Computer 'hiccuping'

[Taz]

Hey guys
Ok so for about the last few months i have had this issue.
Ill start out by posting my computers specs:
Mobo is a G1 guerilla, with an i7 960 processor @ 3.2. Have 16gb of DDR3 dual channel memory and a Gainward 560ti golden sample (2gb) and 875w toughpower psu, win 7 x64
First off everything is in sync and compatible etc with everything, im 99.9% sure its not a hardware compatibility issue, which is backed up by the fact i had this problem with my old computer, which has since been replaced completely, not a single part remains.
OK, this issue seems to be completely random, with no set time or (it seems from my point) point that triggers it. The computer sort of freezes/hiccups, it is really hard to explain. What happens is for a very short time, like 1/2 second the mouse freezes, and audio and video freeze but dont skip, and resumes at where it first 'hiccuped'. This can happen infrequently maybe once a minute to sometimes constantly, 1/2 sec apart from one another in an extreme case which again, seems random. Sometimes i go hours without anything at all. This also happens when i have nothing up and the mouse on the desktop doing the hiccuping, where ill move the mouse and it will skip for a second, then end up half way across the screen.
This happens when i overclock, and run systems normally (reset through bios) respectively, doesnt seem to affect the problem either way.
I have tried absolutely everything but to no avail!
I have updated drivers for everything, run every spyware/malware/trojan/antivirus scan under the sun (with exception to HJT which i cannot seem to get to write a log, another problem all together) all of which have turned over nothing.
I initially thought it might be an overheating problem but my cpu is watercooled, and sits pretty, even under extreme load overclocking, GPU sits at 43 under load, ram again is very cool, as i have an independant ram cooler over them and ambient case temp is very acceptable, dont have a specific temp reading but has good air flow, tidy cables and HDD's never run hot either (1x 1tb, 1x 2tb, 1x 320GB SSD).
Next was the overload approach, but idle cpu sits at 1% and playing media, either through wmp or vlc, still sits at 1-2% and still hiccups, ram sits pretty with usually 14/16gb available, 11.5 free and 2/31 commit. Have done numerous ram checks such as defraggin and diagnostics, all turned up positive.
I have had task manager performance tab up while this hiccuping has happened, but it doesnt show anything, just chugs on at the same pace as usual.
Task manager also says there is only 53 processors active, all which are ordinary - nothing unusual.
Now im more inclined to believe it is an overheating issue as when i put on my case side it happens a lot more often, however again my findings suggest temps are all good - very confusing.
There is no dust at all in my computer im very stringent in cleaning it out every couple of weeks. Cables are all neat, airflow is not blocked, fans running at proper speed. I have a 100ml on the front, going out and a 100 on the back pushing in with an open case. I have put a giant pedestool fan RIGHT up against the case on full throttle and still it does it, which i guess would rule out the ambient temp, which i guess would point the finger at the cpu, or gpu - both of which indicate are running well below any temp (and im led to believe if they were running at unacceptable temps would shutdown).
It doesnt seem to matter how much load i put on the HDD it still does it. I honestly have no idea what it is.
I would post up a HJT log, but that again is playing up, not wanting to save a log, it asks me to save the log, then states it cannot find it then opens a blank log. If i can fix that i can post a HJT log, which would help you?
I have scoured the net for months and found only one person on a blog who had the same problem, but their post went unanswered.. seems like a rare problem.
I hope i have given enough details about the problem and look forward to getting this thing sussed out once and for all - very hard to watch a movie sometimes!

[1972vet]

Not so rare. My system behaves in a similar way but perhaps  not as often, as yours seems to be a bit irritating to you. I should first say that overclocking would be a suspect...it's never really a good idea, even the manufacturer will caution against it.

My first thought is your a/v product. What are you using? It is the case in my experience with my own system but in my case it also seems to encompass the amount and number of apps running at the same time. Fifty three processes is a bit much.

Also, the hjt log issue may relate to not having run it as administrator. Have you tried running DDS?

[Taz]

OC the system is not the issue as it did it during the latter stages of my previous build, which did not overclock at all, and happened in this build before i started overclocking - which i have done for a limited time to test what the pc can do, and have reverted back to default for a while now as the system is not really tested at all when not OC.
I use VLC media player, which i have always used and has never caused a problem before - i dont think its the problem or wouldnt many more people have this problem as its a popular media platform.
This does not however only happen while VLC is playing something, sometimes it will just happen on the desktop with nothing at all open.
As for the processes, not sure how much is many, but only shows 18 in task manager, im not sure what others are running or how to check them - have never needed to. I will be just watching a movie or listening to music and it will sometimes happen, sometimes not but i never open or run anything else, so why would it only happen sometimes?
The list it does show are all normal, and suck jack all cpu usage - which again 53 processes while may be big still have little to no effect on overall cpu usage.
Have run HJT as administrator, and tried saving it to a generic folder such as the C:\ Directory but still to no avail, still asks me to overwrite something, then says it cant find the file. Havent run DDS, dont know what the acrynom is.
How do i find out what other processes are running the task manager doesnt display, and how to stop/delete them etc if theyre not needed.
Cheers

[1972vet]

DDS stands for "Doesn't Do Squat". Cute name for the utility created by sUBs. It's download and usage should be detailed in the sticky on the hjt forum.

VLC, although very good, has been exploited in the past and obviously because of it's popularity. Just make sure you keep it up dated and remove the addon to the browser. Online video sites especially, will have kids standing by just waiting for someone to show up with VLC running in the browser. If nothing else, the intermittent freeze thing in your case, could relate to a port scan attack especially if this occurs while you are connected to one of those video sites.

Then, regardless of any of that, I also have noticed VLC skip/freeze/hang whatever you want to call it, even if I am using linux. In my experience with it, it only seems to happen if I am trying to play a movie in VLC while having something else running that also relates to video...I usually use VLC at the same time with some video editing software in linux, so when I have the editing software open, I notice when I get back to VLC, it will sputter. VLC doesn't seem to play nice with other software that wants to share reg keys, I noticed that long ago. It just doesn't get along well with the "sharing" requirement of other software. If you want to test this, the easiest way for you to draw the same conclusion is to uninstall VLC and use Windows Media player to view your move. You'll see, it goes along fine.

Fifty three processes is a bit much but if it hasn't cause a strain on the system before then I'd scratch that off the list. You still didn't answer what a/v you are using. That is what causes my rare, split second stutter (only in VLC, not Windows Media player) but it actually relates to the scheduled tasks for the a/v and other security products I have on board that have scheduled events. Have you checked to see if it's your event scheduler that is causing this? I would bet a couple nickles that's what it is...at least most likely that's it.

...the two things I'd try if I were you is:
1) check on the event scheduler and disable any task at least while watching your video
2) ...or uninstall VLC and play your movie using Windows Media player to see if it still occurs even with scheduled tasks enabled. If it does, it's your scheduled task...if it doesn't, it's VLC's peculiarities at work.

[Hoov]

I think most computers hiccup but the owners blow it off because it happens so rarely. In my experience it is usually a software issue, and they can be a bear to track down because its not a real conflict per se, but more like two programs bickering. Have you tried booting your OS cleanly (using msconfig) to see if the problem happens that way? Anything in your event viewer log?

[PCBruiser]

I would also suggest using Process Explorer to check for excessive CPU cycles by a number of things that Task Manager does not track.  I had an issue like this in the past with a system, and it took weeks to track it down until I started tracking CPU utilization and found almost 50% of the CPU was being used by system interrupts which do not show up in Task Manager.   Clearly a hardware issue which I finally tracked down to a shorted circuit board in my floppy drive.  I disconnected the floppy drive and the problem was gone.  I'm not suggesting that your problem is similar, but with persistent issues like this, Task Manager may give you insufficient data to track down the problem.

[Taz]

Hey guys,
Thanks for all your quick and concise responses.
The first thing im going to do is uninstall VLC. While this happens even when im not in vlc - is still connected to the net. I do not have any addons at all on my browser (latest firefox) and do not go to any video sharing sites or anything, i just torrent a lot (but carefully i might add and my nazi virus/malware scans etc show up with nothing i think its safe to rule them out) off btjunkie.
I will also try the scheduler too, hopefully its just that simple fix.
I have not used programs like Process explorer or checked event viewer log as ive never needed to, this is the first problem ive had where i cant pin it down and fix it myself.
And stupidly i forgot to post something - when i first do a wipe and fresh install it doesnt seem to happen at all, but rather when i slowly start to put things on as i need them it starts up again - however i am not using any weird or new programs, mostly mainstream stuff that ive always used and not had a problem with - just thought id add that in there.
I do find it weird how it does seem to happen a lot more when i put the case side back on however this might just be me thinking that.
I will try everything here nonetheless and post up what i get - thanks again guys!

[Taz]

And sorry to answer the a/v question, i have a 24" monitor on DVI and a 34" tv on hdmi - only having one hooked in or the other has no effect.

[1972vet]

...and do not go to any video sharing sites or anything...

...I have not used programs like Process explorer or checked event viewer log as ive never needed to...

...I do find it weird how it does seem to happen a lot more when i put the case side back on...

Just to clarify, I wasn't speaking of visiting any video sharing site. Rather any ole web site that hosts videos. You tube for example or even netflix. If you log in with a user account and password, make sure you use a "strong password". Kids know they have plenty of time to tinker while folks are watching video online, specifically "full length" movies so...just use caution in those cases.

Actually, Don and PC's suggestions are the most usual means by which one can quickly discover where the issue resides. Checking the event log is probably the first thing we all do, and so simple it's often overlooked. With nothing showing an obvious curve ball in the log, I'd go on to Process Explorer. Even those couple things I mentioned would surely show up in the Explorer.

As a second thought, the Process Monitor might also come in handy to discover what might be accessing VLC during it's usage...that is, if you indeed are certain this is the catalyst for your issue.

In my case, it was just an educated guess and I got lucky following the logic I used to conclude the issue. However, these type things can always be peculiar to each particular system's setup combined with programs/processes in use so...following Don and PC's suggestions first might have the positive result you're looking for.

Since you mentioned you believe the anomaly increases in occurrence when you put the side panel back on I thought it worthy to explore. What you are thinking could also be a static thing, so the very idea isn't so far off the mark not to explore. However, as often as you said you clean that thing, surely it's unplugged at the time so any static buildup would have been discharged. If static builds up in such a short time after you've had your system unplugged then I would start taking inventory of electrical appliances that are in close proximity of the computer when in operation...to include such things as florescent light bulbs.

On a final note, as to any type of "interruption" fluke such as my mention of your scheduled tasks, don't overlook your printer. It's "internet access" appetite may not be scheduled but might nonetheless be accessing the internet during an inopportune moment while watching your videos.
 
Good luck!

[Taz]

Just an update, have uninstalled VLC and it is still doing it, completely uninstalled and unplugged the printer and it is still doing it.
Scoured the event log again, nothing out of the ordinary that i can see - currently installing DDS and Process explorer - lets see if i can find this sucker - and to the previous post 1972vet - i had nothing scheduled, never do.
Ill post back when ive done everything else with results.
Cheers again
Taz

[Taz]

OK now we are getting somewhere i think
Have have Process explorer up for the last 15min, and every time it happens, i see the system idle process drop to about 94-95% for a split second, then jump back up to 98-99.
Most of the 53 odd processes are .NET processes and services with my phone app (HTC sync) in yellow which im led to believe is that it is a relocated DLL? Not sure what effect that will have.
All are sucking a steady 0.01 off the CPU, which sits at 95-96 when i have music playing and a few other things open. The services that are open are mostly recognizable, as in steam, avira etc, although svchost is open 10 times - each sucking between 10-50 thousand K.
I hope this narrows it down from a hardware problem and makes it a software problem, my computer isnt cheap and isnt fun to start replacing
If you guys want a complete list of the processes currently running let me know ill post em up ( got to figure out how to take a desktop screenshot first lmao been to long)

[Taz]

After staring at each individual process for several minutes, i find that the 'Interrupts' under the system tab is the only process that changes when this happens.
Attached is a pic of processes, the only thing that changes when it is happening is idle goes down relative to how much interrupts goes up - usually 3-4%

[Taz]

Sorry misleading info on the net,
the  colors are default so not mostly .net ha read up on it all and understand now - something else i dont really need to know added to this swirling noggin of useless information 
In any case, nothing has changed - seems to be a fairly steady occurence with the only variable being the timing of it, have been the last few hours without it now, where as earlier today was happening every few seconds

[Taz]

Spotted this today, only sometimes something will pop in red for a brief second (mostly only when it happens) and the disappears again.
svchost and dllhost have also both popped up but have only seen them once - thought this one looked problematic - maybe it has some insight.
Uninstalled utorrent and HTCsync completely to today to eliminate them as well. No effect.

[Taz]

More spam, but this time a pretty conclusive one
Only happens when im connected to the net. It used to not happen so often that i would be able to conclusively tell - however this time i was able to put aside my frustration for a few seconds and remember to cut off the net while it is happening every second or two. Stopped as soon as i cut it for about 5min then reconnected it and started happening again (not as often now as i only just reconnected it maybe more clues?)