New d...esktop la...gs
 

I finally got around to rebuilding my desktop. New Asus mobo (with integrated sound & ethernet), so new Core2 processor and fast ram. I installed WindowsXP SP2 and got everything up and running. Unfortunately, after the machine has been up for a while (1 hour?) it starts lagging something awful. Mouse, sound, keyboard input, everything gets jumpy. I think the screen even flashes every once in a while. Rebooting always resets the lag-clock.

When I look at the process manager, no process is taking cycles, but the process load is listed as 33%+. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I wondered if I got infected during that brief moment after I was online but before I was patched (but always behind a router), but S&D, AVG, Avast, & MSMalware all come up clean.

I wondered about hardware issues, but didn't know how to do much testing. I ran a full memtest86, and it came up clean. Any other ideas?
-Sam

Re: New d...esktop la...gs
 

maybe try setting onboard sound to legacy AC'97 instead of HD Audio?

Re: New d...esktop la...gs
 

I just had another lag. I thought I'd try running the scans DURING the lag-session, so I managed to start Spybot. In a surprising result, when I returned to check the results, there was no infection, but also no lag.

WoooOOOOoooo! I scared away the specters with my mystical scannin'.
-Sam

P.S. Freakin, that's just an option in BIOS, right? Will I notice any change in audio? I'm no audiophile (I don't know what HD or Legacy AC97 really mean.) but I want to keep my 5.1. Would the sound driver explain the phantom cycles or the mouse-lag?

Re: New d...esktop la...gs
 

yeah, ac'97 will still have 5.1. The HD Audio is basically just enhanced drivers to emulate EAX and stuff like that, from what I remember.

When you are having mouse lag, can you still move the mouse? Like if your mouse lags can you still move to the bottom left and click the start-menu (does the pointer just stop updating)?

Re: New d...esktop la...gs
 

Sam, have you stress tested/benchmarked the new comp? I always run prime95 on any new computer (built or purchased) even if it isn't OC'd. I have a thread somewhere that details how to run on separate cores (I think you just need 2 prime directories or something... can't remember offhand).

Of more importance would be some benchmarking. You could try something like sisoft sandra and run cpu, memory, hard drive benchmarks (for example) and see if the results you are getting match your expectations.

Re: New d...esktop la...gs
 

[ QUOTE ]
When you are having mouse lag, can you still move the mouse? Like if your mouse lags can you still move to the bottom left and click the start-menu (does the pointer just stop updating)?

[/ QUOTE ]
I can still move, but poorly. It's as if it listens for 1 second during every 2.

I'm now more worried about the video. I haven't had any mouse lag since the above (I assume temporary) disappearance, but the video is still blacking-out. The screen flashes black for a full second, while still accepting input. This happens maybe once every couple minutes. I can still type during the blackout.

Could my card be bad? This was actually moved from the old machine. Maybe I'll update the driver.
-Sam