It's not you, it's me.....

Hello technical type folks,

I come to you today to ask about a problem I am having. Steadily since I18 there has been an increasing amount of lag in mine and my wife's COH play. It has gotten absolutely crazy since I19 dropped and now I am usually crashing 2-3 times a Task force/Mothership Raid(The wife has only crashed a 1-2 times in the last few weeks).

I know just enough about computers to get myself in trouble so I figured I would ask the "smart" guys for help.

I am running a 5770 graphics card(running in the mid 50 degree C range) and the wife has a 9800 GTS but otherwise our systems are identical.I have noticed something odd on both our COH netgraphs.


http://s405.photobucket.com/albums/p...1-22-29-55.jpg

There are these spikes that are happening about every 40-45 seconds and usually are timed with a graphics spike at the same point.

I will post the COH helper and Hijackthis in the following posts. If anyone has any ideas what our issues might be I will more than welcome the help.

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at December 21, 2010 22:41 (+01:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: KJ382AA-ABA m9250f
BIOS: BIOS Date: 01/31/08 10:59:20 Ver: 5.19
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 6144MB
.Net Memory Report: 4717MB out of 6143MB available
Page File: 10551MB (1733MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD7501AALS-00J7B0) 673469MB out of 715301MB (94%) free
D Drive: (SAMSUNG HD501LJ) 316323MB out of 476937MB (66%) free
E Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH10L) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7600.16385 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Manufacturer / Chip: ATI Technologies Inc. / ATI display adapter (0x68B8)
Video Memory: 3828 MB
Driver Version: 8.791.0.0
Driver Date: 10/27/2010 2:54:24 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5910
Driver Date: 8/4/2009 8:50:58 AM

Sound Device Description: ATI HDMI Output (ATI High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: AtihdW76.sys
Driver Version: 7.11.0000.7708
Driver Date: 7/15/2010 1:47:42 PM

Sound Device Description: Realtek HDMI Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5910
Driver Date: 8/4/2009 8:50:58 AM

Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5910
Driver Date: 8/4/2009 8:50:58 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: Benicia
Motherboard Version: 1.01
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: BIOS Date: 01/31/08 10:59:20 Ver: 5.19
BIOS Version: HPQOEM - 20080131
BIOS Release: 20080131000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1920x1080
3D Resolution: 1920x1080 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: 4x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Ultra quality
Bloom: 2.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: Medium?


World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 2.000
Entity Detail Level: 2.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Unknown (5)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: Ultra quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: Yes
Ambient Occlusion: Ultra
Occlusion Strength: Strong
Blur: Trilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 0.748
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.500
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 189854 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1900.201011102104.27
Installation Directory: D:\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\GUI\Icons\Powers has 257 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 38 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\City has 1 file
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 10:42:54 PM, on 12/21/2010
Platform: Windows 7 (WinNT 6.00.3504)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7600.16700)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\Messenger\YahooMessenger.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\TomTom HOME 2\TomTomHOMERunner.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O2 - BHO: &Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - {02478D38-C3F9-4efb-9B51-7695ECA05670} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\yt.dll
O2 - BHO: PE_IE_Helper Class - {0941C58F-E461-4E03-BD7D-44C27392ADE1} - C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus Forms\Viewer\3.5\PEhelper.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google Toolbar\GoogleToolbar_32.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Notifier BHO - {AF69DE43-7D58-4638-B6FA-CE66B5AD205D} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\5.6.5805.1910\s wg.dll
O2 - BHO: SingleInstance Class - {FDAD4DA1-61A2-4FD8-9C17-86F7AC245081} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\YTSingleInsta nce.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\yt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Google Toolbar - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google Toolbar\GoogleToolbar_32.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StartCCC] "C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CLIStart.exe" MSRun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [swg] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\GoogleToolbarNo tifier.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Messenger (Yahoo!)] "C:\PROGRA~2\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YAHOOM~1.EXE" -quiet
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [TomTomHOME.exe] "C:\Program Files (x86)\TomTom HOME 2\TomTomHOMERunner.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Google Sidewiki... - res://C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google Toolbar\Component\GoogleToolbarDynamic_mui_en_89D8 574934B26AC4.dll/cmsidewiki.html
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O16 - DPF: {E2883E8F-472F-4FB0-9522-AC9BF37916A7} - http://platformdl.adobe.com/NOS/getPlusPlus/1.6/gp.cab
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: AMD External Events Utility - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\atiesrxx.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Google Update Service (gupdate) (gupdate) - Google Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe
O23 - Service: Google Software Updater (gusvc) - Google - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Common\Google Updater\GoogleUpdaterService.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: lxea_device - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lxeacoms.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: TomTomHOMEService - TomTom - C:\Program Files (x86)\TomTom HOME 2\TomTomHOMEService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Yahoo! Updater (YahooAUService) - Yahoo! Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\SoftwareUpdate\YahooAUService.exe

--
End of file - 7844 bytes

Turn Ambient Occlusion off; you will notice an immediate increase in performance and you will very likely not even notice that Ambient Occlusion is off. It's a massive performance hog.
Yahoo! Updater and Google Updater do not need to be running all the time.
I don't think you need TomTomHOMERunner running all the time either.
Also this: O16 - DPF: {E2883E8F-472F-4FB0-9522-AC9BF37916A7} - http://platformdl.adobe.com/NOS/getPlusPlus/1.6/gp.cab Is Adobe trying to get you to update your version of Acrobat Reader, I think. Adobe is very aggressive about trying to force updates.

Thanks for the reply Starcloud.

I tried turning off the programs you mentioned and the Ambient Occlusion and I am still having the same issues.

My FPS is staying around 20-35, depending on the area I'm in, but I still get the rubberbanding every time the Netgraph bar pegs.

The weird part(to me anyway) is that it's not just me lagging. I have seen all the traffic on the street jump backwards 20ft while I am standing still alone doing nothing with no powers on. All the pedestrians will also stop and take a break from their wanderings.

Anyone have anything else I can try?

Might wanna look at your actual net traffic ping. Ping Plotter can help with that, http://www.pingplotter.com/

Also is the router older or maybe getting hot? That could be an issue.

I did notice that your runnin 200% details I think. That's pushin alot of pixels through that card. I wasn't able to really run 200% until I upgraded to a gtx460, and most if not all of my stutter/rubberbanding stopped when I upgraded the GPU. My older card wasn't a slouch either, GTX260 216 core OC.

I just managed to get rid of Google Updater yesterday after a week or so of trying - it had somehow managed to sneak itself into my system with a software update.

There was some box that I didn't un-check = Maybe in ZoneAlarm or Adobe... although it could have been Firefox, or anything remotely related to the "Google Pack".

I had to remove pretty much everything, Although I was working on doing the same with Motherboard, Audio and Video Drivers - so it wasn't as painful as it could've been...

But I ended up deleting all the Nvidia Shared-Common Files, and removing and "scrubbing" the Registry of everything related to them. And several other things that I'd characterize as "less-than-wise" AND a number of things that I wouldn't really recommend to others = aka "Don't try this at home boys & girls".

I succeeded in repairing my Audio, I'm just stopped in to see if there was any news in the realm of Video Drivers & older Video Cards playing well together, I don't see any yet.

I've still got some ideas to on how to combat some of the problems - One of the biggest hunches - that I've noticed some possible correlation with... Is an issue of turning nearly all driver settings, all the way down.

It appears as if this is counter-productive, and (in some cases) it appears to be (basically) just off-loading work to the CPU, Rather than simply eliminating work for the GPU - and (presuming my hunch/suspicion is correct) this is turning out to be MUCH 'less than helpful'... I'm going to work on it this evening and post any successful/positive results - with whatever evidence I have = be it anecdotal or otherwise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville City of Heroes didn't fail, City of Heroes was killed. If a 747 dropped on your house, you'd say you were killed, not you failed to find a safer dwelling.

Try turning off Anti-Aliasing.

There have been many of us with ATI cards having issues. As a fellow 5770 user the card works for the most part but I did have issues with 10.10 and 10.11 drivers. Rolled back to 10.9 which made most of the issues go away. I later changed to 10.12 and not had any issues.

Some of the card's problem could be heat related but 50C should be ok.

Well...
I've been working on this more (off and on) thru the night & it's been a virtual Crasha-palooza!

And it's 'hard lockups' too = I can't even get to taskbar or the task manager and restart or shutdown from there - so I'm having to reboot via the reset button - and it's been accompanied by a sound loop almost every time so far.

I've spent time digging through some old-ish posts from earlier this year, From the hear and the Nvidia forums, and other random-ish posts in whichever forums Google happens to lead me to...

There are still some thing left to try, and a sizable number of older drivers to go back and try (uninstalling and re-installing as I go), this isn't fun - I've managed a couple 5 mins or so at WW's with one alt, and another couldn't even manage to go pay SG base rent in Galaxy - locking up before exiting the Arena - where (to my surprise), I'd parked that Alt for 130+ days!

I'm realizing that I haven't been able to really play the game reliably in 2-3 (going on 4) months, and particularly the last 5 or 6 weeks.
It's time to turn on the Bat/Dev Signal - this has become absolutely crazy!

And -adding insult to injury - I never even get a chance to submit a freaking Crash Report either!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville City of Heroes didn't fail, City of Heroes was killed. If a 747 dropped on your house, you'd say you were killed, not you failed to find a safer dwelling.

Thanks again folks,

I everything I have is on a wired connection. Mostly because of the interference problems Starcloud mentioned. I even turned off the wireless device just to make sure it wasn't conflicting somehow.

I am beginning to suspect what Starcloud mentioned. That it is a problem between me and the data center. I've looked at 3-4 different net tracking programs and all of them show lots of packet loss/ data spikes at exactly the same times.

So before I call an Italian gentleman who understands English but refuses to speak it just to be a pain to us Americans(Yes I know I'm in their country and should speak their language and I'm trying), does anyone know a way to verify whether the router is good or not. I don't have another one to try and there is a strict no return policy at the electronic stores here.


Oh, and just to clarify. Both our computers are having the issue, my wifes' is just not crashing.


*EDIT ADDITION:

I just used the pingplotter program that Terrashock provided to Ping just my router, instead of websites like I did before. I was seeing the same spikes on the graph at around 40-45 seconds. I'm not really sure what to do from here though.

If you are running Microsofts Security suite (whatever its called), go into settings and put the CoX folder into the exclusions section. I did this and it stopped my copy of CoX from lagging/crashing out when it got all busy.

Have you tried to reset your router, i.e. switch off, wait 15 seconds and switch back on?
You could also try to bypass your router and connect directly to the net, and see if it has any effect, i.e. as a test of the router.

PROBLEM SOLVED....through not paying attention!

I was trying to play yesterday and the game started crashing every 10 seconds or so(of course right after I had started a TF). After about the 6-7 crash I shut everything down including my router/modem. I unplugged my router, and took some canned air to it and the computers(figured it couldn't hurt). When I went to plug everything back in I realized I didn't know which item went back to which port so I just plugged them all back in where ever. BLAMO! everything worked, until......I turned on my 3rd computer.

*longer story cut short*

It seems something is wrong with my second port on my router. Every-time I plug something into it I start getting the lag/noise/or whatever it is. It doesn't matter what goes where on the other 3 ports but I can't plug anything into that port. I have to buy a new router now, but atleast I know what it is.


Thank you very much to the folks who tried to help!

Thanks very much for sharing your solution to the problem. Welcome back!