Question Periodically getting random spikes of lag, slow-motion crackling, before returning to normal

[dan7933]

No matter if I am using a hardware-intensive program or not, I will get a glitch on my computer that makes everything slow motion. Audio and video will lag and sound robotic, and the cursor will skip across the screen. This happens for just a few seconds at a time, without warning, and leaves no trace as to what caused it.

Some important notes:

-I bought a new motherboard (ASRock B550 Pro 4) and had some driver issues where my Nvidia card wasn't recognized and would frequently shut down my computer when I played games. I've since solved this issue, and I haven't had any crashes. Likewise, all other drivers are up to date.

-I am not overheating when this happens, and all the loads on my hardware (viewed in NZXT cam) don't have to be high for this to happen.

-There doesn't seem to be any way to view whether or not a specific process/program is doing this, but I suspect that Voicemeeter Banana has something to do with it. The reason being is because, whenever the lag spike is over, there is a small chance that my audio will remain staticy and laggy. It will remain that way until I restart Voicemeeter's audio engine. Restarting the engine will fix the issue, but it will inevitably return when I least expect it.

My PC Specs: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (clocked at 3.6 GhZ), Corsair Vengeance 16 GB of RAM, EVGA 850BQ PSU, ASRock B550 Pro 4 Motherboard, and EVGA GTX 1080 FTW DT for my GPU.

I'll try to respond as frequently as I can if any more information is needed.

 

[Darkbreeze]

NZXT cam

It is not a stretch to guess that THIS might very well be your problem, as CAM is and has always been buggy as hell. Buggy as a (insert expletive of choice here). Not to mention the well known fact that it's main purpose isn't monitoring hardware, but monitoring YOU and phoning home with that information. There was a very long running thread on this on the NZXT CAM forum documenting this but eventually NZXT took the thread down, because, of course they did. There are a lot of threads and blogs about it elsewhere though.

However, there is always the possibility that that is not the problem, BUT, I would uninstall CAM and then restart the system, to see if it makes any difference. If you are running hardware like a cooler or lighting that requires CAM, there might be open source software that can be used in place of it or other alternatives. In some cases there is not. I gave all my NZXT hardware (Hue+, Grid+ v2) away simply because I could not get it to work properly without CAM and CAM cause no end of craptastic behaviors so I finally said enough is enough.

You might want to also uninstall Voicemeeter banana as well, after trying the uninstall on CAM, to see if that is the problem.

What is your EXACT power supply model number?

 

[dan7933]

It is not a stretch to guess that THIS might very well be your problem, as CAM is and has always been buggy as hell. Buggy as a (insert expletive of choice here). Not to mention the well known fact that it's main purpose isn't monitoring hardware, but monitoring YOU and phoning home with that information. There was a very long running thread on this on the NZXT CAM forum documenting this but eventually NZXT took the thread down, because, of course they did. There are a lot of threads and blogs about it elsewhere though.

However, there is always the possibility that that is not the problem, BUT, I would uninstall CAM and then restart the system, to see if it makes any difference. If you are running hardware like a cooler or lighting that requires CAM, there might be open source software that can be used in place of it or other alternatives. In some cases there is not. I gave all my NZXT hardware (Hue+, Grid+ v2) away simply because I could not get it to work properly without CAM and CAM cause no end of craptastic behaviors so I finally said enough is enough.

You might want to also uninstall Voicemeeter banana as well, after trying the uninstall on CAM, to see if that is the problem.

What is your EXACT power supply model number?

I uninstalled NZXT cam earlier today, and just now I experienced a BSOD out of nowhere. Programs would not respond, things were extremely slow, and suddenly blue screen. Event viewer says it's another Kernel-power issue, event ID 41. I'm gonna uninstall Voicemeeter and see what that does, as I'm not in dire need of it right now.

 

[dan7933]

Update: Still getting the issue even with NZXT and Voicemeeter uninstalled. Not sure where it could possibly be coming from, but it still happens whether or not I'm running a hardware-intensive program.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I don't suppose you have another graphics card or access to one that you can swap out to see if maybe it's related?

When you installed the new motherboard, did you do a clean install of Windows at that time?

 

[dan7933]

I don't suppose you have another graphics card or access to one that you can swap out to see if maybe it's related?

When you installed the new motherboard, did you do a clean install of Windows at that time?

I don't have another GPU, but the important note is that I did not do a full reinstall of Windows. It's a noob thing to say after installing a new Mobo, I know, but it worked right off the bat and surprised me, so I just rolled with it until now. When I get the free time I will have to do a fresh install, on the off-chance that it happens after that I'll try my brother's GPU. The issue is that these lag spikes are getting less frequent, I only get it once or twice a day now.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I would definitely do a clean install. Even within the same chipset, and certainly when moving to a different board with a different chipset, there are so many changes to the various components especially in the area of the storage controllers, but also the onboard network adapters, audio chipset, etc. that it's usually not feasible to stick with the existing OS installation. It will usually "work" but it rarely works "right" and you end up chasing ghosts for the remainder of that OS installations existence. Sometimes it's fine, most times it is not.

Also, if you changed boards, make sure your system is even activated still. If not you may have to jump through a couple of hoops to get the activation moved to the new board and if you haven't already it's a good idea to attach your activation to a Microsoft account.

Are you running 10 or 11? Or an older OS version?

Also, just to be sure, I'd make sure that System protection (System restore) is disabled from running automatically so that it isn't trying to run and bogging down the system while you are in the middle of doing something and that automatic disk optimization is also disabled (TRIM/Defrag) for the same reason. I've seen these cause similar problems that come and go before. System restore rarely works right anyhow. You are much better off periodically making a full system backup to a secondary, external or cloud storage device using something like Macrium reflect than planning to rely on system restore anyhow.

 

[dan7933]

I would definitely do a clean install. Even within the same chipset, and certainly when moving to a different board with a different chipset, there are so many changes to the various components especially in the area of the storage controllers, but also the onboard network adapters, audio chipset, etc. that it's usually not feasible to stick with the existing OS installation. It will usually "work" but it rarely works "right" and you end up chasing ghosts for the remainder of that OS installations existence. Sometimes it's fine, most times it is not.

Also, if you changed boards, make sure your system is even activated still. If not you may have to jump through a couple of hoops to get the activation moved to the new board and if you haven't already it's a good idea to attach your activation to a Microsoft account.

Are you running 10 or 11? Or an older OS version?

Also, just to be sure, I'd make sure that System protection (System restore) is disabled from running automatically so that it isn't trying to run and bogging down the system while you are in the middle of doing something and that automatic disk optimization is also disabled (TRIM/Defrag) for the same reason. I've seen these cause similar problems that come and go before. System restore rarely works right anyhow. You are much better off periodically making a full system backup to a secondary, external or cloud storage device using something like Macrium reflect than planning to rely on system restore anyhow.

Running Windows 10, and I didn't have much trouble with getting my windows key transferred over. The Motherboard came with a disk for its drivers, can I just install those online since I don't have a disk drive? Also, can I do a clean install using a Windows utility, or will I have to create a bootable disk with a flash drive?

 

[Darkbreeze]

The drivers you want to install will be found on the product page of the manufacturer's website for your motherboard model and on the AMD website.

I'd get the B550 chipset driver from AMD and then get the network adapter (LAN/Ethernet) and audio drivers from the motherboard product page.

You will need to create installation media using the media creation tool, on a flash drive or optical disk.

How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way


​

 

[dan7933]

I reinstalled windows and formatted all my drives. Things have been running well, but the issue just popped back up again.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you using any additional hardware, like add in cards, external peripherals, or anything that might be related?

Really starting to sound like a motherboard problem.

 

[dan7933]

Are you using any additional hardware, like add in cards, external peripherals, or anything that might be related?

Really starting to sound like a motherboard problem.

This is a brand new motherboard, so I would hope not. I am using an external HDD which is almost always plugged in for extra storage. No other cards aside from the GPU are installed inside

 

[Darkbreeze]

Unplug the external drive and see if you still have the problem.

Do you by any chance have access to a different graphics card in order to swap them out and see if it makes any difference? Beg, borrow or steal one? Well, don't steal one, LOL.

What is the current motherboard BIOS version?

Did you go to the ASRock website and download, then install the latest chipset, LAN/Ethernet network adapter and audio controller drivers?

 

[dan7933]

Unplug the external drive and see if you still have the problem.

Do you by any chance have access to a different graphics card in order to swap them out and see if it makes any difference? Beg, borrow or steal one? Well, don't steal one, LOL.

What is the current motherboard BIOS version?

Did you go to the ASRock website and download, then install the latest chipset, LAN/Ethernet network adapter and audio controller drivers?

Gonna be difficult, I don't have other GPU's I can freely use right now lol. Pretty sure my BIOS is up to date, and I did install everything you listed from ASRock and AMD when I reinstalled Windows

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you using the audio outputs off the back of the motherboard or off the front panel of your case?

Let's not assume "up to date" on the BIOS. Let's make sure. Takes a few seconds to pop into the BIOS and note the version OR you can run msinfo32 from the run command in your start menu (Or press Windows key + R to bring up the "Run" dialogue) and in the right hand pane the "BIOS version/date" information should be displayed in Windows system information.

 

[dan7933]

I'm using the front panel USB for my headphones. It's a 3.5mm jack connected to a USB adapter.

As for the BIOS, my version is "B550 Pro4 P2.10"

 

[Darkbreeze]

Try eliminating the adapter or try another pair of headphones and see if you have the same problem. Often these "adapters" are the cause of a great many problems on various systems.

I'd recommend updating to version P2.3. While an updated Agesa code is the only referenced change, motherboard manufacturers don't list every change they make in the BIOS update notes AND changes to Agesa code are simply changes/updates/patches/fixes for errata in the BIOS code/CMOS instructions. So if there were problems with the audio chipset related code in the BIOS firmware, a newer Agesa code version is how it would be addressed and corrected. So, always a chance. These days it's USUALLY better to be on the latest stable BIOS version as long as there are no qualifying conditions that would suggest updating is a bad idea such as too old of CPU for that version, etc.

Might also try the audio output from the back of the motherboard. I have, on occasion, seen problems with audio coming through the microboard on the case front panel I/O from time to time.

 

[dan7933]

I will update my BIOS and see what happens. The problem with the headphones is that the front panel connectors for the 3.5mm jack only work for one thing or another - sound or microphone, I can't get both. The headset is a Corsair Void Elite Surround, and I don't use the back connectors because the adapter is really flimsy and unplugs a lot. Also, even just moving it around causes the connection to get all weird, sometimes my mic cuts out or has glitchy audio.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You might try getting an extension cable to run to the back and then plug your adapter into that, if you don't have the same problem with the back connections as you do when plugged into the front panel. Then you can possibly duct tape or Gaffer tape the connection between the adapter and the extension cable down on a flat surface like the top, side or underside of your desk or whatever is most convenient, so that it cannot move or come unplugged. I'd recommend using Gaffer tape, but it is a little bit more expensive.

Something like this so to speak.