- Jan 13, 2018
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So, I've been dealing with an extremely elusive graphical issue that's driving me to drink. It seems to be a form of lag that affects all of Windows and programs that are running. Imagine as if Windows had a framerate, and normally it was 60 FPS as you'd expect, but during these lag spells it feels like Windows' "framerate" is dropping to around 15-30 FPS. Everything moves choppier. When I click on a tab in Chrome it takes several milliseconds to actually change the tab content, and it doesn't happen all at once, but rather it fills in over the course of a few milliseconds.
These lag spells come and go at complete random, but seem to occur most often when Chrome or another web browser is open. They can last anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 minutes.
The computer in question is an HP EliteBook 8740W. I acquired the laptop a few months ago, and the lag spells have been there since I first installed Windows and started using it. Its original specs were a Core i5 560M, 4GB of single-channel DDR3, a 250GB hard drive, and an ATI FirePro M7820. I promptly upgraded to an i7 920XM, 8GB dual-channel, and a 120GB SSD, but the lag spells have persisted in their usual intermittent manner even with the newer hardware.
Things I've ruled out (i.e. 99% sure the following are not causing the lag spells):
-High CPU usage. There is no correlation between the lag spikes and high CPU usage. Even exiting out of Chrome doesn't immediately kill them, as it'll sit there, behaving laggily, with 2% or less CPU usage.
-Overheating. The 920XM is a toaster alright, and the FirePro isn't too shabby in terms of living up to its name, but even when both are at idle temps (40C for the GPU, 50-55C for the CPU) the lag can persist. I've tried reapplying thermal paste, which lowered the temps, but the lag persisted in its usual intermittent fashion.
-Power supply issues. I've tried three different power supplies of incrementally higher wattages and it's still occurred.
-Windows CPU throttling. I have it set to 100% for minimum CPU state. And in CPU-Z and other monitoring programs, the lag is not correlated to a drop in CPU frequency or anything of the sort.
-GPU drivers. A good suspect, but I've played musical chairs with the (difficult-to-find) graphics drivers provided by HP and ATI to no avail.
Something that may or may not be a cause is DPC latency caused by device drivers. Thesycon's DPC Latency Checker never seems to show any issues, but Resplendence's LatencyMon likes to blame ndis.sys, which is of course a core networking driver. I've tried to make sense of Windows Performance Recorder/Analyzer, but it's pretty confusing. If someone could walk me through how to interpret the graphs and numbers it throws at me, that'd help. For obvious security reasons I can't post an ETL here.
Things that someone will inevitably suggest but aren't feasible:
-Upgrading to Windows 8.1/10/Linux. I have prgorams I use in relation to the things I do for a living that just don't like to run on anything newer than W7, and don't exactly play nice with Wine either.
-Getting a newer laptop. I know that this laptop is an inefficient dinosaur by today's standards, but sadly it's the nicest one I have. A recent chain of events has left me strapped for cash, so even a measly three-figure investment is something I don't want to get myself into right now.
-Network drivers.
I know this is a long shot since it appears that very few others on the internet have experienced similar issues, but I'd really appreciate any advice as to what may be causing this issue and/or how I might be able to resolve this problem. It's been driving me crazy and I figure it's high time I go out there and ask about it, after fruitlessly searching the major forums and finding little useful information (most people are just complaining of games lagging/dropping FPS, but this is affecting everything at once.)
These lag spells come and go at complete random, but seem to occur most often when Chrome or another web browser is open. They can last anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 minutes.
The computer in question is an HP EliteBook 8740W. I acquired the laptop a few months ago, and the lag spells have been there since I first installed Windows and started using it. Its original specs were a Core i5 560M, 4GB of single-channel DDR3, a 250GB hard drive, and an ATI FirePro M7820. I promptly upgraded to an i7 920XM, 8GB dual-channel, and a 120GB SSD, but the lag spells have persisted in their usual intermittent manner even with the newer hardware.
Things I've ruled out (i.e. 99% sure the following are not causing the lag spells):
-High CPU usage. There is no correlation between the lag spikes and high CPU usage. Even exiting out of Chrome doesn't immediately kill them, as it'll sit there, behaving laggily, with 2% or less CPU usage.
-Overheating. The 920XM is a toaster alright, and the FirePro isn't too shabby in terms of living up to its name, but even when both are at idle temps (40C for the GPU, 50-55C for the CPU) the lag can persist. I've tried reapplying thermal paste, which lowered the temps, but the lag persisted in its usual intermittent fashion.
-Power supply issues. I've tried three different power supplies of incrementally higher wattages and it's still occurred.
-Windows CPU throttling. I have it set to 100% for minimum CPU state. And in CPU-Z and other monitoring programs, the lag is not correlated to a drop in CPU frequency or anything of the sort.
-GPU drivers. A good suspect, but I've played musical chairs with the (difficult-to-find) graphics drivers provided by HP and ATI to no avail.
Something that may or may not be a cause is DPC latency caused by device drivers. Thesycon's DPC Latency Checker never seems to show any issues, but Resplendence's LatencyMon likes to blame ndis.sys, which is of course a core networking driver. I've tried to make sense of Windows Performance Recorder/Analyzer, but it's pretty confusing. If someone could walk me through how to interpret the graphs and numbers it throws at me, that'd help. For obvious security reasons I can't post an ETL here.
Things that someone will inevitably suggest but aren't feasible:
-Upgrading to Windows 8.1/10/Linux. I have prgorams I use in relation to the things I do for a living that just don't like to run on anything newer than W7, and don't exactly play nice with Wine either.
-Getting a newer laptop. I know that this laptop is an inefficient dinosaur by today's standards, but sadly it's the nicest one I have. A recent chain of events has left me strapped for cash, so even a measly three-figure investment is something I don't want to get myself into right now.
-Network drivers.
I know this is a long shot since it appears that very few others on the internet have experienced similar issues, but I'd really appreciate any advice as to what may be causing this issue and/or how I might be able to resolve this problem. It's been driving me crazy and I figure it's high time I go out there and ask about it, after fruitlessly searching the major forums and finding little useful information (most people are just complaining of games lagging/dropping FPS, but this is affecting everything at once.)
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