Incredibly difficult SSD issue (I think).... Help!

[thecomputerguy]

2 more things I thought of:
This isn't just on internet videos, is it? .......web connection issue
Pop in a cloned platter drive and see how it acts.

It happens in VLC while working offline as well.

 

[thecomputerguy]

Is it limited to audio/video though? I mean its certainly possible for an ssd malfuction to stall the entire machine briefly

I'm beginning to think that it's very possible that the issue is a system wide issue and not just a video/audio issue. Video/audio are just easier to see the problem manifest due to the continuous playback of video/audio

 

[thecomputerguy]

You mentioned it has an AMD video card.
Does it have the extras installed that come with the standard driver package such as steady video or any other?

I recall having a stuttering issue occasionally on my HTPC and removing the added AMD options relating to video solved it.

Yes everything was installed for the card but I also tried removing the AMD card and uninstalling drivers then operating off of onboard video with the same result.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

How about cloning the SSD to another drive to see if the issue goes away?

 

[thecomputerguy]

I went out to the other client whose having what was described as a similar issue. I had him play me a youtube video and I witnessed the exact same problem. But he mentioned that it also happens in programs, and the way he described it was he would be using his mouse then it would pause for a very brief moment and then jump, which makes it very difficult to accurately check check-boxes.

So I believe this issue is the exact same problem as the other client, and I assumed it was a video/audio bug. It's probably system wide.

The two systems between the two different clients couldn't be any more different. One is a desktop (brand new), one is a laptop that is about 4 years old. Both run 7. Laptop has 8GB RAM, desktop has 16GB RAM.

Both systems have a Samsung 850 EVO with Magician installed. Both systems have up to date firmware.

The desktop is a clean install. The laptop was mirrored using Samsung Data Migration.

Laptop is in a Domain, Desktop is in a Workgroup.

Both experience the same problem.

Online & Offline stuttering

 

[thecomputerguy]

How about cloning the SSD to another drive to see if the issue goes away?

That is going to be my next step prior to giving them a whole new system.

I'd hate to have to restock a 5 month old system.

 

[thecomputerguy]

I'm going to try and move the pagefile to D: which is the data drive and then disable Rapid mode in the SSD.

 

[TechLady]

Let us know how it goes--this is very interesting.

 

[TAPtech]

Yes, super weird. I would try cloning to a different brand SSD as I can't think of anything else... I use Crucial MX300 series.

 

[AlexCa]

I'm going to try and move the pagefile to D: which is the data drive and then disable Rapid mode in the SSD.

Other day i was trying to decide whether i should turn on rapid mode on my system, and I've found some people complaining about problems associated with it, e.g: https://superuser.com/questions/742...ble-rapid-mode-on-a-samsung-solid-state-drive

 

[sapphirescales]

These intermittent freezes are always caused by either the wrong Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver (automatically installed by Windows Update - it's incompatible with the system - YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE CORRECT DRIVER FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND STOP WINDOWS FROM AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING DRIVERS - sometimes just installing the proper driver isn't enough. You have to do a nuke n' pave and then install the right driver), or a missing RAID or storage controller driver. Pull up the task manager and look to see if the disk usage goes up to 100% while it's freezing. If it is, then that's your problem.

I love this issue as it's bringing me in a lot of money from people that think they know what they're doing with computers and install their own SSD's. It brings 'em down a peg or two and makes them think twice about doing stuff themselves next time.

 

[thecomputerguy]

These intermittent freezes are always caused by either the wrong Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver (automatically installed by Windows Update - it's incompatible with the system - YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE CORRECT DRIVER FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND STOP WINDOWS FROM AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING DRIVERS - sometimes just installing the proper driver isn't enough. You have to do a nuke n' pave and then install the right driver), or a missing RAID or storage controller driver. Pull up the task manager and look to see if the disk usage goes up to 100% while it's freezing. If it is, then that's your problem.

I love this issue as it's bringing me in a lot of money from people that think they know what they're doing with computers and install their own SSD's. It brings 'em down a peg or two and makes them think twice about doing stuff themselves next time.

Moving the pagefile and turning off Rapid Mode, didn't change anything.

The computer has had issues with the Dell Intel RST Driver that came with it, issues with the RST driver being uninstalled, and the RST Driver from the Dell website after a clean forman & reload. I supposed it's possible that it could be being updated by Windows but I would expect that to show up as an optional update....

I'll go ahead and revert the drive back to what Dell recommends and see if that helps....

 

[thecomputerguy]

These intermittent freezes are always caused by either the wrong Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver (automatically installed by Windows Update - it's incompatible with the system - YOU NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE CORRECT DRIVER FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND STOP WINDOWS FROM AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING DRIVERS - sometimes just installing the proper driver isn't enough. You have to do a nuke n' pave and then install the right driver), or a missing RAID or storage controller driver. Pull up the task manager and look to see if the disk usage goes up to 100% while it's freezing. If it is, then that's your problem.

I love this issue as it's bringing me in a lot of money from people that think they know what they're doing with computers and install their own SSD's. It brings 'em down a peg or two and makes them think twice about doing stuff themselves next time.

Alright I've loaded the Intel RST Driver from the Dell Website and ran through all of the Windows update until the computer was fully up to date and there was no recommended or optional update for the Intel RST Driver.

 

[sapphirescales]

Alright I've loaded the Intel RST Driver from the Dell Website and ran through all of the Windows update until the computer was fully up to date and there was no recommended or optional update for the Intel RST Driver.

Also install the RAID driver - I don't care if you're using RAID or if that particular machine even supports RAID, but they have a nasty habit of putting important SATA controller drivers in with the RAID driver.

I don't mean to be insulting - just trying to cover my bases here, but when you download the driver directly from Dell, you're looking it up by Service Tag/Product ID right? It's possible that the one that's just listed under your generic model number (Optiplex XXXX) isn't the right one for your system.

Sometimes drivers that have been updated in the background won't show up under Optional Updates. The way you can tell if the driver has been recently updated is to go into the Device Manager, find the appropriate driver, and see if "rollback driver" is an option. If it is, that usually means that multiple versions of the driver have been installed (in this case, the original Dell driver and the "updated" one that Microsoft installed automatically).

Another thing I just thought of is if the computer has SATA II ports, try plugging the SSD into one of those to see if the problem still exists. Just a guess, but I don't think all this crap is a problem with the older SATA II connections. It's a sucky solution, but if all else fails...