Hanging/constant stuttering

hey guys,

i made a thread about this a fair while back, and the problem seemed like it was going to have minimal effect but this whole time i've till had to deal with the same symptoms, which are...

- When playing a game, at any given time it might decide to 'freeze' for a couple of seconds. While it is doing so, it will keep playing the same sound (maybe a .3 second long sound) over and over... like when a game hangs before it crashes.
- it will then recover and act normal before the process repeats itself

My specs are below, but I really think it has little to do with my computer. I can run Battlefield: Bad Company 2 just fine on medium settings whereas less-demanding games, for example Source games (l4d, l4d2, tf2 etc.) and others, ie COH series

Whether or not this may have something to do with it, I bought the retail version of BFBC2 while the other games I play (which I have problems with) are all steam-bought.

This is what I've tried so far...

- using 'ready boost' to help pc performance (with a 1gb device and with a 2gb device)
- using 'game booster' to shut down certain processes while gaming..
- re-formatting my computer
- virus scans (come up with nothing)
- cleaning my registry
- updated all drivers through 'device manager'


I'd really like to find a fix for this as I know my computer is more than good enough to run these low-spec games.

i'm not sure how willing i am to open up my laptop but we'll see, if that's what it comes down to then i just may....

so, can anybody suggest something to possibly help me out? Is there any way I can run steam-bought games only through explorer.exe and not steam? I'd like to see if Steam is the problem here.. I doubt the overlay is said problem, however, as I run it when I play bfbc2.

Thanks a LOT in advance guys.

How old are those low-spec games? Have you tried compatibility mode? maybe XP w/SP2, perhaps updating video and audio drivers... or you may even have to go back to previous drivers

low-spec games are Left 4 Dead (2008), Left 4 Dead 2 (2009), Team Fortress 2 (2004??? no idea, it's a basic-as-heck game), etc.

Battlefield 2, which I purchased through Steam, runs fine. However, to my knowledge, it is not in my Steam folder but in the 'Games' folder.

Could a possible problem be all my games stacking in there and making the folder harder to access? ;p

I'm doing a disk-defrag now, btw.

Most likely that is just your laptop being under powered for the game being played.

Using laptops for gaming usually works better if you reduce not only the game play settings but also turn down the resolution until you get to an acceptable level of play. That should eliminate the studdering you see once you get it right.

Given that I run BFBC2 at full resolution and it runs perfectly, I doubt it's a specs issue. But I'll have a play around with the resolution in effected games, anyway.

kk1387 said:

This is what I've tried so far...

- using 'ready boost' to help pc performance (with a 1gb device and with a 2gb device)
- using 'game booster' to shut down certain processes while gaming..
- re-formatting my computer
- virus scans (come up with nothing)
- cleaning my registry
- updated all drivers through 'device manager'

there are some other suggestions in this thread

Tips on Troubleshooting Game Issues

#5 make sure you update your DirectX 9c runtimes that all those Dx9 games use that you listed as having trouble with...yes you need to update eventhough W7 comes with DX 11 installed so that your DX9 games will function properly

Yep, I do have the latest DX9 files and yet my problem persists..

I'll go through that list and do a few more of the suggestions, though. Thanks.

Thanks for the advice. I've already done the first few things you suggested but I'll try the Ultimate Boot CD thing... If everything shows up fine I guess I'll take it to a repairer somewhere and ask for them to have a look inside my laptop.

Cheers dude.