[Help] Laptop Slows/Sound tears Randomly

[lordvalinar]

Apologize if this is in wrong topic, I don't know what to categorize this as, but I need help figuring out a problem. Although I have a few ideas what it might be, what I DON'T know is how to solve them or where to go...

Before on same Windows 7 install, I was having no problems, but I wanted a "fresh start" so I can try to troubleshoot why Sleeping Dogs wasn't working,... that's a seperate issue though I won't go into that (which I did finally fix it anyways) but ever since I wiped/reinstalled Win7 I'm having this HORRIBLE lag spikes randomly and the sound tears. Like it gets pretty bad... but it only seems to happen when I'm running anything intensively memory hogging (streaming videos, graphic intensive games (like Sleeping Dogs..), listening to music, pretty much anything actually.

But it doesn't happen all the time like right now its fine (but I only have 1 tab open, no videos or anything) which leads me to believe that it could be a RAM issue. NOW.... this leads me to so many questions... drivers? As far as I'm aware all drivers are up to date, but I can't be 100% sure because on one hand, windows says everything is up to date (but I don't trust windows.. ) on another, a Driver Updater software (3rd party) says 16 drivers are outdated, 0 missing. I looked through the list, and most of those.. I'm unsure of... I mean I'm pretty sure I didn't have 1/2 of those on my last installation 0.o which means they're extra drivers I don't need but could have?

the Motherboard drivers I'm also confused about. It seems I have 2 seperate ones installed. 1 from the Dell site (which said "Urgent" for my system) and the 2nd one was from the Driver Updater software. Will go ahead and post the driver names, computer specs, and will leave open for questions of your own first so I can better assist you to assist me ^_^

2x separate drivers of interest:
RICOH R5C83x/84x Flash Media Controller Driver Ver 3.57.01
RICOH Media Driver Ver 2.10.01.01

Think the top one was the Dell recommended one can't remember...
updater software name: "drivereasy" in case some of you know something I don't about the program

Computer Specs:
Alienware M17-R1 / Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit w/SP1
Intel Core2 Extreme Q9300 Quad Core Processor @ 2.53GHz
8GB of Ram (not sure which kind of chips, might have to take them out)
320GB @7200rpm HD
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870x2 (512MB x2)

That's all that I can think of. I can post BIOS info, DXdiag, and anything else you might need if you request. The other think I THINK might be an issue could be sound drivers. The problems also occur upon the more... sound intensive areas? High pitched punches/kicks (in game), or loud music, etc. Or those could just be causes of RAM issue once again. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction so I can get back to a normal Win7 again lol.

And thank you for your time of reading this long explanation

 

[Nikolay Savov]

Apologize if this is in wrong topic, I don't know what to categorize this as, but I need help figuring out a problem. Although I have a few ideas what it might be, what I DON'T know is how to solve them or where to go...

Before on same Windows 7 install, I was having no problems, but I wanted a "fresh start" so I can try to troubleshoot why Sleeping Dogs wasn't working,... that's a seperate issue though I won't go into that (which I did finally fix it anyways) but ever since I wiped/reinstalled Win7 I'm having this HORRIBLE lag spikes randomly and the sound tears. Like it gets pretty bad... but it only seems to happen when I'm running anything intensively memory hogging (streaming videos, graphic intensive games (like Sleeping Dogs..), listening to music, pretty much anything actually.

But it doesn't happen all the time like right now its fine (but I only have 1 tab open, no videos or anything) which leads me to believe that it could be a RAM issue. NOW.... this leads me to so many questions... drivers? As far as I'm aware all drivers are up to date, but I can't be 100% sure because on one hand, windows says everything is up to date (but I don't trust windows.. ) on another, a Driver Updater software (3rd party) says 16 drivers are outdated, 0 missing. I looked through the list, and most of those.. I'm unsure of... I mean I'm pretty sure I didn't have 1/2 of those on my last installation 0.o which means they're extra drivers I don't need but could have?

the Motherboard drivers I'm also confused about. It seems I have 2 seperate ones installed. 1 from the Dell site (which said "Urgent" for my system) and the 2nd one was from the Driver Updater software. Will go ahead and post the driver names, computer specs, and will leave open for questions of your own first so I can better assist you to assist me ^_^

2x separate drivers of interest:
RICOH R5C83x/84x Flash Media Controller Driver Ver 3.57.01
RICOH Media Driver Ver 2.10.01.01

Think the top one was the Dell recommended one can't remember...
updater software name: "drivereasy" in case some of you know something I don't about the program

Computer Specs:
Alienware M17-R1 / Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit w/SP1
Intel Core2 Extreme Q9300 Quad Core Processor @ 2.53GHz
8GB of Ram (not sure which kind of chips, might have to take them out)
320GB @7200rpm HD
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870x2 (512MB x2)

That's all that I can think of. I can post BIOS info, DXdiag, and anything else you might need if you request. The other think I THINK might be an issue could be sound drivers. The problems also occur upon the more... sound intensive areas? High pitched punches/kicks (in game), or loud music, etc. Or those could just be causes of RAM issue once again. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction so I can get back to a normal Win7 again lol.

And thank you for your time of reading this long explanation

Hi there.
RAM problems & defects are more related to Blue Screens Of Deth (BSOD ).
SO i`m suspecting you RAM at the last place here ...

From the short briff you gave i think there is nothing help me to think about 1 problem .........
Also i`m doubt for both HW and SW problems.
You may try this tools to find you HW problems :
- DELL diagnostic tools - http/www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails?driverId=1KP2M
- Hirens Boot CD - google it

- Check you laptop temperatures
- are the air comming "streem" out of the laptop or the FAN is 100% and no any air coming out of the laptop
* - dust inside the fan & headsink sistem is the common case of overheating and bad cooling
- feel you laptop teperatures - any WARM arias
- check you FAN`s sound

About SW problems - if HW testing is 100% ok
- try clean install of Win 8 - just for the test purposes
- check you sound problem is there or not

My expectations are 2 :
- you have HDD with bad logical sectors
- you have some software problems

 

[lordvalinar]

Okay I'll get back to you sometime today, will test this out. But one thing I can tell you right now though is there's always a spot that's really hot, and loud fans (it's an Alienware...) and it does that since Day 1 when I bought it. But I'll check for airflow too, dust could be a problem I just did some cleaning last night and a LOT of dust came out of it when I sprayed *eek face*.. and I'll skip on the Win 8 I think its crap so I'll wait for Win9 or whatever's next lol.

Oh god hope its not the HDD with bad logical sectors... if that means what I think it means. My last Alienware had harddrive problems. Only way I solved that was by partitioning the HDD and having the 2nd part boot up first with the 1st partition as a 'backup' 0.o and later it died anyways. Okay anyways I'm going to go try those solutions and get back to you. THanks for the first suggestion so far

EDIT1: Oh and just for testing purposes I'm going to also go ahead and download/update those 16 drivers that DriverEasy says are outdated. Just in case. If it is a driver issue and this fixes it, then I'll facepalm for not trying it earlier.