Problems with Audio glitching/DPC spikes/hardpage faults?

[StarblazerUK]

Hi.
I am currently having some issues with my pc.
I use it as a DAW, so for use recording my band and such.
Over the past few weeks I have noticed pops/clicks/jerky playback and recording using audio applications like Cakewalk Sonar 8/x1/x2, Reason 7, Ableton. Using an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8r

So I decided to investigate further with the help of Latency Monitor and DPClat.
DPClat shows spikes into the red around 4000us, Latency monitor however on times doesn't state that there would be an issue with audio, although there obviously is as I can hear it. On other times it will state that the pc may have issues. Looking through I noticed that a couple of things were hitting top of the list, like ndis.sys
usbport.sys
ACPI.sys
SCSIport.sys
nvlddmkm.sys

I have copied this from Latmon, for a bit of an idea what is going on....

CONCLUSION
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Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:04:26 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
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Computer name: MUSICISMATH-PC
OS version: Windows 7 Service Pack 1, 6.1, build: 7601 (x64)
Hardware: X58A-UD3R, Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz
Logical processors: 8
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 6142 MB total


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CPU SPEED
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Reported CPU speed: 2798.0 MHz
Measured CPU speed: 3114.0 MHz (approx.)

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
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The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 94.053753
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 1.203081

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 92.955850
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 0.527751


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REPORTED ISRs
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Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 166.308792
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: ataport.SYS - ATAPI Driver Extension, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.010765
Driver with highest ISR total time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.026271

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 394958
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


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REPORTED DPCs
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DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 76.717655
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: ndis.sys - NDIS 6.20 driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.021347
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: rspLLL64.sys - Resplendence Latency Monitoring and Auxiliary Kernel Library, Resplendence Software Projects Sp.

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.083434

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 1467569
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 1000-1999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 2000-3999 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0


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REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
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Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: bitbridge.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 830
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 629
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs): 28949.062545
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%): 0.085601
Number of processes hit: 7


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PER CPU DATA
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CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1.773485
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 8.391708
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.078809
CPU 0 ISR count: 266641
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 41.393853
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 0.517491
CPU 0 DPC count: 1356963
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CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1.361410
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 7.957112
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.046095
CPU 1 ISR count: 8308
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 43.062187
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.450306
CPU 1 DPC count: 49377
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CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.670118
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 8.966405
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.003224
CPU 2 ISR count: 552
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 76.717655
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 0.003128
CPU 2 DPC count: 682
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CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1.014987
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 166.308792
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.035820
CPU 3 ISR count: 6933
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 62.161544
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.082075
CPU 3 DPC count: 7080
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CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.614117
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 4 ISR count: 0
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 9.099357
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.001238
CPU 4 DPC count: 401
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CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.776113
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 30.490350
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.005298
CPU 5 DPC count: 631
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.735564
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 10.28020
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.001182
CPU 6 DPC count: 270
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 1.527748
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 37.225161
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.396630
CPU 7 ISR count: 112524
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 71.566833
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.719637
CPU 7 DPC count: 52165
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If anyone could offer up any idea's, I would be most greatful!

Cheers.

 

[fireberd]

Do you happen to have the Gigabyte EasyTune installed? If you do, uninstall it as that is one known cause of glitches shown by the DPC latency checker.

I inadvertently installed that on my gigabyte motherboard and was having audio glitches as I use this system for my recording studio. I ran DPC latency checker and it was glitching way up in the red. I uninstalled the EasyTune (V6 in my case), restarted the PC and no more glitches in my audio recording system and no more red in the DPC latency checker.

I have Sonar X3 Producer and use a Roland Octa-Capture. I also have an MAudio Fastrack Ultra 8R that is a backup recording interface unit.

 

[StarblazerUK]

Hi, cheers for the reply.

I don't believe I have that installed, will make another check. I purposely avoided installing easytune as I wouldn't require it on this pc as I wasn't planning to overclock.

Seriously considering a full wipe at this point.

 

[fireberd]

Whenever I run Sonar, I have the network disabled. I have found that some software will try to access the net if its not disabled for their update checking procedures. I had a sticky problem with the Google Updater for Google Chrome. Even after I uninstalled Chrome I still had the updater issue and it was a mess as I had to manually edit the registry to fully remove it.

I also had a problem with Acronis True Image and it too required manually editing the registry to get rid of all traces of it (I now use Macrium Reflect for backup software).

A full (clean) reinstall and be very careful on what is installed may take care of the problems, but that is a drastic step.

 

[StarblazerUK]

I don't use the music pc on the internet unless it is for verification of software that won't allow me to do it any other way, or if there are windows updates. Then it's all disabled again from bios. It's a pain in the backside as tbh, I wish I didn't have to connect it at all and could disable and remove anything, including all drivers to do with networking.

Don't use Acronis, so wont have that problem here thankfully.

Yea, Drastic it is, but looks like it might just be the only way to really get a handle on it all.