Acpi.sys performance issues

Sharon 46

Hi,
Many music producers encounter live audio recording issues because of acpi.sys high DPC latency.
This problem has been going on for years now.
I've seen many MVPs replying with brute force checklists that do not solve anything.
I've seen many frustrated microsoft customers reinstalling windows in an attempt to solve this issue and eventually simply switching to Mac.
I know that acpi.sys is the culprit cause I can see it's latency on LatencyMon and after disabling 'Microsoft Surface ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery' the problem is solved.
So my question is simple, is Microsoft aware of this problem?

David Grammerstorf 1 Reputation point

2021-03-05T14:00:14.81+00:00

Hi Sharon,

I'm experiencing the exact same issue. I'm running on a new HP spectre x360. ACPI.sys is the main culprit according to Latency Mon. Where did you go to disable "microsoft surface acpi-compliant control method battery"? I want to do the same and see if it solves my issue. Thank you kindly.
David Grammerstorf 1 Reputation point

2021-03-05T16:29:08.507+00:00

Never mind, found it. Didn't help for me. :(
Vinicio Coba 1 Reputation point

2021-11-29T22:41:07.397+00:00

Saludos, tengo el mismo problema, se presenta con los programas Fl Studio y Rekordbox, al ejecutar estos programas el controlador de Windows se dispara, y presenta problemas de interferencia de sonido, lo comprobé con MonLatency, es problema de Microsoft, más no de los programas, esto lo digo porque en mi otra laptop tengo el mismo problema. pero con más programas, y todo nuevamente se relaciona con el controlador Acpi.sys. si alguien encontró una solución, le agradecería, aunque veo que el problema es bastante común en muchos usuarios sin embargo no se a dado una solución, más que usar MacOs.
Alex 11 Reputation points

2021-12-12T01:28:19.253+00:00

Hi,

I am another frustrated Windows user that has big issues with ACPI.sys.
Over the years I've had 4 different windows laptops that all had the same issue.
I was hoping that now with Windows 11, Microsoft would be decent enough to address the issue but alas, nothing has changed. I will be switching to Mac soon because of this.
Andrew Anderson 6 Reputation points

2022-04-20T03:31:38.14+00:00

i'm having the same problem too. I'd love to see that would resolved. so close to buy an apple at this point.
Ross Blake 6 Reputation points

2022-05-28T15:18:47+00:00

Me too - same problem. I've tried everything - even using ThrottleStop to disable Speedstep
I disabled the ACPI driver in device manager - but it's still showing as the main culprit for causing DPC latency in Latency Mon tests.
Can anyone help?
Alexander Katrycz 1 Reputation point

2022-12-27T14:50:11.703+00:00

It's an easy fix: In addition of deactivating the acpi battery methods you have de-install one drive: The intel dynamic tuning.

No worries it will re-install after restart.

Has to be done onlyonce you start your machine.

Solves the problem with latency on Intel machines.

Even intensively tested: Do this at your own risk.

Alex
Richard Hauer 5 Reputation points

2023-02-16T22:27:29.0966667+00:00

Im having the same issue with my Hp Spectre 360 2022 model. Tried win 10 and 11 with no luck. Using a DAW without monitoring something works great but playing guitar through my software amp makes it crack and pop. Used different sound cards as well without luck.
Richard Hauer 5 Reputation points

2023-02-17T22:22:37.63+00:00

I just found the solution to my problem. I installed a software called "Process Lasso" which automatically spread out all the different task to different CPU cores. I choose their "high performance mode" and all was solved. Why isn't this a part of Windows 11 from start...? Have a nice day!
Kevin Perry 15 Reputation points

2023-03-06T08:32:07.1233333+00:00

Time to switch to Mac Microsoft has failed us I'm beyond frustrated.
Kevin Perry 15 Reputation points

2023-03-06T08:42:44.2466667+00:00

I have the same computer as Richard and tried process Lasso it didn't work me. I've tried literally every option available this was an expensive computer and it's failing to pay for itself to Mac I go but I'm disappointed I've always loved windows.
Richard Hauer 5 Reputation points

2023-03-06T10:12:59.3433333+00:00

I noticed even a little better performance when I used Process Lasso with the charger plugged into the computer.
Réal Bourbonnière 0 Reputation points

2023-09-18T00:57:06.13+00:00

Same here.

I used to work with an old Dell i7-960 processor (10 years old) running Windows 10 and I did not have any audio glitch problems. I had to change computer only because of the number of VST plugins working at the same time in my projects. The new computer is a Dell i5-12400 (Inspiron 3910) with 16Mb of memory running Windows 11 and guess what? Glitches appeared. I am so disappointed. The problems seem to lead also to ACPI.sys. I tried everything I could find on the internet to no avail.

How is this possible in 2023? A computer 10x more powerful then my old one and I'm having problems recording a simple track. This is so frustrating. We are all Guinea pigs paying for useless $$$ crap and they are laughing at us. And then they tell us that it's not their problem, it's so and so manufacturer or whatever you can come up with for an excuse.

I can't believe I got caught in this.

15 answers

David Beauchamp 16 Reputation points

2021-03-02T16:52:49.35+00:00

Good morning,

I have a few customers, including one I'm trying to fix right now that have the issue that is causing difficulty to run real-time audio. These customers are DJs and sound producers and the only way I get this to disappear from the Latency Monitor reports, is to use Process Hacker to suspend the ACPI.SYS threads. Even if I disable the device under Device Manager, it's not enough.

Now, unfortunately, if I suspend the ACPI.SYS threads, the system becomes unstable and crashed after a few minutes. I believe there might be a ACPI performance control check that cannot execute and then crashes the system and reboots by itself.

Because of this DPC Latency, the system is not suitable for real-time audio even if all the components (latest Dell G5 with i7, 16GB ram, SSD, etc) should be more than sufficient. My customers basically experience intermittent sounds cut-off or noise.

I've set all power management recommendations, driver updates, windows updates, etc.... nothing works.

Please help, my Dell laptops are not working efficiently because of this and I'm about to lose this business to the profit of Apple.

Is there any specific updates on this?

Tks for you help!
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David Huet 10 Reputation points

2023-01-19T02:26:19.4333333+00:00
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Aleix Jiménez 6 Reputation points

2021-10-25T15:34:12.36+00:00

I've been on the same situation for YEARS... Bought an i7 HP Spectre x360 back in 2017... And have never been able to use it for DJing because of this... Just in a few situations as an emergency... All drivers up to date (used HP Support Assistant + Intel Driver Assistant, I've even tested with DriverBooster... nothing, always the same results...), all settings optimized for real-time audio...
The only solution is either to switch to macOS, or use a USB + media players and a mixer, so sad...
Just posting this here because I've seen this post while looking if there was any update regarding this.
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Djemazing 1 Reputation point

2021-11-08T00:11:53.937+00:00

So a powered mixer will work, but something like a rane sl box or denon ds1 won't is that correct?
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devbobcz 6 Reputation points

2022-02-10T21:46:44.06+00:00

I think Microsoft could prepare a native profile for low latency and audio professionals, as this is a pain point for me as well. Similar to how they created the gaming profile. Everything would adapt to low latency audio. It would make all the people who haven't given up on audio on windows overwhelmingly happy. Please microsoft try to figure this out.
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Paulg 5 Reputation points

2023-02-02T16:02:09.63+00:00

Same issue with my dell xps 9300. I was hoping to switch from mac to windows for djing. Still looking for a solution.
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