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Beloved · (This post was last modified: 2008-08-27, 01:38 PM by Beloved.)

My problem:
This notebook is about 3 days new. The stuff runs fairly quickly without lag and according to other people's tests, it could also run resource consuming games decently. I haven't really tweaked with the settings on vista, but the first thing I notice on maple is that I get extremely low FPS. -- I can't even go on for more than 5 seconds without a 1-3 second frame freeze. Meanwhile, my internet is completely lagless. For a rig with 1GB of vram and 4GB of ram, it really strikes me as odd that this laptop can't handle that when other games have reportedly been fine. Here's a link to some benchmarks performed by a tech (with the same laptop). There's also some vids to show how some of the tested games run:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273404

My speculations:
Mostly, I did a lot of googling, looking for a fix and so far, the results seem to indicate either
1. low specs running vista = laggy maple (I doubt this is my case, most laptop users with this complaint on avg had 1GB of ram)
2. Drivers not up to date. (gfx card driver is up to date. ... o_O I can't think of any others that could've caused the lag.)
3. Overheated notebooks hinder performance (doubt is the case either: the max temp on this rig is 40 C)
4. Vista and maple are naturally incapable of getting along (there must be a way around this >.>)

Personally, Vista really isn't my arena of expertise, nor are notebooks, lol. This would be the first laptop I've ever owned (mainly because I've never found a reason to need one), and also the first time I've ever used Vista. Meaning, there's probably a ton of stuff I don't know. Bottom line though, I really want to use downgrading to xp as a last option. I believe there's really only one [irrelevant] driver that isn't compatible with xp.

Connection Speed: 7524 kb/s download & 723 kb/s upload

CrystalMark Results

lol I don't know why the analysis took in my USB drive as my HDD (that I later on unplugged and redid the analysis), but I believe it's a WD Scorpio SATA 3GB/s 8 MB Cache 5400 RPM, the model number(?) derived from the Device Manager is "WDC WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0".

Edit: a copypasta for some of the unknowns the results came up with:

Spoiler

kleptophobia · 2008-08-27, 02:34 PM

Considering I don't get lag on this piece of crap (1GB + Integrated Graphics)... Only thing I can think of is do you run in XP SP2 Compatibility mode?

Beloved · 2008-08-27, 03:39 PM

kleptophobia Wrote:Considering I don't get lag on this piece of crap (1GB + Integrated Graphics)... Only thing I can think of is do you run in XP SP2 Compatibility mode?

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I have set it to run in XP SP2 compatibility mode.

On that note, I've also set the laptop power options to high performance. I read somewhere that it keeps certain things from running. Despite the compatibility mode and the power option setting changes, it still gives me a low fps. =\

Yoorah · 2008-08-29, 03:28 PM

The majority of compatibility issues involving Vista systems are due to driver incompatibilities/defects, and not so much Vista itself. In this case, it's most likely your graphics card driver.

A while ago, I remember someone on this forum having a similar issue to yours, which they eventually solved by installing unofficial Omega drivers. The problem is that the current release doesn't have "laptop support", as the driver author calls it... so I wouldn't try using that, if I were you.

My suggestion would be to set up a dual boot system so you can use XP for Maple, while keeping Vista for other things, if you don't feel like getting rid of it. There should be lots of guides for that, if you look around. Or use this one, which I found randomly and seems decent.

XTOTHEL · 2008-08-29, 06:34 PM

new drivers: http://support.asus.com/download/downloa...uage=en-us V7.15.11.7623

You have to navigate the site yourself...at the drop down list select notebooks, then select the M50 series and the VM model Smile

Beloved · 2008-08-30, 02:41 AM

XTOTHEL Wrote:new drivers: http://support.asus.com/download/downloa...uage=en-us V7.15.11.7623

You have to navigate the site yourself...at the drop down list select notebooks, then select the M50 series and the VM model

That was the first place I went to to find out of all drivers were updated. The second time was googling for manufacturer websites.

Anyway, just and update, I went hunting for my wireless driver, it turns out that everything IS updated except for the wireless -- the most recent one was not presented in the asus website. So I went ahead and downloaded its update however...

I can't remember how I ran across this, but I found out that people with periodical lags of up to 2-5 seconds (minimum -- mine can go on for 30 seconds and more; this i know from playing omok) are suffering from this due to microsoft making vista scan for newer connections way too often. Will confirm if this is the issue later (gunna test by turning it all off, then using a ethernet cord to feed connection).

Reference link:
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-networking...kes-2.html

butterfλi · 2008-08-30, 02:55 AM

Also, set up maple on vista so that it runs in service pack 2. It helps a little. It's not gonna be as good as xp though. Also, before running maple, close things you don't need via task manager. And your days of playing maple in high picture quality are over. Maple sucks on all laptops in general too.

Beloved · (This post was last modified: 2008-08-30, 03:41 AM by Beloved.)

butterfli Wrote:Also, set up maple on vista so that it runs in service pack 2.

Um.. I don't think vista sp2 is out.

It helps a little. It's not gonna be as good as xp though. Also, before running maple, close things you don't need via task manager.

Despite that computer lag wasn't it -- I could move perfectly fine with the net lag in place, i did try that. I realised, too, that web-browsing is affected -- now that i know what's really going on. I also noticed this lag in another game I played -- (one that required more resource than maple. That game ran laglessly except with the similar sudden freeze issue where you hit a key and the server registers that the command was issued but you do not see the game react till x seconds later.

And your days of playing maple in high picture quality are over. Maple sucks on all laptops in general too.

Mostly due to the keyboard, imo. My cousin's laptop ran maple perfectly fine. Though, hers is tons older. High picture quality or low, it didn't matter: I tried that on my zrun on tuesday. I could probably walk right into zakum a ton of times and then find myself dead on the alter 60 seconds later. It was also that same zrun that I'd tested shutting off all unnecessary processes.

----------

Anyway, I ran the ping tests (using yoorah's nexon ip from the other thread) to compare ethernet connection and wireless connection. Wireless will experience near consistant spikes and general failures. Ethernet connection shows spikes but none of the general failures.

Right now, I'm too exhausted to find out how to turn off WLAN autoconfig so that it doesnt unreasonably look for a new connection too many times per 1 minute. >.> The best part is I dont think this works. I know WLAN Optimizer doesn't. I dont really think its guna make much of a difference if I used Vista-Anti-Lag either.

Suddenly, going through the trouble of completely eradicating vista, then slipstreaming my drivers into an xp cd doesnt seem like a bad idea at all. Still, I'd like to find a way to solve this without reverting to xp. -- suggestions?

butterfλi · 2008-08-30, 04:32 AM

Beloved Wrote:
butterfli Wrote:Also, set up maple on vista so that it runs in service pack 2.
Um.. I don't think vista sp2 is out.

service pack 2 xp

Since you're in vista laptop, turn your computer's performance up to "high performance" by clicking on the battery if it's not set so already. If you're using it on it's battery alone, plug the cord in. Also since vista's theme is so flashy, try putting it in windows classic theme since it uses less colors.

Beloved · (This post was last modified: 2008-08-30, 10:55 PM by Beloved.)

butterfli Wrote:service pack 2 xp

Since you're in vista laptop, turn your computer's performance up to "high performance" by clicking on the battery if it's not set so already. If you're using it on it's battery alone, plug the cord in. Also since vista's theme is so flashy, try putting it in windows classic theme since it uses less colors.

Beloved Wrote:Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I have set it to run in XP SP2 compatibility mode.

On that note, I've also set the laptop power options to high performance. I read somewhere that it keeps certain things from running. Despite the compatibility mode and the power option setting changes, it still gives me a low fps. =\

I think you tl;dr'd my first post and possibly the previous one or I guess I didnt describe the issue properly.

It isn't the machine itself lagging, it's the way vista was programmed that's causing issues. The ping test that comes back with general failures pretty much prove that it's the net going nuts every so often. I just don't know how to turn that off.

Edit: I went to time the pings to confirm that it IS vista's WLAN autoconfig goofing up, and it DOES in fact "lag" every 60 seconds for 5 second intervals.

Technolink · 2008-09-01, 12:30 AM

If its vista's autoconfig, disable it. Wireless connection-.(right click) properties -> wireless networks tab -> untick the 'let windows pineapple my internet in the ass'

XTOTHEL · 2008-09-01, 02:07 PM

You are really confusing, first you say it is an FPS lag which is a problem caused by your machine. Now you've moved onto a internet problem :S

Beloved · (This post was last modified: 2008-09-01, 11:11 PM by Beloved.)

I know, the FPS is still quite low, but reading around and testing my pings, I realised my connection gets owned every 60 seconds. I figured, I'd like to fix that connection issue first, then deal with the FPS lag. After several experiment fixes, from turning off services (WLAN + Wireless autoconfig), using a wireless USB adapter (as opposed to the built-in one), to running dos commands, I've so far found only one solution that serves as a fairly good fix to it. My net however, is still lag spiking every so often where I didn't used to on my desktop. My FPS is still low as hell. By now, I have one last solution left up in my sleeves. If it's not fixed by then, I give. And then it's XP I go. =\ I'm sorry for the confusion I've caused. I -was- just as confused as you are. It's just..

Everytime I posted here to update my progress, typing up detailed records of my experiments in hopes that somebody can suggest me something, I get owned by board server maintenance or me suddenly thinking of something and then rebooting the laptop. lol My lack of updates are totally unintentional -- sorry. ^^;

*edits post to add what I've tried*

This isn't the whole list of stuff I tried, but more the stuff that most people have tried (though it failed for them, I wanted to try it anyway) and also stuff I've tried whose results were relevant in what I conclude from it.

Try#1: Switched off wireless adapter. Hardwired the internet connection. Extremely few lag spikes in random order. -- wtp it worked?!
Try#2: Used Vista Anti-Lag and WLAN Optimizer to prevent vista from looking for a newer AP every 60s. Fail.
Try#3: Stopped the services WLAN autoconfig and Wireless autoconfig then tried to connect to the internet. -- Fail.
Try#4: Stopped the services WLAN autoconfig and wireless autoconfig then tried to connect to the internet using a 3rd party connection manager. -- Fail. Doesn't seem as if you'd get anywhere without the two services.
Try#5: Kept both services running; Turned off "Connect to a more preferred network if available" under properties. Fail.
Try#6: [spoiler=This technique is successful. To those who want to try this please note that I'm not responsible if you mess up or if it does not work for you.]Did the above but also turned off the autoconfig on the interface Wireless Network Connection that is tied to my laptop's built-in wireless adapter. Bingo. Command used in command prompt was:

Code:
netsh wlan set autoconfig enabled=no interface=[B][color=Red]"wireless network connection"[/color][/B]

(To whoever wants to use this, since it's worked for many people, you should first find out what the interface name is in case yours were labelled differently. To do this, start up command prompt as admin: Start> type in cmd> right click, scroll to run as admin. Then type in

Code:
netsh wlan show settings

Hit enter. Something like this should show up:

Quote:Wireless LAN settings
---------------------
Show blocked networks in visible network list: No.

Only use GP profiles on GP configured networks: No.

Auto configuration logic is enabled on interface [COLOR="Red"]"Wireless Network Connecti
on"[/COLOR].

C:\Windows\system32>

That red bolded part is what you want.[/spoiler]

Lag spikes are almost 50% fewer now. -- MAJOR improvement. However, theres still a lag spike every so often, sometimes more than enough to possibly own me at bossing activities. Next few tries will be focused on downgrading my wireless card's driver to an xp driver then running Try#6 again.

My laptop's built-in wireless adapter is an Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter.

@Technolink: if you don't mind, could you be more specific?

Lyssa · 2008-09-02, 01:10 PM

[COLOR="Indigo"]Just out of curiosity--and I know it's not really related--but is the internet behaving on your other computer? You mentioned a desktop in a previous post; I assume it's running Windows XP? Is the connection there holding steady or does it spike as well? Perhaps a call to your ISP to check the health of your internet would be useful.

~Lyssa[/COLOR]

Beloved · 2008-09-02, 01:27 PM

Lyssa Wrote:[COLOR="Indigo"]Just out of curiosity--and I know it's not really related--but is the internet behaving on your other computer? You mentioned a desktop in a previous post; I assume it's running Windows XP? Is the connection there holding steady or does it spike as well? Perhaps a call to your ISP to check the health of your internet would be useful.

~Lyssa[/COLOR]

My desktop upstairs, though is nearly ancient now, works perfectly fine. I've never had an internet problem with that machine. The desktop that this laptop replaced used a wireless as well, I zakum'd and HT'd at the preliminary heads with 512 mb vid ram and 1gb main memory without lag or internet spikes. This laptop, I can't even go pap without huge lag spikes that cause me to literally run for my life in case i get dispelled while my internet's getting owned.

Beloved · 2008-09-05, 10:03 PM

Please excuse me for the doublepost, but I have found a 100% working solution.

It makes ZERO sense to me but if you install the xp equivalent for your vista wireless driver, it equals to the result of hardwiring your internet (as in, plugging in a ethernet cable to feed your laptop internet). In other words, lag isn't fixed only by a dinky 50% but by a 100% instead. So, for those of you who lag, find out what brand of wireless you are using and then find the most recent xp driver for it. When you are installing, set it to be compatible with winxp sp2. Should be all set after that.

Would greatly appreciate it if somebody explained why it works this way though -- this is a new arena for me, so there's plenty i dont understand. I just know that it works, but not the reason why behind it.

Thanks for all the help everyone has given or has tried to offer. I hope this thread will benefit somebody else in the future.

For those of you with Atheros AR928x Wireless Network Adapter, the download link to the self install driver is located here

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