DPC latency + audio/mouse skip and stutter on t420s

Hello fellow thinkpad owners,
I have a new t420s (41717FU) core i7, 8GB RAM, and NVS 4200M discrete, win 7 64-bit pro. I use the minidock with 2 external 28" displays on DVI out.
I discovered major issues with latency with this machine; very noticeable loss of control for about half a second, plus annoying audio stutter, especially concurrent with network activity. This is quite frustrating, especially for a machine that is supposed to be high end core i7 with discrete graphics. I had a t410s previously and also had latency problems, and I know this is a real problem with several different models (just search 'annoying audio') on the forums.
I have used dpc latency checker as well as latency mon and narrowed the probable culprit to the network drivers associated with the gigabit ethernet. It took me a while to discover the relationship to the Intel 82579LM, since LatencyMon will identify the problem with NDIS.sys or NETIO.sys, giving sporadic latencies over 20000 microsecs, which made me think it was a Win 7 tcp stack issue or maybe some internal windows firewall blocking. During these spikes, the audio stutters, the mouse won't move, everything on the system just stalls for a split second. Temps on CPU seem within normal limits at about 70-80C. I've read everything I could find about this issue, including problems with NVIDIA drivers, ACPI, firewall/antivirus, etc etc, and tried most of those suggestions.
I spent a long time doing all kinds of testing, putting the machine on AC power and max performance, shut down various devices, disabled any component power-off states, disabled NVIDIA and displays, changed bios settings etc.
After all of this, I *know* my issue is related to the Intel Ethernet component, because if I disable it and use wireless connectivity (or no network at all) the problem simply goes away. Surprisingly, the wireless Centrino adapter, though slower, functions without any problem affecting DPC latency and I have no stutter with that (many have previously identified the wireless adapter being a problem especially related to power mgt).
Unfortunately, I require an ethernet connection. So just disabling that adapter is not an option. Here is what I've done to workaround the issue, though I wish it would be fixed for good with some kind of update from Lenovo, though I've called and emailed them and they seem to be ignoring this issue.
**** UPDATE 3/1/2012 ****
SOLUTION RIGHT HERE: INSTALL AN OLDER NETWORK DRIVER FROM HP (sounds crazy, but it works). See below link to driver download.
I (and many other owners of T420, 520, etc - see other posts if you doubt it) have *no* latency after installing this older driver from HP. But as soon as I install the Lenovo-provided driver 11.12.38.* or any later one from Microsoft or the Intel generic driver (intel no longer publishes the old driver), I see *immediate* problems with latency, mouse and audio stutter. But use the driver published by HP (specifically version 11.12.36.0, published 5/4/2011) -- Problem solved! I tested with streaming and browsing for several hours and no spiking or stutter.
Here's where to get the english language download from HP: >> DRIVER DOWNLOAD PAGE HERE <<
Lenovo, PLEASE: this is strong evidence of a faulty driver for those of us with a t420s (and other thinkpad users out there using the intel 82579LM chip under x64). I encourage you to review this solution and engineer an update for the Intel gigabit adapter, or at minimum, roll back to the older driver or some Lenovo approved derivative so it doesn't cause all of us notebook users such a major headache. It's very bizarre that we would need to go to another manufacturer to get a working driver...I was ready to return the machine over this issue!
Aside from that adapter problem, I've been pleased with the t420s performance and features. Thanks again lopiuh for this workaround.
Mojojojo in Austin TX
ADMIN EDIT - Lenovo is testing a beta ethernet driver. If you are willing to try it, please see the link below, and my post on page 6 of this thread. - mark
https://www.dropbox.com/s/llcgjaf45xpuoam/83rw20w1.zip
***** END UPDATE *****
**** OLDER STUFF I TRIED, which somewhat helped, but the real solution is to use the old HP DRIVER above. ******
Basically, my approach was to reduce the 'auto' parameters for the adapter, to reduce the amount of logic running on the adapter itself.
1. Install the PRO set extension tools on this adapter, so you can more easily manage advanced settings. I think Lenovo offers a version in the driver downloads area which adds this management extension, but it is not the standard one offered by the system update utility, and the intel site has a later driver, so I gambled and downloaded the latest version from Intel for this adapter. It installed without issue, but I'm sure Lenovo would prefer you stick with their OEM packages. Anyway, here's the one I used: http://www.intel.com/support/ethernetcomponents/controllers/82579/sb/CS-032239.htm (link near the top for the download). You may want to make a system restore point before you install any drivers outside of OEM approved.
2. Change the default settings for the adapter in Device Manager. Right click properties for the Intel 82579LM in Network Adapters. Change the link speed (if the extension was installed properly, you'll see the intel logo on the tab for Link Speed, and a choice for Speed and Duplex. Change this from 'Auto Negotiate' to whatever speed your network is. I have gigabit full duplex, and that worked for me. This by itself was the biggest improvement with DPC latency.
3. Go to the Advanced tab. I took the approach that I wanted to disable as much 'auto' stuff as possible, and force the adapter to use a particular setting. Thus:
Interrupt Moderation: Disabled
Jumbo Packet: 9014 bytes (I have several devices that can use bigger packets on network, such as readynas)
Performance Options: click properties: Flow control - Disabled; Interrupt Moderation Rate - Off; and then double the receive and transmit buffer sizes (for me this was 512 and 1024 respectively).
I hope this may be helpful to some other owners, but I don't work for Lenovo or Intel so please don't blame me if something goes wrong during your tweaking. This worked (for me) to significantly reduce stuttering problems, though they are not completely gone; your mileage may vary. If you have this same problem, I'd appreciate if you would post about it so I can understand if it is a more widespread problem.
Good luck, mojojojo
Austin, TX
Solved!
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Hi mojojoj0
For my W520, up till now I do not have latency issues. My set of configuration for Intel NIC is slight different.
2. This may cause connection problems when you are connecting to different network. Different network (switches, routers) have different configuration. Previously I set it to Gigabit Full Duplex, I can't connect to any 10/100 network until I change it back to Auto negotiation.
I would suggest changing back to auto negotiation when you are connecting to outside network, not all places are using gigabit switches.
3. Interesting, I guess I would try it and feedback and see how much improvement for network performance.
From what I know, increasing receive and transmit buffer improve NIC and network card performance, but computer may slightly more memory.
Maybe you can try this, part of my settings:
Large Send Offload (IPv4) & (IPv6) Enabled
TCP & UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4) & (IPv6) Tx & Rx Enabled
IPv4 Checksum Offload Tx & Rx Enabled
Hope this helps!
Cheers
Peter
(Current: W520 4284-A99) (Refunded: W510 4876-A11)
=============================================
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Mark it as solved if the solution works for you, so it could be reference for others in the future
Dolby Home Theater v4 (ThinkMix V2)!
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W520-Sound-Enhancement-Thread/m-p/451401#M155...

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Effects: A common cause of playback latency is the use of effects. As your audio stream passes through an effect, it takes time for the computer to perform the calculations to modify that signal. Each effect in a chain introduces its own amount of latency before the chunk of audio even reaches the point where the audio application passes it to the audio device and starts to fill up the buffer. Audition and other DAWs attempt to address this through "latency compensation" routines which introduce a bit more latency when you first press play as they process several seconds of audio ahead of time before beginning to stream those chunks to the audio driver. In some cases, however, the effects may be so intensive that the CPU simply isn't processing the math fast enough.   With Audition, you can "freeze" or pre-render these tracks by clicking the small lightning bolt button visible in the Effects Rack with that track selected. This performs a background render of that track, which automatically updates if you make any changes to the track or effect parameters, so that instead of calculating all those changes on-the-fly, it simply needs to stream back a plain old audio file which requires much fewer system resources. You may also choose to disable certain effects, or temporarily replace them with alternatives which may not sound exactly like what you want for your final mix, but which adequately simulate the desired effect for the purpose of recording.   (You might replace the CPU-intensive Full Reverb effect with the lightweight Studio Reverb effect, for example. Full Reverb effect is mathematically far more accurate and realistic, but Studio Reverb can provide that quick "body" you might want when monitoring vocals, for example.) You can also just disable the effects for a track or clip while recording, and turn them on later.
Device and Driver Options: Different devices may have wildly different performance at the same buffer size and with the same session. Audio devices designed primarily for gaming are less likely to perform well at low buffer sizes as those designed for music production, for example. Even if the hardware performs the same, the driver mode may be a source of latency. ASIO is almost always faster than MME, though many device manufacturers do not supply an ASIO driver. The use of third-party, device-agnostic drivers, such as ASIO4ALL (www.asio4all.com) allow you to wrap an MME-only device inside a faux-ASIO shell. The audio application believes it's speaking to an ASIO driver, and ASIO4ALL has been streamlined to work more quickly with the MME device, or even to allow you to use different inputs and outputs on separate devices which ASIO would otherwise prevent.
We also now see more USB microphone devices which are input-only audio devices that generally use a generic Windows driver and, with a few exceptions, rarely offer native ASIO support. USB microphones generally require a higher buffer size as they are primarily designed for recording in cases where monitoring is unimportant. When attempting to record via a USB microphone and monitor via a separate audio device, you're more likely to run into issues where the two devices are not synchronized or drift apart after some time. (The ugly secret of many device manufacturers is that they rarely operate at EXACTLY the sample rate specified. The difference between 44,100 and 44,118 Hz is negligible when listening to audio, but when trying to precisely synchronize to a track recorded AT 44,100, the difference adds up over time and what sounded in sync for the first minute will be wildly off-beat several minutes later.) You are almost always going to have better sync and performance with a standard microphone connected to the same device you're using for playback, and for serious recording, this is the best practice. If USB microphones are your only option, then I would recommend making certain you purchase a high-quality one and have an equally high-quality playback device. Attempt to match the buffer sizes and sample rates as closely as possible, and consider using a higher buffer size and correcting the latency post-recording. (One method of doing this is to have a click or clap at the beginning of your session and make sure this is recorded by your USB microphone. After you finish your recording, you can visually line up the click in the recorded track with the click in the original track by moving your clip backwards in the timeline. This is not the most efficient method, but this alignment is the reason you see the clapboards in behind-the-scenes filmmaking footage.)
Other Hardware: Other hardware in your computer plays a role in the ability to feed or store audio data quickly. CPUs are so fast, and with multiple cores, capable of spreading the load so often the bottleneck for good performance - especially at high sample rates - tends to be your hard drive or storage media. It is highly recommended that you configure your temporary files location, and session/recording location, to a physical drive that is NOT the same as you have your operating system installed. Audition and other DAWs have absolutely no control over what Windows or OS X may decide to do at any given time and if your antivirus software or system file indexer decides it's time to start churning away at your hard drive at the same time that you're recording your magnum opus, you raise the likelihood of losing some of that performance. (In fact, it's a good idea to disable all non-essential applications and internet connections while recording to reduce the likelihood of external interference.) If you're going to be recording multiple tracks at once, it's a good idea to purchase the fastest hard drive your budget allows. Most cheap drives spin around 5400 rpm, which is fine for general use cases but does not allow for the fast read, write, and seek operations the drive needs to do when recording and playing back from multiple files simultaneously. 7200 RPM drives perform much better, and even faster options are available. While fragmentation is less of a problem on OS X systems, you'll want to frequently defragment your drive on Windows frequently - this process realigns all the blocks of your files so they're grouped together. As you write and delete files, pieces of each tend to get placed in the first location that has room. This ends up creating lots of gaps or splitting files up all over the disk. The act of reading or writing to these spread out areas cause the operation to take significantly longer than it needs to and can contribute to glitches in playback or loss of data when recording.

There is one point in the above that needed a little clarification, relating to USB mics:
_durin_ wrote:
If USB microphones are your only option, then I would recommend making certain you purchase a high-quality one and have an equally high-quality playback device.
If you are going to spend that much, then you'd be better off putting a little more money into an external device with a proper mic pre, and a little less money by not bothering with a USB mic at all, and just getting a 'normal' condensor mic. It's true to say that over the years, the USB mic class of recording device has caused more trouble than any other, regardless.
You should also be aware that if you find a USB mic offering ASIO support, then unless it's got a headphone socket on it as well then you aren't going to be able to monitor what you record if you use it in its native ASIO mode. This is because your computer can only cope with one ASIO device in the system - that's all the spec allows. What you can do with most ASIO hardware though is share multiple streams (if the device has multiple inputs and outputs) between different software.
Seriously, USB mics are more trouble than they're worth.

Mouse skipping- Wired and wireless, Snow Leopard and Lion

We purchased a new Mac Pro last year and from the beginning have had issues with the mouse skipping around while in use. Issue is intermittent. Exists whether using wired or wireless mouse and present in both of the two user profiles that we have set up. Initially we were running Snow Leopard, and now have upgraded to Lion - which hasn't made any difference. All updates have been installed.
I've tried resetting the SMC, PRAM and trashing preferences. Hardward test resulted with: 4VDC/1/40000003: VideoController
Could an issue with the video controller be causing this?
I've read a lot of discussions with various mouse issues that are similar - yet no clear resolutions.
HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!
Specs:
Mac Pro - Mid 2010
3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
16 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 EEC
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E53)

I plan to definitely have that checked out - but the machine is currently in high demand and if that is not related to the mouse issue, it will be tough to take it out of service at the time.
Do you have any idea if the video controller issue could cause this mouse issue?
Thanks for the comment.

Audio skipping and programs quitting unexpectedly, please help

Hi all, I have a Power PC G5 running on OSX 10.3.9. I came into my room this morning to my fan running at an absurd speed and the computer was frozen. I restarted the computer, but the rest of the day, my audio has been skipping constantly (on itunes and also when played through Firefox) regardless of how many programs I have open. I have never had any issues with this before. I'm also having problems with programs freezing today and with programs quitting unexpectedly.
What caused my fan to go nuts? The tower is sitting in a pretty dusty area, so it is possible that there is dust around the tower. I have no experience opening or cleaning a computer, so if that is what I should do, could you please instruct me on the best way to do that.
I have about 40gb free with 110gb utilized on my Macintosh HD. The activity monitor shows that I only have 130mb Free of system memory (when I'm only running itunes, activity monitor, and firefox). The activity monitor also jumps from having abou 85% of the CPU idle when it is working fine down to below %40 percent when the audio is skipping. What is causing these jumps?
Thank you for your help.
Max

Let's start with the basics.
Try using Disk Utility to do a Disk Repair, as shown in this link, while booted up on your install disk.
You could have some directory corruption. Let us know what errors Disk Utility reports and if DU was able to repair them.
 Cheers! DALE

DPC latency + audio/mouse skip and stutter on t420s

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