 Xp Running Extremely Slow, However No Malware |
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 Jun 20 2006, 02:01 PM
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#1
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Member  Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 69,221  |
my computer has been running extremely slow, it has happened in the past and a reformat fixes it, however it always comes back. system restore to an earlier date worked about 2-3 times to fix the problem but eventually became useless. i have run the following programs: ad-aware, spybot s&d, mcafee virusscan, and windows defender. all of these programs are up to date, but have found nothing to fix the problem. the computer runs slow for the most part, but struggles the most when starting programs etc. even the windows startup sound skips. when running in safe mode everything runs smooth with no delay. i own a dell dimension 2400 running XP, 1 gig of ram and 2.39 celeron processor. i have only installed standard programs, frontpage, photoshop, cuteftp, etc. disabling startup items in MSconfig does not fix the problem. safe mode runs smooth with no issues. here is the original post with several replies on trying to diagnose the problem, at the end i was told to try the XP forum, so here i am. thanks for your help. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic53394.html This post has been edited by kable: Jun 20 2006, 02:07 PM |
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Jun 20 2006, 02:27 PM
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#2
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 You're Bleepin' or you're Weepin' Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,479 Joined: 12-March 06 From: Momma Member No.: 58,911 |
Hi kable.
Open task manager (ctrl+alt+del) and click the processes tab. Under cpu and mem usage, anything out of line there? |
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Jun 20 2006, 02:31 PM
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#3
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 Forum Addict Group: BC Advisor Posts: 2,651 Joined: 23-September 05 Member No.: 34,941 |
Well, your issue is interesting. I have read the thread in the HJT forum. Just some info on the event error codes you posted, and what they mean:
Error Code 11. An attempt was made to laod a prgram with an incorrect format. Error Code 15. The system cannot find the drive specified. Error Code 12. The access code is invalid. So, if I understand correctly, your computer runs slow while in real mode, and yet runs at regular speed while in safe mode. You reformat and reinstall and all is well for a while, then the issue returns. To me it makes the most sense to think this is a software issue, or a failing piece of hardware. Let's poke around some shall we? Open the Task Manager ( ctrl + alt +del ) and click on the performance tab. While your computer is acting up and running slow: 1) How busy is the CPU? This is denoted by a percent under CPU Usage. and 2) Under Physical Memory, what are the amounts for Total and Available. EDIT: Sorry, Hitsquad, I was typing when you were posting! This post has been edited by Albert Frankenstein: Jun 20 2006, 02:31 PM -------------------- ALBERT FRANKENSTEIN
I'M SO SMART IT'S SCARY! There's 3 types of people in this world - those who are good at math, and those who are not. DID I HELP? PLEASE CONSIDER A SMALL DONATION VIA PAYPAL. THANK YOU. |
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Jun 20 2006, 06:25 PM
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#4
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Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 5,898 Joined: 10-March 05 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 14,085 |
Since safe mode runs normally and normal mode does not, there is a driver or ap being loaded in normal mode that isn't loaded in safe mode causing this.
Download Startup Inspector http://www.windowsstartup.com/download.php And disable startup programs one at a time until you find the culprit. (reinable the one you disabled previously when disabling the next) Then tell us which ap is causing the problem. Additionally, look in your device manager to see if there are any yellow or red warning icons. If there are, delete the device/s that have such icons and reboot, allowing Windows to find and reinstall what you deleted. |
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Jun 20 2006, 08:49 PM
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#5
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 Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 245 Joined: 27-May 05 From: 127.0.0.1 Member No.: 21,516 |
Hello,
Here is a list of things that are not necessary to start when XP does, and/or they also are not required to be set to auto in your services list. All of these entries can be launched just when you need them, so they should all be set to Manual unless you absolutelly need to have them running even when you are not using them. I see there has already been some software utility suggestions given to you, but I have to mention this app. just because it works great and it is only 34K in size. It's called StartupCPL and its found at this link...http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml if you are interested. I also use Winpatrol, Spybot.........and all the rest, but StartupCPL is so quick and easy to use, that I rarely ever have to access those other apps that are slow, and do the same thing. But whichever app. you use, I recommend making sure none of these entries are listed for startup. Also, Click Start --> Run --> type services.msc and set the following entries to Manual.You do this by Right-Clicking the entries to be shut down, and select Properties from the menu. Next to Start up type: set them to Manual, if they are currently set to Auto. Then Click Apply --> OK. You may consider setting the Windows Indexing Service to Manual as well, since you already use Google desktop. AOLDialer C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLDial.exe QuickTime Task "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime DMXLauncher C:\Program Files\Dell\Media Experience\DMXLauncher.exe HostManager C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\1144788333\EE\AOLHostManager.exe SunJavaUpdateSched C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\jusched.exe HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe" HKCU\..\Run: [AIM] C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe -cnetwait.odl Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\TopSpeed\2.0\aoltsmon.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLAcsd.exe Google Desktop Search "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Desktop Search\GoogleDesktop.exe" /startup Hope this helps, nos 
-------------------- When I'm right, I'm right....
And when I'm wrong, I could have been right.... So I'm still right, cause I could have been wrong. |
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Jun 20 2006, 11:03 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 69,221 |
Open task manager (ctrl+alt+del) and click the processes tab.
Under cpu and mem usage, anything out of line there? rapimgr.exe takes up 80-89% followed by firefox at around 10%. i have not noticed this here before as i remember sorting by CPU usage to find weird programs. rapimgr.exe mem usage is at 724k. 1) How busy is the CPU? This is denoted by a percent under CPU Usage. CPU Usage is at 100%, doesnt drop off at all, just running firefox and aim right now 2) Under Physical Memory, what are the amounts for Total and Available. Total: 1,046,528 Available: 540,000 i'm going to try and disable some startup items now, back shortly. oh as im typing this my computer is going nuts, its freezing again, every 1-2 minutes for about 10 seconds. event log is showing those errors that have been previously posted. any idea what that might be? thanks. This post has been edited by kable: Jun 20 2006, 11:05 PM |
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Jun 20 2006, 11:45 PM
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#7
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Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 245 Joined: 27-May 05 From: 127.0.0.1 Member No.: 21,516 |
Hello,
Here is the description for rapimgr.exe: QUOTE rapimgr.exe is a process associated with the ActiveSync software from Microsoft. ActiveSync is a software used to synchronize data on your PC with a mobile system such as a pocket PC or a mobile phone. Does this sound like something that you are familiar with? If not, you can set this service to Manual as well. If you create more troubles setting the services to manual, you can totally reverse this. It helps alot for troubleshooting. nos
-------------------- When I'm right, I'm right....
And when I'm wrong, I could have been right.... So I'm still right, cause I could have been wrong. |
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Jun 21 2006, 12:23 AM
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#8
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Member Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 69,221 |
bah, yes that program is for my phone, recently installed, forgot about that.
well i disabled everything and startup sound still skips and computer still runs slow, althought it might be like 5% less slow than before, thats about it. also, any idea how to stop the frequent freezing which is evidently related to the errors posted earlier from the event log? This post has been edited by kable: Jun 21 2006, 12:45 AM |
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Jun 21 2006, 02:52 AM
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#9
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Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 245 Joined: 27-May 05 From: 127.0.0.1 Member No.: 21,516 |
Hello,
Follow this tutorial for using Cleanup!, if you havn't already. It will clean various locations of your PC, as well as getting rid of old Prefetch files for thos apps. that you changed to Manual in the services utility. Defragmenting your hard disk probobly wouldn't be a bad idea either, I recommend doing that once a week if use your PC daily. These suggestions are not going to cure your computer, but it does help in the mean time while one of us comes up with some answers. Do you by any chance have your original Operating System Disks? If a solution is not presented soon, then you may need to do a repair install. This usually needs to be done because of a system file corruption, but you should not worry about that unless all other options have been exhausted. nos
-------------------- When I'm right, I'm right....
And when I'm wrong, I could have been right.... So I'm still right, cause I could have been wrong. |
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Jun 21 2006, 12:02 PM
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#10
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Member Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 69,221 |
i do have the original disks, so i could give that a shot. also, i tried to set the programs to manual via services.msc but i did not see most of those programs listed there. i was able to disable startup of all the programs using the startupcpl program.
current cpu usage around 5-20% but it keeps jumping all over. thanks for your help ill give the cleanup a shot. |
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Jun 21 2006, 11:48 PM
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#11
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Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 5,898 Joined: 10-March 05 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 14,085 |
At 5% to 20% is it still freezing?
What program reduced the processor usage that much when stopped from starting? Another thing to look for might be the "startup sound" might be corrupted. Disable it in "sounds and audio devices" under the "sounds" tab. Also look in your device manager for a yellow or red warning icon in the "sound video and game controllers" section. If anything has such a warning icon, delete it, reboot, and let Windows find it and reinstall it. This post has been edited by Enthusiast: Jun 21 2006, 11:53 PM |
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Jun 22 2006, 12:55 AM
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 69,221 |
the freezing seems to be a different problem, however it MAY be related...the freezing correlates to the error log events mentioned earlier. that is not the main problem i was trying to solve though, that came up recently.
the freezing seems to be directly related to these in the event log: Error Code 11. An attempt was made to laod a prgram with an incorrect format. Error Code 15. The system cannot find the drive specified. Error Code 12. The access code is invalid. the startup sound is not the only sound that skips, all sounds do. i was just mentioning the startup sound because i assumed some programs might not be loaded at that point, which could narrow down the possibilities. playing music on my system is impossible. |
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Jun 22 2006, 09:46 AM
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#13
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Forum Addict Group: Members Posts: 5,898 Joined: 10-March 05 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 14,085 |
What is used by default to play wav files?
Can you play mp3 files without a problem? (open Windows Explorer, find an mp3 and double click on it) |
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Jun 25 2006, 12:23 PM
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#14
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Member Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 22-May 06 Member No.: 69,221 |
any sound that comes out skips. mp3s wav's etc. the whole computer runs slow, so its not a sound issue, but the sound skips as a result of whatever the problem is.
i ran cleanup... CleanUp! 4.0 recovered 695.9 MB of disk space from 9717 files. ill restart now and see how it worked ....alright no luck still running slow. it does seem a bit smoother but still not anywhere near normal. CPU usage is around 4% right now, with firefox and aim running This post has been edited by kable: Jun 25 2006, 12:53 PM |
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Aug 28 2007, 11:19 PM
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#15
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 28-August 07 Member No.: 153,419 |
ay dude i was just letting you know i have the same problem my computer skips just like yours when i listen to music it starts out fine but when it starts to skip the music begins to become distorted.
I use to be able to get rid of it with system restore it would go away for awhile then just come right back. Only thing is that when my computer skips alot of my memory gets consumed. I checked using task manager and when it skips it jumps from using 2% all the way up to like 80%. I have no idea what it is but im pretty sure its more than likely the same problem as yours. Im completely clueless on what to do about this i posted a thread on another forum hopefully we can get some help from there. Here is the thread: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic85555.html Im really looking into getting a mac mini or mac pro im tired of random problems like these. |
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