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Video pauses during gaming! What is causing it?

post #1 of 20
6/20/04 at 1:17pm
Thread Starter 
First my specs!

Sager 8790-S
3.4 Gig processor
1024 meg memory
256 MB 9700 Mobility RAM
2 Seagate 5400 40 GIG Drives running in RAID 0
Windows XP with all Service Packs
No Virus Scanning installed right now until I figure out this pausing problem.

I love this laptop, but I noticed during some gaming sessions playing City of Heroes AND Call of Duty that I get some random video pauses. The system isn't loading anything, so I am trying to figure out what is causing these pauses.

I thought at first it may be a video driver problem. I was running the drivers off the Sager website at first. I tried the Omega drivers and no change there. Secondly, I tried plugging into the LAN directly with a cable and disabling the Wireless, but once again no luck. Even gaming single player these pauses happen.

Maybe the hard drive is accessing for something else and that is taking up all the CPU time for a second and then it releases? That is my first thought is that it is the hard drive accessing.

Therefore, I am trying to figure out what POSSIBLY this could be. Any ideas?
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post #2 of 20
6/20/04 at 1:44pm
Open up the Windows Task Manager.

Click on the Processes Tab.

Check "Show processes from all users".

Click on CPU - On top as a column title. Until you can see the "System Idle Process" as one of the entries on the first page.

The CPU column indicates the amount of CPU each process is using at a particular point in time. You may also click on the "View" and then select "Update Speed" and set it to highest to get more samples. Monitor this for a few minutes and you should be able to see what, if anything, is stealing CPU cycles from your games. Oh, BTW, you may not be able to monitor and play the games at the same time because the games may overlay the Task Manager Display Area.
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post #3 of 20
6/20/04 at 1:59pm
Thread Starter 
I have already tried that.

My system is 99 percent idle for the most part. Every now and then, I get a 1 percent usage from a few different programs.

Internet Explorer
BisonCom - The camera for some reason. It isn't even on right now.
G-EZlink - Wireless adapter software.

To be honest, it sounds like something on the hard drive is accessing. Maybe I need to update the RAID drivers? I know when the video pauses, you hear something on the hard disk clicking...it sounds like something on the drives is doing something. Just don't have the foggiest idea what it could be.

This is a clean XP install after all.
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post #4 of 20
6/20/04 at 5:45pm
Thread Starter 
I am going to remove the RAID 0 config and go to 2 separate drives. Nice little reinstall project today. I don't know if this will fix the problem, but it is worth a shot.
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post #5 of 20
6/20/04 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
Well, after a complete reinstall and going from RAID all the way to two individual drives, the problem still exists.

It seems that, while playing City of Heroes or Call of Duty, the hard drive accesses for some reason. That small access causes the game to stop for a second or less graphically. It is like a small bit of lag hits the game, which has been annoying in Call of Duty for instance.

I have no idea what else to try. The only thing I can possibly think of is that this is by design. Maybe no laptop was meant to have these little hiccups...but maybe I am being just too sensitive.

Does anyone else have this problem or have seen this issue?

Software loaded in order:
Windows XP with SP1
All current drivers IN ORDER according to manual. All drivers downloaded from Sager.
All remaining Windows patches for IE and such.
City of Heroes

The laptop seems to run fine otherwise.

I am convinced it is either a audio driver issue....or a issue with the hard disk and something trying to access it. Going to search for a newer audio driver.
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post #6 of 20
6/20/04 at 9:33pm
Have you checked to see what services are running, such as Indexing Service, which can cause random disk access episodes?
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post #7 of 20
6/20/04 at 10:54pm
Thread Starter 
I loaded the latest audio driver and I think that licked the problem!

I went to realtechs website and downloaded the new drivers right off their site. Worked great after that!
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post #8 of 20
6/22/04 at 5:55am
Hey Nightfall, I have just encountered that problem too on Call of Duty and only after I had reinstalled Norton Antivirus and Firewall 2003. before I did that reinstall everything was running hunky dory on COD!?!
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post #9 of 20
8/2/04 at 10:37am
Nightfall.....how funny dude: I play Call of Duty and City of Heroes constantly on mine as well. In fact, other than Far Cry, I believe that's all the games I have installed on it!!

You shouldn't be getting these pauses. I was going to suggest the latest sound drivers just to double check. Sounds like you may have it licked. If not, here's some info from someone else who playes those same two titles constantly:

Hit the Fn + F10 to kick the fans on full blast. I always disable Norton before launching either game. It can cause problems. I had some problems out of that silly utility that makes the light bink when you get a new email as well. I know it sounds silly, but it was causing pauses and occasional crashes (I'm guessing this happened several times when I actually recieved a message while gaming). Evertime I shut it down from the tray, it just blew up with an error message (not a good sign), so I just removed it completely.

Other than that, it should be ok. I wanted to ask you, do you ever have any lockups while playing City of Heroes? Mine occasionaly hangs. I'm fairly sure it's either heat or the video driver. CoH even warns you that you're using old video drivers everytime it boots, but until Sager releases the newest Catalyst release for our machine, I guess we're just screwed.
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post #10 of 20
8/19/04 at 5:20am
Howdy folks,

Nightfall, where did you get the driver from? by any chance-do you still have the url?
I found the www.realtek.com.tw site, but can't seem to grab any drivers (ftp site may be down). Do you remember what the name of the driver is?

Thanks a bunch... i too am tired of stuttering/stalling while trying to game.

P.
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post #11 of 20
8/21/04 at 3:39am
Fn + F10 hummm is their a list of all the secret commands?
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post #12 of 20
8/21/04 at 4:46am
dammit. i installed the lastest sound drivers.. but my game play still pauses/stutters... that's freakin irritating.

i love my 8790, but I've encountered 2 HUGE irritating problems. this is one, the other is a network problem (NIC won't connect to network.. for whatever damn reason)
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post #13 of 20
8/23/04 at 4:04pm
I get the same problem with my 5690, except it happens when the system is doning nothing...on the desktop i mean.

Did any one else find out if it was a driver issue or a hardware issue?
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post #14 of 20
8/23/04 at 4:54pm
same here...

I verified there was nothing in the background... disabled norton etc., still no luck
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post #15 of 20
8/23/04 at 5:42pm
do you think it could be something to do with the ethernet drivers? Also I am looking at the Audio drivers.

Keep me posted if you find anything
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post #16 of 20
8/23/04 at 6:21pm
audio drivers did not seem to improve the freezing..also checked the chipset drivers from clevo but they were an older version

want to try Omega video driver but site is down......

running out of drivers!!!!
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post #17 of 20
8/23/04 at 6:22pm
I've had it pause during gaming too. when it does that, try hitting enter twice in a row. Your video card may have crashed.

Wonky card, it is - It'll freeze, crash, display a message, then i'll ignore it and continue gaming.
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post #18 of 20
8/23/04 at 6:26pm
black, it doesnt pause for long..only a couple of seconds if that and then continue as if nothing happened

does it on the desktop also
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post #19 of 20
8/25/04 at 5:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigyboytaz
black, it doesnt pause for long..only a couple of seconds if that and then continue as if nothing happened

does it on the desktop also
Odd. I don't know then.
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post #20 of 20
8/31/04 at 8:54pm
yup, updated ethernet drivers, updated sound drivers (bios is also latest version), using "official" video drivers (from Sager's site released a few weeks ago)... still get the same problem, stuttering/pausing during game play.

nothing like freezing a bit during a heated Counter-Strike match
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