Windows 10 Random Lag Spikes

[NeVMiku]

Hi,

I have the Optimus VII with Windows 10 pre-installed and have been having this problem since purchase.

My laptop basically randomly have lag spikes. The "spikes" lasts for about half a second. When it happens, sounds (any sound currently playing) will be distorted (paused, and then "dragged on" for half a second then after the spike is gone it "resumes" the sound), my cursor will not move and my desktop will temporary freezes.

I have left Task Manager opened but it doesn't show any CPU spikes when the lag spike happens.

There appears to be CPU spikes. Across the "logical cores" (hyperthreading included), Core 1 spikes the most then gradually going down with Core 8 being spiked the lowest.

This has been going on since I first turned it on out of the box. If anyone have any ideas, please help.

It is very annoying when playing games, watching movies, or....everything actually. It doesn't matter if I'm in a fullscreen game or windowed (same with videos).

Thanks.

 

[thisisevilevil]

Hello These lag spikes issues can be tricky to troubleshoot, but I would like to try, nonetheless. If you could provide me the following:
-Speccy output [https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download] -> Open Speccy, Let it analyze your system and go to File -> Save as text file.
-DxDiag output [Go to Run -> DxDiag -> Run 64bit diag -> Save all information]

Attach these 2 files to this thread.

 

[ubuysa]

Be aware that there are known issues with Windows 10 and NVIDIA Optimus technology. Lots of Optimus users (including me) have experienced similar issues. You might want to take a look at this thread https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?46816-Driver-power-state-failure. Although that's a BSOD and not a freeze the downgraded NVIDIA drivers that fixed that issue may also work for you.

None of this is PC Specialists fault, it seems to be an issue between NVIDIA Optimus technology and Windows 10. Windows 8.1 running on the same hardware does not have these problems. My guess is that Microsoft and NVIDIA are currently arguing over whose fault this is......

 

[Popededi]

I have a PC that's doing it because of my budget Kingston SSD, so add that to the list of things to investigate. (If you have one of those)

 

[NeVMiku]

I have the SM951 NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 SSD 512GB. I doubt that it's the problem... But it also could be.

 

[NeVMiku]

Be aware that there are known issues with Windows 10 and NVIDIA Optimus technology. Lots of Optimus users (including me) have experienced similar issues. You might want to take a look at this thread https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?46816-Driver-power-state-failure. Although that's a BSOD and not a freeze the downgraded NVIDIA drivers that fixed that issue may also work for you.

None of this is PC Specialists fault, it seems to be an issue between NVIDIA Optimus technology and Windows 10. Windows 8.1 running on the same hardware does not have these problems. My guess is that Microsoft and NVIDIA are currently arguing over whose fault this is......

I emailed PCS about the issue and they recommended me to disable one of the USB thing... It worked as far as I'm aware. No random BSODs. However there will be BSODs when I leave my game for sometime to do something else. As long as I don't leave it then it's fine.

Anyway, Windows 10 to me seems like Microsoft is trying to fix something that wasn't broken and now they've made a mess out of it.

 

[NeVMiku]

Hello These lag spikes issues can be tricky to troubleshoot, but I would like to try, nonetheless. If you could provide me the following:
-Speccy output [https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download] -> Open Speccy, Let it analyze your system and go to File -> Save as text file.
-DxDiag output [Go to Run -> DxDiag -> Run 64bit diag -> Save all information]

Attach these 2 files to this thread.

Dead link.

 

[NeVMiku]

Hello These lag spikes issues can be tricky to troubleshoot, but I would like to try, nonetheless. If you could provide me the following:
-Speccy output [https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download] -> Open Speccy, Let it analyze your system and go to File -> Save as text file.
-DxDiag output [Go to Run -> DxDiag -> Run 64bit diag -> Save all information]

Attach these 2 files to this thread.

Managed to get some CPU spikes this time.

DxDiag+Speccy.zip

 

[NeVMiku]

It just happens to me twice while I'm playing a game. This is horrible. I am getting really tired of restarting my play and starting all over again. What is this supposed to be? Why is this happening? I don't care. I just want to know how to fix it.

Upgrading Windows 10 might work but then I will get the stupid "Memory Compression" that they all want us to have. NO! I don't want it! It hogs my CPU so now my only option is to defer upgrades!!! It won't solve anything. Any one else getting this? ANYONE????

This forums should have a specific section for specific models. People lump Optimus VII with both 15.6" and 17"...

 

[NeVMiku]

Guess what? Resetting Windows doesn't help. lol

 

[ubuysa]

Guess what? Resetting Windows doesn't help. lol

I would try a completely clean reinstall of Windows, let Windows update find the drivers - with the possible exception of the chipset driver. You should find that under your account on the main PCS website, it's in Downloads under Tech Support. Even if it doesn't fix your issue at least you'll know your OS and drivers are clean.

I still think this is probably a manifestation of the known Windows 10 and NVDIA Optimus issues. If you have (or can borrow) a copy of Windows 8/8.1 it might be worth installing a copy of that and the appropriate drivers, that will confirm whether it's Windows 10. Since you'll need Windows 8/8.1 for far less than the 30 days allowed you won't need to activate it and thus won't need a licensed copy.

 

[NeVMiku]

Sounds good, except that my needed "Hotkeys" driver is only compatible to Windows 10...same with most other drivers. I have Optimus VII 15.6".

I will try it nonetheless. Thanks for replying! I am aware of the Nvidia Optimus / Windows 10 problem. Hope they fix it soon.

 

[kavabata]

I've experienced some spikes today when mcafee started its scheduled scan We might be on the same boat.

 

[NeVMiku]

I've experienced some spikes today when mcafee started its scheduled scan View attachment 7752 We might be on the same boat.

Don't think so.

First, I have Kaspersky.

Second, yours is a long stutter. Mine is a short spike.

Lastly, yours lag because disk usage. Mine is CPU spike (the only thing I can think of as it shows in Task Manager, other than that I have no idea).

 

[Pagey]

Hmm I wonder if the issue is related to an issue I had on my Optimus IV?

I managed to fix it, but updates to Windows 10 and my Nvidia drivers still manages to break it, but it's still fixable afterwards.

My two pennies would be to ensure your drivers are correct and make sure you have the correct Intel chipset and hotkey drivers installed, those were the main culprits for me. Just to note: those two drivers are pretty much vital for things to run smoothly due to the interfacing the Intel chipset drivers does.

 

[NeVMiku]

Hmm I wonder if the issue is related to an issue I had on my Optimus IV?

I managed to fix it, but updates to Windows 10 and my Nvidia drivers still manages to break it, but it's still fixable afterwards.

My two pennies would be to ensure your drivers are correct and make sure you have the correct Intel chipset and hotkey drivers installed, those were the main culprits for me. Just to note: those two drivers are pretty much vital for things to run smoothly due to the interfacing the Intel chipset drivers does.

It's new-out-of-the-box state (except that I reset it but it should retain the drivers).
Just found out something new today too: I was looking at Task Manager and noticed that I also have a spike in Disk Usage. Reading up on the internet I decided to open Resource Monitor and watch for another spike. The result is that I have hard faults spikes too. Hard faults + disk usage = Windows swapping applications (page?) from SSD to memory.

Now the problem: I have no idea what this is.

EDIT: Another two spikes, no hard faults. WTF is this, I can't play my games because of this stupid problem!

 

[ubuysa]

It's new-out-of-the-box state (except that I reset it but it should retain the drivers).
Just found out something new today too: I was looking at Task Manager and noticed that I also have a spike in Disk Usage. Reading up on the internet I decided to open Resource Monitor and watch for another spike. The result is that I have hard faults spikes too. Hard faults + disk usage = Windows swapping applications (page?) from SSD to memory.

Now the problem: I have no idea what this is.

EDIT: Another two spikes, no hard faults. WTF is this, I can't play my games because of this stupid problem!

Hard Page Faults are individual page-in operations, they happen because Windows has stolen unreferenced pages from the working set of a program and that program has later on referenced one (or more) of those pages. Paging (indicated by hard page faults) is a normal operation of all virtual storage operating systems, however, with 8GB of RAM you really shouldn't be paging - I'm wondering whether you have a memory leak somewhere?

Swapping is different. If a program is completely suspended for some time (this typically happens to Windows apps that have lost focus) then it's more efficient, and better for the program, to move all working set pages out to disk at once (Windows 8/10 use as separate paging file called swapfile.sys for swapping). When the program becomes active all the working set can be swapped in in one I/O, thus avoiding a whole mass of individual page faults.

If you see lots free RAM then you shouldn't be paging at all. Paging is not something individual applications have any control over, it's stricty an OS function and page steal (moving unreferenced pages out) is typically driven by RAM utilisation, so lots of free RAM means no page steals (or very few anyway). On my 12GB system I see zero hard pages faults all the time, I keep a pagefile only for safety (without one if you run out of RAM you will lose data) and so that dumps can be written (they go to the pagefle).

Do you see free RAM reducing over time? That would suggest a memory leak from some program or driver (or even Windows). The Resource Monitor should show you what is leaking - you'd expect to see the workings set keep increasing.

I've followed this thread with some interest, what you describe is most strange. If it were mine I'd take a disk images of the system disk now (so that you have an easy way back) and I'd do a completely clean install of just Windows and the drivers and do some thorough testing on just that (i.e. with nothing else installed) to see how it behaves. If that works fine then it's not likely to be a hardware issue and you can then concentrate on looking at the rest of your software to see whether you can pinpoint the culprit.

 

[Pagey]

One thing I have a habit of doing recently with a new computer: Install the OS completely fresh yourself. When you first run the computer it might not be set up perfectly and when you initially get it you won't have done anything on it tbh, so installing the OS fresh won't actually be that bad. Oh and as a side note on that: make sure you make an image of the C: drive once you get the install perfected, as if anything ever goes wrong in the future that's pretty bad, a 10-20 minute copy will have you up and running again to a fresh good OS install.

The reason being is that I see faults like this on a new computer as being a driver confliction or incorrect settings enabled, a fresh install should guarantee a perfectly running system. If not, it's just the case of using the process of elimination to detect the actual issue. This may sound a bit pointless and you may also say that a fresh install wouldn't produce problems, well unfortunately even for my laptop is actually does, it took me and Ubuysa a couple of months to get to the bottom of it. But what I have now is an image of my C: drive to an actual perfect install, granted a couple of drivers bugger my laptop up, but a simple 5 minute install fixes it completely.