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[Fbh]

Since we don't seem to have a tech support thread anymore I though I might as well just make a thread.

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of what might be causing weird slowdowns/hiccups on my laptop. They seem to happen randomly and mostly when either watching something (youtube, Netflix, locally store filed, etc) or playing something.
It slows down for a second or two (and the sound turns "robotic) then goes back to normal. It's not particularly frequent and seems to come at random times, but watching something that's like an hour long it will probably happen somewhere between 2-3 times.

Things I've tried:
Updating Drivers
Running the Windows memory diagnostic
Running the "scan hardware" option on the dell "assist" app (yeah...it's a dell).
Running malwarebytes
Checked CPU temp with core temp (mostly in the mid 50 Cº while watching media).
Re-installed the intel drivers


Thx in advance

 

[Armorian]

Check processes in the background (if any of them is using cpu too much)
Run memtest
Check HDD (if it is a HDD) for bad sectors
Defragment HDD (same as above)

Instal some anti virus (Kaspersky?) trial and scan your pc.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Well if it ain't hardware related (temps are fine) then your only solution is to put a fresh windows on it.
Don't listen to people advising you to clean up your pc, that stuff never works and it's hard to pinpoint what exactly is causing issues when it comes to software.
Maybe you can check processes in task manager. It's possible you've picked up some virus that uses your cpu.
But the safest option is to reinstall windows.

 

[TUROK]

You might have to resort to something like this.

Oh fuck, I didn't know Reddit posts get embedded.

 

[EverythingsOverrated]

Ya I was going to say that it sounds like a hdd that's on its way out.

If it's ONLY when streaming I would say video/sound drivers, but when it's random it's usually the drive.

Have you checked the event viewer for anything out of the ordinary? It could be a Windows background process shitting the bed

I would also run a system file check as well

 

[Fbh]

But the safest option is to reinstall windows.

I I'm starting to think I'll have to try this put it's a pain in the ass

You might have to resort to something like this.

Oh fuck, I didn't know Reddit posts get embedded.

Will look into it, but I'm not sure it's same problem as I get the issue regardless of how long I've been using the laptop. It will still happen even if I put on a a video right after booting it up when temperature shouldn't be an issue

Ya I was going to say that it sounds like a hdd that's on its way out.

If it's ONLY when streaming I would say video/sound drivers, but when it's random it's usually the drive.

Have you checked the event viewer for anything out of the ordinary? It could be a Windows background process shitting the bed

I would also run a system file check as well

Should have mentioned it's an SSD.

I will run the system file check to see if anything comes up

 

[EekTheKat]

shot in the dark/armchair diagnosis/guess - DPC latency issue possibly?

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/solving-dpc-latency-issues/

Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

www.resplendence.com

YMMV of course, the utility pointed out a few drivers that were misbehaving on my 2017 Aero. After some tweaks involving the registry I'm mostly stable DPC wise outside of a poorly implemented touchpad (ps/2 )driver and wifi card being terrible when it comes to DPC latency.

As usual, back everything up and do your homework on this before making any serious tweaks/tuning. Some laptops may not behave the same as other models, and you may wind up making things worse if a certain driver does not like to share resources.

 

[synchronicity]

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

 

[synchronicity]

LOL, I have no idea what this means, but it's funny.

 

[Urprobablyright]

From my experiences i suggest dusty fans or not much space on ur harddisk or background updating and installing

 

[garballax]

check your Processes and Performance tabs in the Task Manager. see if it's an application bogging your machine, a specific piece of hardware on your machine, etc. in any case... see synchronicity's post.

 

[belmarduk]

No. I’m using a Mac. We rarely experience things like that.

 

[DESTROYA]

No. I’m using a Mac. We rarely experience things like that.

OK boomer!

 

[TaySan]

Check if you have anything running in the background. It could be a bad HDD.

 

[The Pleasure]

No. I’m using a Mac. We rarely experience things like that.

Mac needs something to play first before experiencing something. Indies don't count.

 

[DESTROYA]

Try updating the drivers for the WiFi card? Do yo have good internet speed? Might just be buffering.

 

[SurprisedPikachu]

Check the power settings for your CPU in Windows. If it's running hot if you're running on battery at all (or sometimes the manufactures default config is fucking retarded for AC adapter) it'll set the minimum processor state to a low value. If you're plugged in all the time just make sure the AC settings for the CPU is set to 100%. I had to do that for AC and everything works much better now.

 

[Fbh]

Try updating the drivers for the WiFi card? Do yo have good internet speed? Might just be buffering.

Drivers are supposedly up to date.
It doesn't seem to be a speed thing either as it doesn't only happen while streaming content but also while watching a locally store video file (With VLC) or playing gmaes

shot in the dark/armchair diagnosis/guess - DPC latency issue possibly?

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/solving-dpc-latency-issues/

Resplendence Software - LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

LatencyMon: suitability checker for real-time audio and other tasks

www.resplendence.com

YMMV of course, the utility pointed out a few drivers that were misbehaving on my 2017 Aero. After some tweaks involving the registry I'm mostly stable DPC wise outside of a poorly implemented touchpad (ps/2 )driver and wifi card being terrible when it comes to DPC latency.

As usual, back everything up and do your homework on this before making any serious tweaks/tuning. Some laptops may not behave the same as other models, and you may wind up making things worse if a certain driver does not like to share resources.

Will check this out. Thx

No. I’m using a Mac. We rarely experience things like that.

 

[DESTROYA]

Did you try updating the Windows 10 media player?
Sorry I’m not much help and just randomly throwing out suggestions but I’m just advising on things I would try.

 

[Fbh]

So I happened to be looking at the resource monitor while a youtube video was playing and it made the usual hiccup and the only thing that stands out is that "system interrupts" had a spike.
Though from what I've googled "system interrupts" could basically be anything so it doesn't help much.

Also cleaned out the fans just in case (there was a bit of dust but not much) but that didn't change anything

Did you try updating the Windows 10 media player?
Sorry I’m not much help and just randomly throwing out suggestions but I’m just advising on things I would try.

I generally don't udpate most of the windows stuff that I don't use (I tend to use VLC).

 

[DESTROYA]

So I happened to be looking at the resource monitor while a youtube video was playing and it made the usual hiccup and the only thing that stands out is that "system interrupts" had a spike.
Though from what I've googled "system interrupts" could basically be anything so it doesn't help much.

Also cleaned out the fans just in case (there was a bit of dust but not much) but that didn't change anything




I generally don't udpate most of the windows stuff that I don't use (I tend to use VLC).

How much RAM do you have?
Do you have a lot of tabs open when watching shows? RAM usage can slow down things if you have to many tabs open .

 

[Fbh]

The one other thing I wonder about is the intel Driver.
The Dell Apps says it's up to date, but the intel site basically says my computer has a custom version of the driver made by Dell so they can't update it, and installing a generic driver might cause issues.

The thing is, the Dell driver is almost a year old while the latest generic intel driver is way newer (from last month).

Would it be worth it to see if installing the generic driver helps or might I end up screwing things up more?

How much RAM do you have?
Do you have a lot of tabs open when watching shows? RAM usage can slow down things if you have to many tabs open .

16 Gb. (I also ran the windows memory diagnostic but it found no issues)

I do generally have a lot of tabs open but it can also happen on a fresh boot with nothing but VLC or the windows Netflix app running

 

[garballax]

gonna need some more numbers and specifics here. gonna throw a bunch of questions out at ya to see what sticks. what % utilization of CPU, memory, GPU, storage media etc are you running at normally/on boot (Task Manager > Performance)? which browser were you using when you noticed the hiccup when watching the YouTube video? have you tried booting in Safe Mode with Networking? have you tried disabling everything except the necessities on startup? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026268/windows-10-change-startup-apps

edit: the above is all assuming you're on Windows 10. your current OS build version would be helpful to know as well. or dxdiag info.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Got a new laptop a year ago, but my old one (Windows 7 based) would bomb out with black BIOS error screen forcing a reboot anytime I watched too many YT video playlists or streamed sports. It was always video related. If I streamed some MP3s on a video player for hours it never happened.

The second it hit about 2 hrs worth of videos, there was always a good chance it would happen.

The reboot would fix it until it happened again.

 

[GAMETA]

It could be the gpu, ram, the cpu... or it could be software related. Hard to tell.

Best think you can do is format and do a clean install of Windows.

 

[Chairman Tickles]

It seems like a rogue background process if it isn't power throttling. I had a similar problem, had to uninstall some of the laptop bloatware, namely some kind of alienware suite that made the laptop keyboard lights light up and shit. Lost the lights but its so fast and consistent now.

 

[Fbh]

gonna need some more numbers and specifics here. gonna throw a bunch of questions out at ya to see what sticks. what % utilization of CPU, memory, GPU, storage media etc are you running at normally/on boot (Task Manager > Performance)? which browser were you using when you noticed the hiccup when watching the YouTube video? have you tried booting in Safe Mode with Networking? have you tried disabling everything except the necessities on startup? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026268/windows-10-change-startup-apps

edit: the above is all assuming you're on Windows 10. your current OS build version would be helpful to know as well. or dxdiag info.

If I'm just on the desktop with no browser or folder open
CPU - around 1-3%
Memory - 25% (Desktop Window manager being the one using the most)
Disk: 1-4%
Gpu: 1-2%

I've tried disabling everything except necessities on startup and it didn't help.

I mostly use Firefox but, as mentioned, I don't think it's browser related as I get the same hiccups if I'm running a locally stored filed using VLC or while running some game.

Haven't tried safe Mode, will check it out.

 

[garballax]

hmm. how long have you had this machine and when did it start hiccuping? oh, and does it do it when it's both plugged in to power and not? I've had some troubles with power saving modes myself.

I have a seemingly similar Dell laptop (G3 17-3779) that I hope doesn't start doing the same thing. when I first received that G3 I immediately installed a clean version of Windows 10 to avoid all the bloatware Dell likes to put on their machines. it's looking more and more like a clean image is your best bet but there still might be some ideas here and there if you'd rather avoid that route. definitely check all of your power preferences, maybe check and see if there's any sneaky settings in your BIOS too.

 

[Fbh]

OK, finally figured it. Had to watch some random shows with the task manager running but I saw that every time it did a hiccup there was some Dell process which got a bit of a spike (delldatavault). Guess I missed it because I thought whatever was causing this would have a big spike that would make it show up at the top of the processes list but that wasn't the case.

Anyway, I googled a bit and it seemed to be something related to the "support assist" app, I though that one was just used as an easy way to download the latest drivers but apparently it does some shit in the background too. So I just went ahead and uninstalled almost everything Dell related and haven't had the problem show up again. It's pretty fucking ridiculous that their software that's supposedly designed to keep the computer up to date and running smoothly is screwing things up.

Anyway, thx to everyone who helped with ideas or suggestions