Jerky Mouse & Sound Issues

[Guest]

Installed Vista Ultimate 32bit on new WD 200GB hard drive.

I'm running:
- Supermicro MB
- P4 3.2Ghz
- 3GB RAM
- Radeon X600 Graphics
- RealTec AC97 Audio
- Logitech Wireless KB & Optical Mouse

My Vista low base score is 3.5 and everything else is 4 or 5, so I'm
assuming it should run fine.

My problem is this:
- Mouse movements stop frequently, jerky type, then catching up with
itself, delayed.
- System sounds, online or local music, etc... flutters too, like the mouse.

I notice it more often when the hard drive is working. When I turned off
the Windows Search Indexer, it improved 70% because there is less HD
processes however the problem still exists.

I've updated all drivers from vendors, etc.. without success.

Basically, when the system is doing nothing, the mouse moves normal, but the
second the drive works, or sound plays, CPU activity, etc..... intermittent
mouse behavior starts. For example, if I went to a media page that plays
embedded Windows music/video the sound will flutter and scrolling the page
makes it worst.

Any ideas? It would be greatly appreciated, I'm starting to go crazy.

Ben

 

[Victek]

I'm running:

- Supermicro MB
- P4 3.2Ghz
- 3GB RAM
- Radeon X600 Graphics
- RealTec AC97 Audio
- Logitech Wireless KB & Optical Mouse

My Vista low base score is 3.5 and everything else is 4 or 5, so I'm
assuming it should run fine.

My problem is this:
- Mouse movements stop frequently, jerky type, then catching up with
itself, delayed.
- System sounds, online or local music, etc... flutters too, like the
mouse.

I notice it more often when the hard drive is working. When I turned off
the Windows Search Indexer, it improved 70% because there is less HD
processes however the problem still exists.

I've updated all drivers from vendors, etc.. without success.

Basically, when the system is doing nothing, the mouse moves normal, but
the
second the drive works, or sound plays, CPU activity, etc.....
intermittent
mouse behavior starts. For example, if I went to a media page that plays
embedded Windows music/video the sound will flutter and scrolling the page
makes it worst.

It's clear that the keyboard is wireless, but is the mouse wireless, too?
Is the wireless receiver connected to the computer via a USB or a PS2 port?

 

[Guest]

The wireless keyboard and mouse are connected normally via the normal older
ports, PS2, there is a separate wireless charger/station.

I'm sure the problem is not a wireless issue because I've already tried
using non-wireless keyboard/mouse thinking the same thing.

I think the real problem is affecting the mouse movements, video/music
playback, keyboard, etc... but not directly this type of problem. It's like
when your hard drive is working and you see the hourglass icon rotating (in
Vista it's the round light circle spinning), it stops moving for a second at
times during the hard drive process... this is sorta like the same experience
I'm getting with all my peripherals.

Whenever I get a system sound like email coming in, someone on my buddy list
logging into IM, etc... the sound is also fluttered, duplicated, stuttering.

My computer constantly stops with a Desktop Window Manager error, I think
this is related somehow because it's a new type of display rendering. I'm
thinking if I can shut this off and revert to the old method it will help.

The plot thickens. Thanks for your response, please let me know of other
thoughts.

Ben

 

[Steve Thackery]

I had exactly the same problem.

I doubt it'll help you, but on the off-chance.... I cured this on my
machine by unplugging my Readyboost drive. It had got into some sort of
strange state (the internal LED was flashing even when the PC was powered
down).

With 2G of RAM I decided not to bother with it.

Steve

 

[Victek]

Check that your hard drive is using DMA for data transfer:

"control panel/system/device manager/IDE controllers/ATA Channel 0/Advanced
Properties Tab"

The suggestion to stop using ReadyBoost (if you ARE using it) is worth
trying, too.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, the drives are in Ultra DMA Modes, DMA enabled and I don't use
ReadyBoost either. I've even went as far as checking/updating my controller
drivers with no success, everything working fine.

However.

My mouse still stops randomly to then catch up with my movements (the most
annoying), the system sounds still flutter/duplicate rapidly, playing local
videos still studder like a bad connection. When I double click on a
program or a folder, the standard system click sound is multiplied, sounding
like click click click click really fast.

Here's one for ya... I went to my kids myspace pages and the embedded page
must studders badly too and moving the page up and down makes it worst and
my mouse of course stops moving sporatically as well.

Any ideas I'd appreciate it, working in this type of environment is
literally becoming unbearable. Hope we find a cure, I know it's
probably something simple, one thing that affects it all.

Thanks.

Ben

FYI, the Desktop Window Manager error was fixed by turning off Aero (thanks
to Andy from MSFT)

 

[Victek]

You could try disabling sound in the CMOS (BIOS) setup (just as a test of
course).

Disk maintenance, I.e. disk cleanup, check disk, and defrag?

Check the motherboard BIOS version and find out on the web site if you have
the latest version.

In the old days I would have there was a resource conflict (such as IRQ,
etc.) but that's not supposed to happen anymore.

 

[James David Byrne]

Check if some errant process is bringing the system to its knees.
Taskmanager (Ctrl-alt-del, select taskmanager), processes tab. Is anything
hogging the CPU? HTH James

 

[Guest]

Hello James,

I checked that too, Task Manager is normal, no unknown processes or spikes.

I also have the latest BIOS version too from SuperMicro.

I'm starting to think Vista is just not as compatible as it should be, I
might never solve this problem. It's so annoying trying to move the mouse
pointer over a button or listen to music when it keeps stopping.

Thanks again... if anyone else hears anything please let me know.

Ben

 

[Spirit]

If you are running Aero and your low base score is your video card try
turning Aero off....
bet it works fine now....... I had same problem....

 

[Guest]

Ben, not nearly as proficient in settings as you and those who have posted
previously but I had the same problem as I'm brand new to Vista. I changed
virtual memory up to 2065mb and also added 2gb of RAM and it fixed my
stuttering problem on media playback and mouse. Adding RAM isn't the cheapest
solution bit that combined with expanding v-memory worked for me. Good Luck.

 

[TheDuck]

Start task manager and see what threads are using the CPU time. There are
loads of threads running in the background whether or not you have programs
started.