stacsv.exe running all the time

I have the Precision M4400 and I downloaded  the 6.10.0.6087 A04 IDT sound drivers. Now I notice that now there is a process stacsv.exe that runs 50% all the time.  Have to reboot to get stop it.  In the end I rolled back my drivers.   Does anyone experience this problem?   Running Vista Business 32bit.

I have the same problem and can not roll back ... roll back is not avaliable.  Help Please.

DWL50

I am also having the same issue on a new Dell Latitude E6500.  I'm running Vista Ultimate 64-bit, so my process name is actually stacsv64.exe.  This seems to rule out anything specific to the 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows and/or the driver.

Using Microsoft's / Sysinternal's Process Explorer, I found that there is one thread in particular that is apparently "hung":  "ADVAPI32.dll!SetServiceStatus+0x100".

I have a screenshot of the "Threads" tab that shows this, as well as a screenshot of the Thread's stack, and the Image properties tab.  Unfortunately, the Dell forums are still quite broken and won't allow me to upload them here.  After 3(!) more chat sessions, I finally obtained an email address for Dell support where I've sent them along with these details and a link to this thread.

This has happened several times already on my clean install of Windows.  There doesn't seem to be anything in particular that triggers it.

This is a somewhat urgent issue.  As it pegs the CPU, this effectively slows down the system much like a virus or other malware.  The only reason it appears to only use 50% is that the problem is limited to one thread, which means one CPU.  Like me, most of you are probably seeing this on a dual-core system, so at least the other CPU remains unaffected.

The hung CPU causes the system to significantly heat up, waste power, and potentially drain the battery at an excessive rate.

The last time I noticed this happen was when checking my laptop in the morning, after it ran overnight for 7+ hours, consuming over 78 trillion CPU cycles.

I reinstalled the previous version  ie. 6.10.0.6033 from the website.  I have had no recurrence of the problem since.

Thanks for reporting this problem. We are looking into it  now.

I wonder if replacing ADVAPI32.dll with a new copy or restoring a previous version would  have any effect on the symptoms.

I wonder if replacing ADVAPI32.dll with a new copy or restoring a previous version would  have any effect on the symptoms.

ADVAPI32.dll is a Windows .dll, and is most likely "protected".  The problem is most likely not in that file, but the program that is calling it.  As shown in the stack trace that I emailed to your support department, the stack trace shows this to be STacSV64.exe.

If the problem was in ADVAPI32.dll, this would most likely be affecting a majority of Windows users - not just Dell users using the A04 driver.

As "cruisetown" just mentioned, reverting the Dell driver to a previous version seems to fix this, so it is clearly an issue with the A04 driver - one that should be fixed with an A05, etc. updated driver release.

I had the same problem on my Precision M6400 with Vista Ultimate 64-bit (driver name was stacsv64.exe).

The problem was with the A04 drivers. I just installed the old A01 drivers and the problem went away.

Same problem here. A04 always running on >50% on E6400. Hope Problem can be fixed soon.

I have been chasing a problem with the Latitude E4300 with very frequent disk access (every 0.5-1.5 seconds) resulting in irritating noise and LED flicker. I installed process monitor and find most likely culprit is stacsv.exe which seems to be problem indicated on this thread. Is there any solution ? Im running A03 bios, XP and otherwise fairly standard install. Or should one try new Audio Driver installation?

Thanks

I have a Precision M4400 running Vista 32 bit that exhibits the stacsv.exe problem.  It has been doing it ever since I upgraded to the A04 driver to reduce audio stuttering.  While the machine does not stutter as much, the stacsv.exe process does eat into the CPU now and then.  It does not appear to do frequent disk access however.

The A02 version did not exhibit this problem, but it appeared to cause more audio stuttering.

For now, I'll live with the CPU overhead, but It needs to be fixed sooner or later.

I did have a  problem with frequent disk accesses.  That was caused by the security software.  There is a thread on the net called "Trusted Drive Manager Warning filling up Event Viewer " that gives a solution to that problem.

More generically speaking, look at your event log to see if there are frequent entries.

John J

I have the the same problem in my M4400 64Bit Vista. If I notice this I Icancel the task via task manager. I´m interested to get modified driver by Dell?!?! Best regards

I too was just searching for a solution to the problem when I found this thread.

On my E6500 (Vista x64) the problem seems to appear everytime I play a movie using PowerDVD. After quitting PowerDVD I have to reboot to get rid of the problem. Unacceptable... I will also try installing an older Version if available for download...

While I do have the DPC latency issue (according to the Thesycon tool), disabling the eSATA port does not help much.  It does lower the minimum latencies, but the extremes still exist.

The problem that I have that brought this to light is up to a 10 second response when trying to start a video capture.  That's insane!  My 3+ year old ThinkPad consistently takes a small fraction of a second.  I got the machine with an eSATA port so that I could use it to store video too.

The problem appears to be periodic in nature over a several minute period.  It can be easily observed by using the keyboard volume control.  It will sometimes react immediately, and other times there will be a several second delay.

My old ThinkPad has a nearly rock solid DPC latency, even when I'm working on it.  The M4400 is all over the map even when it is not being used and the CPU usage is low.

If I have time I plan to call Dell.  This has got to be fixed.

JJJ

To contribute further information:

I tried disabling all of the unnecessary devices in the BIOS and drivers in Vista 32 bit with no noticeable reduction in the DPC spikes.  While my old ThinkPad DPC never exceeds 1.2 milliseconds, the DPC on an idle M4400 spikes to 126 milliseconds occasionally, and quite often goes to 4 milliseconds.

Does anyone know of a way to pin the cause of this down any better?

JJJ

After a short period of testing, the latest Dell A05 IDT drivers do not appear to have the stacsv.exe CPU usage problem.

As two added bonuses, the frequency of DPC spikes is reduced (but not eliminated), and the keyboard volume control now responds nicely.

I've still have got to get the DPC issue resolved.  Perhaps a new thread is now in order in this forum.

Does A05 help anyone else?

JJJ

P.S.  I'm getting tired of replying to myself.