[SOLVED] Sound issues, slowdowns WIN 8.1 x64

M

mtZ

Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Posts
8
Hello,

since last week I have some serious issues with my desktop PC.
It all started after I have installed Win 8.1 x64. Thursday, Installation, no issues... Friday, came home, booted my PC and 2 minutes approx. later I got a complete freeze. No BSOD though, just a freeze, couldn't use the M + KB anymore, so I tried to reboot.
Then, black screen. Weird thing was, every fan was working like intended. CPU, PSU and even my GPU fan. Tried to reboot it several times, no luck.

Unplugged everything, cleaned the dust, etc. Tried to boot it again, black screen but my monitor still got a signal... After 2-3 minutes waiting, I got the POST screen and everything seemed fine. Installed my usual programms and I noticed some weird sound effects like crackling and overdrives but only for a brief moment.

Tried 2 games (Racing game and CS:GO), experienced heavy slowdowns. For example in CS:GO: When a flashbang grenade popped up, my FPS drops from 250 down to 70-90.
Though it might be my GPU, ran Furmark for almost an hour and had 0 BSOD's.

Ran a MemTest yesterday and had 0 errors either. Tried re-installing Win 8.1 for 3 times (Glad I have a SSD), nothing changed. I can't even watch YouTube videos or livestream in fullscreen because of those slowdown.

Any help would be gladly appreciated.

Regards,

mtZ
 
I don't even know how I could forget to post at least some PC specs, might have been too much work this week...

OS
- Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit

CPU
- AMD Phenom II X4 955


RAM
- 6,00GB Dual Kanal DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard
- ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A88T-V EVO (AM3)

Grafik
- 1024 MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (ATI)

HDD / SSD
- 111GB Samsung SSD 840 Series (SSD)
- 465GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKS-65V0A0 (SATA)

Audio
- Realtek High Definition Audio
 
Thanks!

First off, you seem to have a lot of CNET crapware/really old unnecessary software.

1. Uninstall Cool Edit Pro 2.0, absolutely ancient software with extremely old device drivers.

2. Uninstall dBpoweramp.

3. Uninstall SpeedFan, it's known to cause some problems. You can reinstall it once everything is sorted.

4. Uninstall UltraISO. No point in having 3rd party imaging software when 8.1 can do it built-in by simply right clicking an image file.

5. Uninstall VirtualCloneDrive.

6. I wouldn't be surprised if WinStep Xtreme (Nexus Ultimate) was causing problems, uninstall for temporary troubleshooting purposes.


Next off, onto the drivers list:

AODDriver2.sys is listed and loaded in your modules list which is AMD Overdrive; also in EasyTune6 for Gigabyte motherboard. Known BSOD issues in Win7 & 8.

Please uninstall either software ASAP! If you cannot find either software to uninstall, or it's not installed, please navigate to the following filepath:

C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Fuel\amd64\AODDriver2.sys and rename AODDriver2.sys to AODDriver.2old and then Restart.

A lot of it appears to be in German? Forgive my ignorance, unsure of the exact language. Regardless, if we need to, we'll take a closer look at drivers a different way.


You have 62 hotfixes installed, be 100% sure you have all important Windows Updates.


It's imperative you also have the latest firmware for your SSD! Be 100% sure you do.



Have you checked for any BIOS updates - Motherboards - M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 - ASUS ?

That should be a good start for now.

Regards,

Patrick
 
Programms uninstalled.
AMD Overdrive - changed it like you suggested it, can't seem to find anything GIGABYTE related... Weird.
Latest SSD Firmware is already installed.
Latest BIOS is already installed.

Windows Updates done too, although it installed only a few new updates.


And yes, my OS is in german language. Hope that won't be a huge problem for Troubleshooting.
 
Great work!

It won't, I may just need to ask extra questions if need be : )

Keep me updated.

Regards,

Patrick
 
No, that's definitely good. BSOD's are what we want, they make it so it's not blind troubleshooting for now : )

Thanks very much for the kernel-dump.

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)

A fatal hardware error has occurred. This fatal error displays data from the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).

If we run an !errrec on the 2nd parameter of the bug check (address of the WER structure) we get the following:

Code: 
===============================================================================
Section 2     : x86/x64 MCA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ ffffe000968d2138
Section       @ ffffe000968d22c0
Offset        : 664
Length        : 264
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal

[COLOR=#ff0000]Error         : DCACHEL1_EVICT_ERR (Proc 3 Bank 0)[/COLOR]
  Status      : 0xb20c200000000175

Your errors are stemming from an issue evicting (removing data) from the L1 cache on the CPU (processor #3, cache bank #0).


There is unfortunately only so much you can do with a bug check like this until it comes down to a faulty processor that will need to be replaced. Start from 1 and work downward:

1. Ensure your temperatures are within standard and nothing's overheating. You can use a program such as Speccy if you'd like to monitor temps - Speccy - System Information - Free Download

2. Clear your CMOS (or load optimized BIOS defaults) to ensure there's no improper BIOS setting - How To Clear CMOS (Reset BIOS) [Easy, 10 to 15 Min]

3. Ensure your BIOS is up to date (we already noted it was).

4. Software conflict that can usually cause 0x124 bug checks are OS to BIOS utilities from manufacturer's like Asus' AI Suite. If you have something like this software-wise, remove it ASAP.

5. If all of the above fail, the only left to do is replace your processor as it is faulty.

Regards,

Patrick
 
Thanks for the heads-up. Never thought it would be my CPU...

1. 45-ish while surfing / 60-ish while playing (note: OC'd to 3.6 to see if it would fix my problems... obviously not)
2. Already cleared my CMOS a few days ago
3. BIOS is up-to-date
4. Nothing installed like that.

5. Guess my CPU won't do it for much long, right?
 
It all makes sense now, given the freezes, slowdowns, etc. I would contact AMD and see what they have to say regarding RMA.

Regards,

Patrick
 
Regarding RMA, my CPU is 4 years old. :rofl12:
Out of curiosity, I've ran LatencyMon and saw that a driver called "USB.sys" was acting crazy. You might wanna be interested in the file log.

View attachment test.txt
 
Okay, well, I found where your slowness is coming from:

Code: 
Total number of hard pagefaults                       [COLOR=#ff0000]2167[/COLOR]
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process:          792
Highest hard pagefault resolution time (µs):          215407,162611
Total time spent in hard pagefaults (%):              0,015316
Number of processes hit:                              22

You have over 2100 pagefaults occurring within a 44 minute time frame in exactly 22 different processes, with Chrome being the highest. This is absolutely terrible and it's exactly why you are getting terrible performance. What's exactly occurring (extremely simplified) is this:

1. Chrome.exe needs memory address 12345678 from RAM.

2. It's not there.

3. Because it's not there, all of Chrome's executions are halted until it can get that memory address. We cannot just 'not' get that memory address, or the application crashes.

4. The memory manager goes through the grueling/expensive process of paging the hard disk for the necessary memory address that wasn't in RAM.

Repeat this 2167 times in a short amount of time and you can imagine why you are getting such terrible slowness. Because you have over 2100 pagefaults occurring, you can imagine how the CPU's attention is 100% dedicated to CONSTANTLY paging the hard disk for memory addresses that should be in RAM. Because of this, you have DPCs that remain pending when they should be getting serviced, ISRs with incredibly high execution time, etc.

This is just another symptom/backlash of a faulty CPU.

Regards,

Patrick
 
Last edited:
Well Patrick,

many thanks for your help. Finally I know the cause of this.
Guess it's finally time to upgrade my CPU/MB then.

Have a nice weekend.

Regards,

mtZ
 
My pleasure, it's always unfortunate to see it end this way, but at least now we know!

I hope you have a great weekend as well.

Regards,

Patrick
 

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