Well, one problem solved, and a new one pops up.

I'll be playing, then my game will pause for 2-3 seconds. This most often happens when i line a guy up and hit my fire key.

My console says:
*this is the latest example*

"Starting Upload of File: backup26" (a number that started with 1, now up to 26. Yes, this has happened 26 times now)
"Starting Upload of File: backupkey"

"Successfully wrote backup26 to dw." (138ms)
"Successfully wrote backupkey to dw." (345ms)

The times vary, but always between 200 and 500ms.

I've never seen this before, I've uninstalled/reinstalled the game, and also wiped Steam from my PC and reinstalled it and the game again. Once from the Steam servers again, and once from my roommates' backup.
Setting stats_backup to "0" in config_mp.cfg - no change.
Disabled Steam Cloud - no change.
usign fresh config_MP.cfg - no change.

Also no change in firewall or router settings.

Google search for phrase "starting upload of file: backupkey" returns nothing. Literally.

Resource Monitor shows no irregular ports being used.  Ping is fine, otherwise.

W@W plays fine.

---

-- Of all the soles I've ever tasted, his had the most   ....cumin. --

Wow Abram, If you can't figure this one out, I don't know who could.
That's a real "head scratcher".

Seemed to fix itself..

I figured it out: I have a PC gremlin.

---

-- Of all the soles I've ever tasted, his had the most   ....cumin. --

Glad you sorted it - I would have suggested that these messages look like the registry is being written to/updated.

---

Well it has magically returned. But Johnny said he also gets this issue, so at least I can share my pain.

Turns out the "dw." in those lines refers to DemonWare - the company that runs the server and MP stats server for Black Ops. Though this still occurs if i have Cloud storage OFF, and why would it update mid-match? I'm think that maybe these backups are supposed to occur sometime between matches, and the game is just having a brain-fart. Perhaps related to the server going down the other week? I've also spotted a couple other backup procedures, but they never interrupt my game.

---

-- Of all the soles I've ever tasted, his had the most   ....cumin. --

just did a quick search and found a few people having the issue
heres a forum post on valves website http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=33362721

no replys yet tho

---

It is Going To Hurt
http://taylormadehosting.co.uk

Well I dont know if you have tried this already or have thought about it, but maybe you should uninstall the game after you safe your profile info and reinstall it.

To me it sound like you have a config file error.

---

Ya I've uninstalled the game, then the whole of Steam. Tried both backups from a friend, and a fresh copy from the Steam server. Both time with default configs.

Heh, yes that Steam forums post is mine.

---

-- Of all the soles I've ever tasted, his had the most   ....cumin. --

If its contacting a server, did you try blocking the address it writes to in your firewall?

---

BF1 STATS