Frequent Stuttering - WDF01000.sys highest 'duration'.

[vika09]

Hi all,

I hope this is in the correct section.

I am having constant stuttering issues. This is most evident when I play games on my laptop, the game would just momentarily freeze and then just continue. When not playing a game, it's less obvious. For example, I'd right click on the desktop and the menu takes that little bit longer to load up. Or when I am moving my mouse down a list of folders and there is a 'soft highlight' of each folder as I move down, but suddenly the mouse would continue to move but the 'blue soft highlight' wouldn't follow. The 'soft highlight' would then jump to where my mouse is, without highlight the folders I moved my mouse over.Sorry if this made no sense, it's the best way I can explain stutters when not in a game.

I followed the guide here:https://www.sysnative.com/forums/wi...ues-with-wpa-windows-windows-vista-7-8-a.html

I am posting an image of the xperf DPC summary table:



As you can see, the WDF01000.sys has the highest usage. But I looked at this table: Driver Reference Table and it says that it's a Windows System Driver. Does this mean there is nothing I can do?

I have gone through various latency checkers and have gone through many 'disabling' and 'uninstallations' of drivers that I know aren't absolutely key to the computer running.

I used the tool in this screenshot:


and disabled/uninstalled drivers/devices:

1. I have disabled the sound devices (under Audio inputs and outputs in Device Manager)
2. Completely uninstalled my graphics drivers (Nvidia)
3. Disabled my wireless device


In a hope a to 'narrow' down any issues. I couldn't find anything and nothing has changed with the stuttering.


My computer is a Lenovo Ideapad Y500.

I would be grateful if anyone can help!

Thanks!

 

[satrow]

Welcome to Sysnative, vika.

Your description suggests a higher than normal irregular kernel activity and there's an 'unknown' device/driver listed in the xperf table. Click on the + next to the unknown driver and see what's behind it. To enable viewing of kernel activity in Task Manager's performance tab, View > Show kernel times.

With my old P4 and Core2Dual CPUs, kernel activity of ~8% was enough to feel as 'lag', into the 'teens and programs became almost unusable (kernel activity is a higher CPU priority than normal User programs). It's important, imo, to test for this activity only after ~15 minutes post-boot, as normal Windows background housekeeping tasks will continue sporadically until just after this time. Once you have a baseline 'feel' for what is normal, run your usual software singly, with TaskMan minimised, so that you can readily switch to it to check kernel %.

'Bad' drivers, faulty HDD and malware are just some of the things that could be behind excess kernel activity.

 

[vika09]

Hi there satrow!

Thanks for such a quick reply!

Unfortunately, I do not know how to access that summary table after I closed it (I do realise now that I can save these!), so I did a new xperf check:



I have expanded the two longest modules and the 'unknown' module for you. I have no idea what the values mean under the unknown module.

I don't seem to have a 'show kernel times' in my task manager though:



Thanks for the help! Looking forward to more feedback.

 

[satrow]

Expanding the unknown module doesn't help me

I'd assumed you were using W7, sorry; for W8's TaskMan, highlight the CPU in the left pane of the Performance tab and then right-click/long-click on the graph in the right pane to access the switches. I don't know if this sticks across sessions as it does pre-W8 though.

I think we need a W8 specialist to help us decipher what WDF01000.sys actually does in that OS.

 

[vika09]

Hmm. Weirdly, all I get under the right click menu for CPU are:

1. Summary View (This basically removes the right pane)
2. Hide Graphs (This removes the small graphs in the left pane)
3. Copy

Thanks for the help! Sorry that this is befuddling you!

The stutters do occur every 20-30 seconds. It's less noticeable outside a game. I'm hoping it's a software issue. This laptop is rather new (barely 6 months) so I don't think it can be a hardware problem. I also use an SSD, so there shouldn't be any issues of wear and tear on it through use; atleast not as much as a HDD would have gone through by now.

 

[satrow]

I may have missed a step, there's what looks like a good illustrated guide which contains the steps for enabling kernel times here, try following that.

To hopefully get further info on what the unknown device is and further background details on your system, carefully read and follow the BSOD Sticky and attach the required zipped folder back here: https://www.sysnative.com/forums/bs...d-posting-instructions-windows-8-7-vista.html

EDIT: the unknown driver could be a dynamic driver, DaemonTools is the most common software to use one.

 

[vika09]

Oh! I have DaemonTool "Lite". I will try uninstalling that software to see if the problem persists or not.

Thanks. I will look through the guide also!

 

[vika09]

Nope. Uninstalling Daemon Tools hasn't changed anything.

I'll try to run a MemTest, but I've had bigger problems running another boot on a UEFI Win8 installation. Causes all sorts of problems. But will try the USB stick method.

Open to any other suggestions though!

Thanks.

 

[satrow]

SPDT.sys is the driver used by Daemon Tools that can cause problems, methods to disable and uninstallers for it available here: DuplexSecure - FAQ

 

[vika09]

Man, I wish I could reward your help with something positive. But I uninstalled the SPDT.sys driver using the uninstaller and nothing.

I still get stutters when I play my games. General (very minor) noticeable stutters while on Windows itself.

Is there an indication that something is wrong in any of screenshots? Or should I start considering the possibility my RAM is starting to die out?

 

[satrow]

Revisit the links in #6 and try to enable kernel time activity in TaskMan (so that you have a visual to check) and run the BSOD Sticky then attach the zipped folder so that we have some solid data to work with.

I see nothing that indicates any RAM problems.

 

[vika09]

Here's the report and the BSOD report:

View attachment 5745


I also managed to get the kernel thing done on the task manager, you have to right click on the graph itself:




Required details:

[B][COLOR=#000000]· OS - [/COLOR][COLOR=#FF0000]Windows 8[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000]· x86 (32-bit) or x64 ? [/COLOR][COLOR=#FF0000]Not exactly sure, the BSOD reporter said that my processor architecture was x86, however my system information says x64 process with 64bit Windows.[/COLOR]
[B][COLOR=#000000]· What was the original installed OS on the system?[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000] [/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]Yes[/COLOR]
[B]· Is the OS an OEM version (came pre-installed on system) or full retail version (YOU purchased it from retailer)? [COLOR=#ff0000]OEM (Lenovo)[/COLOR]
[B]· Age of system (hardware) - [COLOR=#ff0000][/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]8 months[/COLOR]
[B]· Age of OS installation - have you re-installed the OS? [COLOR=#ff0000]Yes, the OS was reinstalled about 2 months ago[/COLOR]

[B]· CPU - [/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][COLOR=#ff0000][B]Intel Core i7-3630QM[/B][/COLOR][B][B][B][B][B][B]
[B]· Video Card - [COLOR=#ff0000]2 x Nvidia Geforce 650M in Sli[/COLOR]
[B]· MotherBoard -[COLOR=#ff0000]Intel HM76[/COLOR]
[B]· Power Supply - brand & wattage (if laptop, skip this one)

[B]· System Manufacturer - [COLOR=#ff0000]Lenovo[/COLOR]
[B]· Exact model number (if laptop, check label on bottom) - [COLOR=#ff0000]Lenovo Y500[/COLOR][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B][/B]

Thanks!