Sega Rally Hitches/Pauses/Freezes Every 5 Seconds

JohnnyF · 01-25-2008, 02:20 PM

Hi, sorry to ask for help but this is driving me mad!!

This is the only game that has this symptom and it makes it unplayable.

The game hitches/pauses/freezes for a split second every 5 secs - it makes it unplayable. This is even evident on the menu screen when everything is basically idling.
Symptom present when using GameJackal to run the game or whether I use my original DVD (both the normal .exe and the SSE1 version)

I have tried everything I can to isolate a CPU spike (I removed every running process I could one by one, and tried all the different graphics and sound options (incl the external sound card with my Steelsound headphones), - there is no cpu spike occurring when Sega Rally is not running.

Process Explorer reveals a small 2-3% spike in the System process that ties in perfectly with the stutter.

The Stack dump from ProcessExplorer doesn't seem to tell me much!:

First the rogue process:

ntkrnlpa.exe!KiSwapContext+0x2f
ntkrnlpa.exe!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x34

Then the top of the tree in the System Process:

ntkrnlpa.exe!KiSwapContext+0x2f
HSF_CNXT.sys+0x9bd44
(have tried disabling the Conexant Modem but to no avail)

The CPU spike is so very small, but has such a great effect.
Page file in use doesn't appear to vary and is well below the max (have tried with my set pagefile and a windows managed file) and there is no disk activity when the hitch occurs.

Rock XtremeCTX Pro Laptop -

Core2Duo T7400 @ 2.16 Ghz
2Gb RAM
GeForce Go 7950 GTX 512Mb
100Gb SATA Hdd
Realtek HD Audio

nVidia 169.28 drivers
Realtek R184 drivers
DX9c Nov2007 Redist
Latest Intel chipset infinst extracted and installed

Disk regularly cleaned with CCleaner
Disk Defragged with PerfectDisk 8.0 (incl system files)
AdAware & SpyBot S&D also give me no answers...

Main and Extra dumps from Deckard / HijackThis attached (run whilst Sega Rally was running). Active Virus Shield disabled for the dumps.
Post also posted in the HijackThis forum.

Please help!

JohnnyF · 01-25-2008, 03:19 PM

Sorry - the dumps are on the post in the HijackThis Forum.
Board didn't seem to want to let me upload again.

Also tried running the game under a new user, changing the affinity of the CPUs and increasing the priority of the .exe in Task Manager.

Thanks

01-25-2008, 02:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
JohnnyF Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 3 OS: XP MCE Sp2	Sega Rally Hitches/Pauses/Freezes Every 5 Seconds Hi, sorry to ask for help but this is driving me mad!! This is the only game that has this symptom and it makes it unplayable. The game hitches/pauses/freezes for a split second every 5 secs - it makes it unplayable. This is even evident on the menu screen when everything is basically idling. Symptom present when using GameJackal to run the game or whether I use my original DVD (both the normal .exe and the SSE1 version) I have tried everything I can to isolate a CPU spike (I removed every running process I could one by one, and tried all the different graphics and sound options (incl the external sound card with my Steelsound headphones), - there is no cpu spike occurring when Sega Rally is not running. Process Explorer reveals a small 2-3% spike in the System process that ties in perfectly with the stutter. The Stack dump from ProcessExplorer doesn't seem to tell me much!: First the rogue process: ntkrnlpa.exe!KiSwapContext+0x2f ntkrnlpa.exe!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x34 Then the top of the tree in the System Process: ntkrnlpa.exe!KiSwapContext+0x2f HSF_CNXT.sys+0x9bd44 (have tried disabling the Conexant Modem but to no avail) The CPU spike is so very small, but has such a great effect. Page file in use doesn't appear to vary and is well below the max (have tried with my set pagefile and a windows managed file) and there is no disk activity when the hitch occurs. Rock XtremeCTX Pro Laptop - Core2Duo T7400 @ 2.16 Ghz 2Gb RAM GeForce Go 7950 GTX 512Mb 100Gb SATA Hdd Realtek HD Audio nVidia 169.28 drivers Realtek R184 drivers DX9c Nov2007 Redist Latest Intel chipset infinst extracted and installed Disk regularly cleaned with CCleaner Disk Defragged with PerfectDisk 8.0 (incl system files) AdAware & SpyBot S&D also give me no answers... Main and Extra dumps from Deckard / HijackThis attached (run whilst Sega Rally was running). Active Virus Shield disabled for the dumps. Post also posted in the HijackThis forum. Please help!

01-25-2008, 03:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
JohnnyF Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 3 OS: XP MCE Sp2	Re: Sega Rally Hitches/Pauses/Freezes Every 5 Seconds Sorry - the dumps are on the post in the HijackThis Forum. Board didn't seem to want to let me upload again. Also tried running the game under a new user, changing the affinity of the CPUs and increasing the priority of the .exe in Task Manager. Thanks