Tech help- sudden slow down

sherpasherpa stopcommandermode Join Date: 2006-11-04 Member: 58338Members
edited September 2008 in Off-Topic
Last night I noticed a slowdown on my computer- as in it take a couple of seconds longer for Firefox to start, clicking a desktop icon took a noticeable delay (around half a second) before Windows realised it was the active icon, even notepad has a delay in starting up.

Thinking it was a hiccup after a TF2 session and installing Download Accelerator Plus (bloated I know, but I needed a reliable download program quickly) I rebooted. Still the same problem- the PC was functioning but there was a definite slower response.

Trying to troubleshoot the fault I booted up TF2 and still have 80+ fps, my CPU and GPU temps are low and when idling on my desktop the System Idle Process kernel is the only active process. With this info and following a virus and spyware search, I decided it wasn't the CPU (or GPU however unlikely that may be). And as the CPU/GFX-intensive TF2 was fine I figure it's unlikely to be the PSU?

Next up was the memory and hard-drive. Ran memtest quickly- still yet to let it go to 100% but it seems okay, and once a program has been loaded the delay is gone. Also, the system is still stable.

So hard-drive is the only likely hardware problem? I have had a HDD die on me before but it wasn't like this- the system became massively unstable and failed to reboot claiming files were missing.

Is it possible I've bugged WindowsXP? Never had a problem like this before so I'm scartching my head.

Specs:

WinXP SP2
Intel e8200
2GB Corsair RAM
250GB SATA Maxtor HDD
512MB 8800GT

All components bought in April this year, nothing overclocked.

Any help much appreciated!!
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Comments

  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    Sounds like you checked everything I could think of to check. Did you use the task manager to look if anything was taking the CPU during idle times? I know you said you were able to load TF2, but since you can't find it it might be a sneaky spyware app that chews up cycles when the system is idle and uses less resources when you're using them.

    Do you have folding or seti @ home maybe? I suppose that wouldn't cause a slowdown after you started the first program, so that seems unlikely.
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  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    edited September 2008
    [edit]
    Totally ignored locallyunscene post there with the taskmanager check <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
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  • ConfusedConfused Wait. What? Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12904Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester
    edited September 2008
    I would check a few things,

    rouge processes(using <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx" target="_blank">Process Explorer</a> because it has I/O monitoring)
    free space on c:
    fragmentation
    disk health


    Edit on point 4 i mean chkdsk /f
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  • XythXyth Avatar Join Date: 2003-11-04 Member: 22312Members
    Run HijackThis and look for anything strange?

    Are you sure you aren't imagining the slowdown?
    Have you ever had the feeling that somebody snuck into your house and replaced all your furniture with identical copies and stole the originals?
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  • TinCanTinCan Join Date: 2006-12-11 Member: 59010Members
    edited September 2008
    Without trying to sound condescending , I noticed you did not mention it so please tell me you have rebooted the system,
    as in powered everything completely down and then started it back up.

    After that the first thing I would try is to defrag the hard drive (True, Confused eluded to that idea)
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  • Kouji_SanKouji_San Sr. Hινε Uρкεερεг - EUPT Deputy The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-05-13 Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
    And ofcourse defrag before windows starts FTW <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
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  • locallyunscenelocallyunscene Feeder of Trolls Join Date: 2002-12-25 Member: 11528Members, Constellation
    <!--quoteo(post=1688333:date=Sep 17 2008, 04:00 PM:name=TinCan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TinCan @ Sep 17 2008, 04:00 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1688333"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Without trying to sound condescending , I noticed you did not mention it so please tell me you have rebooted the system,
    as in powered everything completely down and then started it back up.

    After that the first thing I would try is to defrag the hard drive (True, Confused eluded to that idea)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I noticed him mentioning it...
    <!--quoteo(post=1688304:date=Sep 17 2008, 09:10 AM:name=sherpa)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sherpa @ Sep 17 2008, 09:10 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1688304"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Thinking it was a hiccup after a TF2 session and installing Download Accelerator Plus (bloated I know, but I needed a reliable download program quickly)<b> I rebooted</b>. Still the same problem- the PC was functioning but there was a definite slower response.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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  • TinCanTinCan Join Date: 2006-12-11 Member: 59010Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1688342:date=Sep 17 2008, 11:37 PM:name=locallyunscene)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(locallyunscene @ Sep 17 2008, 11:37 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1688342"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I noticed him mentioning it...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I guess I meant a full power cycle (<!--coloro:#FFFF00--><span style="color:#FFFF00"><!--/coloro-->powered everything completely down<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->) as apposed to a warm boot.
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  • CrispyCrispy Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
    You have SP2, I think SP3 just came out recently (could be mistaken, but I seem to remember the latest autoupdate calling itself Service Pack 3).

    Could that make a difference?
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  • sherpasherpa stopcommandermode Join Date: 2006-11-04 Member: 58338Members
    Thanks for the help guys. This morning:

    -[ 16:51.24 ]- -( @sherpa ): ######ing hell
    -[ 16:51.28 ]- -( @sherpa ): my PSU exploded
    -[ 16:51.30 ]- -( @sherpa ): i logged on
    -[ 16:51.32 ]- -( @sherpa ): got onto irc
    -[ 16:51.36 ]- -( @sherpa ): then pc shuts down
    -[ 16:51.38 ]- -( @sherpa ): "######"
    -[ 16:51.38 ]- -( @sherpa ): then
    -[ 16:51.39 ]- -( @sherpa ): BANG
    -[ 16:51.42 ]- -( @sherpa ): and my room fills with smoke
    -[ 16:51.44 ]- -( @sherpa ): "######"
    -[ 16:51.57 ]- -( @sherpa ): take my computer apart and smoke pours out
    -[ 16:51.59 ]- -( @sherpa ): "######!!"
    -[ 16:52.07 ]- -( @sherpa ): my second antec PSU had died
    -[ 16:52.11 ]- -( @sherpa ): ######ing useless company

    Not sure if that was the cause of the slow down, I'll have to give it a play.

    All I know is I'm not buying Antec again. Bought the only branded PSU I could find at PC World that wasn't more than £100. "Jeantech" or something.
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