Still battling ndis.sys latency issues

For more than a year now i've been trying to get rid of latency issues on my pc. According to latencymon they appear due to ndis.sys driver spikes which tend to appear at random intervals when i browse and refresh pages or download something. Remarkably though they do not appear while i play online or at least i do not notice them.

Those spikes produce noticeable sound distortions/pops when watching movies or videos on youtube.

Recently i've made a complete fresh reinstallation of windows 10 and updated it to 1607 but unfortunately the stutter is still there.

I've also been talking to Asus support and writing on Intel's forums, and while Asus keeps shifting blame on Intel they in return keep insisting that there are no issue's with their network devices. I've also tried different drivers and recommendations like disabling "interrupt moderation" or "offload/upload" settings in network driver settings, or removing wan miniport drivers.

There are also multiple threads about this issue on Intel's forums but unfortunately they are all related to older network devices and the usual recommendation is to install older drivers which aren't compatible with my device.

I've been hoping that someone might have figured it out over the passed year or might be interested enough to help me fix this issue since it's probably the only one i've got left with my new rig and it's driving me crazy.

After updating to 1607 i've also noticed that a new device started appearing from time to time in a device manager called "wan miniport" and when it appears - the stutter seems to be intensifying right from the start instead of slowly appearing over a few hours like it usually does. So i've recently removed those drivers via registry and in a safe mode.

I've also tried using separate Realtek network card and it seems that the latency issues appeared anyway. The only way they do not appear is if i don't use internet or switch off all network devices/remove network cable. Also when i plug and unplug the network cable - ndis.sys goes into a crazy mode which is the reason im thinking that this is related to intel's network adapter.

At this point i've tried just about everything but im willing to try more suggestions like tweaking more network driver settings or bios settings if someone can recommend them.

My system is:

Windows 10 Pro 1607
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VIII Hero
Network adapter: Intel I-219V

Bump.

Sigh. Bump?

No suggestions?

Sigh. Still nothing?

Hey dude,
I'm having the same issue. I've searched close to a hundred threads and still no luck. Did you end up finding a solution?

Btw, I'm using a ga-x58a-ud3r MB which uses a RealTek onboard Lan adapter.

MrDismal said:

Hey dude,
I'm having the same issue. I've searched close to a hundred threads and still no luck. Did you end up finding a solution?

Btw, I'm using a ga-x58a-ud3r MB which uses a RealTek onboard Lan adapter.

There's a more helpful thread here if you wanna continue it and try your luck:

High latency/sound stuttering with ndis.sys driver

I think is summarizes everything i ever seen on other forums and tried. The short is - no. I havent found a solution. Replacing the motherboard seems to be the only viable one, so next when im upgrade my pc i'll avoid Asus motherboards all together and go fo MSI ones which people say are better these days.

I can say that not using utorrent seems to affect the issue - if i run it on the morning for a couple of hours (then i stop the program) i will get stuttering by the end of the day and if i don't - i might not get any stuttering or latency issues at all. Someone suggested it might be some buffer issues, either related to on board lan controller or something else. Either way - im used to living with the issue now and simple reboot the pc when it appears.

I believe i also fixed the issue before i updated my pc to anniversary update somehow but cant remember exactly how. Or maybe i simple settled back then as well and forgot about it.

In your case i recommend using "latency mon" and check if its the same issue or not. Could be just some software causing it.

Thanks for the reply.

I have ran LatencyMon tests alot - but I have a feeling it's giving me a false indication, but not sure yet.
My actual issue is that I get no stutters, but my sound actually drops out for a second at least every few minutes.

LatencyMon is showing that USBPORT.sys & NDIS.sys are having problems. But is it the real reason my sound is having issues? Who knows.

Either way, after testing I've found that windows 10 and my network adapter and USB drivers do not like each other. Even though I've updated to the latest for both.

I've disabled my ethernet controller and LatencyMon doesn't pick up the issue. I've got a Wifi Card in my computer that I haven't used in years which I might try.

uTorrent?? Is that really a program that causes these issues? Funny, I have uTorrent on my computer. But, I never have it auto-start with windows. I think I'll remove it all together.

It could install services that conflict with network drivers? Possible.

Hey I think I got it sorted.
Last night I didn't have one issue since I changed my USB buffer to 4 from 1.

I found this in my Sound card drivers control panel.

The only way I could get to it was going into Reaper (which is a music production DAW) then preferences and sound card etc...
I couldn't find this panel anywhere in control panel.

Anyway, for anyone who has this issue I suggest digging deep in to your sound card control panel, or hunting down software for you sound card, installing it, and seeing if it has any buffer settings. Increase the size of your USB and processing buffer.