[kidnova]

I originally posted this in the hardware forum, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced it is an OS issue.

I'm having problems with my system lagging/slowing down when running programs and games. Basically, the programs will run fine for about 30sec to a minute and then they will slow down to a crawl. Then they will speed up and run fine again for another 30-45sec or so. Even programs that used to run fine are having problems. I thought it might be a malware issue, but I posted my HJT log on that board and the experts said I am clean. That leaves me with either a OS or hardware issue. I have made some upgrades over the last few months: inreased from 256 to 1G ram; installed 120GB slave harddrive; upgraded video and audio cards.

I thought the video/sound cards might be the problem so I pulled them out and reinstalled the factory cards. It cleared up the audio stuttering, but programs still slowdown every 30-45 seconds. I tried updating all of my drivers and changing my paging file, but nothing seems to work. I also tried all of the easy tweaks listed on the OS forum. Any suggestions?

Also, I installed SP2 on my system and I have heard many people report problems after this install. Could this be part of my problem?

[Advertisements]

could be sp2....could be chipset...some older chipsets will not support that much RAM, and having that much memory can actually cause problems.

motherboard make/model?

[gerryf]

could be sp2....could be chipset...some older chipsets will not support that much RAM, and having that much memory can actually cause problems.

motherboard make/model?

[Chronos0001]

Hi there, your system is recycling itself from slow to fast on a regular basis....

That tells me that your hardware is the issue. Specifically, your processor may be overheating.

This is usually what happens...
you run your system, and it idles fine. Then you activate a program and the system starts to processes the extra information. The processor heats up and can handle it for a while, but eventually (30 to 45 sec) slows to a crawl.... As it slows, the heat disipates enough for it to start chugging along again, .. until it overheats again (repeat pattern).

I would suggest you turn off your system. Open your cabinet, and inspect it. Here is what you are looking for.

1. Excessive dust in the system. ( specifically on your cooling fan blades or in the heatsink) preventing cooling air flow.

2. Excessive dust in your power supply, causing it to heat up and be unstable. (I don't think this is it, but check it anyway)

3. Your CPU cooling fan no longer works.

4. Your Heat sink is not seated properly.

The items listed are in order of likelyness.

If you have trouble locating your system's components, please take your system to a pro, to have the items I mentioned checked out.

Good luck.

(P.S.) Never go in to your system cabinet with power on, unless you are trained to do so.

[kidnova]

It's my home computer that is having problems and I don't have access to it right now. It is a Compaq P4 1.5Ghz. I know the Ram is PC133 SDRam. If you need more specific info then I will have to post it after I can get to my computer.

[kidnova]

Thanks for the suggestion Chronos. I will pull it apart and clean it out when I get home.

[kidnova]

Hey Chronos. Just wanted to let you know that I cleaned out my fans and case and it appears to have fixed the problem. I hate it when something so simple and obvious causes me all these problems. I must have spent the last six weeks tweaking my processes and registry to try and cure the lag. I haven't yet tried to use any of my more resource intense programs or games, but I think it will work fine now.

Thanks again for your help.

[Chronos0001]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I was wondering how things went.

Glad I could help, happy computing

[delica88]

hey guys this is happening to me the big but is i am on a sony vaio laptop. the fan has always been quite noisy but worked amazing, not until since a couple days ago it is doing what kidnova has said. i am desperate in need of help with this

[delica88]

me again just started my laptyop up this morning and i dont think its to do with my fan, the ati driver i have got is basically screwed and the ati website wont let me download the driver anymore so if anyone can come across an ati driver for a igp 345m or ati 9100 id be grateful thanks

[gerryf]

who is the maker of the laptop? Generally speaking, ATI doesn't distribute laptop drivers because laptop makers tended to modify the chips....so, you ought to check with the laptop OEM for drivers.


That said, you can download the regular catalyst drivers and then download the DH Mod tool from DriverHeaven.net, and it will modify them for you to use

[gerryf]

I should add, at least it used to....haven't seen a 34 chipset for a while, but I know I did this once.

That was with the version 4 cats....not sure about the version 5 cats

[delica88]

ok thanks for that i got the driver it is a sony vaio pcg-k315m its running slow as a pig. i currently have no graphics because of not being able to actually install the driver beacause of me needing to change the display to a standard vga display driver. i really do not want to format my pc. i have donbe some research into how to make the display standard vga driver so if cud some one tell me this im on my way thnks for previous help

[Chronos0001]

Hello again, drivers are becoming the bane of existance as computers become more and more specialized.
Fortunately, since the problem is so wide spread, there are sites that cater to finding rare driver ( yes including legacy drivers.)

First off, go to www.driverguide.com you will have to register (it is free) then look for the right driver for your system and install it. be aware that some drivers require that you remove you current one before installing a new one.

As for the lag, if it is your system, then the drive should be VERY active. If the drive is no very active, your processor again could be having trouble processing the info.
I personally do not like working on laptops. ( I never seem to be able to get the back to gether the way they came apart....

Soooo, having your system proffesionally cleaned may be a good solution.

Also, if you are running any form of windows past 98se, you can pull up the task manager. I will tell you what operations are using cpu time. If there is one process that uses more than others, see if disabeling it speeds things up. Of course there is always the possibility of infection or malware (see top of screen for malware link)

As you can see the problem solution thingy is very dynamic.
Let start with the simple the go to the not so simple.

Good luck, I will be watching for future posts.