Hello,
 
Just ran both Latency Monitor and Latency Checker for the hell of it and shock - and got the dreaded red spike in the latter and a message saying that NDIS.sys was possibly causing a problem, maybe something to do with Wireless Networking.
 
Only, the problem is I have BlueTooth and Wifi both disabled (on my desktop).
 
Any other suggestions would be greatfully received.
 
Yes, all drivers - audio, graphic, etc - and W7 are up to date, on-board sound disabled as perCraig A's recent post/recommendations.
 
This has got me stumped.
 
Cheers and thanks in advance,
Jerry

They are both actually 'Disabled' in Windows Device Manager?
 
I would suggest another look at Device Manager, as well as a look at Services running in the background.
 
Bob Bone

This is the first thing you should look into. Was that Latency Mon you ran? 
This is from http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-hardware/what-is-ndissys/406ef722-05c6-4b47-961f-fa9f4e6db8d8
 
Ndis.sys file information
The process known as NDIS 5.1 wrapper driver or NDIS 6.20 driver or NDIS 6.0 wrapper driverbelongs to software Microsoft Windows Operating System or Betriebssystem Microsoft Windows byMicrosoft (www.microsoft.com).
Description: The original ndis.sys is an important part of Windows and rarely causes problems.Ndis.sys is located in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers folder. Known file sizes on Windows 8/7/XP are 182,912 bytes (78% of all occurrences), 182,656 bytes and 5 more variants.  
The driver can be started or stopped from Services in the Control Panel or by other programs. The file is a Windows core system file. The program is not visible. There is no detailed description of this service. It is a trustworthy file from Microsoft. ndis.sys appears to be a compressed file. Therefore the technical security rating is 2% dangerous; however you should also read the user reviews.
Recommended: Identify ndis.sys related errors
Important: Some malware disguises itself as ndis.sys, particularly when not located in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers folder. Therefore, you should check the ndis.sys process on your PC to see if it is a threat. We recommend Security Task Manager for verifying your computer's security. This was one of the Top Download Picks of The Washington Post and PC World.
 

 

 

I have also seen NDIS get the finger point from LatencyMon when the ACTUAL culprit ended up being NVIDIA drivers, so you might want to look at that as well.
 
In the following link - check out post #9:
 
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/ndis-sys-causing-serious-latency-problems.146366/
 
Bob Bone
 

Here is another link showing something you might want to look at:
 
http://forum.sysinternals.com/ndissys-high-dpc-latenecy-high-dpc-cpu-usage_topic20669.html
 
Easy enough to test out.
 
Bob Bone
 

hELLO?
 
@Bob : many thanks for the tips, I have already double even triple checked everything is off in device manager. I rolled back to an older Nvidia driver to see if that might work - nada. Services that are running are essential.
 
JohnnyV : many thanks, I also came across the links, very interesting. My copy of ndis.sys is rather large in size -  923kb so I've been wondering if its corrupted.
 
I've run Malwarebytes and an anti-virus, nothing particular was picked up.
 
power options have already been modified to on all the time. No sleepstates.
 
Cheers and thanks for the help, I'll keep on digging and if I find anything will re-post here.
Jerry
 

I have that NDIS.sys and it is just as big and no problems on my computer. I had a Wi-Fi and did not disable it, I took it out, since I do not use it. (Physically took the unit out of my computer).
 
As for Nvidia drivers, I doubt that is a problem also for general purpose computing.
http://www.guru3d.com/fil...-nvidia-geforce-vista-|-7.html
 
As with general purpose computing no driver is actually bad, only with playing games. And not all drivers work with all computer games, but any driver seem to work with Sonar, although I have not delved into X3 all that much and have used Sonar 7 more as of now.
 
Check with your computer manufacturer for hardware updated drivers (or motherboard manufacturer perhaps). I had with that section (being on-line with cable Internet) an update from Intel, and the first one was I guess still wrong, although it caused no problems with then another update - which I found 2-1/2 years later from Microsoft Windows Update, which is the only way I would have found it. The first one I found on my own from Intel for the LAN whatever driver.
 
Obviously it probably is something else then in that area of the computer. Might check Windows Help files on the computer also.
??
I have no red spikes on my computer but Windows may be or may not be doing something in the background if you have automatic stuff on my defrag, or automatic stuff not taken off in Windows. I do check manually for anything like defragging the harddrive and whatever.
 
 
 

If your motherboard has on-board graphics, try running a couple of tests, after disabling the NVIDIA video, 1st see what happens when running off the motherboard VGA, 2nd if motherboard also has either DVI or HDMI try running a test with one of those as well, just to see what LatencyMon things of it all then.
 
Also, I promise I am not trying to aggravate you on the NVIDIA thing - someone else had mentioned some sort of utility of theirs called PowerMizer that seemed to interfere with things until they stopped it from running.
 
Additionally, someone reported that Power Management options for their REGULAR network adapter were causing spikes that LatencyMon was reporting as issues with NDIS, so it might be worth going into Device Manager for your network adapter and making sure nothing is checked under the Power Management tab for that.  I didn't even realize that a regular network adapter would HAVE power management options, but sure enough they are there on mine.
 
Something is spiking your DPC latency, and this should be solvable.  I'll keep digging - am trying to help. :)
 
Bob Bone