Doom 3 Audio & Video Stuttering

[Rogelio]

I am experiencing a very frustrating VIDEO & AUDIO STUTTERING problem which appeared one day out of the blue about 6 weeks ago. I have checked and tried pretty much everything I can think of, short of doing a clean re-install of XP Home. The symptoms are: when XP initially loads, the Windows WAV file usually stutters and the mouse pointer is jerky. After the startup programs finish loading, the mouse is fine. When I play audio files, the sound stutters and cuts in and out. When I play video files, the image repeatedly pauses for a split second every 2 seconds or so. When I play Doom 3, which ran fine until this problem began, the same video symptom occurs. When I move through an area the video pauses briefly every couple of seconds. All sounds repeat over and over again, such as sounds associated with re-loading a weapon.

I have done or checked the following to try to fix this problem: System Restore (didn’t work, of course), defragged the HD, ran disk cleanup, checked for IRQ and other hardware conflicts, freed up space on the HD, experimented with different size swap files, repeatedly run up-to-date AVG anti-virus and Housecall, different spyware/adware checkers (Adaware, Spybot S&D, Microsoft anti-spyware), checked Task Manager processes, did a clean Win XP boot, removed un-needed apps using msconfig, re-installed Doom 3.

I have also done the following hardware upgrades in the last several weeks: updated the motherboard BIOS, upgraded RAM from 512M to 1G, replaced 300w power supply with a 450w unit, replaced GeForce3 Ti500 64M vid card with ATI 9600XT 256M card (installed latest drivers), and attempted to install the latest drivers for the Creative SB Audigy sound card (they will NOT work), but the video problem persists even with the sound card and drivers uninstalled.

So, before doing a HD wipe and XP re-install I thought someone might have had a similar problem and could perhaps offer suggestions.

Thanks.

[Flyfsh]

I had a similar problem. The "newest" drivers wern't recomended for the game I was playing. I dont have doom 3 but you may see what they suggest for vga drivers.

[Rogelio]

Originally Posted by Flyfsh

I had a similar problem. The "newest" drivers wern't recomended for the game I was playing. I dont have doom 3 but you may see what they suggest for vga drivers.

Thanks for the response, but this problem affects all video and audio, not just D3. And, it was happening with my old Nvidia card also.

[RFXSNIPER]

I had the exact same problem. What I did was turn off the windows paging file and the stuttering and sound problems were completely gone!

[hsncool1]

hi mate. i recently caught a virus, and after i cleaned all traces of it and sorted out my whole system, i found i had this problem too!

!!!!!!!!I HAVE FOUND THE SOLUTION!!!!!!!! - aftr 2 hours searching!!

the cause...
After the Windows IDE/ATAPI Port driver (Atapi.sys) receives a cumulative total of six time-out or cyclical redundancy check (CRC) errors, the driver reduces the communications speed (the transfer mode) from the highest Direct Memory Access (DMA) mode to lower DMA modes in steps. If the driver continues to receive time-out or CRC errors, the driver eventually reduces the transfer mode to the slowest mode (PIO mode).

( to sumerise, the drive data transfer rate has been decreased! so evrytime it needs to load data quickly, e.g. logging in, or starting an app, it stutters I/O devices, including mouse and sound! )

is this right for you?
1. go to device manager --- (right click mycomputer, and click properties, hardware, devicemanager)
2. expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI CONTROLLERS
3. doubleclick the controller for ur HDD, will be PRIMARY IDE CHANNEL for most poeple.

in the advanced settings tab, if the CURRENT TRANSFER MODE is "PIO Mode", than THIS IS DEFFINATELY THE PROBLEM!

as there are different modes of DMA, this may still be your problem, so trying this fix is worth a try.


THE FIX!!!
in the driver tab of the same window, click uninstall, and uninstall the driver. then restart your computer. upon restarting, windows will reinstall the driver, and reset the count, therefore giving you a high DMA mode! which will be perfect!


thanx?
if this doesnt work, email me on hsncool@hotmail.com, as i only registered on this forum to help u out, and doubt ill ever come here again, therefore, wont read a reply to the post.

if it worked, u could always email and say thanx

[george9t8]

The last post was on the right track, but removing the driver prevented my PC from starting, so it's not recommended.

Instead, I found a VB script which resets the mode back to DMA.

See http://winhlp.com/WxDMA.htm

The script is here: http://winhlp.com/tools/resetdma.vbs

This fixed my stuttering sound problem.

George
g.andreou@virgin.net

[gsc820]

hsncool1 and george9t8
Thanks so much for your posts.
I have been living with this stuttering problem, especially with the mouse, for over 2 months now and was about to throw out the laptop.
But this fix was right on.
Kudos to you both!

[Rena]

Thanks so much george9t8!!!
I have been having this problem for months...
Tried almost everything!!
It was driving me crazy...
Used the VB script and the STUTTERING is finally GONE!!!
Woo Hoo!!
Thanks!!

[pfelelep]

dear george9t8 and hsncool1,

you both saved my computer from an horrible (wreck) death.

thank you so much for the explanation, I was really getting so anxious.

Thank
You
So
Much