PC Audio

Re: RE: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

thrives — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:33:15 GMT

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the swift reply. I will report back with my findings.

Thrives

Re: RE: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Super Dave — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:58:39 GMT

There are a couple of things you can try, Thrives. HERE is a free program called the PC Decrapifier that eliminates a lot of the unwanted programs and trial-offers that come installed on new computers. These insidious programs often run in the background, gobbling-up resources and slowing everything down. Also, you may want to read THIS article that explains how to prevent unwanted programs from running at startup, also slowing things down. Welcome to HotHardware, Thrives!

Re: RE: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

thrives — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:45:14 GMT

Hi Everybody,

I am really happy that I found this place and I have to say that this is the first time after buying my new rig that I am optimistic to be able to solve this problem. Basically, my machine shows the same symptoms as the ones described and to boot, it is brand new (as in BRAND new). Here is my rig;

Fujitsu AMILO Xa3530 17"WXGA+ Radeon HD3650 (512mb), Athlon QL62, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Blu-Ray, Bluetooth, VHP

I run Vista.

Now, I wrote the following a week back over that the Fujitsu-Siemens forums thinking that it was a specific problem with their systems:

---

Hello everybody ...

I have just taken delivery on a

Fujitsu AMILO Xa3530 17"WXGA+ Radeon HD3650 (512mb), Athlon QL62, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Blu-Ray, Bluetooth, VHP

And as much as I like the rig, I think I have contracted the dreaded "brr-bug" which was so heavily debated in the context of the old Mx43x Series.

http://forum.de.ts.fujitsu.com/forum/vi ... 98&t=13089

Basically, I get a lag and a stuttering of the sound and it does it during gameplay as well as during regular sound playback (Itunes, online radio, etc). During games (like e.g. UT3) the sound issue is also followed by nasty lag/glitch.

So, my question (with a trembling heart) Is there any known solution to this problem or will I have to send the thing back and have them ship a new one?

A general question ... is this a widespread issue for X series too? I would very much like to hear from other XA3530 owners and whether they have the same issue. Clearly, I see this is a pure a cut warranty issue and I am determined to make my demand stick, but oh boy is it annoying.

Incidentally, it was said that the problem on the old Mx43x Series had to do with the mainboard ... am I running the same mainboard.

best wishes

Thrives

---

I have tried the quick fix and it does not work in the sense that I get the following message;

"No resettable DMA channels ... found"

Do you have ANY suggestions on how to proceed from here; especially in light of the fact that I am running Vista. Basically, the bug appears at 80-100% CPU usage during normal and standard processes such as excel, word, online radio and internet browsing. Also of course on games ...

Now, this was a problem from DAY 1 with my machine and I contacted support and I wiped the HDD and reinstalled to no avail. I have also tried updating the BIOS as well as reinstalling my sound card drives although I am quite sure the latter is not the issue. I have had it at sell side support for a week but the baboons could not replicate the error although I had added a very detailed RMA (*sigh*)

ok, here is to hoping that Super Dave is indeed, well, SUPER :)

thanks in advance

Thrives

Re: RE: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Super Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:04:20 GMT

Dave_HH:

Well done, SD!

Thanks Dave, but I can't take credit for steering others to a useful website. It is really great to see that old thread still helping others, though!

Re: RE: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Dave_HH — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:12:52 GMT

Well done, SD!

Re: RE: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Super Dave — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:43:57 GMT

Glad it worked for you, Netty99, and welcome to HotHardware!

Re: RE: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Netty99 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:36:55 GMT

Thank you SuperDave!

This evening my Packard Bell PC (4 years old) started making strange sounds when any sound was played on it and sounded like someone was slowing down/speeding up any noises that came out of it. I phoned a helpline and they advised resetting the PC to it's factory conditions...eek! Anyway I clicked on your link and the stuttering has stopped, although the sound does now have an 'echo' sound to it. But I can live with that as I don't need to spend 2 days re-installing everything back on the PC!.

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Super Dave — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:13:34 GMT

The link was broken, but now it is working again. Hope it works for you, slipknotfan!

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

slipknotfan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:56:20 GMT

that link isn't working bro.

please can you find another link.

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

GregR — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:26:19 GMT

re: Leaving the side cover off may actually decrease the cooling efficiency

Yes, I know, which is why I'm hoping for even more improvement when I replace it. The problems started when I removed it in the first place, which added a few more degress of heating, and started the stuttering. The irony? I removed it for cleaning purposes in the first place, but then was slow in getting it done.

I have two 5" fans in the unit; one has ducting to aim it directly at the CPU. But everything was so clogged with dust and cat hair they just couldn't do their job.

As for a BIOS setting, no I've never seen that. But I don't know why. Why have a temp sensor then not act on it? Seems to me that ought to be in windows, not the BIOS. But a BIOS setting would help too. SpeedFan was a savior; I didn't even KNOW I had temp sensors.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Wrong turns are just as important as right ones. Edison, after being asked if he was frustrated by 100 failed attempts to invent the light bulb said, "no, I now know 100 ways NOT to make a light builb". :)

- g

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Super Dave — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:44:43 GMT

GregR:
I'm down to 60C and under now, and I haven't put the side panel back on which I'm hoping will even improve on that.

Leaving the side cover off may actually decrease the cooling efficiency, unless you've got a big ol' fan blowing directly on it! Is there a setting in the BIOS that throttles-back your CPU when it overheats?

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

GregR — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:23:42 GMT

OH, sorry, that was impolite of me not to respond.

No, this did not work for me.

But shortly thereafter I stumbled on the true cause: CPU OVERHEATING. It was approaching 100C. Thank goodness I DLed SpeedFan and discovered this. And thank goodness I didn't (knock on wood) injure my cpu chipset.

I spent the next day dissasembling my extremely filthy tower and cleaning it as best I could. I'm down to 60C and under now, and I haven't put the side panel back on which I'm hoping will even improve on that.

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Super Dave — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:40:36 GMT

I hope Greg posts back and lets us know if it solved his problem!

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

acarzt — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:26:43 GMT

Hmmm, i've seen this problem before and always assumed it was malware or some other conflict. Never even thought or heard of this before.

Even us guys who do this stuff for a living learn something new every now and then :-P

Re: Audio stutters or sounds timestretched when CPU activity increases

Super Dave — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:10:51 GMT

Welcome to HotHardware Greg! Go to the webpage mentioned HERE and click on the link under QUICK SOLUTION. It will look like this:

Quick solution

If you're not interested in the details, but just want to fix this problem as quickly as possible:

Click here.

Use Internet Explorer when you visit the website, Greg.

*EDITED* I just discovered that the link in this post works too, so you don't have to visit the website. The fix will not work with Google's Chrome or Mozilla's Firefox browser, though.