaners out there.

Your 2760QM uses turbo boost by default, so it will automatically overclock from 2.4Ghz to 3.5Ghz depending on the number of threads. You can't do any manual overclocking on these processors unless you have an XM model (like the 2960XM).

What anti-virus and firewall combination are you running? AV software seems to be responsible for this kind of system lagging and stuttering quite often.

 

Microsoft Security Essentials is my antivirus and I use Windows firewall; should I be using something different?

Strangely, I have not noticed the stuttering today, but I have not been paying close attention.

 

Have you checked your temps? Overheating usually causes stutter and artifacts.

 

Disable core-parking:

See this link:
UltimateComputers.net Forum - View topic - Disable Core Parking Windows 7 Tweak may improve performance

 

This may or may not be the problem, but it is easy to check and put a stop to. Did your machine come with Cyberlink PowerDvd installed? My P150HM did and it seriously degraded the performance of my system after a few days of use. Once I disabled the the background processes, my computer performed flawlessly. Click on "Start" type in "msconfig" and hit enter, go to the Startup tab and disable anything to do with Cyberlink PowerDvd.

My lappy started stuttering during games and had extremely long load times until I killed the cyberlink background processes.

I hope this helps some.

 

Was this problem solved? I would like to know if it was a hardware or software issue.

 

I obtained Service Pack 1 (via Windows Update, not the link provided) and have not observed any issues since; however I have not had time to extensively test high GPU load yet. I will let you know if I find anything different.

 

I have the same problem with NFS: the run and I have SP1

It stutters a lot. Also Dirt 3 sometimes it stutters then it just goes away!

I dont know what to do to this situation??

 

OK, sadly, I still have this problem. Just observed a mini-freeze during SWTOR, FPS was 50s, GPU was 70 degrees, CPU was 60. I am on SP1 and did the core parking trick. Any ideas before I pursue more serious measures?

By the way, I have an SSD.

 

Do you notice it in any other games? I've seen stuttering and freezing at times in SWTOR on more than one machine, so it may not be machine specific if that's the only game you're seeing it in.

 

what model SSD do u have? ive read in some threads here that the OCZ vertex 3 series have some "mini-freezing" problems in win7. i cant recall the solution to that problem, but i remember that there was one! if everything else u try fails, id deffinitely put my money on the SSD being the potential problem here.

cheers

 

I get the same problem in Dirt 3 where it stutter for some time in the race for like a minute then everything goes back to normal. It seems like something is running in the background then it stops.

 

It's a Crucial m4, brand new.

...and WHAT THE HELL!! I just had the following happen, in order. At the time, I had the following open: QuickBooks, Google Chrome, Grooveshark (via Chrome) playing music.

1) Laptop freezes; mouse not responsive, music stops.
2) Left hard drive bay (this is the HDD) starts making loud "I am doing something" whirring noise.
3) Right hard drive bay (this is the SSD) starts making similar, but more SSD-like noise (or maybe it was a fan).
4) Laptop starts making really loud obnoxious beep! At this point, I flip out and quickly cut the power.

I thought that maybe it was overheating, but here's the deal; it restarted in moments (<3 SSD) and temps were <50 degrees (CPU and GPU). I was not running any intensive applications at the time. My main observation was that the sequence of events started when I returned to the laptop after 5 minutes of being away counting inventory (not sure it was before or after I moved mouse). It was not in power save at the time (screen at maximum brightness).

PLEASE HELP, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!!!

Edit: Just tried calling Malibal support (@5:50PM PST) and the dude who picked up my phone call claimed he could not understand me (I was calling from landline); when I called back 30 seconds later, the tech support extension was going straight to voicemail (same result 5 more times). ???

 

Definitely, you have a hardware fault. Unfortunately, time for warranty..

 

Ugh, that would be a disaster at this point; working 14+ hours a day as it is, and I have about 20 applications already installed and configured that I use every day (different years of bookkeeping and tax software, etc). Anyone know if it's technically feasible to take a hard drive out of one laptop and move it to an identical laptop and retain full stability? If I have to "warranty," I'll simply buy a new one and send this one back, lol (within 30 days still).