Possible stuttering/hitching fix for old computers

Metalcastr · 02-27-2012, 09:51 AM

Hi. Half Life 2 was stuttering every few seconds like clockwork, but otherwise ran just fine on my brother's old 2005 Pentium 4 3Ghz based machine. This was new behavior, as I keep the machine squeaky clean and updated. I could not figure out the problem, I reinstalled video card drivers, scanned for malware, etc, until I opened the Task Manager and eyed the processes like a hawk.

As it turns out, Steam was using up to 60% of the processor every few seconds just changing the Store's latest games slideshow. Like clockwork, every few seconds a massive processor usage spike came from Steam.exe, at the exact same time the slideshow changed. It still did this even when minimized or closed, disabling Steam Community did not help, and the only way to stop it was to change the Steam store page to something else to quit the slideshow.

So if you've got an old machine that starts to hitch in HL2, check to see if the slideshow is running and stop it by changing pages.

Turpasauna · 03-05-2012, 02:17 PM

YES, thanks for the advise!!
I wondered why my Half Life 2 suddenly started stuttering, and sound clicking.
Tried everything, rollbacking drivers etc. This was the reason! Had to change the store page to "demos" so the slideshow stopped. All stuttering and sound clicking went away from HL2 instantly.
So this is a bug (Steam should stop the hidden slideshow, when you start a game).

Turpasauna · 03-06-2012, 12:55 PM

I opened a new official support ticket for this. I hope they will fix this and stop the slideshow when you enter you game collection.
My computer is not even that old or slow. Intel Dual core 2400Mhz, 4Gt RAM, Gefore 8800GTS. "real" SB soundcard, real (Intel) Network Card, Operating system in "tip top shape"

02-27-2012, 09:51 AM	#1
Metalcastr Join Date: Jun 2009 Reputation: 110 Posts: 296	Possible stuttering/hitching fix for old computers Hi. Half Life 2 was stuttering every few seconds like clockwork, but otherwise ran just fine on my brother's old 2005 Pentium 4 3Ghz based machine. This was new behavior, as I keep the machine squeaky clean and updated. I could not figure out the problem, I reinstalled video card drivers, scanned for malware, etc, until I opened the Task Manager and eyed the processes like a hawk. As it turns out, Steam was using up to 60% of the processor every few seconds just changing the Store's latest games slideshow. Like clockwork, every few seconds a massive processor usage spike came from Steam.exe, at the exact same time the slideshow changed. It still did this even when minimized or closed, disabling Steam Community did not help, and the only way to stop it was to change the Steam store page to something else to quit the slideshow. So if you've got an old machine that starts to hitch in HL2, check to see if the slideshow is running and stop it by changing pages.

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03-05-2012, 02:17 PM	#2
Turpasauna Join Date: Mar 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 9	YES, thanks for the advise!! I wondered why my Half Life 2 suddenly started stuttering, and sound clicking. Tried everything, rollbacking drivers etc. This was the reason! Had to change the store page to "demos" so the slideshow stopped. All stuttering and sound clicking went away from HL2 instantly. So this is a bug (Steam should stop the hidden slideshow, when you start a game).

03-06-2012, 12:55 PM	#3
Turpasauna Join Date: Mar 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 9	I opened a new official support ticket for this. I hope they will fix this and stop the slideshow when you enter you game collection. My computer is not even that old or slow. Intel Dual core 2400Mhz, 4Gt RAM, Gefore 8800GTS. "real" SB soundcard, real (Intel) Network Card, Operating system in "tip top shape"