Computer freezing for a couple secs during games. Video sound cutting out

[thedylan186]

I posted another thread last month in General Windows PC Help section. Didn't really get anywhere as far as fixing the issues I'm having so was told to post here to begin analyzing the computer for malware if that is indeed the problem. Here is the previous thread 

[John L. Galt]

I remember that topic.  SO, basically, you're still having the freeze issues?

Is it really for a couple of seconds of freeze, or is it faster, but still a dead stop in the middle of playing, noticeable enough as if someone hit pause and then play on a remote control really quickly - but it still happens?

Also , I know you have the old thread, and the older thread, but let's stick to this one.  What Operating system, and the components of your machine (include peripherals like scanners, etc. wired versus Wi-Fi connection, router model (or if it is supplied by your ISP just say that),  and even monitors.

We'll go from there.

[thedylan186]

Yes still having freeze issues.

I played Fortnite yesterday and it was literally every 5 seconds it would freeze for a second or whatever. It didn't last all day but was really bad when I first started. Not sure what can possibly cause it to be better or worse at any given time.

I'm currently using Windows 10. Build can be found here https://gyazo.com/8b5c637ce9e36b7ea7cf211ba8e45d9c

I use a wired connection. Router is supplied by my ISP Cox and its an Arris Model: TG1682G. Never experienced any of the issues on my HP laptop, even when using wireless.

I have an LG Flatron IPS235 monitor and a much older Samsung SyncMaster T220 both using DVI-D inputs. Games are played on the LG monitor. 

[John L. Galt]

OK, that gives a bit of information - probably going to need a lot more specifics, though. 

Also, please bear with me, as I had to completely cleanly install Windows 10 again after I decide to do some early spring cleaning (and replace a pair of dead fans that I found) only to have Windows 10 not like me anymore.  So, I'm still setting everything back up, and I have to find (again) the list of tweaks I had to make to kill the same sort of behavior that you're describing in my Watch Dogs 2 game.

As soon as I find it I will post them here to see if they ma also have an effect on your system.

In the meantime, though, how about you get the architecture appropriate version of https://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

(get the .ZIP, not the installer, as you really don't need this tool but once or twice in the entire lifetime of the computer) and run it and save your results and upload them here?

[thedylan186]

Here's the results of that:

https://gyazo.com/fc0c91de188f7cdb98724f226e0948cd

[John L. Galt]

Thanks.  Let me take a closer look and do some researching.

BTW, you can upload pictures directly here in stead of having to rely on a 3rd party site like Gyazo:

[thedylan186]

Ok thanks, I will do that in the future. Will be standing by to see what you come up with

[John L. Galt]

I'm still compiling some answers, but I've had to reinstall 3 times in the last 2 weeks

The meltdown and Spectre patches are not playing nicely with my old machine at all...

BTW, do you kill off running applications before starting games?

[thedylan186]

Dang that sucks. Yea I kill everything before playing games besides maybe some chrome tabs.

Do you think a windows reinstall would do anything? Or would you think it's a hardware issue?

[John L. Galt]

No, it is more than likely a game issue itself.  (However, a periodic clean install is not a bad thing, because you start with a fresh registry without all the clutter from previous program installs and removals you've done.  And I prefer this to using those magicwannabe registry cleaners, as I have found that many of them go too far without protecting the user from inadvertent harm.)

I've found the documentation that I use to stop Watch Dogs 2 from doing basically something similar to what you're describing - it only happens when I'm in a car / running really quickly.  If I am walking or anything like that I don't get the issue - only when moving quickly - but it is a hardware configuration issue in the game itself, and requires tweaking a game file or two.

I'm still looking to see if something similar is possible for your game.

Also, is this in every game, or just relative new ones?

[John L. Galt]

Question - in the beginning of this video is the jerkiness that I experienced in WD2 - is this something like what you're experiencing?

If so, what happens if you adjust the nVidia Control Panel settings as he did?

[thedylan186]

This happens with every game that I've played recently (Fortnite, LoL, H1Z1). And still having the the YouTube/Spotify issues as well.

I'm gonna try to mess with the nVidia control panel. His issues seemed to happen more frequently and for shorter periods of time at the beginning. Mine is pretty inconsistent as to when it will freeze but seems to freeze for longer, less often.

[John L. Galt]

Well, if you say it happens in every game and  youtube and spotify, it sounds more like an issue with the system being used for other things, like when it makes use of the pagefile while you're streaming content.

And in that case, a clean install of Windows might actually help - but seeing what your pagefile settings are in WIndows will be a good start.

[thedylan186]

Obviously I'm not 100% certain but I don't think it's an issue of the system not having enough memory or whatever. Think we kinda discussed that issue in the previous thread but I could be mistaken 

 

[John L. Galt]

No, not the allocation - the actual accessing the pagefile.

Basically, the pagefile is used to store large amounts of data that cannot be kept in memory all the time, but need to be accessible at a given moment's notice.  But if you're playing a game and something else is running in the background, such as a streaming recording utility, then you have an excessive amount of paging as not only is the game that you're playing trying to load into memory but so is the actual stream that is being recorded - and it causes a lot of back and forth to and from the HD to and from the memory.

Mind you, I'm not saying that this is what you're doing - it was an example pure and simple, of 2 very CPU and RAM intensive processes that start fighting, if you will, for computer resource use.

Was this a system that was upgrade to Windows 10?  And are you logging in to your machine using a local account or a Microsoft account?

[John L. Galt]

Also, I'm going to ask to have this post moved to the General PC help section, as nothing we're discussing here has to do with Malware removal.

@AdvancedSetup, if you please?

[thedylan186]

I'm not sure how to find the pagefiles for certain programs (if you're saying that's what you wanna see). 

This system was auto upgraded last year probably to Windows 10. Using a local account.

I think I noticed a slight improvement with that video you linked on Thursday but didn't play a lot to see if it was a permanent help. It brought on more lag in certain spots when I would come up on an enemy or spot like that. I'm gonna try to change max pre-rendered frames to 3 instead of 4 and see what happens

[John L. Galt]

All right.  Probably going to need some playing around with those settings to figure out the gaming side of it, but I'm not sure what, if any, effect they (the nVidia settings) will have on music streaming and playing youtube videos. 

[thedylan186]

I just don't really know where to start and still feel pretty clueless when trying to read about what everything does.

Wanted to say that when I'm on YouTube or Twitch or other sites that stream video, a simple refresh fixes the problem til it happens again. Same with spotify, it will stop playing or whatever then work again after 10 seconds or so. Don't know if that helps trying to figure out what's wrong

[John L. Galt]

When you say a refresh fixes it until it happens again, does that mean the rest of whatever video / song you're playing plays fine, and it doesn't happen again on that video song?

[thedylan186]

No, the problem will continue to happen but it's a temporary solution, sometimes for the remainder of the video, sometimes for 3 seconds.

[John L. Galt]

And if you don't refresh, it stops and never starts, or is the time spent waiting and whether the skip ends also completely random?

[thedylan186]

If I don't refresh it, sometimes it will come back sometimes it won't. That also seems to be completely random to me as well