Version 1903 Broke My Computer

dalchina said:

Just as an indication of how hard resolving this can be, read thru this..
High DPC latency causing audio stutters
If with the problem PC you had no problems at one point, work logically through what changed to the point when you started to have this problem.

Another approach is simplification. You can disable devices in Device Manager.
You can clean install.
You can stop drivers loading using Autoruns (free from MS).
You can look at the various reports from LatencyMon.

In one case, the user found a low level driver in Windows was responsible, so in moving from one build to another and back again by restoring a disk image, was eventually able to replace the driver in the later build. Remarkable effort.


Analytical but daunting tool: Windows Performance Recorder/Analyser. Free from MS. Tutorial available - examples: mostly in other contexts: search tenforums for Windows Performance Recorder.

Ugh. So it almost sounds like, currently, the best fix is running through a full Windows Update and downloading a bunch of other drivers. The problem is I can't figure out what the driver is causing the problem. I wonder if my LatencyMon attachments would be better off starting a thread trying to analyze the latency issues specifically.

Let's move to Windows Performance Recorder. Is this something that would produce a log of all activities taken by a computer, and how useful can this be in determining what is at fault? Should I try going through Event Logs and seeing if there is a clue there? I'd rather avoid the clean install as I have a nearly full computer drive, but worst case scenario it's definitely something that would fix the issue (and I could back up files to my laptop with some 600 GB of space)...I guess I could always try going back to an earlier version, then seeing if that solves the issue. I am not experienced with preventing certain suspected problem drivers from running, but if I were to try stopping one, a good target might be the NVIDIA ones. I have a NVIDIA High Definition Audio and a NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) WDM. I am actually suspecting the latter of the two, but I did read another thread suggesting that he disabled NVIDIA and went back to Intel and boom, it solved the problem. I wonder if it's that simple for me.

I just read something on that linked thread.

After about seven months of painful trial and error, I think I've stumbled on an answer. The biggest hint was when I took my laptop to the Dell Service Center after a week of paralyzing latency, and of course because of Murphy's law it magically worked fine when I opened up the computer and the service rep took a look. This is what I've found works, for me at least. It's easy enough that I'd say it's worth a shot for anyone else struggling with this:

1. Fully shut down the computer, plugged in
2. Unplug the computer. Wait ~30 minutes
3. Plug the computer back in and turn it on.

Why this works, I have no clue. But it's worked twice for my machine when the DPC latency issues have started to resurface, and also helped a friend of mine who also has a Dell laptop that was having the same problems.

The question is how long it takes before issues start to resurface - and also, since it can take two or three days for the issue to recur, will the issue still recur in that timeframe? However, going without power might be a good idea to see if it's an electrical fault..If I can then go a long period without issues, that might be a funky little fix. I can do that this evening, regardless, but I am going to be searching this performance recorder out. I am curious.

I doubt removing the video card will fix anything. I mean, the video card worked before without issues. I will see what the scans tell me for now, and would rather not open the computer up. I can disable NVIDIA however if need be.

Where do I get the LatencyMon screenshot you referenced? I have my previous 1 minute scan result still loaded. I just looked at Processes, and interestingly, Google Chrome appears to be a huge part of the issue, with 347 hard pagefaults. bdservicehost hits 25, and after that, only LatencyMon (3) and Firefox (2) register with everything else at 0. My first December issue happened on Chrome, and resetting that browser fixed the issue (this no longer works, the issue persists). I currently get Twitch Error 2000 on Chrome on both of my systems, so this is not a surprise that it's an issue.

You are saying I should be disabling that? Is that the most likely culprit, and where would I find that?

About to go to bed but can check in in maybe 7 hours or so, but I will be away from the apartment a couple hours after that. I want to make sure I have a good clear item to try. I know where the two NVIDIA items are, but want to make sure I nail the correct one (or, if needed, both!).

EDIT: I found this. I see another update with it. They "resolved" it before updating me, apparently.

If this is not likely to help with latency, should we just disable NVIDIA for now and see if that is the culprit? And what steps should I follow for this? My sound drivers looks like this, and I note that I have wondered also if Elgato Sound Capture might be the issue as well: