Vista x64: Slowing down, sounds crackling...

[TheOner]

Playground:
Q6600 @ 2,8GHz
Asus P5Q Pro (Bios 1613)
2x2GB G.Skill (4-4-4-12)
PNY GeForce 8800GTX 768MB (Latest 185.85 drivers)
160GB WD Velociraptor (OS) & 2x500GB Samsung T166 (Data)
Soundblaster X-FI Extreme Gamer (Latest 2.18.0008 drivers)
Windows Vista x64 SP1 (Latest updates)


Problem:
Vista starts to slow down for some reason and at the same time sounds crackles and cuts.

One situation is that, when i surf with Opera and listen music with foobar. I click random link from Opera and when new page is loading, computer starts to slow down and music crackles and slows down too.

Second situation is that, when i play World of Warcraft and suddenly fps drops from basic 60 to below 10 and sounds are crackling and game slowing down.

Third situation is that, when i watch videos with Media Player classic. Video plays good random time, and suddenly it starts to slow down and sounds are again cutting and crackling.


Things i have tried:
1. I read somewhere that disabling Spread Spectrum from bios should help. I disabled it for CPU and PCI-E.

2. Motherboard changed. I had P5K-E before, and same problems with it. Later i updated mobo to P5Q Pro and same problem still exists.

3. Checked temps. CPU core temps are 50c in idle and 60-65c in load. GPU temp 57c in idle and 65-70c in load.

4. Runned task manager's performance tab background. So when computer starts slowing, i could check if i see what causes this. But cpu load, mem load, any of them isn't high.


Question:
What next?

 

[Krypto]

I would first try changing your default sample rate on your sound card to the lowest quality and try a run. The default should be 2 channel, 24 bit, 48000Hz.

If this fails initial testing... remove the sound card and use the motherboard's Realtek ALC1200. I would dig into Creative's support KB. I have strong feeling the X-Fi is the culprit giving that all the triggers point to a driver/card issue.

 

[TheOner]

I would first try changing your default sample rate on your sound card to the lowest quality and try a run. The default should be 2 channel, 24 bit, 48000Hz.

If this fails initial testing... remove the sound card and use the motherboard's Realtek ALC1200. I would dig into Creative's support KB. I have strong feeling the X-Fi is the culprit giving that all the triggers point to a driver/card issue.

Hi, I had that sample rate in X-Fi. I ****ed off and removed X-Fi yesterday. This problem occurs with integrated audio too... I can't understand.

 

[jediobi1]

well if it happens with the sound card and the onboard sound card then its probably the speakers

 

[jayfella]

would try update all of your drivers to latest versions, use the manufacturers website, not generic ones, (e.g. if you have an ASUS 4850, go to the ASUS website, not ATI) - then update your codecs. see how you go from there.

also try using a different video player. maybe the DivX one, or even winamp, see if problems still persist.

 

[Vipersfate]

I would check the Hard Drive. Run some diagnostics on it. It sounds like it's reaching some bad sectors, and that's causing the slowdown/crackle. Pretty common where I work at.

 

[TheOner]

well if it happens with the sound card and the onboard sound card then its probably the speakers

My HIFI amplifier is connected to computer back, to integrated sound card. My headphones are connected to PC front. Both of those makes this crackling cutting sound. Whole PC slows down, so it can't be speakers.

would try update all of your drivers to latest versions, use the manufacturers website, not generic ones, (e.g. if you have an ASUS 4850, go to the ASUS website, not ATI) - then update your codecs. see how you go from there.

also try using a different video player. maybe the DivX one, or even winamp, see if problems still persist.

I have latest latest mobo drivers to my P5Q Pro and latest drivers in my GFX card GTX8800. And i have tried different media players. BSPlayer, Media Player Clasic, Media Player 11, MPlayer etc.

I would check the Hard Drive. Run some diagnostics on it. It sounds like it's reaching some bad sectors, and that's causing the slowdown/crackle. Pretty common where I work at.

when this first occured, i had only 2x 500GB HD:s. I tought that too, that now my OS harddrive is reached end. But no bad sectors. And i defrag my HD's once a week with O&O Defrag. I have bought after that 160GB 10 000rpm Velociraptor as OS HD, but problem still exists.


I can remake this situation easily. I could example listen net radio or MP3's and then open 5 tabs to browser. While those web pages are loading, sounds start to crackle and cut, and whole PC slows down critically, and this slowing stops when pages are loaded. But this can happen even if i just watch movie, or i just play. Browser doesn't have to be open and i don't have to listen music so this occurs.

It's just driving me nuts. I have started to think that my GeForce 8800GTX does this.

 

[TheOner]

Update. Two of my friends contacted me and said that they have wierd problems with pc. Those problems was exactly same what i had. I asked from all my friends that if they had some kind of slowing problems with PC and i noticed that i wasn't alone. They have just ignored this problem as i did. Four friends had same problems.

We all have quite new pc:s. Four of us has Q6600 G0, and one has E-seris cpu. 4x 8800 series card and one 265 GTX. 2 are using integrated soundcard and 3 has pci card. But couple of things what we have exactly common. We all have Vista x64 SP1 and Comodo firewall.

So i tried to uninstall Comodo and vóla. Windows starts faster than ever. Its has been day now without Comodo firewall and computer hasn't act like before. 2 friends uninstalled today comodo and said same, that computer started faster.

 

[blackjackel]

Update. Two of my friends contacted me and said that they have wierd problems with pc. Those problems was exactly same what i had. I asked from all my friends that if they had some kind of slowing problems with PC and i noticed that i wasn't alone. They have just ignored this problem as i did. Four friends had same problems.

We all have quite new pc:s. Four of us has Q6600 G0, and one has E-seris cpu. 4x 8800 series card and one 265 GTX. 2 are using integrated soundcard and 3 has pci card. But couple of things what we have exactly common. We all have Vista x64 SP1 and Comodo firewall.

So i tried to uninstall Comodo and vóla. Windows starts faster than ever. Its has been day now without Comodo firewall and computer hasn't act like before. 2 friends uninstalled today comodo and said same, that computer started faster.

I have the same problem, and looking at the latest comodo update:

FIXED! CIS causes system performance to degrade after prolonged time of network data transfer



Apparently they fixed the problem in the latest patch, Im going to update and see if that helped me.

 

[Exempt]

I have the same problem, and looking at the latest comodo update:

FIXED! CIS causes system performance to degrade after prolonged time of network data transfer



Apparently they fixed the problem in the latest patch, Im going to update and see if that helped me.

I agree I would have definitely blamed the comodo firewall, it has a memory dump issue, and tends to start slowing the system down.

I would dump comodo and use redwall with an old computer, and when I say old i mean like you could use a old PII, I use a 1.8ghz celeron with mine, and 128mb ram and it runs perfectly, its easy to setup as well. It's firewall capabilites are extensive.

 

[blackjackel]

updating did NOT fix the problem, only uninstalling did the trick... to bad, I really liked comodo firewall with its system protection...

 

[TheOner]

updating did NOT fix the problem, only uninstalling did the trick... to bad, I really liked comodo firewall with its system protection...

Funny but i don't have problems anymore. I uninstalled Comodo when i had problems, and installed couple of days ago latest version.

Yesterday i installed SP2 to Vista and everything is good for now. Have to see, if problems occurs in future.