Computer 'hiccuping'

[Taz]

Yea my phone, although I already have some recent pics, ill pit em up in a few hours when i get home.

[Taz]

Evidently i have taken HTC Sync off my phone and i cant seem to re download it yet, servers are down or too busy, so heres a slightly older one - just invision it with MUCH less cable clutter, this is just after i built it on my first startup, cable around CPU is gone, and everything is tidied up and tucked away neatly.
I have checked the clearance of the fan and side of case and it clears, fine, no cables are moved or anything. In saying that it has only done it 2/3 times in the last few hours, thats definitely tolerable as its only for a second but i would still like to know *** is causing for curiosity sake...hacking away at my brain lmao

[Hoov]

Look at the case side again, but don't look just at the side, look at whatever holds the cover on, latches overhead screws along back edge or whatever. I fixed a computer once that worked fine when the side was off, but as soon as the screws were tightened that held the side on, they caused a short. If it does not happen with the side off, but does with the side on, there is something happening with the side.

I was hoping the picture would be good enough to see something, but its not.

[Taz]

Held on by just slotting it onto0 the round support thing at one side (so it can swing out i think is the purpose) and a couple of thumb screws in the back.
Back when it was a big problem and doing it often, it even happened when i just laid the case side up against the case without plugging the fan in or putting it on.
Its only doing it say once every few hours, which whatever a 1/2 second of interruption every few hours i can take, but every time it happens my heart cant help but sink and i think ahhh fark its back again lol.
Was thinking that the side was pushing on the card somehow when it was on but it is no where near it, no cables are near it so i dunno.

[Hoov]

I have a weird thought, but before I share it, I would like you to try something. Do you have something non metallic about the same size as the case side? Something you could place over the side of the case and seal around the edges to keep good airflow?

[Taz]

I'm sure I can dig something up, piece of plastic or something. Going to be a while before I can get conclusive results though as it does only happen once every few hours maybe now. I'll post up tomorrow the results

[Hoov]

No worries here.

[Taz]

OK so so far it hasnt done the hiccuping at all in the last 24 hours compared ot the 1-2 it used to do a day, all i did was put a piece of plastic up against the case.
Very interesting, although i cant personally get any conclusive evidence myself as it is slowly but surely disappearing with each little thing i do, and perhaps i just missed it or walked out of the room when it would of happened.
I think that the WLAN card was the main culprit here, but with that being said some of the symptoms as such lead me to believe while i was doing every other thing under the sun to get my computer healthy i must of fixed something else that was helping to cause it as im sure at one stage i must of take it out to clean it and put it back in etc.
Either way - what was this idea Hoov?

[Hoov]

This is way out on the bleeding edge, but it is possible that you have a device that is not properly shielded or grounded. The side of the case is causing a resistance in the magnetic field of that device and is creating a resistance which is causing it to draw more power to compensate.  That is the only possible thing I can think of as to why it works fine with the side off, but when you put the side back on, it starts having problems. That's why I asked you to look at the edges of the case, I have seen where a single screw grounds a system and causes it to fail. And I have seen missing case grounds also cause problems. Granted both of these were in aircraft electronic systems, they were still computers.

If you put the side back on, and it causes problems, then you need to look at the grounds in the entire system, especially between the ground pin on the power connector, and the case and side of the case when it is installed. Look for missing grounds, and high resistance grounds.

Is that all as clear as mud?

[Taz]

Yea i would never in a squillion years thought of anything like that, but it very well could be the problem - ill check all the grounds tonight and for the hell of it take it off the carpet while im there - you never know i assume that it is possible on a rare scale for some static to occur (however the computer is not moving, but still)

[Hoov]

I did help a couple about 20 miles from me 2 years ago with monitor problems. Their computer was sitting on deep pile carpet, and the air was dry enough that I started sparking 2 steps into their house. I had them stick a 1 inch thick piece of wood under the computer and the monitor problems went away. So that is not a rare occurrence.

[Taz]

Hmmm cant seem to find any issues with grounding, and putting some 5ml MDF under the computer doesnt seem to do anything - had the problem when it was on the desk anyway.
Is there any software to check voltages of the PSU? Would at least pin it down a bit more.
Still is only doing it on the off basis, and is definitely tolerable, but ive been through so much would like to know the culprit lmao.
Still coming up as a hardware interrupt or DPC, so possibly still the WLAN card, could the slot itself be funny? There is no other slot i can put it in as the cooler on the GPU is massive...cant even sli the sucker as it takes up the 2 slots 

[1972vet]

Sorry to see you're still wrestling with this...I'm happy to report that I resolved my issue that sprung up as your thread here was underway. My stuttering/distorted sound issue stemmed from the Windows Media player system's "WoW" settings. I simply disabled it and the stuttering went away.

[Hoov]

There is a way to check voltages, but its not software. There are several versions out there of this tester. I own one and it works well.

But back to the observed conditions. Can you take the side and instead of installing it, just tape it up to the side of the computer? See if it is the metal content that is causing the problem, or something in the attaching that is causing it.

[RoHe]

If you remove the WLAN card does the problem go away completely when the side is fully re-installed?

Refresh my memory, what happens now in safe mode, with the side re-installed?

Got a spare video card you can try? Or maybe if the motherboard supports onboard graphics try switching to that.  But unless the spare video card is compatible with the installed video drivers you'll have to uninstall the current drivers and replace them with new ones. Same thing if you switch to onboard graphics.

I'd be more incliined to think this is a heat problem if it only happens when the side is fully installed. Any room to install a case fan?

Ron