need help troubleshooting cpu spikes

[eliam]

Hi there! I got myself a new vaio laptop to use as a loopstation for live performances. I have it connected with my novation x-station through usb, but I have recurring cpu spikes every 15 seconds or so, making it glitchy and unusable as such... Any help to fix this would be awesome!

My system:
laptop: sony vaio vgn ns330d with 3 gigs ram and dual core cpu.
windows 7 32 bit
x-station usb interface

I updated all the drivers.

The spikes seem to occur only when the x-station is connected through usb. When I use the onboard audio everything seems ok. The bios on this laptop is unhelpful as it gives non control at all except boot order. I tried disabling everything I could in the device manager but nothing changed...

Any hint would be greatly appreciated!

[eliam]

I tried every usb port and the same problem occurs on all of them. When the interface is connected and an asio driver is running the spikes happen even though everything is idle...

[garyb]

try turning off ALL of the visual enhancements in the os(make it look like win98), that may help.

[Gordon Gekko]

Do you see what process is responsible for the spikes on the task manager?

[eliam]

Gary - I disabled all graphic stuff, without noticeable improvement...

The spikes don't register in the processes displayed in the task manager...

I'm out of options here... and pretty annoyed...

[iSiStOy]

Sthg that can be useful for analysing how bad it is (even when stable):
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
Do you have wifi? If so and it is activated, maybe try to disable it. It looks it is often a case of latency spikes (my firewire experience by the way).

[eliam]

ok I ran the dpc checker and it says my system is ok but the cpu spikes are clearly visible on the task manager, they're pretty regular at 15 seconds intervals more or less. The cpus rise at 30-40% causing crackles in the audio...

I tried installing XP on my laptop but I couldn't do it because of driver incompatibility. I just bought a usb floppy to try to slip in the sata drivers in the XP install... If this fails I think I'll return the laptop.

[netguyjoel]

Try nLite to slipstream the SATA drivers and burn a new boot CD for XP
http://www.nliteos.com

[eliam]

I tried it, to no avail. I followed the exact instructions given, unsuccessfully. Some people got it working with nlite though...

[iSiStOy]

Sorry, I haven't understood properly. You have CPU spikes and apparently can't see exactly which process would cause the spikes.
You'd need a soft to log process activity & CPU load/process, at least for a few seconds, in order to point the one that's causing spikes.
I found that one but don't know how it works:

http://download.cnet.com/Process-Audit/ ... 00249.html

What CPU is it, by the way?

[eliam]

I'm through with this piece of junk, I'll exchange it for another brand, install xp and get on with my life...

[garyb]

too bad.
sorry to hear about the trouble.

[eliam]

yeah well, we're dealing with PCs right? Piece of Crap is appropriate for a name sometimes...

No big deal, I'll get something that works tomorrow, hopefully...

[iSiStOy]

Sometimes, it is better not to be too much in a debug mood! A good lesson for me also, as I am now looking for a new motherboard and can't find available DP35 in shops around (too late...).
I hope you get a less frustrating xp with your next Piece of Crap

[Neutron]

Sony is a pretty rubbish brand anyways. its probably the built in rootkit
they just rely on their brand name to sell junk, the only difference between sony and bose is that sony used to make good stuff

[Gordon Gekko]

I run a vaio vgn a617b that is like 5 years old. It's got 1 gig of ram, an 80 gig DD, nice screen and a cpu that does the job (can't remember the frequency). It is connected to a magma case with 2 pursar2 in it.

the thing served me very well running various audio apps, usb midi controllers and other stuff
I think the biggest project I ran onto it had close to 30 asio channels going in scope and further treated with effects etc..

too bad they sell junk now. But thanks eliam, i'll look twice before buying another one (which should be in near future, unless the vostro i got from my new job does the job)

now SC: how's that express card support coming along

[eliam]

yeah, steer away from the sonys, seriously

[eliam]

I'm getting another laptop, so I'd like some advice on what's working (or not)...

Or... I could rack my trusted pc and have a more powerful but less mobile rig... I'll ponder what's best and listen to your suggestions...

Thanks again for the input and the friendly vibes!

Love and Light to you all!