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Any time I'm playing a game (and even sometimes just using desktop programs), whenever the game accesses the hard drive the graphics freeze. Sometimes the audio stutters, most other times it doesn't.
I cannot figure out what's wrong. The games will run fine for a few seconds, but whenever something loads (i.e. I look at something new), the game will freeze for a few moments and then resume at full-force.
This happens at any point with any game, and is not your regular lag. Some games do so whenever a new model is loaded (or, for instance, when a block is broken in minecraft).
How can I go about debugging this issue?
The laptop isn't that old, and has done this ever since it was purchased. I was using the updated drivers for a while, and then tried the beta drivers with no luck. No overclocking is being done.
Specs:
- Alienware M17xr3
- Windows 7 64-bit
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
- Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.20 GHz
- 8 GB Ram
The laptop is an Alienware, so the model number is, of course, nowhere to be seen on the bottom. Model number added to specs.
EDIT: As suggested in the comments, here are the temps during both idle and gaming sessions. It should be noted that whenever the freeze occurs, the GPU usage drops to 0.
CPU Min/Max [core 1,2,3,4] : GPU
(All are in degrees Celsius)
- Idle: 56/61, 60/68, 58/69, 52/61 : 62
- Game 1: 63/76, 66/83, 66/83, 62/81 : 66
- Game 2: 56/79, 61/85, 58/84, 54/81 : 66-67
Something else I should add is that the CPU power drops from around 32 watts to less than 15 (often times down to 7) whenever the freeze occurs - however, the programmer in me thinks that it's a side effect of the program itself due to the freeze and not being able to query the CPU.
Another note is that background music plays without interruption during these freezes; the CPU is still doing something when it freezes. Some of the game's sound effects will loop, but not in a soundcard freeze way.
Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED
Posted 2013-02-23T07:13:56.590
Reputation: 321
What operating system (be as specific as possible)? How much RAM? Have you changed any OS settings, particularly relating to memory management or power management? – David Schwartz – 2013-02-23T08:32:58.643
Your laptop has dual graphics card. Have you tried setting it to run on NVIDIA graphics only? – gronostaj – 2013-02-23T11:18:22.947
Can you install and run two programs (I do not care which specific ones); on to monitor CPU temperature, one to monitor the graphics chips temperature. Write down the values when the laptop is idle and when you are gaming (displaying them on a second screen while playing a full screen game is usually the easiest way). But before you do that check the event log messages. Any errors in there? For instance 'Thermal event' messages. Or 'disk read errors', esp. if the disk is set to older IO modes. – Hennes – 2013-02-23T12:57:56.707
@DavidSchwartz - Specs added. Nothing changed recently, other than a reformat; this issue has been around since its purchase. Reformatting neither fixes nor causes the issue. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-02-23T23:15:16.893
@gronostaj - No indication it has a dual graphics card. Is there somewhere specific in the nVidia control panel that would say it does? – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-02-23T23:15:48.343
@Hennes - No errors whatsoever that are related to the thermals or disk - the last few errors occurred two days ago. I'll take some temps here in a second. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-02-23T23:22:20.310
@Hennes - Temps added. I'll do a few more games; some do it more than others. For now, that should give a good idea. The thing I did notice on the monitors was that GPU usage dropped to 0% whenever there was a freeze. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-02-23T23:42:21.550
@Qix i7s have built-in Intel GPU and usually laptops use that one for power saving and NVIDIA GPU for gaming (this is called NVIDIA Optimus). Optimus laptops have Intel graphics driver installed and all color and display settings are in Intel's panel. NVIDIA panel has an option to switch between GPUs. – gronostaj – 2013-02-24T08:13:31.487
@gronostaj I don't see it anywhere. Is it under a certain name or term? – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-02-24T21:28:32.870
@Qix If you have Nvidia optimus you will be able to set the primary video adapter from the main page in the Nvidia control panel, so check if there is a drop down box. – Supercereal – 2013-02-26T13:46:28.470
1Two other things to check: 1. use resource monitor to look at the disk, ignore transfer and watch the disk queue, see if it jumps when you notice the processor enter a lower P state or even C0 (idle). The drop in power usage may be due to throttling from high temperatures. Unless you manually calibrated the TJmax in your thermal monitoring program for that CPU I would bet the readings you got are off by 10-20C. Most programs are calibrated for a Thermal junction max of 91C while all mobile I series chips I have seen have TJmax closer to 100-110. – Supercereal – 2013-02-26T13:49:29.670
If you want further info on temperature readings for Intel chips check my answer here: http://superuser.com/questions/477159/laptop-overheats-bsod-turns-off-when-playing-games/477179#477179
– Supercereal – 2013-02-26T13:50:59.310@Kyle I can't. I hit the button to switch adapters and it tells me it's done "automatically". – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-02T13:53:00.050
Is your laptop fully patched, including optional Windows Update ? – harrymc – 2013-03-02T15:00:07.933
@harrymc - Yes. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-03T02:43:59.167
@Qix what do you mean by button? there should be a drop down (list box) in the nvidia control panel for preferred graphic adapter. – Supercereal – 2013-03-05T18:53:01.420
@Kyle there isn't any drop down at all (trust me, I've checked quite a few times). I hit the Fn key combo that usually switches the adapters. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-05T20:59:06.000
@Qix not sure when the m17xR3 was released but my M11xR2 had terrible issues with the non dell provided drivers using optimus. All the hacking I did was useless. The fact you are missing the drop down makes me wonder if you used the nvidia drivers? I did that a few times either by mistake (windows update) or while trying to get a game to run and it never worked out well at all. – Supercereal – 2013-03-05T21:13:38.937
@Qix that drop down also only shows in the advanced view. I know you said you checked but I feel like I should mention it anyway since it will default to the simple view. – Supercereal – 2013-03-05T21:14:44.037
@Kyle It is literally not anywhere to be found. There is no advanced view.
– Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T07:19:26.633The fact you are missing the drop down makes me wonder if you used the nvidia driversIf you mean the ones I got off of the nVidia support/driver download website, yes, those are the ones I am using. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T08:31:27.200@Qix The option is under the tree "manage 3d settings" and yes I meant the drivers from the nvidia site. It's worth trying the dell drivers. Again, I was never able to get the official Nvidia drivers working with my alienware. – Supercereal – 2013-03-06T13:38:18.800
@Kyle - Upgraded the VBIOS and disabled turbo CPU while I was at it; the freezes are less frequent, but still there. I will download and install the dell drivers here in a sec. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T14:52:26.547
@qix Without knowing the exact model of I7 and the TJmax of your processor those temps in the 80'sC could easily be in the 90's/100'sC (thermal throttling territory). Every mobile I series chip I have ever looked up the tjmax on has it much higher than the default of 91 (up to 110c). This could mean your temps could be off by as much as 20C. As a side note: updating the bios most likely updated the cooling profile and turning off turbo boost would significantly decrease temperatures. Interesting that this helps... I would not count overheating out yet. – Supercereal – 2013-03-06T15:56:24.897
@Kyle - Added exact i7 model. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T16:53:21.297
@qix tjmax is 100 on that processor. Assuming you didn't calibrate your thermal monitoring program: the highest core reading (85) on the Digital thermal sensor was 6. Adjusting for our now known TJ max: thermal junction max - DTS = 94 that is definitely throttling territory. between the readings, the wattage drop, and performance increase after disabling turbo. It's pretty safe to say your CPU is overheating. – Supercereal – 2013-03-06T17:21:54.073
You can see this yourself with the resource monitor or Intel Extreme tuning utility. – Supercereal – 2013-03-06T17:23:08.533
I would believe it; the games worked great for a little bit but over time (assuming when the CPU heated up) they started to glitch out again. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T21:57:51.957
Thing is I already blew out all of the dust, and it's sitting on top of a heating pad. Not sure what else I could do to help it. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T21:58:23.720
Intel Extreme reports no throttling whatsoever, even during a freeze; although that really doesn't surprise me. It's probably incorrect. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T22:03:11.907
Just for kicks, I downloaded speedfan (I turned off the cooling pad and could hardly find the fans they were so quiet). It doesn't allow me to change any fan speeds at all, which is annoying since the fans on the back don't even seem to be on. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T22:09:28.250
AHA! HWINFO64 allows me to change the fan speeds. Perfect! – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T22:16:41.517
Nope, the problem is still there; arguably worse right now. Fans are keeping the temps < 50C at all times; even during a game. That's a plus, at least, but it still isn't the issue. – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED – 2013-03-06T22:23:34.480