[APCSystems]

I did a fresh install of Windows 7 on my PC. My PC is a dual core Pentium D 2.8ghz, with 2GB of OCZ memory. It's not running well. I've been messing with it for 2-3 weeks and I can't figure it out. I don't have much going on on my PC because it's still a fairly new install. No viruses, no spyware, and sometime it works fine, but when I try multi tasking a few things, I just get the "loading circle thing" or my page may be not responding or whatever. It's a PC thing not an online thing. I've already googled possible problems, tweaked some settings, disabled some un-necessary services, etc. I don't know what else to try, and it's frustrating, so I turn to you guys for help. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

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Go Start>Run (Start Search in Vista), type in:
msconfig
Click OK (hit Enter in Vista).

Click on Startup tab.
Click Disable all
IMPORTANT! In case of laptop, make sure, you do NOT disable any keyboard, or touchpad entries.

Click Services tab.
Put checkmark in Hide all Microsoft services
Click Disable all.

Click OK.
Restart computer in Normal Mode.

NOTE. If you use different firewall, than Windows firewall, turn Windows firewall on, just for this test, since your regular firewall won't be running.
If you use Windows firewall, you're fine.

Same problem?

[Broni]

Go Start>Run (Start Search in Vista), type in:
msconfig
Click OK (hit Enter in Vista).

Click on Startup tab.
Click Disable all
IMPORTANT! In case of laptop, make sure, you do NOT disable any keyboard, or touchpad entries.

Click Services tab.
Put checkmark in Hide all Microsoft services
Click Disable all.

Click OK.
Restart computer in Normal Mode.

NOTE. If you use different firewall, than Windows firewall, turn Windows firewall on, just for this test, since your regular firewall won't be running.
If you use Windows firewall, you're fine.

Same problem?

[APCSystems]

Same problem?

Yup...same problem....

[Broni]

Put all checkmarks back, please.

Possibly some hardware issue?

**** Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287 (or http://www.bleepingc...opic28744.html)
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

**** A. If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-....iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-....iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-....iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run.

The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[APCSystems]

This should keep me busy for a little while. I'll give it a shot. Thanks very much! I'll post back with results.

[Broni]

Cool

[APCSystems]

Okay, well I tried 2 different hard drive scanner things, the 1st was detecting drive which said it would take about a minute, but did that for like 15 and never moved. The 2nd one did detect the drive, said scan complete, and test progress was idle for about 1/2 hour and never did anything else. I have a Maxtor hard drive so the 1st one I ran said it was for hard drives equal to or greater than 500gb, and mine is only 160gb so I thought that was why. Then 2nd one I tried actually seemed more accurate. It was a Seagate scanner and it detected the exact model of my hard drive, etc. I pulled both memory sticks one by one, tested both sticks individually in each slot, and it didn't seem to make a difference, so I don't think it's memory related. I'm not sure what to expect from the hard drive scan but it didn't seem like it worked properly. Strange thing is that I had Windows XP on this PC before and everything was fine. I did use a recovery software to recover some accidentally deleted files right before I re-formatted it with Windows 7. Not sure if that would have anything to do with it....

[Broni]

Maybe, something went wrong with Windows installation.
I assume, you're using legit MS DVD?
You may try to perform another clean install.

[APCSystems]

Maybe, something went wrong with Windows installation.
I assume, you're using legit MS DVD?
You may try to perform another clean install.

Lets say that hypothetically speaking I wasn't using a legit MS DVD...would that be my problem?

[Broni]

Yes, because, if that's the case, we can't help you. It'd be against board's rules.