Games stuttering in Mame (not sound)

[LeedsFan]

I've come across a problem recently on a friends system. Basically everything plays fine but every now and then the game (any game) will just freeze for a split second. Enough for it to be annoying. The sound doesn't stutter at other times so I don't think it's the old sound problem.

The PC is a decent enough spec laptop (1.6 GHz, 1GB Ram etc using Mame v.130). But it does this even on the most basic of games like Pacman and Donkey Kong. It doesn't do it all the time. It might go 20 minutes before the next stutter. But it is there and it will reoccur. This system doesn't have any other stuff installed other than Windows XP, MaLa and Ultimarc stuff. It's a Mame dedicated lap top. So it's not like there's loads of other crap in the background taking processor power.

It's got me stumped 'cos I've tried a few things but we just can't seem to shift it. We think we have it sorted then after 15 mins or so.... it does it again. 

[Havok]

version 130 is too new for an old system like that. I would try dropping down to something around 117...

[Eddie_Brock]

version 130 is too new for an old system like that. I would try dropping down to something around 117...

Not true... I am currently using 136u4 on a pentium3 800mhz. Classic games like pacman, DK run perfectly fine. I start to notice slow-down in fast-paced games like Street Fighter 2, and something more modern like Mortal Kombat is all but unplayable.

While it could be a CPU issue, there is likely something else going on.
Maybe the CPU is stepping down because its using the battery? I'm not sure.

[Havok]

Put your pc next to a real arcade game and you will notice the difference.

However, you may be right about the pc stepping down. I have seen laptops that even when plugged in will throttle the CPU. Easiest way to see what your actually running at is to do a properties on My Computer; it should tell you the CPU speed.