Member Avatar for troggin

Well poop. I have an older Toshiba Satellite (S304-model, methinks). I'm cheap, and a conservationist, so I've been trying to keep the old girl going. Replaced the dying hard drive about 6 months ago, and everything's been kosher til now. Here is the skinny:

1.
New thing when booting.... Before the "Windows" screen, I get a black screen that I think mentions "realtek", "Intel" and "Mac Addr".... the cursor spins as if it is marking time, and after 10 seconds or so, the machine boots as per usual. I have never seen this screen until about a couple of weeks ago.

2.
When browsing, using the computer in general, the cursor will "stall & jump" for about 5-10 seconds occassionally (probably every 4-10 minutes or so). Frustrating!

3.
When listening to audio or watching video (both streaming- I don't know about playing my own files), that same "stall & jump" thing happens to the audio/video. It always recovers after 5-10 seconds, and then happens again in another 4-10 minutes. Also frustrating! It harshes my mellow.

4.
Don't know if this related, but since a couple of weeks ago after returning from out of town (where I used the hotel wireless), my computer has been (seemingly) unable to connect to my home wireless network. I really haven't looked further into this.. I've just lazily plugged the cable directly into the computer.

That's all I can think of right now.... There don't seem to be any mysterious noises, so nothing to report there. I'm flummoxed, but then again, it does not take much to flummox me. Please, sir (or madam), can you solve my flummoxation?

So, tell me your ideas... what do you think is happening? Is this a dying processor? Ethernet problem?

Thanks

-Troggin

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Dani AI

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reported the POST delay that prints NIC info (Realtek/Intel/MAC/PXE) and rhythmic audio/mouse stalls; recommended a cleanup and AV scan. Those are reasonable first steps, but the symptoms point to two separate but related causes: the PXE message is the network adapter firmware trying to network-boot, and the rhythmic stalls are most commonly caused by driver or disk I/O latency (DPC latency) or a driver misbehaving after a driver/utility change (hotel wireless drivers or connection managers are a common trigger).

Recommended diagnostic workflow (apply in order):

  1. Stop the PXE delay: enter BIOS/Setup at boot and disable "Network Boot" / "PXE" or move the hard drive ahead of LAN in the boot order. That removes the 10-second wait without changing Windows.

  2. Check for driver-related latency: run a DPC/latency checker (LatencyMon or DPC Latency Checker) while reproducing the audio stutter. If a driver is flagged, focus on that device (likely wireless, Realtek NIC or audio). Temporarily disable the wireless adapter in Device Manager to see if the stutters stop.

  3. Check disk and system health:

wmic diskdrive get status
chkdsk C: /f /r
sfc /scannow

WMIC gives a quick SMART sanity check (not definitive). Run a full SMART check (CrystalDiskInfo or vendor tool) and a Memtest86+ pass to rule out RAM.

  1. Power and driver housekeeping: set the power plan to High Performance, disable "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" for NICs in Device Manager, and reinstall chipset, audio and network drivers from vendor sites (Intel/Realtek/Toshiba) rather than bundled connection utilities.

Cautions and next steps: use Driver Verifier only if comfortable (it can force BSODs to reveal bad drivers) and backup data before any BIOS update. Event Viewer (System/Application) and Resource Monitor (resmon) will often show disk or driver errors that pinpoint the root cause.

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Member Avatar for Lightninghawk

I reccommend you run a nice thorough cleanup on your system then we'll go from there.

You should download and run the latest version of > Ccleaner <

You can Download AVG from the link in my signature below. It's an anti-virus/spyware program. It'll take care of any of those issues.

Once downloaded. Install it and run the updates. Once it is updated restart your computer in Safe Mode. And perform a full scan with AVG.

Please let me know if this helps. As far as the mouse jumping around. It could be the sensitivity of the mouse pad, or the mouse pad can be getting worn out. I just replaced a pad in my laptop. If this doesn't help your problems or even if it does please post and let me know. If it doesn't we'll start on another solution.

Member Avatar for troggin

Thanks for the reply.

I actually already have Ccleaner, and run it regularly. (Also AVG). I will check for updates, do your bidding, and get back here with the results.

Additional info:
Re: cursor skipping, This might sound odd, but the cursor skips to the same "rhythm"as when the audio/video stalls. Also, as I was shutting her down the other night, that same weird audio skipping thing occurred during the final moments of the "windows is shutting down" screen. (??)

And... that black screen upon loading- I watched it last night and after the time-marking cursor stopped, it said something about PXE-ROM and "now exiting PXE-ROM".....

That's it for now! Thanks again for your reply. Any additional input/replies are welcome.

Member Avatar for Lightninghawk

the black screen at startup is just your pc letting you know that it is starting all of the hardware devices required for the system to run.

the mouse skipping rythemicly to music may indicate a loose connection to the mouse pad. or even dust being in the connection. it is always a good idea to use a can of compressed air and clean the case and keyboard with it.

sorry if the aree any typos i'm replying from my cell as I travel

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