[10ProV1709b16299 x64] A/V microstutters while watching videos online/recording music

[sys08001]

Hello,

I have been having this issue for months now (as far as I can remember, could be closer to a year) where I'll be playing a video (i.e. on YouTube), or listening/recording music in Reaper and from time time I would get these randomly-placed "microstutters" where the audio would make a popping sound and the video would slightly stutter. Been reading forum posts on this for about a week now, and it seems to be an ongoing issue that is often blamed on video card drivers (specifically Nvidia). Now I can't be conclusive that this is the source of the issue, but I will say after extensively-controlled testing of disabling device drivers one by one, the only thing that has been able to completely fix the issue is if I disable my Nvidia driver. I've even taken other peoples' suggestions and rolled back to a previous version (clean uninstall via safe mode via DDU, roll back to driver version 388.13 - this didn't fix this problem for me). I've also recently updated all of my other drivers via Driver Booster. For some reason, all the driver downloads hosted on my motherboard's website are apparently extremely old - not really sure where this program was able to pull these updated ones from, but they seem to be working okay (even though this also didn't fix the problem). Anyways, I seem to be all out of ideas. All of my LatencyMon runs have been showing nvlddmkm.sys, dxgkrnl.sys, and tcpip.sys as the services with the highest DPC/ISR times. Hoping you guys can find something in these logs which might be the culprit:

1) Here is the Dropbox link that contains trace.etl, dxdiag, and msinfo32 files.
2) Here is the speccy link.

Finally, here is some system info:
System Manufacturer? - Self-built


Laptop or Desktop? - Desktop


Exact model number (if laptop, check label on bottom) - N/A


OS ? (Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista) - Windows 10 Pro


x86 (32bit) or x64 (64bit)? - 64bit


Service pack? - Version 1709, OS Build 16299.125


What was original installed OS on system? - Windows 7 Pro


Is the OS an OEM version (came pre-installed on system) or full retail version (YOU purchased it from retailer)? - Retail


Age of system? (hardware) - About 5 years


Age of OS installation? - Windows 7 installed about 5 years ago, Windows 10 upgrade maybe a year or so ago


Have you re-installed the OS? - No


CPU - Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz, 3901 Mhz, 4 Cores 8 Logical Processors


RAM (brand, EXACT model, what slots are you using?) - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B


Video Card - EVGA GeForce GTX 770 SC 2GB


MotherBoard - (if NOT a laptop) - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H rev 1.0


Power Supply - brand & wattage (if laptop, skip this one) - Corsair HX750 750W


Is driver verifier enabled or disabled? - Not sure how to check this


What security software are you using? (Firewall, antivirus, antimalware, antispyware, and so forth) - Windows Defender, Malwarebytes


Are you using proxy, vpn, ipfilters or similar software? - No


Are you using Disk Image tools? (like daemon tools, alcohol 52% or 120%, virtual CloneDrive, roxio software) - No


Are you currently under/overclocking? Are there overclocking software installed on your system? - I overclocked it in the past (CPU-Z is showing multiplier of 37-38x) but I don't have any overclocking software installed at the moment.

 

[xilolee]

Re: Audio/video "microstutters" while watching videos online/recording music

Hi sys08001. :welcome:

1. BIOS updated (latest beta)
2. RAM not present in qvl, but should be compatible
3. CPU 3.5GHz
4. GPU says "Current Memory/shader Clock: 3505 MHz", but the specs says it should be 7010.
   Could it be speccy divide it by 2?
   Latest driver: 388.59 WHQL
   Currently installed: 388.13
5. Does this happen also when torrent is not running?
   Did you try "clean boot" and "safe mode"?
6. Try to remove completely daemon tools.
7. I don't think this will help, but it won't hurt: you can change your path string (I just re-sorted it) in Control Panel\System and Security\System - advanced system settings, (click yes in the UAC window that should appear if you didn't disable it), click environment variables, double-click path under the system variables pane (or click it once and then click edit), and add the path.
   Read More:

   c:\windows; c:\windows\system32; c:\windows\system32\wbem; c:\windows\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\; c:\program files (x86)\common files\microsoft shared\windows live; c:\program files (x86)\intel\icls client\; C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common; c:\program files (x86)\razer chroma sdk\bin; c:\program files (x86)\skype\phone\; C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Windows Performance Toolkit\; c:\program files (x86)\windows live\shared; c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\windows live; c:\program files\intel\icls client\; c:\program files\matlab\matlab production server\r2015a\bin; c:\program files\matlab\matlab production server\r2015a\polyspace\bin; c:\program files\matlab\matlab production server\r2015a\runtime\win64; c:\program files\razer chroma sdk\bin; c:\programdata\oracle\java\javapath; c:\users\shalin\appdata\local\microsoft\windowsapps; c:\users\shalin\appdata\local\smartbar\application\; c:\users\shalin\introcs\bin; c:\users\shalin\introcs\j3d\bin; c:\users\shalin\introcs\java\bin;

 

[sys08001]

Thanks for the quick response!

1) About the GPU thing - it's possible? I think I had EVGA Precision X installed in the distant past so I might've changed a couple of things in there, but this was years before I started noticing this issue.
2) Yes, this happens when uTorrent is not running.
3) Just removed Daemon Tools, didn't seem to affect anything.
4) Changed the environment variable path string, also didn't seem to affect anything.

Anything else that might pop out at you? Do you think it could be the Nvidia driver itself causing it, since the problem goes away when I disable it? Or could it maybe be conflicting with something else in my system?

Also as an aside: do you know why my motherboard's (Gigabyte) driver webpage seems to be listing drivers that are (allegedly) outdated? I installed Driver Booster yesterday and had it scan all of my devices, and a ton of things were extremely outdated. I was looking here

 

[sys08001]

Alright so I'm not really sure about the significance of this but I moved my audio interface from a USB3.0 port to a USB2.0 port on the back of my desktop and it seems to solve the audio/video dropouts. Maybe there was something else utilizing the 3.0 bus that was interfering with my audio interface (possibly my graphics card)?

 

[xilolee]

Good to know!

Not sure why that happens.
After reading the manual, I can guess:

Due to a Windows 7 limitation, please connect your USB device(s) to the USB 2.0/1.1 port(s) before the Intel USB 3.0 controller driver is installed.

Could it be that driver is still present and could interfere?
Check if you've got the files iusb3hub and iusb3xhc (.inf, .sys, .man) dated 20 May 2012, version 1.0.5.235 (for sys files), and if they are enabled.

 

[sys08001]

Actually I have this backwards...it was originally plugged into one of the two USB2.0/1.1 ports in the back (where the issue was happening), but then I moved it to one of the USB3.0/2.0 ones. I don't know what the difference would be aside from the USB version (it looks like the 3.0 ones are connected through a VIA hub and the 2.0 ones aren't?). Also, where would I find those two files?

 

[xilolee]

Does this happen also when torrent is not running?
Did you try "clean boot" and "safe mode"?

do you know why my motherboard's (Gigabyte) driver webpage seems to be listing drivers that are (allegedly) outdated?

Probably because they tested the system with those drivers, but didn't test it with newer ones (and leave this task, i.e. search and find new drivers, to their users).
I think this is common between all motherboard manufacturers.

I installed Driver Booster yesterday and had it scan all of my devices

That's often a bad idea according to more experienced users, even if that program by IOBIT is one of the best choices (in that field).
Who does know where they get the drivers from?
I usually prefer to search and find new drivers from device manager, windows updates and intel driver updater tool (when I had an intel system).
I use those kind of software (that check and allow to install drivers updates) just to check the differences, but I don't leave them the update task.
You can see in internet they often damaged working systems.

where would I find those two files?

In c:\windows and its sub-folders.
To find them, I'd use this command from an elevated command prompt:

dir c:\windows\iusb3*.* /a /b /s

 

[sys08001]

Alright, this is what it found:


c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hcs.inf_amd64_5e7ad785875b1652
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hub.inf_amd64_213579b2b2a8eefd
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3xhc.inf_amd64_d9bb62eabae202a5
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hcs.inf_amd64_5e7ad785875b1652\iusb3hcs.cat
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hcs.inf_amd64_5e7ad785875b1652\iusb3hcs.inf
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hcs.inf_amd64_5e7ad785875b1652\iusb3hcs.PNF
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hcs.inf_amd64_5e7ad785875b1652\iusb3hcs.sys
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hub.inf_amd64_213579b2b2a8eefd\iusb3hub.cat
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hub.inf_amd64_213579b2b2a8eefd\iusb3hub.inf
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hub.inf_amd64_213579b2b2a8eefd\iusb3hub.PNF
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3hub.inf_amd64_213579b2b2a8eefd\iusb3hub.sys
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3xhc.inf_amd64_d9bb62eabae202a5\iusb3xhc.cat
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3xhc.inf_amd64_d9bb62eabae202a5\iusb3xhc.inf
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3xhc.inf_amd64_d9bb62eabae202a5\iusb3xhc.PNF
c:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iusb3xhc.inf_amd64_d9bb62eabae202a5\iusb3xhc.sys

Not entirely sure how to check if these particular ones are enabled or not (only know how to do it through Device Manager).

I'll have to keep that in mind about Driver Booster. I was concerned when it found ~17 or so drivers that were extremely out of date, because if I was trying to find driver updates via Device Manager it would tell me that I have the most recent update. So far, everything seems to be working okay though.

As for safe mode/clean boot, I've only been into safe mode in the past when I used DDU to uninstall my Nvidia drivers (so I could roll back to a prior version...I've since updated to the latest version again after my problem was apparently fixed, and it seems to be working okay). I haven't tried clean boot at all.

 

[xilolee]

Try this command line:

(sc qc iusb3hcs && sc queryex iusb3hcs && sc qc iusb3hub && sc queryex iusb3hub && sc qc iusb3xhc && sc queryex iusb3xhc) > "%userprofile%\desktop\DPS configuration.txt"

Another easier way to check the enabled drivers is to use anvir task manager: