x120e Stuttering Audio [ Edited ]

[efofiks]

This is getting interesting.

I have t510 and the same audio problems. On this topic http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T410-Extremely-Annoying-Audio-Issues/td-p/2... people suggested that the nvidia driver is causing problems, and that the solution is in testing phases. I run this new latency program that they've suggested here. It's called "Latency Mon" and true enough, it said: "Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 1993 Responsible driver: nvlddmkm.sys. I guess it is nvidia drivers fault.

In regard to "drivers" sorted by "ISR count", this "hal.dll" is of the charts, exactly what people with x120e are reporting.

I've noticed that my audio issues are the most serious from the moment I turn on my pc, till Think Vantage (or whatever its name) finishes its checkings. In that interval I cannot listen to any audio at all because of all this interruption noises. After think vantage does its job, it becomes bearable. Only 2 or 3 times in a minute.

So, will this nvidia fix solve also this hal.dll thing? (sorry if this question sound ignorant, but i'm no expert in this things, and it's the first time i had a problme like that).

Why is this happening to Lenovo? Will all new PC's come with this audio issues. Now if feels like it's not model dependent, but Lenovo dependent.

Lenovo guys, wish you luck with solving this issues! I really like everything about your machines, (except for this minor glitch).

[KGr_ss]

Just as a heads up, waking from Hibernation does not cause the audio stutter like it does when waking from sleep.

This might be a tentative solution for those who need to have the laptop in a state of low power usage without wanting to turn off the laptop till a better solution comes along.

Again, this is my experience.  Howlingblindowl or someone else who is suffering from this issue, can you try a hibernate > wake from hibernate on a new boot to see if the Audio Stutter occurs?  Of course, restarting the computer before trying this test would be appreciated so that a previous issue caused by waking from sleep doesn't creep into the test .

[KGr_ss]

Regarding the NVIDIA fix, I don't think it would help out us X120e users because our chipset is AMD. It would have to be a solution outside of the NVIDIA chipset or NVIDIA driver for us to benefit from the fix. Unless for some odd reason both nvidia and AMD share a common thing within the chipset....

At least from my limited knowledge, I believe the NVIDIA and AMD issues, though similar, are caused by different sources that require different solutions for each chipset.

[rumtimes]

hal.dll is a windows system file

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows_library_files#Hal.dll

[ColonelONeill]

That's weird. LatencyMon doesn't even show hal.dll in the list for me.

Does applying BlackViper's Windows 7 SP0/SP1 Safe services configuration help?

EDIT: My bad; should be sorting by DPC.count. Posting without sleep isn't fun.

[howlinblindowl]

Waking from hibernation still causes audio stutters for me. 

[4t0mik]

Just got my x120e as well.  Only installed Chrome and noticed it right away.  Studdering issues 1-2min with robotic noise.  Just confirming other's experiencies.  There should be no reason to have to uninstall (though it may fix it temp wise) the Lenovo Power Mangement software.

This seems like an issue that a driver is causing.  Let's keep this thread going and get Lenovo to look into it.  The review units sent out to folks (Mags, Websites) had this issue too.  They shouldn't have shipped it this way,

[KGr_ss]

Gah, I have no idea... I just tried waking from hibernation and sleep five times each with a restart of the system before every attempt and 0/5 waking from hibernation resulted in the audio stutter while 5/5 waking from sleep did (verified that the audio did not stutter before hibernating / sleeping).  Tried Hulu, Youtube, and Audio files played back through Foobar2000 v1.1.5.

My Lenovo X120e:

Bios 1.08 "8FET24WW" (Does anyone find it strange that on the Lenovo site, the X120e only has Bios 1.04 "8FET20WW"? Lenovo Drivers Page)

AMD E-350

4GB DDR3 PC3-10600 RAM (2GB stock + 2GB Crucial CT25664BC1339)

Patriot Inferno 60GB SSD

No Bluetooth

2x2 a/b/g/n wireless

32Wh Battery

Installed AMD SATA Controller 1.2.1.275 over the Lenovo provided AMD SATA Controller 1.2.1.197

Installed Catalyst Drivers 11.2 for E-350

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1

Internet Explorer RC

Latest Flash (10.2)

Everything else is as Lenovo provided for Drivers / Software (Haven't uninstalled Power Manager or Toolbox)

Installed the Factory Lenovo Image by using the Lenovo Recovery CD/DVD onto the SSD

[jheshka]

hal.dll is actually used by Windows to manage all of your hardware.

You are right in that HDAudBus is the audio bus

storport is a new driver developed by Microsoft for controlling the the hard drive's operations. (Similar to a SATA driver) 

USBPort.sys is fairly selfexplanitory. 

i8042prt.sys is actually used for all input devices (Trackpad, trackpoint, USB mouse, usb keyboard, your laptop keyboard)

ndis.sys is a driver service related to your managing network connections. 

Really commonly power settings will be what causes the computers to be slow or non responsive. If you adjust your power plan using the lenovo software or uninstall the lenovo software and adjust it using Windows' Power Plans, you should notice a big difference. 

[steinAK]

Reminds me of the old ISA card days. Could someone with an X120e go to Device Manager, select 'View':'Resources by Type' then click on Interrupt Request (IRQ) then scroll down until you find the High Definition Audio Controller (that is how my X100e lists it).

Could you then post what the IRQ is (mine is 16) and what is sharing that IRQ (mine has two entries for standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller)?

Thanks - it may be a red herring but I feel it's worth checking out.