I found out that my maxed iMac 2013 is running OK but experiencing hiccups or slowdowns sometimes. I could monitor the latency, DPC count and ISR and tried to clean boot, uninstall everything from scratch but nop, nothing helped.
Outlook 2013 was taking 5 seconds to load, other applications were OK.
I then had one BSOD with crash minidump. After analyzing the output, it turned out to be a driver causing excessive memory paging. The only solution was to test the system with Driver Verifier. It turned out to be KeyAgent.sys from Apple. I renamed this file and my system is blazing fast again. Outlook takes less than a second to load. No more hiccups. Worth mentioning that the volumeUp/Down shortcuts are not working and Bootcamp manager is not working anymore but that's fine.
Now my latency is way below 400us :
PER CPU MEASURINGS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Highest latency on CPU 0: 34.60314 µs
Highest latency on CPU 1: 60.11563 µs
Highest latency on CPU 2: 31.67067 µs
Highest latency on CPU 3: 35.77613 µs
Highest latency on CPU 4: 31.96392 µs
Highest latency on CPU 5: 32.25717 µs
Highest latency on CPU 6: 42.66604 µs
Highest latency on CPU 7: 57.76965 µs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: IMAC-IA64
OS version: Windows 8 , 6.2, build: 9200Highest latency on CPU 7: 57.76965 µs
Hardware: iMac14,2, Apple Inc., Mac-27ADBB7B4CExxxx1
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4771 CPU @ 3.90GHz
Logical processors: 8
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 32708 MB total
=================================
You can test it yourself :
How to enable Driver Verifier:
Start > type "verifier" without the quotes > Select the following options -
1. Select - "Create custom settings (for code developers)"
2. Select - "Select individual settings from a full list"
3. Check the following boxes -
- Special Pool
- Pool Tracking
- Force IRQL Checking
- Deadlock Detection
- Security Checks (Windows 7 & 8)
- DDI compliance checking (Windows 8)
- Miscellaneous Checks
4. Select - "Select driver names from a list"
5. Click on the "Provider" tab. This will sort all of the drivers by the provider.
6. Check EVERY box that is NOT provided by Microsoft / Microsoft Corporation.
7. Click on Finish.
8. Restart.
Important information regarding Driver Verifier:
- If Driver Verifier finds a violation, the system will BSOD.
- After enabling Driver Verifier and restarting the system, depending on the culprit, if for example the driver is on start-up, you may not be able to get back into normal Windows because Driver Verifier will flag it, and as stated above, that will cause / force a BSOD.
If this happens, do not panic, do the following:
- Boot into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key during boot-up.
- Once in Safe Mode - Start > type "system restore" without the quotes.
- Choose the restore point you created earlier.
If you did not set up a restore point, do not worry, you can still disable Driver Verifier to get back into normal Windows:
- Start > Search > type "cmd" without the quotes.
- To turn off Driver Verifier, type in cmd "verifier /reset" without the quotes.
・ Restart and boot into normal Windows.
Cheers...
Outlook 2013 was taking 5 seconds to load, other applications were OK.
I then had one BSOD with crash minidump. After analyzing the output, it turned out to be a driver causing excessive memory paging. The only solution was to test the system with Driver Verifier. It turned out to be KeyAgent.sys from Apple. I renamed this file and my system is blazing fast again. Outlook takes less than a second to load. No more hiccups. Worth mentioning that the volumeUp/Down shortcuts are not working and Bootcamp manager is not working anymore but that's fine.
Now my latency is way below 400us :
PER CPU MEASURINGS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Highest latency on CPU 0: 34.60314 µs
Highest latency on CPU 1: 60.11563 µs
Highest latency on CPU 2: 31.67067 µs
Highest latency on CPU 3: 35.77613 µs
Highest latency on CPU 4: 31.96392 µs
Highest latency on CPU 5: 32.25717 µs
Highest latency on CPU 6: 42.66604 µs
Highest latency on CPU 7: 57.76965 µs
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SYSTEM INFORMATION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computer name: IMAC-IA64
OS version: Windows 8 , 6.2, build: 9200Highest latency on CPU 7: 57.76965 µs
Hardware: iMac14,2, Apple Inc., Mac-27ADBB7B4CExxxx1
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4771 CPU @ 3.90GHz
Logical processors: 8
Processor groups: 1
RAM: 32708 MB total
=================================
You can test it yourself :
How to enable Driver Verifier:
Start > type "verifier" without the quotes > Select the following options -
1. Select - "Create custom settings (for code developers)"
2. Select - "Select individual settings from a full list"
3. Check the following boxes -
- Special Pool
- Pool Tracking
- Force IRQL Checking
- Deadlock Detection
- Security Checks (Windows 7 & 8)
- DDI compliance checking (Windows 8)
- Miscellaneous Checks
4. Select - "Select driver names from a list"
5. Click on the "Provider" tab. This will sort all of the drivers by the provider.
6. Check EVERY box that is NOT provided by Microsoft / Microsoft Corporation.
7. Click on Finish.
8. Restart.
Important information regarding Driver Verifier:
- If Driver Verifier finds a violation, the system will BSOD.
- After enabling Driver Verifier and restarting the system, depending on the culprit, if for example the driver is on start-up, you may not be able to get back into normal Windows because Driver Verifier will flag it, and as stated above, that will cause / force a BSOD.
If this happens, do not panic, do the following:
- Boot into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key during boot-up.
- Once in Safe Mode - Start > type "system restore" without the quotes.
- Choose the restore point you created earlier.
If you did not set up a restore point, do not worry, you can still disable Driver Verifier to get back into normal Windows:
- Start > Search > type "cmd" without the quotes.
- To turn off Driver Verifier, type in cmd "verifier /reset" without the quotes.
・ Restart and boot into normal Windows.
Cheers...