Computer stutters anywhere, anytime.

[aa.browning]

Operating System: Windows Vista Business

CPU: Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4GHz

Graphics Card: NVidia 7950GX2 1gb 512-bit

Memory: 2GB DDR2

HardDrive: 320GB Sata (a secondary 80GB IDE Slave is also plugged in, but blank. It originally had XP on it.)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3

 

Right, I think I listed all the important hardware there. My problem is that my computer stutters -- i.e. freezes for a split second at regular intervals. The stuttering is intermittent, and can happen no matter what im doing on the computer. This means i can be playing a game and the game will stutter (similar to when you have the graphics turned too high on a game and it jolts around) -- the sound will also stutter -- or i could leave it on the desktop with no applications running and it will present itself when i move the mouse. After this split second everything catches up. I don't usually notice it catching up since it's a split second, but when i paid attention i realised if i moved the mouse around in a circle on the desktop, it jumped rather than stopped and resumed from the same point it froze from.

 

Anyway enough of the problem, I'll tell you what I've done. Firstly, all the parts of the computer were bought and put together by me recently [august] (and I am by no means a computer technician!). The first thing i did was to make sure there was nothing foreign on my computer (e.g. viruses, spyware etc). I also ran through the processes to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was running, that nothing was chewing up ram and that the CPU wasn't being overused. When i couldnt' find a problem, I formatted my computer.

 

What I should also mention now is when this stuttering appeared, i noticed it also in Windows XP which i had at the time on my computer along with Vista. I had owned XP for perhaps a month or two before i installed Vista, and had never previously experienced this freezing. But i cannot tell for sure if it started happening the instant i upgraded.

 

Anyway, back to my "solutions". I formatted, installed Vista and chucked all my drivers and main programs back on (this includes MSN, Firefox browser, Itunes) and all my backed-up files. I left it on all day, using it every now and then, and the problem didn't present itself. I was proud. But i then left it on overnight, which is when it's almost 100% likely to present itself... and alas, it did in the morning.

 

Since then i have also reformatted, installed vista and JUST the motherboard drivers (and MSN, can't forget MSN) and have simply plugged my PC directly into the internet without installing the wireless or anything extra (even the graphics card driver). It didn't freeze all day, but i left it on overnight and it did. Quite a disappointment. This means that it is a hardware problem, no?

 

Unfortunately i have already been through my computer, taken everything out and put it back in again. I have also measured my CPU temperature at firstly an incorrect reading of 60'C (and therefore replaced the CPU fan and applied Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease, which made it even BETTER), then measured at a correct (with the Gigabyte motherboard program) reading of an average of about 38'C, so it's certainly not an issue of the CPU overheating, despite how gleeful i was at thinking i had found a solution.

 

So... oh dear.

 

Help is GREATLY appreciated, but dont ask:

1) to make sure the hardware is properly plugged in (since i don't know enough of the hardware to be certain everything is in the correct place, i will wait til i can get a friend over to look at it for me)

2) to install just XP and not Vista and see if the problem presents itself -- i will consider doing that a lot later, but i would seriously rather vista =P

 

All I'm looking for are alternate solutions to the 2 mentioned above, since they're ones I either can't do atm or ones i'd rather not do. Basically the only thing i can expect to be a problem is a possible hardware incompatibility issue or someone who remembers something similar which meant a piece of hardware had malfunctioned. Again, thankyou for any help.

[danzil]

Hi aa.browning and welcome.

Have you gone into device manager and made sure all drivers are installed paying special attention to chipset.

Also have you got exhaust fans on your case and are they functioning correctly?

What is your CPU load like when the freezing occurs? Try when you load up Vista running task manager and noting down the CPU usage when the freezing occurs.

try them first

regards

danzil

[aa.browning]

It's stuttering right now, and the CPU usage is around 6-9%, the memory is at 26%. I have looked through device manager and nothing has a problem; as i said i have installed all the drivers off the motherboard disc. My fans are functioning correctly; the CPU temp is average 36'C and the case at 40-50'C. (usually around 40). In fact I'm getting so annoyed at this right now that I am going to format and install Windows XP, and leave that on tonight to see if it stutters again tomorrow morning. Of course other suggestions are still more than welcome just in case it does have the same problem.

Thanks.

 

[edit] i feel that i should also add rebooting the computer completely gets rid of the freezing. so perhaps this is a sign that it probably isn't hardware overheating or the like? but again i am not too sure as i am not a technician... but it seems to me like it *must* be a running process? ill keep you updated tomorrow morning about the success of windows xp if you haven't already posted.

[danzil]

what processes are running when the stutting occurs, have you ran error checking on the hard drive,,,right click the drive then click properties.

regards

danzil

[aa.browning]

Hey nevermind, I got it fixed! It must have been a hard drive problem. I can only assume so because i formatted and reinstalled Vista once again, yet instead of doing a quick format i did a proper one (which took a long time!). I'm assuming the hard drive had residual errors on it and the full format fixed these? I'd love to hear your opinion, as I am curious -- it was one annoying problem! It's been running absolutely fine without freezing for more than two days now :)

 

Also, I did error check the hard drive -- which took a ridiculously long time =P This was after the freezing had stopped of course, and no errors turned up

 

Thank you one last time for all your help danzil, it was greatly appreciated.