Solved Frequent fits of stuttering: affects sound, cursor-- everything

[sparkdive]

So this one is a little hard for me to explain but I figured coming here might be my best bet. I have looked everywhere for a solution to this problem and I have tried most everything I could with the exception of a full recovery.

With that said, the stuttering could almost be described as freezing, but when it happens, it happens in little fits. Meaning, when it starts stuttering, my cursor begins jumping around in time to the audio freezing up (and making a rather unpleasant sound) but these freezes never last more than a second each, while the little "fit" could go on for an entire minute. It gets better after I restart my computer, but eventually, it'll start doing it again. (When it happens, it's like everything is kind of staggering around, but it never freezes completely or ceases to function)

I've run all kinds of diagnostics to the point where most of it is a blur. I've updated drivers, rolled back drivers, uninstalled my anti-virus, gone back to a restore point (and received an error, which may be worth noting-- error 0xc0000022) I've run several tests and have so far been able to conclude that there's nothing wrong with my processor, hard drive or motherboard. However, I'm still unsure of my GPU, PSU and potential software issues.

A full scan of both my avast and malware bytes also brought up nothing.

I think it might also be good to mention that it was recovered about five weeks ago, but this has only been going on for about five days. (It was recovered using option 1 of the ASUS recovery)

I have no idea what I'm doing. Please help! Thank-you!

 

[Golden]

Try turning off Indexing.

See Option 1 Step 4 here:
Index - Enable or Disable

 

[MilesAhead]

Are you using automatic cloud storage? The OS functions that automatically detect a change in a folder can bring the system to its knees. This is especially true if there are many files in the folder tree.

If using anything like that try disabling it.
If you know of any program using auto folder change detection, turn it off or shut it down.

I tried several utilities with auto folder change detection and they really hobbled my machines.
Also turn off all real time shields etc. until you find the culprit.

 

[sparkdive]

I've disabled indexing but this hasn't made a difference-- the stuttering continues.

Also, I'm not using any kind of Cloud services or anything related.

Thank you for your suggestions! Is there anything else I should try?

 

[MilesAhead]

I've disabled indexing but this hasn't made a difference-- the stuttering continues.

Also, I'm not using any kind of Cloud services or anything related.

Thank you for your suggestions! Is there anything else I should try?

Try booting to Safe Mode. If the stuttering stops then it must be something not loaded in safe mode. If that's the case you can start a process of elimination to zoom in on the cause.

 

[sparkdive]

I can't get it to enter safe mode at all. I've tried both f5 and f8 and I keep getting brought to my sign in page. I wasn't having this problem before-- last time I tried to boot in safe mode, I was given a list of options, much like what I read here but neither keys are working and I'm not seeing this list at all this time around. I don't feel like I'm doing anything differently?

 

[MilesAhead]

I suspect a hardware issue. But I;m a software guy.

Perhaps a hardware guru can chime in?

 

[sparkdive]

I was really hoping that wouldn't be the case, but nothing is more frustrating than not being able to figure out at all. Hopefully though, sometime next week, a friend of mine should be able to take a look at it but no one seems to have any idea what to look for at this point, so I'm a little worried about that, too.

 

[MilesAhead]

Where it is intermittent, unless you can see it happen more frequently the busier the HD is, that usually points to some HW going in and out of function.

Please post if you find out anything.

 

[andrew129260]

A common issue when sputter or freezing occurs is the hard drive going bad, or the sata cable that connects the hard drive to the motherboard. I find that it is actually the sata cable that is the main issue usually.

 

[bigmck]

I can't get it to enter safe mode at all. I've tried both f5 and f8 and I keep getting brought to my sign in page. I wasn't having this problem before-- last time I tried to boot in safe mode, I was given a list of options, much like what I read here but neither keys are working and I'm not seeing this list at all this time around. I don't feel like I'm doing anything differently?

F8 should do it. Be sure you are pushing it up and down constantly when boot screen is on. Don't just hold it down.

 

[sparkdive]

I'll do my best to keep you updated on what I learn!

As for the SATA cable and hard drive, what are some ways to look into it? I've run a program that was able to tell me my hard drive is at 100% health, but that could be inaccurate. I wouldn't be able to tell.

As for pressing F8 repeatedly, I have done so and all that really happened was a subtle change at start up. I don't want to start it up again, so I'll try describing it from memory. It's always given the ASUS screen twice, and in between them, there would be one with the boot info as usual. This time, after the second display of the ASUS screen, there's been a bunch of underscores going down about two lines, then off to the right and then down another line, back to the left before it displays the standard windows start up. That didn't happen before my attempts at accessing safe mode, but windows still starts up fine. I doubt it means anything, but any kind of change should probably be reported, right?

 

[sparkdive]

So, he was able to have a look at it today and for the time being, he removed my graphics card.

However, this didn't help anything as running everything off of my motherboard, I still got the buzzing and dragging. There's good news though! So my speakers are about five years old and they've been in the audio jack in the back. (And my PC is only about three years old) I unplugged my speakers and swapped it out for my earbuds and everything runs perfectly smooth!

But the question I have now is: why? And will it happen again if I buy new speakers? I tried the speakers in all of the jacks and I still got the problem, but the problem doesn't exist at all if I only have my earbuds plugged in instead.

I first made the connection when he plugged his own speakers in-- nothing. It ran perfectly, he couldn't see the problem but he still took my word for it and took a look around. How can speakers cause even the cursor to skip across the screen? They're not USB speakers so... I don't know.

Is anyone able to explain this? Could this be the problem?

Edit: Realtek detected his speakers, my earbuds and also the speakers that seem to be causing the problem. So it's not as though they're not being detected... For now, I'm going to keep an eye on it because I don't really see how this can be a solution.

 

[MilesAhead]

You can get a super cheapie set of Logitech speakers. Not great sound but stereo. If those work fine for some time then get better ones. If the speakers go in and out of connection I can see where that would jitter the machine. Every time it connects it gets recognized and initialized, then it drops out again.

A real hardware guru could verify or refute my feeling. But I paid about $12 for skinny Logitech speakers including shipping a few years ago. Check around to see which cheapies have good sound. Or if you know you'll always have a use for good speakers just spring for a good set.

In 5 years it's not unreasonable for a set of PC speakers to die.

 

[sparkdive]

I'm hoping to try something like it, but I'm just confused as to how it was affecting my computer's overall performance. My only guess is that it could be a sound card issue. I sat here for a long time listening to music through various players and streams through my earbuds and I did get the dragging again, but only twice whereas with my speakers, it was constant.

All of this is pretty frustrating because no one really has a clue what's going on. Overall, my computer appears to be in very good shape, with the only notable sign of age being the slightly peeled sticker on the graphics card. (From heat) I'm really hoping we're able to narrow it down.

 

[MilesAhead]

That's an idea. Disable the sound card in Device Manager. See if everything is smooth from then on.

 

[sparkdive]

Hello! We've found the problem!

All it took was disabling the wireless adapter. We tried everything we could and when I say everything, I mean everything and it turned out to be just that! (I'm not sure about the specifics of it, but then I'm no expert)

Anyway, thank you so much for all of your help!! I hope that maybe this can be useful to someone else at some point, who knows!

 

[MilesAhead]

You are welcome. Thanks for posting what you found.