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The ultimate M170/9300/9400 7800GTX Video stuttering topic, WE NEED TO FIX THIS!

post #1 of 81
1/30/06 at 7:21pm
Thread Starter 
Okay, there's like three large topics about this not really going anywhere. I just want to clear this up, I feel like I wasted $3k on something incapable of running the games I want to play right...

The main thing I want to clear up is the fact that my problem differs very slightly from all of yours: It ONLY happens in online games. Almost exclusively. It can't be my connection, I have Verizon Fios, 15/2 fiber optic line, and a WRT54G router. This happens on both wired and wireless, nothing in the background running, everything on max performance, not power saving, HDD turned up to max performance, temps are all in spec. My desktop has no problems running all the games in multi that the laptop decides to struggle in.

Is my problem the same as the others in the topic? The performance loss differs, in Halo it runs at a constant 20ish fps, no matter what goes on, in Trackmania Nations it just runs like ass in general and does the "HL2 skipping thing" except a LOT worse and every second or two. Unplayable, but again, only in multiplayer.

This is the strangest problem I've ever had, I have an open ticket with the Microsoft/Halo support that they've been researching for days, and have no idea. Dell XPS support tried the basic stuff, but pretty much had no idea. Tried lots of drivers, everything, increasing/decreasing page file, cache, running 17 processes, watching the temps, turning down the settings in the games, NOTHING WORKS!

Seeing a bunch of other people have a slightly similar problem, is this some fatal little flaw in the lappy's design? It seems to be happening to M170s, but I wasn't sure so I put the 93/9400 in the topic title also.

5400rpm HDDs, 7200rpm HDDs, both have been reported to do the same thing. Defragged, same thing. etc etc etc, I can go on and on about the stuff i've tried....nothing...nothing fixes it.


Anyone else having a similar problem, we all gotta join together and get this crap dealt with, its ruining the point of this laptop :\

Any help or advice or anything appreciated, thanks
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post #2 of 81
1/30/06 at 8:22pm
get a sager
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post #3 of 81
1/30/06 at 8:26pm
Way to respond. Keep up the good work!
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post #4 of 81
1/30/06 at 8:26pm
dcikra that was the most useless, crappy comment I've ever read.
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post #5 of 81
1/30/06 at 8:33pm
I have the same problem, on or offline gaming, reinstalled OS 3 times, used WinXP, Win MCE.

2.0ghz
1gb mem
bluetooth/wireless combo
dvdr
5400rpm 80gb hdd
7800gtx 256
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post #6 of 81
1/30/06 at 8:51pm
Hmmm I have no issue playing games (on or offline).
I play Halo, BF2, WoW, Fear among other at full res and details.



What driver (Dell and non-dell) are you using?
Have you done any tweaks?
What USB devices are hooked up?

Some things To try.
Take the battery out and try playing. (I know, sounds wierd but try it)
Remove the bluetooth card
You can also go in to the bios and change the C-state to C0 (no transitions).

Let me know..

zyb
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post #7 of 81
1/30/06 at 8:54pm
For the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND MERCIFUL, The HL2 stuttering is normal on EVERY system I've ever used! Want to hear the systems?

Well, the one in my sig, an Inspiron 8600 with Radeon 9600 video card, my wife's desktop AMD 2800+ system, my brothers AMD 64 3400+ system, etc etc ETC!!!

This is a GAME issue. Anyone who says they have "no" stuttering is talking crap, or can't notice it. I'm a stickler for stuttering, so if even one frame is dropped, I NOTICE. Others aren't as susceptible. I was so angry at HL2 when it first came out because of the stuttering. I learned to "live" with it, though I hated doing so.

Anyway, when the game is stuttering, watch your hard drive light. It's flickering, right? Right! We need faster hard drives than 7,200rpm.

Well, roll on 15,000rpm quiet laptop drives!

If you go to the Valve forums, million of people were complaining about HL2. Honestly, if you bought your laptop for HL2, you shoulda saved the money. HL2 is a great game, but not a $3000 game. Unplayable is a strong word.
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post #8 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WilliamG
For the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND MERCIFUL, The HL2 stuttering is normal on EVERY system I've ever used! Want to hear the systems?

Well, the one in my sig, an Inspiron 8600 with Radeon 9600 video card, my wife's desktop AMD 2800+ system, my brothers AMD 64 3400+ system, etc etc ETC!!!

This is a GAME issue. Anyone who says they have "no" stuttering is talking crap, or can't notice it. I'm a stickler for stuttering, so if even one frame is dropped, I NOTICE. Others aren't as susceptible. I was so angry at HL2 when it first came out because of the stuttering. I learned to "live" with it, though I hated doing so.

Anyway, when the game is stuttering, watch your hard drive light. It's flickering, right? Right! We need faster hard drives than 7,200rpm.

Well, roll on 15,000rpm quiet laptop drives!

If you go to the Valve forums, million of people were complaining about HL2. Honestly, if you bought your laptop for HL2, you shoulda saved the money. HL2 is a great game, but not a $3000 game. Unplayable is a strong word.
So you know when you're getting 65fps and when you're getting 66, and you can pinpoint the exact second at which you get 72fps. Then you can also tell when you're getting 71... right ?
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post #9 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WilliamG
For the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND MERCIFUL, The HL2 stuttering is normal on EVERY system I've ever used! Want to hear the systems?

Well, the one in my sig, an Inspiron 8600 with Radeon 9600 video card, my wife's desktop AMD 2800+ system, my brothers AMD 64 3400+ system, etc etc ETC!!!

This is a GAME issue. Anyone who says they have "no" stuttering is talking crap, or can't notice it. I'm a stickler for stuttering, so if even one frame is dropped, I NOTICE. Others aren't as susceptible. I was so angry at HL2 when it first came out because of the stuttering. I learned to "live" with it, though I hated doing so.

Anyway, when the game is stuttering, watch your hard drive light. It's flickering, right? Right! We need faster hard drives than 7,200rpm.

Well, roll on 15,000rpm quiet laptop drives!

If you go to the Valve forums, million of people were complaining about HL2. Honestly, if you bought your laptop for HL2, you shoulda saved the money. HL2 is a great game, but not a $3000 game. Unplayable is a strong word.
To bad the issue doesn't only apply to HL2...
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post #10 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by simplyphp
So you know when you're getting 65fps and when you're getting 66, and you can pinpoint the exact second at which you get 72fps. Then you can also tell when you're getting 71... right ?

No, that's not what I said. I said if the game misses a FRAME, not a frame per SECOND less/more (two very different things).
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post #11 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:10pm
The problem I had after doing a clean install with my M170 was how games would pause every 10 secs. The pause would last about half a second. I ended up reinstalling again with XP Professional vs Home. I believe I had a driver problem in Home, which contributed to the poor performance.

I upgraded my RAM and installed a 80gig 7200 RPM drive. The stuttering seemed to go away. I also installed Notebook Hardware Control. This software allowed me to take control of the Mhz of the CPU. Also it allowed me to take control of my HDD, setting it to Max Performance.

I don't think its the hardware of your laptop. It might be just how the laptop is configured. Have you tried running a 3dMark on your laptop to see its performance? Also, try running Sandra Sisoft to verify that your hardware is running at its full potential.

You can Private message me and I can try to help you out.

Dell M170
P-M 2.0ghz
17" Ultra Truelife
2gig DDR2-4200
80gig 7200
Nvidia go 6800 Ultra (Dell Drivers, No OC'ing)
3DMark05 - 5227
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post #12 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:14pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah William, the problem is much more complicated. I'm aware of the HL2 stutter bug, and know that that's normal.

But that doesn't include the framerate constantly running at 10-25ish in multiplayer, and 40-100+ in singleplayer. SOMETHING is wrong.

Dell is making me run their hardware diagnostic program on their partition, but I'm gonna take this to the end with them.
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post #13 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:15pm
Thread Starter 
Also, I'm getting a 6600 in 3DMark05, right around the sweet spot for a stock lappy. I also have NHC and have set the same settings as you, only I have the 5400RPM HDD. My old Sager also had a 54k HDD and never had this problem though.

Only multiplayer, singleplayer performance is like a knife through butter.
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post #14 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:26pm
So basically its anything using the network card that is having the problem?

Just need to clarify.
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post #15 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:34pm
Thread Starter 
Yup, exactly.

Hardware diag is truly taking a while, but I dunno if it's really gonna turn up anything. I'm basing it on instinct that something is wrong here, not by a test that they tell me to run.

It happens on both wired, and wireless though. I don't have a bluetooth card also.
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post #16 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:36pm
Have you reinstalled the OS? Possibly your TCP stack is currupt.
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post #17 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 
Will this Dell diag extensive test thinger ID that, or is that just software? I'm dealing with what they tell me to do(this), but I do want to reformat. Would the TCP stack being corrupt produce the symptoms that I have(low actual FPS in games multiplayer only)?

Seems like a good idea to check, and I always do reformat in case of a big problem, but I wanted to see what Dell said too.
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post #18 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by simplyphp
dcikra that was the most useless, crappy comment I've ever read.

sorry couldn't resist
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post #19 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fs454
Will this Dell diag extensive test thinger ID that, or is that just software? I'm dealing with what they tell me to do(this), but I do want to reformat. Would the TCP stack being corrupt produce the symptoms that I have(low actual FPS in games multiplayer only)?

Seems like a good idea to check, and I always do reformat in case of a big problem, but I wanted to see what Dell said too.
Having a currupt TCP stack will give you poor network connectivity. Dropped packets, dropped connections etc... That is why I brought it up.

I never reinstalled the TCP/IP stack for XP so I don't know. You might consider reloading though since Dell likes to include a lot of crap in their install. Even if you uninstall it all, there still is registry enteries.
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post #20 of 81
1/30/06 at 9:51pm
Thread Starter 
I had a sager too, and decided to go Dell this time around because I wasn't satisfied with the case quality of the Sager I had(kept getting major paint wear and stress cracks on newly replaced plastics), but Donald Stratton over there at PN was awesome, I'll be going back there eventually.


I love the build quality of my M170, I just with it was problem free.
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