Laptop / video playback stutter every minute

[adrift02]

Hi there -- I have an issue that I can't seem to solve re: intermittent stutter. Basically, if I'm playing a movie (VLC / WMP / etc) the video will do a little stutter every minute. On the dot. Like, I timed it for minutes. I've tried closing background programs and services, but the issue is still there.

Of note, I noticed this problem when playing an online game too, back before I moved the laptop to my TV. I'd get a random ping spike / lag and then it would play fine until the next time. This issue didn't appear on my other computer and I'm 100% sure it's not network related (at least not outside of the laptop). I'm not sure if that was every minute like the video playback. I'm on Windows 10, fairly new/fresh install, but the online game stutter happened on a previous install/version (Windows 7), so I think it must be hardware related.

Any ideas on how I can troubleshoot this issue? I would think it's HDD or memory related, but the exact timing doesn't support that theory.

Thanks in advance!

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there adrift02,

There's a chance that this is caused by your HDD. You can just test it: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility
If there's something wrong with it, just back up the data stored on it.

Apart from that, you can test your RAM as well.
Also, you can take a look at Resource Monitor and see if something hits 100% during these stutters.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[adrift02]

So I *think* I found a fix, but it doesn't make any sense. If I open GPU-Z and let it do active monitoring in the background, the stuttering doesn't happen. All I can think of is the monitoring is overcoming some sort of power saving / throttling happening with the GPU/video (either the HD4000 or 650m)...

I did an HDD test with the crystal program and everything reported back fine. I still need to run a memory test.

Any thoughts on why this would fix the stutter and what the actual problem is?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well, that's strange.

Have you observed Resource Monitor during these freezes? Is there high usage of something.
It would be nice to post a screenshot of the SMART report.

Also, you can defragment your HDD and update all your drivers. Have you checked the GPU ones?

Cheers,
D_Know_WD