Choppy Windows in Windows 7?

DarrylGittins said:

This isn't a driver problem (for me), because I have the same cracking sound after trying the onboard sound card AND using different USB sound cards.

The problem only happens after the system has been running for a while. A reboot fixes the problem, but then it eventually comes back.

The sound crackles and stutters when the CPU is busy. That is, when I open a Web page, or start a program, I hear pops and garbled sound if I’m playing music.

The problem occurs in any music player (in Windows Media Player, or Winamp).

Here's what I've tried:

Installed the latest drivers.
Tried using 2 different external sound cards.
Installed the Codec lite pack .
Disabled speaker effects (enhancements).
Reset the BIOS to the factory default settings.
Flashed the system BIOS
Twiddled with every imaginable setting in the Sound panel in Windows 7
Turned off Aero to use a basic theme


Thanks LOADS for any suggestions!!

Specs:
Windows 7 Enterprise x64
NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 and GeForce 6200
NVIDIA (Realtek) High Definition Audio
Intel Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
P5QL PRO ASUSTeK
2048+2048+2048+2048;DIMM DDR Synchronous Memory

Disable onboard graphics, take out all but one stick of RAM, reboot, and test. Then run Memtest86+ and chkdsk. Also, make sure all your drivers are updated and HWInfo32 is reporting your hardware correctly. Use the driver guide in my sig.

Did all that, but no luck. Thanks very much for the suggestions though!!

What I DID find is that by using the DPC Latency Checker V1.2.0 (DPC Latency Checker), I can see that after system startup, latency is good (in the green levels), but after running a day or so, it's perpetually spiking (running in the red). This is when I hear the horrible crackles and stutters in my sound card.

If I then disable the network adapter (NIC), latency immediately drops to green levels and sound is good. However, if I then enable the network adapter, it immediately spikes perpetually into the red and I hear the crackles and stutters.

I have to reboot to reset the condition so that it's running in the green (so that I can listen to music without horrible crackles and stutters).

I tried swapping the network adapter but I have exactly the same issue with both network adapters. I've also swapped several sound cards, video cards and such, updated the BIOS and all drivers and every other imaginable troubleshooting step.

This is driving me nuts!

Thanks bundles for any suggestions!!

I found that by using the DPC Latency Checker V1.2.0 (DPC Latency Checker), I can see that after system startup, latency is good (in the green levels), but after running a day or so, it's perpetually spiking (running in the red). This is when I hear the horrible crackles and stutters in my sound card.

If I then disable the network adapter (NIC), latency immediately drops to green levels and sound is good. However, if I then enable the network adapter, it immediately spikes perpetually into the red and I hear the crackles and stutters.

I have to reboot to reset the condition so that it's running in the green (so that I can listen to music without horrible crackles and stutters).

I tried swapping the network adapter but I have exactly the same issue with both network adapters. I've also swapped several sound cards, video cards and such, updated the BIOS and all drivers and every other imaginable troubleshooting step.

This is driving me nuts!

Thanks bundles for any suggestions!!

post deleted - sorry for the dupe!

No I have to agree. I don't like it either. Every time you open or close a window it steps down / steps up a couple times before completing. It's not smooth at all like Vista. Has anyone found a fix for this?

Pieloi said:

Only queer thing is it happens whenever the hell it wants to, I can start my pc up one day, and it'll do the aforementioned slomo window jig, I'll restart, then it's gone. It'l do this randomly, whenever it wants, and it'll only start after a power on of the pc.

I got this exactly behaviour of the problem. Sometimes on a system startup, the issue just magically appears. What I do is, I simply restart the system and it's gone. It never happens during running system session, I don't have any problems with Windows 7 at all... system runs fine for days without reboot. But every now and then, after a system boot, I get this awkward problem. Found several people capturing and describing this issue but Pieloi is the first one I found who is experiencing the problem the same way I do.

Pieloi said:

Only queer thing is it happens whenever the hell it wants to, I can start my pc up one day, and it'll do the aforementioned slomo window jig, I'll restart, then it's gone. It'l do this randomly, whenever it wants, and it'll only start after a power on of the pc.

Although disabling windows animation/minimise maximise will fix this, I will still put up with restarting every now and then after startup because of the slomo effect just for the animation..

This exact thing happens on mine. It's weird. I contacted HP about it and the technician said it might have something to do with the OS so I have to re-install it by buying a disc from them or creating it myself. I've already restored it using the Factory Image partition but it's still doing it.


Specs:
HP Pavilion P6320y
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
AMD Phenom II X4 820
Nvidia nForce 720a
DDR3 8Gbs
NVIDIA GeForce 9100

Has anyone found a solid solution for this?

Microsoft virus scanners apparently can contribute to the problem. If you are running Microsoft Security essentials or Forefront, try this:


1. Open Microsoft Security Essential or Forefront.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Click Excluded files and Locations
4. Click Add.
5. Select either of the following paths, depending on the scanner you are using:

c:\Program files\Microsoft security essentials\MsMpEng.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Forefront\Forefront System\Client\AntiMalware\MsMpEng.exe

6. Click Ok.
7. Click Save changes.
8. Close the scanner program, and then restart the computer.

You might also try excluding other network intensive programs like iTunes.exe or iTuneHelper.exe.

For more on this, see the following:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msestart/thread/0519ba5e-f3d8-4caa-a193-01fea178aa4f