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Windows 10 (fully patched and updated) laptop stutters and lags when it runs on battery power under certain conditions. I have traced this (I think) to power saving settings for the Wireless Adapter. Here's the logic...
If laptop is on AC power - no issues
If laptop is on battery AND wireless adapter power saving is set to "Medium Power Saving on battery" then Windows 10 (everything) lags and stutters. The mouse freezes for a couple of seconds, typing stops and starts, even the up-time counter in Task Manager skips a few seconds. If I switch the wireless adapter power saving setting to Max Performance on battery the issue goes away. BUT...
Even if I leave the wireless adapter power saving setting as"Maximum Performance on battery" then the stutter reappears IF there is a no wireless internet connection or if the laptop is in airplane mode.
So, Win 10 stutters IF(on battery == TRUE) AND ((Wireless Power Saving != Max Performance) OR (Wireless Internet Connection == FALSE))
To those with more knowledge than me:
If the wireless adapter is the issue (and I'm pretty sure it is) is there a fix? Why is the presence of an internet connection preventing the laptop lagging but in airplane mode it comes back (even with Max Performance set). I guess it is the adapter realising after some period that there is no connection and then going into a sleep state or low power mode even though it is set to max performance. i.e. it mimics the behaviour of medium power saving (even with an internet connection). But this sleep state drags the entire PC down with it?
HP Spectre x360 laptop, Core i7 7th Gen, 16Gb RAM, 1Tb SSD, Intel Wireless-AC 8265.
Happy to run some tests etc.
Thanks in advance.
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Thanks for this. There are no event log error messages that correlate in time with the lags.
The wireless issues still remain: In safe mode device manager reports the issues loading the driver for the device and BSOD on restart.
However, I believe I have isolated the lag / stutter issue (I will probably regret saying this as it has been a year of problems). I noticed that when I got a lag I could keep the lag going by moving the mouse and keep the lag from happening if I constantly moved the mouse / touchpad. A touchpad issue?
However, if I was streaming audio there was no interruption in the sound whilst in a lag. Also loading web pages would seem to continue to load and the page would be properly loaded when coming out of the lag. Therefore the laptop is still doing something whilst lagged or stuttering.
A number of forums suggested RealTek sound driver issues but I checked this and sound streams fine even in a lagged state.
The Eureka moment was in realising that the laptop isn't stopping it is the refresh of the display.
I also noticed that I never got the lags when I was connected to the USB-C hub which has a display, mouse, keyboard and power connected to it.
A process of elimination over a number of hours suggested that lags were prevented when connected to the external display. The external display prevents the lag which suggested a graphics driver problem or screen issue.
Looking on some windows forums I stumbled on users of Surface Pros reporting the same issue and moaning at Microsoft for not enabling the Intel Graphics Settings that is available if you right click on the desktop.
It appears that Panel Self Refresh is the issue.
Disabling Panel Self Refresh in all profiles and then making sure it is disabled for both Plugged in and Battery appears to have solved the problem.
The Panel Self Refresh setting does not work.
I will consider this wireless issue solved and re-post this issue / workaround in an appropriate post in the graphics forum.
Thanks for your help in investigating this.
Link Copied
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Hello craigfoster,
Thanks for posting.
This is an interesting behavior and we never seen it before. In order to better assist you, we would like to gather some more information. Please download and run the https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows- Intel® System Support Utility and share the resulting report with us.
When the system slows down, are there any errors on the system? Please check the wireless adapter status at Device Manager as well.
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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There are no error messages displayed. There are some entries in Windows Event Viewer but they don't seem to be related, they don't correlate in time with the lags, or they appear benign.
I've not noticed anything in Device Manager - everything appears normal there. I just double checked and Windows thinks it has the most up-to-date driver available.
One thing I didn't mention, which also adds confusion, is that the "Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power" is unticked in the Power Management tab for the device in Device Manager.
The SSU information is attached.
Thanks
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Hello craigfoster,
Thanks for your reply.
Judging by the issue description, the cause might be hardware related rather than software related (since issue is not reflected on device errors or system events). However, before concluding that, please test a clean wireless driver installation using the driver provided by your OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer):
- Download and save your driver of choice. You can:
- Get the latest system-specific driver https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-spectre-13-ac000-x360-convertible-pc/14039877/model/15304466 from your computer manufacturer support (Recommended first)
- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005559.html Download the Latest Driver for Your Intel® Wireless Adapter (test as a second option).
- Uninstall the Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software.
- Open Programs and Features (Uninstall a program) from the Control Panel.
- Select Uninstall or Change and then Remove.
- When prompted, choose to discard settings.
- Uninstall your wireless driver. Windows* with an inbox driver may natively support some wireless adapters. You cannot uninstall an inbox driver. Proceed to the next step if you start seeing the same version of the driver installed automatically after it's uninstalled.
- Go to Device Manager.
- Expand the Network Adapters category.
- Right-click your Intel Wireless Adapter and choose to uninstall it.
- Make sure to select the option to Delete the driver software for this device.
- Clear out your temporary files.
- Press the Windows* key and R key simultaneously to open the run box.
- Type in: cleanmgr.exe and press the Enter key or OK.
- Place a check mark next to Temporary Files. You can leave everything else checked or unchecked.
- Press OK and wait.
- Reboot your computer.
- Locate the driver you downloaded back in Step 1. Run as administrator and follow the wizard to completion.
- (Optional Step) Apply the https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000024678.html Recommended Settings for Wireless Connectivity.
NOTE: Links to third party sites are being offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel of the content, products, or services offered there.
If the issue persists, a clean installation of the operating system is recommended.
Please let us know the results.
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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Hello craigfoster,
We haven't heard from you in the last few days. Please let us know if there's anything else we can do for you.
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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Sorry. I've been trying a few things to get me up and running again. I tried your instructions and installed a clean driver version from the version made available by the manufacturer (HP). That didn't improve things. I then tried the updated driver from Windows Update (Device Manager - update driver) that installed a slightly more recent version. That didn't improve things. I'm now running with the latest version from the Intel support site and if anything the issue is just getting worse. I also checked the manufacturer support page and made sure every driver and the BIOS is up to date.
My previous equation is now no longer correct - I get 2-3 second lags even on mains power and more frequently on battery even with the maximum performance setting. Putting the laptop to sleep and then waking it up again provides some respite. I can also just tough it out and after about 10 minutes of lagging it will eventually go away for a bit.
HP support thought it might have been a power scheme setting. They created the default Power Saver and High Performance schemes but that didn't improve things. They also tried a driver and registry software tool to check those over. They did a UEFI hardware check and that passed. The only strange thing is the laptop still responds at some level (Caps Lock light), going to sleep are all responsive. And I can prevent a lag by keeping the mouse moving constantly, any pause causes a lag. If the lag is occurring then I can prolong it for as long as I keep the mouse moving.
I have no idea. I will try Safe Mode and see if that provides any insight. There's no errors or Task Manager indications about what is causing these micro-hangs / stutters.
Grateful for any suggestions or tricks.
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Hello craigfoster,
Thanks for your reply.
Testing Safe Mode it's a great idea, this might help to recognize if the issue is caused by some application or process.
We understand that backing up your data and performing a clean operating system installation takes time. However, that will allow you to know if the issue is software related at all.
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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In Safe Mode with Networking the wifi adapter does not load properly. In device manager the wifi adapter has the yellow warning sign and returns the following error code:
Windows cannot initialise the device driver for this hardware. (Code 37).
On restarting the PC from Safe Mode to normal mode I get a BSOD referring to a networking device not stopping properly. I didn't quite catch the error message both times it did it as it restarted too quickly.
Maybe that's relevant?
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Hello craigfoster,
There's a way to capture BSOD information. Please make sure minidumps are enabled, try to reproduce the issue and share the files with us. You can learn how to enable minidumps and their location in the following article:
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-update/bsod-finding-and-fixing-them/1939df35-283f-4830-a4dd-e95ee5d8669d BSOD Finding and fixing them - Microsoft*
NOTE: Links to third party sites are being offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel of the content, products, or services offered there.
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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OK. I have grabbed the two minidump files. How do I share them with you? I'm not seeing the attach files option in the forum post.
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Hello craigfoster,
The attach option is located at the bottom right of the reply box.
Regards,
Eugenio F.
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Hello craigfoster,
Thanks for sharing the files. The minidumps bug check string says: "DRIVER_UNLOADED_WITHOUT_CANCELLING_PENDING_OPERATIONS". The report points to ntoskrnl.exe (a kernel component) as the cause.
However, I'll like to review this thread with the next tier of support to check if there's anything else we can recommend. Please allow us some time to look into this.
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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Thanks for your continued help.
I have continued to look in to some issues. I did start wondering whether it is the wireless adapter that is causing the issue after all. So I started playing some audio to see if it was a sound driver issue (latency issues seem to be more of an issue with music and video). The only thing I had with me while I was out was to stream some live radio. Now for some reason that provided some respite from the lags and hangs. Not for very long but at least for a while. I still eventually got the lags but they stopped for a few minutes.
That got me thinking about whether there is some sort of drop out of connection issue going on that the streaming audio kept from happening. And the drops bring the PC to a halt while it reconnects. But that could be complete rubbish. Or some sort of powering down after a certain period of time causing a hang that a live streaming connection kept up.
I thought that I would look in to that. Now I don't get reports of a disconnect/reconnect or anything obvious like that - but I did notice that in Task Manager it reports that wifi is disconnected. It really isn't - I'm on the internet and streaming audio. Could this be related too?
Let me know if you want to try anything or if there are other logs/monitoring that would help check the issue. Basically it would be great to understand what the laptop is doing during those hangs and why it doesn't do it or stops after a sleep/wake cycle.
Thanks
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Hello craigfoster,
Thanks for your reply. We would like to check fresh Event logs, here's how to get them:
- Clear all previous logs.
- Hold Win+R
- Type eventvwr.msc then press Enter
- Go to Windows Logs > System
- Select Clear Log...
- Save the Event log in evtx format, no filter.
- Windows Logs > System
- Save All Events As > Name
- Display information for these languages > English (US)
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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Thanks for this. There are no event log error messages that correlate in time with the lags.
The wireless issues still remain: In safe mode device manager reports the issues loading the driver for the device and BSOD on restart.
However, I believe I have isolated the lag / stutter issue (I will probably regret saying this as it has been a year of problems). I noticed that when I got a lag I could keep the lag going by moving the mouse and keep the lag from happening if I constantly moved the mouse / touchpad. A touchpad issue?
However, if I was streaming audio there was no interruption in the sound whilst in a lag. Also loading web pages would seem to continue to load and the page would be properly loaded when coming out of the lag. Therefore the laptop is still doing something whilst lagged or stuttering.
A number of forums suggested RealTek sound driver issues but I checked this and sound streams fine even in a lagged state.
The Eureka moment was in realising that the laptop isn't stopping it is the refresh of the display.
I also noticed that I never got the lags when I was connected to the USB-C hub which has a display, mouse, keyboard and power connected to it.
A process of elimination over a number of hours suggested that lags were prevented when connected to the external display. The external display prevents the lag which suggested a graphics driver problem or screen issue.
Looking on some windows forums I stumbled on users of Surface Pros reporting the same issue and moaning at Microsoft for not enabling the Intel Graphics Settings that is available if you right click on the desktop.
It appears that Panel Self Refresh is the issue.
Disabling Panel Self Refresh in all profiles and then making sure it is disabled for both Plugged in and Battery appears to have solved the problem.
The Panel Self Refresh setting does not work.
I will consider this wireless issue solved and re-post this issue / workaround in an appropriate post in the graphics forum.
Thanks for your help in investigating this.
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Hello craigfoster,
Thanks for your reply. It is good to know you were able to find the root cause of the issue and solve it.
Please let us know if there's anything else we can do for you.
Best regards,
Eugenio F.
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