Dell Studio 15/17/XPS & Other DPC spike issues - Workaround

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What about Process Hacker ?

 

There isn't a 64-bit version of Process Hacker for vista as of this time...

 

finally i've found some one with the same problem as me! i brought a inspiron 1720 last year with the exact same specs as yours and was blown away by the fact that my shitty 6 year old desktop ren traktor with better latency and sounded better then my super freak dell notebook. i spent a bit of time looking into it but at that time there was no solution let alone other people with the same problem (only cos taktor was fresh and alot of people weren't using it or talking about it yet)

so is there a way that traktor can be run smoothly on the 1720? i spent like over 2 g on this freakin thing and i've never been able to get it right with traktor, which is sad cos thats basically what i brought it for.

is there a processhacker for 32 bit vista? i would really like to try this acpi.sys. fix to see if that works if not is there a way to get 1720's back on xp?

i've havnt been djign much over the last 6 months, the dell hasn't really helped my motivattion but i've got holidays coming up and i wanna start gigging again. has any one got any info or heard anythink about 1720's with vista getting tweaked to work with tsp?

 

Can anyone help me...

I have followed the instruction at the start of this thread posted by djquartz and when I got to Suspend the ACPI.SYS file in Process Explorer it says "Unable to access thread"...

Any idea what I can do here?

My laptop is a Studio 1555 with the latest BIOS update.

Cheers

 

Hi,

and here we've got another candidate for the DCP Latency Spike Contest! It's the Dell Vostro 1220.

I ordered myself a very neat little powerhouse from Dell:

# Intel 8700 DualCore @ 2.53 Ghz

# 4 Gigs of RAM

# 128 GB SSD

# Vista 32 Business

Sturdy built, little, huge battery capacity and the SSD was just a breeze. (Hope these things get cheaper soon.)

Wanted to run Guitar Rig & Band in a Box / Real Band on it. All went well apart from that bloody DCP spikes. Same thing as usual: 4000µs spikes every 4 secs resulting in noise and crackles in the guitar rig sound.

No way to get rid of it. Tried everything I could google (deactivating any hardware and services you could think of, trying to suspend acpi.sys [not working] and so on). Put even Win 7 Final Enterprise Trial Version on a separate partition: spikes as usual.

Today I gave in and called Dell to take it back. Got to say they were very kind and supportive. Technical service had no clue, said they could not do anything about it and suggested to return the computer. Customer Care even offered a discount if I'd keep it. I spent almost 1600€ on that thing. Even with a decent discount I would have been left behind with an pricey mobile typewriter. Listen Dell: WHAT WE WANT IS DECENT AUDIO STREAMING. No more, no less. So I kindly refused.

On Friday UPS will hopefully pick it up.

I am really sad about this because that little machine could have been the Holy Grail for me. It is a shame that at Dell they obviously don't care about that issue.

Conclusion:
I you want to run any professional / serious audio apps of any kind stay away from that brand. Do not buy the Dell VOSTRO 1220 for audio whatsoever. I can only speak for the Vostro 1220, but there are so many complaints about other models from Dell as we all know in that thread that I truly suggest to try another manufacturer. So maybe the Vostro should be added to the heading of the thread.

Sorry it took so many words and my post offers no advice to solve that dcp spikes issue. Just wanted to share my experience and help to avoid more disappointment with Dell.

BTW: Any suggestions for a 12" notebook in the range of the Vostro and with definitely NO DCP spikes?

Have fun!

 

It seems that ALL Dell's have issues with audio streaming.... the question is whyyy? Do other brands have these issues or is the only reliable notebook for audio a Macbook!

 

By accident I got a Alienware m17x laptop (which is also DELL) in my possession at the moment. Got DPC Spikes >1000µs EVERY OTHER SPIKE. Even after disabling EVERYTHING in the Devices Manager and settinge the notebook power scheme to desktop.

Seems like it's really a DELL-specific Problem.

 

Which Process Hacker do you guys use to suspend the ASYS thread? Or is there only one? I downloaded and installed one called Process Hacker 1.5 and I cant tell if it is actually suspended the thread or not.

When I right click the ASYS thread is has both Suspend and Resume on show and when I click on Suspend, nothing changes on the DPC Checker. So I have no idea if it has actually suspended the thread or not.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

@Agent_Trig - Close the window after you click on "suspend" and then double click on the ACPI.sys thread again. If you had actually suspended it, the button should now say "resume".

 

Indeed this would be true if using the normal Process Checker but as this wont work on my system, I am having to use Process Hacker. And in that program it shows both Suspend AND Resume buttons so I have no idea whether it has worked or not...

 

There is discussion over on the Dell forums about this issues as well. I think everyone should jump in to get more momentum on this.

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19279703/19550125.aspx#19550125

 

Btw I tried the same trick which Djquartz describes on the Dell Laptop's on HP Pavilion DV7T notebook running full bloated version of windows vista home pre 64bit - but i used software called Process Hacker and using the same technique i was able to get the DPC down in the green -- but before you get to that part you need to make sure you disable all the bloated services vista has loaded.. I followed Vista Prep guide that Rane has on its Site for Serato which worked well for me was able to run timecode and no pops and clicks running at 96khz with 5ms buffer for Audio Latency. Its extra step when you start the software to go and disable the acpi service but it makes it usable.

I'll post some screen shots of the before and after of the dpc show you can see the difference.

 

Notebook latency problem : the problem come from the Ricoh chipset !

Hi everybody,

More than a year ago I was looking for a new laptop and I had the same problem that all of you are experiencing... I tried to fix the latency and crackling/popping issues when I used my RME Fireface 400 on my HP pavillion in so many ways, but never found a fix for that. I finally realize that the firewire Ricoh chipset was the problem and that NOTHING could fix it. I then sold this laptop and buy a Sony SZ-780 that had the Texas Instrument firewire chipset. I never had any problem afterward.

Here is the url of the forum where I wrote : http://www.rme-audio.net/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=12815

I hope this will help you !

udem1234

 

I got my computer mate to try and put xp on it when i bought it but the hard drives simply would not accept it.

I have however now got traktor working very well on vista on the standard latency (although i use medium settings to make sure).

Ive done all the tweaks that are well documented, disabled absoluteley everything except the graphics card drivers which seemed to be the key to my problem. Traktor is surprisingly greedy on graphic requirements and when i reenabled the inbuilt card my problems stopped. I changed a few other things and disabled one of the battery settings aswell.

Hope this works for you, spent ages trying to get my 1720 working, nearly ordered a mac. Ive got vista home basic 32 bit sp1. Not gunna bother with SP2 in case i open a can of worms. Didnt have any problems when i updated to traktor pro 1.2 either.

Its all just a matter of tweaking, can be frustrating though, not just for vista users, apparently snow leapord has problems with 1.2 update.
---
I also took itunes off my computer as read somewhere it can cause problems. Im playing out next friday so that will be the true test of my new settings!

Another weird thing my vista does is if i unplug my xone 1d when vista is running it crashes, blue screen style, weird.

 

Was finally able to get this issue fixed! I took all the steps noted at the beginning of the thread but was unable to modify the acpi.sys thread. To remedy this I used a program called Process Hacker (thanks cronparser) I also used the Vista optimization guide on (I hate to say it) Rane's website. I have disabled my webcam, facial recognition software and ethernet connection in device manager(still running wireless) on my Studio XPS 13 and am completely green with a max spike still under 1000. Great job on this thread guys...after 3 hours on the phone with Dell Support yesterday and no help, this did it. Rock on!

 

@NitrogenNarcosis

glad to hear your running bro.. don't feel embarrassed about using the Vista guide from Rane's site thats what i used on my stock hp notebook running vista but def glad to see we all can work around with our notebooks.

 

I was extremely happy to see DPC come back in the green and spin my first good set in a while, but what blows my mind is that I also own a Dell Inspirion 9300 (Win XP), a XPS 1330 (Vista 32 and my wife's), and this new Studio XPS 1340 (also Vista 32)....Of all three, the older Inspiron runs with the lowest latency and my wife's XPS 1330 fully Vista bloated and all, still stays within range....So now here comes the real question: Who can this be reported to that may be able to issue a fix? Not a workaround on my brand new, custom built, $1500 dollar Studio XPS, but an actual fix? As I stated before, 3 hours wasted on a Saturday with Dell "XPS Experience" support, and nothing. Based on the three PC's I currently have, my only conclusion is that something in the Studio line is jacked. Keep 'em coming.

 

When using Process Hacker, how do you know that it has definately worked when you press Suspend? I ask because both Suspend AND Resume are available to press so there seems to be no way of knowing if it has actually suspended the process or not.

When I press Suspend, nothing changes within DPC Checker - which is why I am wondering if its even working or not.

Cheers

 

Ok this is seriously doing my head in! I bought a Dell 1555 with the sole purpose of using it for TSP and production. Spec is;
P8600 2.4 duo processor
4gb Ram
512 ATI Raedon graphics
500 GB Hardrive
1920x1080 HD Screen.
Running Windows 7 pro 64 bit

I have downloaded the DPC and keep getting red spikes every 10 seconds or so. Have disabled the wireless card and also the ACPI. Seemed to get really low latency. Thought this would do it but when I start using TSP again I start to get the red spikes again and pops again. This happens especially when 2 decks are playing. Dread to think what is going to happen when i use 4!

Anyone have nay ideas as laptop is only 4 days old? TSP worked perfect on my old Lenovvo but the screen was crap. Anyone got this running ok on this spec?

 

Try Disable your cd/dvd rom and make sure your power profile is setup for full performance..