cal0987

Had the same exact same Problem as SilverWolf: Hi, Im having a problem where Win XP Pro seems to "stutter" at regular 1 second intervals. At first I thought it was just with 3D graphics in games but, I later noticed it happening while scrolling down a window in internet explorer. Its rather like running a program while you've got a system scan running with a virus scan program. I've tried tweaking, turning of USB devices, disabling the sound card, disablinig the net card, changing bios settings, turning AGP down, altering the page file size and nothing seems to get rid of it. The only thing I found that helped with the games was running the .exe at a high priority level in the task manager but, that doesn't help with the whole system pausing. I've turned off all the services that aren't needed and that doesn't help either. ------------------------------------------------------------- Tried everything in the Book, new drivers for everything, unplugging sound card, usb ports, paralel ports. Having the problem in Doom 3 now, started half way though the game. It also effected any 3d video, my easy way to test the results of tweaks was to run the new catalyst control center which had a 3d display running. It would show stuttering. The only thing that has seemed to solve the problem is to disable the pagefile.sys (virtual memory). Change it from system run to no file. As soon as I did this the game ran smooth. WTF? I have 750 meg of ram. Athlon xp1800 Soyo dragon+ Mother. Any suggestions? Seems kind of weird, will keep searching the net for similar situations. P.S It Kinda works, I keep getting kicked out of the game, probably when the ram gets too full without virtual memory. [Edited by cal0987 on 2004-09-20 19:14:50]

alecstaar I have had problems in the past with the computer not being able to boot, because of a corrupt setup file, I ordered a new hard drive today. Chris

YES!!! Installed the catalyst 4.9 drivers. Did not test after this. Uninstalled the hard drive drivers. uninstalled the IDE controller drivers. uninstalled the VIA CPU to AGP controller drivers. Let windows re-install from fresh copies. After this it seems that the problem is solved!! Dont think it was the 4.9 drives because: 1.Installed, uninstalled from original to 4.9 to 4.7 to 4.8 to 4.9 ect... with no change. 2. Changed video card to ati 8500 and still had the same problem, should work fine. Surmise that it was a corrupt contoller driver that was causing a problem transfering data from the hard drive, that is why there were problems with the pagesys file. Well now that that is solved (hopefully), I'm off to write my new book: How to waste 3 days (or more) stareing at your computer screen!!! Thanks to all for the suggestions!!!! Chris

Nope... do you have a Service Pack in there? Sorry, gotta ask, just having coffee this a.m. & this edit is not letting me see the rest of your posting anymore. Service pack 1 I am just wondering what you might have done to the system in the time just before this started happening... tough question, I know... "What did you do on your PC 3 days ago?" etc. Cant think of anything special, seems like I'm always doing something to the system. P.S.=> That SOYO mobo... is it VIA chipset based? There's known issues w/ older models (Dosfreak might be able to shed more light on that as he mentioned it recently here) & Did you patch its BIOS lately/recently?? apk Updated the bios a while ago months, was working well after the update. --used a bunch of spyware detection programs today, found some stuff but none of it helped. At least all the other functions of the computer are working fine , just cant play games. Tomorrow will try hard drive connections. Maybe i'm not taking the drivers off right. COuld someone walk me thru the steps? Chris

INstalled 4.7 drivers, nothing. took off every program that i could think of that might affect it, even my virus software, nothing. onlything left is a windows re-install, dont want to do that! Maybe a hardware problem, disk drive? When it gives me stuttering in the game ,every 1 sec., it access' the hard drive every 1 sec. I also notice that when I start up windows and it plays the little sound bite , the sound has a little crackle in it, possibly unrelated, but when i hear it , i think "nope hasn't fixed it" Yes I have reinstalled sound drivers. Still think it might be pagefile.sys related ---------- Mmmm, I had the same problem where my rig would freeze for a split second every few seconds. I found it to be a problem with the motherboard Promise controller. This can easily be tested by plugging your HD into the standard IDE channels. ---------- Will try HD connections, but I think I am plugged into IDE channels. Chris

Ran the ATI remove program, which uninstalled all the ATI stuff. Booted to safe mode , did a search, deleted anything with ATI or Catalyst in it. Removed anything in the registry with ATI or Catalyst in it. Uninstalled video drivers. Rebooted to normal mode, on startup Windows installed old ATI original drivers. Let it finish. Ran Ati program to install 4.9 drivers without controll panel. Same thing, possibly worse! Going to bed! Chris

OK more fun, Took off all vid drivers, installed 4.8 catalyst, still there. Got to thinking it might be the card, put in my old 8500 and had the same problems. Put back in the 9800. Noticed in the game if i let it sit for awhile, 5-10 min. that it smooths out,like somehow all the textures have loaded or something, it will stutter if the save point is reloaded again or alot of action is introduced. Back to windows load the catalyst control center and play the 3d video, which causes it to stutter, while it is doing this in task manager, the cpu usage jumps 20% every other second but does not show up in the list of process' with a corresponding cpu use #. Very Strange, Ghost in the machine. After a few minutes this jump in cpu usage stops at the bottom of the screen and in the preformance graph for cpu history. It starts back up if you close catalyst contol center and start it back up with 3d. Actually I am watching it jump right now with no 3d running, didnt think it did that. Gonna try taking off drivers and installing 4.9 drivers alone without ati controll panels. Later

I did everything in safe mode when i put on the 4.9 drivers for the second time. I'll try it with the 4.8 and see what happens. Man windows XP is a pain in the ass when it comes to the driver, it was great when you used to be able to just tell the system to switch to VGA drivers and work from there. I think that in safe mode windows still tries to install the ATI drivers if you delete them. Thanks

Cant think of any new or additional applications running in the background, gotta be something else to do besides getting a extra hard drive. Setup worked fine until a couple of days ago.