Choppy Video Playback and Somewhat Sluggish Otherwise

Hey there,

I was referred here by IP Board, my original topic there can be found here: http://forums.maddoktor2.com/index.php?showtopic=21644

For about the past week or two my computer has been running rather sluggishly…often times when I try to click on something the click does not register because of this lag. Videos also playback very choppily. For moments they play fine but then they get very choppy again.

I feel like my computer has been like this since I updated either IE or Windows Media Player, but I am really not quite sure.

I apologize if this is the wrong forum to be posting this. Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Adam

EDIT: Here's some more information:

I use Firefox
Acer Aspire 5102WLMi Laptop
AMD Turion 64 x2 TL50 (1.6 GHz, 512 KB L2 cache)
120 GB 4200rpm PATA HDD
1GB DDR2

(I honestly do not know what all the means, I am just reading it off the sticker on my laptop, I hope it helps.)

The first thing to do here is open Task Manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc), click the "Performance" tab, and look at your CPU and Memory usage. Under the "Physical Memory" section, what does it say for total and available memory? What does your CPU usage look like. It would be good to leave this task manager window open while you try to run a video or something that is choppy. See what your usage looks like while it is choppy. Your memory and CPU is plenty powerful enough to handle what you are trying to do. So, we will have to identify the hardware or software issue causing the problem. Look in Event Viewer for specific kinds of errors. Click start -> run -> type 'eventvwr' and press ENTER. Open the "System" log, and scroll through the past several days looking for RED errors that list "disk" as their source. If you find any, look at one and post back here with that information. Check to make sure your hard drive and CD/DVD drive are running in DMA mode and not PIO mode. Right-click My Computer, click "Properties." Click the "Hardware" tab and then the "Device Manager" button. Expand the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section and find the Primary and Secondary IDE channel devices. Right-click the Primary IDE channel, and click "Properties." Click the "Advanced Settings" tab and see if the current transfer mode says PIO or DMA for both devices listes. Repeat the same steps to look at any devices connected to the Secondary IDE channel. If you find that any of these devices are listed in PIO mode, then that is wrong. Although the problem can be corrected, often times, disk errors from a failing hard drive will cause it to revert back to PIO mode. Check for harddisk errors, click start -> run -> type 'cmd' and press ENTER. At the command prompt type "chkdsk /r" and press ENTER. When you are asked about scheduling a scan during your next reboot, answer Yes. Reboot your computer and be patient while chkdsk scans your hard drive for file system errors and bad sectors. Pay special attention for any warning messages about chkdsk "replacing bad clusters." This is a good sign you are having hard drive trouble. Do you use hibernation mode? Does it seem to take a lot longer to hibernate than it used to? How about boot up times? Let me know everything you find. BTW, Welcome aboard!

Hey! While a video is running, the performance is around 40%, but then jumps to 65% to 75% when it becomes choppy. In the processes, it looks like Firefox is around 20 then jumps to an average of 45 when it's choppy. Physical memory is total 915556, available 375252, and system cache 406316 (around those number, it changes). Event Viewer does not show any disk errors. The errors it does show are Service Control Manger for the most part, some PlugPlayManager, and a couple Dhcp. Under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, I have options for Primary IDE Channel and Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller. Primary IDE Channel was already in DMA mode. Standard Dual Channel does not give advanced options or say that it is DMA or PIO. I do use hibernation mode. Shutting down does seem like it takes longer than usual, now that you mention it. As far as starting up times, however, it seems normal. I am going to reboot my system now, as instructed, and will edit with any findings from chkdsk. EDIT: Tried to do chkdsk and things did not go too well. It started off checking very slowly, almost seeming like it was freezing, then once it got around 11% the computer shut off. Tried to do it 2 more times and it shut off at 2%. I had to skip it to start up. I am guessing that is not a good sign. Looking forward to hearing back from you!

EDIT: Tried to do chkdsk and things did not go too well. It started off checking very slowly, almost seeming like it was freezing, then once it got around 11% the computer shut off. Tried to do it 2 more times and it shut off at 2%. I had to skip it to start up. I am guessing that is not a good sign.

Sorry you thread went inactive there - some times we all have other commitments - some times we don't get notified of replies - some times no knows the answer!

No that does not look good as chkdsk typically forces a reboot and actually does its thing before much of anything else gets loaded. Sadly, notebooks are not user friendly so you can't just pop open the case to make sure it is clean of heat trapping dust. Do you know your temperatures? Make sure the vents and cavities are clean and you operate the notebook on a smooth, flat surface - and not your lap, carpet, bed, or the like.

You can try blasting a desk fan across to see if that helps. Your notebook may have come a hardware monitoring program (or check for a more recent version on the maker's website). If none, I recommend CoreTemp for newer Intel and AMD64 CPUs. SpeedFan is a great and popular alternative, or you can try Motherboard Monitor. Unfortunately, I have found that these programs often have problems properly identifying and labeling the sensor they are reading. The temperatures shown are as accurate as the inexpensive, low-tech sensors will allow, but it may say System Fan instead of CPU Fan. Fortunately, the programs do allow you to edit the labels, so I use Everest to verify the temperatures (as it is able to put sensor to label correctly), then edit the label in the monitoring program. In Everest, look under Computer > Sensor, then wait a couple seconds for the readings to appear. Unfortunately, Everest does not minimize to the system tray to show real-time temperatures, otherwise, you could use Everest instead of the others.

If you still cannot get through chkdsk, I would test the RAM using one of the following programs. Both require you to create and boot to a bootable floppy disk or CD to run the diagnostics. Using the floppy method is generally easier (and another reason to include floppy drives in new builds). However, the CD method is just as effective at detecting RAM problems. Allow the diagnostics to run for several passes or even overnight. You should have no reported errors.

Windows Memory Diagnostic - see the easy to follow instructions under Quick Start Information.
or
MemTest86+ (for more advanced users) - an excellent how-to guide is available here.

The final test would be to pull the HD from notebook and temporarily install or attach it to another computer, then run chkdsk from there.

Thank you for following up Digerati. I forgot about this thread because the OP said he would "edit" his results for chkdsk, and therefore I never got another e-mail notification. It does sound like a hardware issue to tackle first. If the laptop is over heating, it may also be a contributing factor to the choppy playback on video. Sometimes the BIOS or operating system can throttle back the CPU power to reduce heat and power consumption. I might also recommend a can of compressed air blown into the cooling fins and fans found in the back, sides, or bottom of the computer. However, I must warn that on laptops this can actually make things worse. If the laptop is significantly plugged the blockage will be fairly solid. When you blow the compressed air into the cooling fins it can literally blow a solid chunk of debri into the fan and cause it to stop spinning all together. Its important to look at the bottom of the computer and make sure the fan(s) still spin freely after performing this procedure.

The temperature is at around 68 C for Core #0 and 65 C for Core #1 while a video is playing, otherwise it seems to be around 64 and 62, respectively. These are the readings from CoreTemp. I did not have any compressed air so I just blew on the vents; they seemed a little dusty. I am going to try checkdsk again right now, will reply with how it goes.

alright, I managed to get through chkdsk. No problems at all reported, though it did take somewhere around 45 minutes to complete. I had a fan blowing on my laptop the whole time, I guess this must have helped. where do I go from here? Should I try to open up the laptop and clean out any dust? It seems like it is overheating.

Adum, please do not attempt to open your laptop. If you have never done this before, disassembling laptops is a very difficult procedure. All you need to do is buy a can of compressed air from your local office supply, or electronics supply store. Please use that can to blow compressed air into the cooling fins of your laptop's heatsink. You will see these fins by looking in the exhaust vents of your laptop probably located on the back or side of the computer. While the laptop is on, and the fans are running, please blow the duster into the vents so that the dust is thoroughly blown out of the computer. After doing so, be sure to monitor the status of the fans to make sure that they resume spinning normally after the laptop heats back up again. Although there is probably not much harm to be done in this instance, blowing on electronic parts to clean them is a bad idea because of the moisture in your breath. Not only could actual drops of saliva enter the case and short something out, the moisture of your breath will cause corrosing when reacting with the electrical currents flowing through those components and with the different types of metals. This is a common thing kids used to do with Nintendo cartridges and, in fact, probably made them worse over time. I guess if you have nothing else to use, your breath is a last resort. I guess you just have to be glad you are breathing. Once you get the laptop running cool, lets see how your video response is. Maybe you can answer this one question.. What happens if you leave the laptop sit, turned off, for a long time to cool down. Then, boot the laptop up and immediately try playing video? Is the video still choppy right away? The CPU usage you mentioned, and the amount of available memory on your laptop from your previous post seems to show that you probably have an excessive amount of programs or processes running at the same time. Your laptop may just need a good tuneup. Lets make sure you get it running cool before proceeding though.

Sorry for the tardy response, it took me a while to get ahold of a can of compressed air. I blew some dust out, but I am afraid the fan stopped working. I used to feel a stream of hot air come out from the vent, but I do not feel it anymore. Any suggestions?

Hi Adum… No need to worry… Take a unfolded paper clip and flip your laptop on its side. Look into the bottom of the laptop where the fan vents are. Inside you can see the fan. Take the paper clip and push the fan blades to spin the fan. Does the fan appear to move freely? If so, there is probably nothing wrong. The fan will only turn on when the laptop gets hot. After blowing compressed air in it, it will cool it down and shut the fan off. Another way to see if the fan is working is to watch it when you first turn the laptop on. Often times, the laptop will spin the fan for a brief moment right at power on (but not always). This is a good way to see if it spins freely before it shuts back off. If the fan does not spin freely, take an even closer look and you will probably see a chunk or two of fuzz/hair stuck in the fan. There are a couple things you can do to get it out without taking the laptop apart. One, you can use the compressed air that you have and blow up inside there, and then blow in the exhaust vent the other way. By moving air back and forth through there it will usually break that stuff apart and blow it out. Second, if you blow air in the exhaust vent it will usually push the chunk of debri towards the bottom grate (inlet) and you can take your paper clip and hook the debri and pull it out. It takes a little fishing to do, but you should not have to disassemble your laptop to do it. If your fan is stuck, this is a good sign that it was overheating due to a plugged cooling fan.

You're the man!!! Who knew a paperclip could fix the problems of modern technology? The fan was indeed stuck. It took a little bit messing with, but I finally got it going again. It seems to be blowing even better now. Thanks for all the help, I think my computer is "cool" now.

I'm glad to hear that you have narrowed down the problem with the fan. I just want you to understand why it was jammed so you can make sure it doesn't happen again.

Your laptop was indeed plugged and overheating, I'm sure. It was bad enough so that the heatsink fins was actually covered with a layer of dirt/fuzz/hair. When you blew it out, that layer broke up into smaller pieces and lodged in the fan. Now that you have gotten the fan to spin again you have successfully moved that blockage out of the way, but, unless you have physically removed it, it is still in there. It could either be stuck back in the heatsink cooling fins, or it could be lodged just out of site of the fan. If it should fall back into the fan blades it will stop the fan again. You might want to identify that blockage and remove it. It won't take long, blowing compressed air in the exhaust vent, to see the blockage stock in the fan blades. Then, it is just a matter of fishing the soft material out. It will slide right on out through the small grates on the bottom of the computer.

I just want you to be aware of the potential future problems here. Although having your fan stop spinning will probably not cause any permanent damage, it will cause the laptop to stutter and shutdown due to overheating problems. Luckily, they do have built in overheating sensors to automatically shutdown when there is a problem. You just don't want your laptop to get to that point, if you can avoid it.