I've been having a stuttering problem ever since I installed a new 250GB HDD. Since then, I've tried disconnecting the hard drive, updating BIOS, replaced the motherboard (bought the same model), and replaced the PSU. It's not likely that it's the hard drive itself, as I have the same stuttering problem when booting off of the 250GB HDD that I do when booting off the 150GB.

The stuttering basically only occurs when I run anything that's semi CPU-intensive. Nothing too hard on it, but when I have Winamp playing a song while I load Firefox, the music will stutter during the loading. For things like torrents, as long as I'm uploading or downloading with a torrent, it will stutter about every 5-10 seconds. The mouse also gets choppy, and my CPU usage jumps to 75%-100% during the duration of the stuttering. (Note: this is on my old 150GB hard drive. The 250GB only stutters when loading things like a game or something.)

I've definitely run out of ideas. Aside from replacing my CPU, but I ran Knoppix (Linux LiveCD) off of my CD-ROM drive and didn't find a stuttering problem there. Although, I couldn't find anything to run that was very CPU-intensive in Knoppix, so maybe that's why? However, I think Knoppix proves that it isn't a RAM problem, considering that the entire OS runs off the RAM. I also ran tests on the RAM, and everything seemed normal.

I'm tired of spending money on things that aren't fixing the problem. I really don't want to buy a new CPU, as it would obviously cost even more than I've spent on a PSU and motherboard.

Also, something weird that I've noticed is that when I run off of my 250GB, the stuttering isn't nearly as bad as the 150GB. I think this has something to do with the fact that it's newly formatted and doesn't have much on it right now. I've already formatted it about 5 times because it seems like the more things I put on this hard drive, the worse the problem gets. However, even with only Windows XP loaded onto it, I can still get it to stutter. It's just that it isn't as bad, and it's harder to get it to stutter in the first place.

And yes, I've updated all of my motherboard drivers. The sound I'm using is onboard, but I don't think it's a sound-related problem because the CPU usuage shoots up. I think the stuttering in the sound is just one of the results of the actual CPU stuttering.

Please help?

Hi,

Could you please list your full system specs?

Install prime 95 and run its torture test, prime will test the cpu,mobo,ram,psu and heat.
Prime does read and write to disk but does not stress it much.

Prime also won't tell you witch component is bad but I am looking to stress the cpu, we are relativley sure it ain't the board or ram or psu. Also if prime will run for several hours without fail or errors then these components are not the problem.

Please report your temps while running prime and also while the computer is at idle, this could be heat related.

Rick

This post has been edited by Doby: Dec 17 2005, 03:41 PM

On the Prime website it says you need a Pentium-class processor? I have an AMD. Would it work anyway?

Specs:
Antec SmartPower 2.0 400W PSU
PCChips M871G Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ CPU
1 GB RAM
150GB HDD
250GB HDD

This post has been edited by o29: Dec 17 2005, 04:28 PM

Also, I collected the temperatures while (relatively) idle.

Temp1: 38C
Temp2: 37C
Temp3: 42C
Temp1: 43C
Temp2: 41C
HD0: 44C
HD1: 43C

Not sure why there are 2 Temp1 and Temp2s. The temperatures were collected using Speedfan.

Yes prime will work with Amd I use it all the time to test new systems,

Your temps look good and should not be a problem but list them again when running prime for 15 minutes.

Your specs also seem good, good parts but what video card do you have?

Ok, I'll let it run overnight. I have a Radeon 9800 Pro video card usually, but that stopped working recently so I RMA'd it, and I'm getting it back on Monday.

Since then I've used onboard video and then got fed up with that and installed my old Geforce 4 Ti4200 to last me until I get the Radeon back.

I'm going to run Prime95 overnight and post the results in the morning.

Thanks for the help.

Ok, so I ran the Torture Test overnight, and I'm not sure how you can get the program to create a log, but it ran for 7 hours with 0 errors and 0 warnings.

My computer got up to 48C. I used to have it cooled better with my case fan, but since I had to change the PSU, I had to disconnect the wires to the fan, and since then I haven't been able to get it working again. Of course, though, I've had this problem since before then.

This post has been edited by o29: Dec 18 2005, 09:18 AM

Since prime ran for 7 hours with no errors that pretty much eliminates the cpu,mobo,psu,ram, and heat related. 48C when running prime is a good temp so don't worry about it.

With switching the video cards around you have a driver problem causing the shuttering, goto http://drivercleaner.net/ download and run the program and remove any drivers relating to video then reinstall the drivers for the card you are currently using.

Rick

I've had this problem since way before my video card broke. I had my computer for about a year before it happened. I hadn't replaced any hardware before the new HDD besides my video card, which I installed within the first week of having the computer.

The problem started immediately after I installed the new HDD as a slave drive. However, since then I've tried disconnecting the new HDD and disconnecting the old HDD and running the new one as the master. Nothing seems to help very much. Again, though, it isn't as bad when I boot from my new HDD. However, if I begin installing a lot of things on it, then it will begin to stutter more often.

Another things is that right when all of this happened, I noticed XP taking much longer to boot. When I do a fresh XP install on a formatted HDD, it loads at a normal speed at first, and like I said with the stuttering, the more things I install, the longer it takes to boot up.

Also, my video card breaking and the stuttering are completely unrelated. When I was installing my new PSU, I was plugging in the molex connector to the video card and a piece broke off of it.

I'm thinking that it isn't a software problem since I seem to have the stuttering occur even after a fresh format.

This post has been edited by o29: Dec 18 2005, 11:10 AM

I understand your logic but it could still be a video driver problem even after a format because if windows detects the onboard video it could load drivers for it then when you install the drivers for the video card there is a conflict so drivercleaner is worth a shot.

Is there a option in your bios to turn off the onboard video if so disable it if you have not already done so.

Also goto the hdd manufacturers website and download thier diagnostic tools you can then check the hdd's to see if there are any problems

another thought just occured to me, have you tried a new cable with either one of the drives?

New ribbon cable with the hard drives? Yeah, I've tried 3 different cables. And I'll try disabling the onboard video (I think there's a BIOS option) and the driver remover thing.

Thanks again.

This post has been edited by o29: Dec 18 2005, 01:36 PM

I just deleted the onboard video drivers and reinstalled the drivers for the Ti4200. I looked in the BIOS but didn't see an option to disable onboard video. There was an option for onboard ethernet and sound, but none for video.

And after doing all of this it's still stuttering.

Well I guess your right it has nothing to do with the video drivers or card, but at least we coverd all the bases.

I guess its on to testing the hdd's, I find it hard to believe both hdd's could have problems but everthing else checks out through testing and I don't see anything else it could be.

keep me posted, in the mean time I am going to see if I can find a manual for your board and check somethings out

I searched around for a diagnostic tool to test hard drives specifically for my motherboard and didn't find anything. I downloaded DriveSitter instead, but it's not really telling me all that much. It says both devices are healthy, and gives me a report of them, but it doesn't seem to really test anything besides temperature. However, it is telling me that both drives are "OK" and that "The device is healthy. No user action is required."