Latency Problems (Audio Drop Outs) on M4600 with Dell 11.13.51.0 Intel 82579LM Drivers

I recently updated my network drivers to the latest Dell-supplied 825xx drivers version 11.13.51.0, released 11/01/11 (downloaded from the Dell driver support page).

After doing so, I was experiencing drop outs in audio play back, somewhat random but happening on the average once every 3-5 minutes. Using LatencyMon and DPC Latency Checker, I saw latency spikes of 85-110 ms -- pretty bad. LatencyMon pegged the ndis.sys driver as the culprit, which points to the network, although of course it can be anything in that chain down to any low-level drivers it calls.

I backed down to the prior 11.8.81.0 driver dated 10/28/10 (Device Manager, open the 82579 device, Driver tab, Roll Back Driver button). The big latency spikes are now gone, with the largest measured over the last 48 hours being 2.35 ms (still in ndis.sys). Not enough to cause audio drop outs, although I'd prefer if they never exceeded 1 ms.

My problem seems solved, so I'm mostly leaving this here for future reference if anyone else has this problem. Just a caveat -- I've read other people having latency problems that were solved in other ways, such as changing the power management settings, updating video card drivers, etc. Others fixed latency problems by just "tweaking" things, so it's possible it's not the driver, but just the installation upset things. These other solutions didn't work or didn't apply for me, but backing the driver down did.

But, a general question: The drivers on Intel's site are much newer -- version 17.1 dated 5/15/12 (not sure if Intel and Dell version numbers have anything do do with each other). Is it safe to use Intel's drivers? If so, is there a procedure to use (e.g., uninstall Dell drivers first, etc.)? Any idea if the newer drivers address latency issues (the Intel release notes don't say anything)?

 

Just as an addendum to this...

I notice when I get into Firefox and surf around, I will see occasional latency spikes up to 2-4 ms. Not enough to cause drop outs, but the usual latency level sits around 0.1-0.5 ms, so it's a definite spike. LatencyMon still points to ndis.sys, but I have a suspicion it's one of the Firefox plug-ins, maybe something like the Flash plug-in initializing on a page with video content. I haven't decided if I want to track this down further, since my audio playback problem has been fixed...

 

hello!
can you drop link to the 11.8.81.0 driver dated 10/28/10 version?
i didnt found it in download page.
also if possible can you provide link on intel drivers?
thank you

i have some random audio glitches and tryin to understand whats wrong.

 

When I browse Dell's driver support site, I can't get to older driver revs -- it only comes up with the latest 11.13.51.0. I had originally installed 11.8.81.0 when I first set up my M4600, so the drivers were still there to roll back to.

But, when I Googled for the 11.8.81.0 rev, it pointed me here: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers...Platform LAN Network Device, v.11.8.81.0, A01

Intel drivers are here (Google will point you here if you search): http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx

Select "Ethernet Components" for Product Family, "Ethernet Controllers" for Product Line, and 82579 for the Product Name (or whatever NIC your system has installed).

Best of luck tracking your problem down. Be prepared for a lot of research. Google is your friend.

 

thank you!
will check it today.

 

Thanks Zzyzxtek, that fixed the problem for me.

 

Hye.. try to understand the meaning of " random audio glitches " ... mine do have a random 1 beep sound which gone if mute the audio.. is it similar

 

well . ill tryed both drivers and this dosnot solve a problem
updating video card driver doesnot work
disabling wifi bt doesnot work

 

Ideally, you shouldn't be getting any red spikes at all. Here's my M18x latency during normal operation (no disabled devices, no service/process tweaking of any kind):

 

For me, a "random audio glitch" means that while I am playing audio (either lossless or MP3s) via a player (I use XM Play), the sound drops out completely for a very short period of time (under a second, but you can definitely hear it). It would be like very quickly clicking and unclicking the mute checkbox.

That's what we'd expect from a latency problem, because the music player is blocked from reading and transferring the audio content to the sound card (or in my case an Asus Xonar via USB) by an ill-behaved driver that has gone into kernel mode (and blocks other processes) for too long.