General Slowdown

[philkb]

Ever since about late October, after a reboot, I seemed to have lost the blazing boot times and shutoff times as well as general program loading times that I enjoyed immediately before that time. Before that time, it was perhaps several seconds from the time the Win 8 symbol appeared, went off, black screen for few seconds, then BINGO! my desktop would pop on, with only about half a second or so of hourglass flickering by the mouse cursor. At that point, the system was ready to go. Wheeee!
After that one reboot I mentioned, all the "cycles" of the boot process were longer, and I got that head-and-shoulders welcome icon that also slid in, then out after about a second or so, then the desktop. However, there were several more seconds of flickering hourglass, which kept me from being able to properly use the system, just like the bad old days of mechanical HDs. I'm running a Samsung 840 PRO 250 G drive and all settings everywhere in my system are optimized. This is a big mystery to me since the usual suggestions of causes have done nothing to fix this. Heck, even iTunes loads faster on my wife's system, and she's using a mechanical drive and a much slower proc. than I am. Twice the number of songs too.
The last thing I remember doing is turning on Intel Rapid Storage technology in BIOS (UEFI), then rebooting. Been slower ever since and changing that setting one way or the other makes no difference.
Sorry for the long-winded post but I don't know how else to best explain this issue. The HD benchmarks are still very fast, according to Samsung Magician.
I7 3770K proc., 16 gigs RAM

Phil

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do you have a System Restore point prior to when this began?

Have you checked what items are shown in startup via msconfig? The PC should start and run with all of that stuff unchecked.

Have you checked the number of processes running for all users when acting slow? 45? 90?

Have you tested your RAM or seen how much is available and in use through Resource Monitor?

Have you done recent anti-virus and anti-malware checks?

 

[Virgorising]

Also sound like possible malware to me, given U have an SSD.

I ditto all of the above. My system no way as fast as your and mine remains faster.

 

[pctestcardscom]

I would like to suggest the followings:

1. reset the Bios default
2. install the latest mobo chipset driver and reboot once after that. Then install all other device driver again.
3. run chkdsk c: to scan the HDD for error.
4. back to the XP era, we use an app called bootvis.exe to organize the drivers and other boot files to help speed up the boot time, no idea if that app works on the new OS
5. check the startup options and deselect the unnecessary startup apps to help system boot faster

hope this helps.
Bill
Tech Manager, WPTinc.

 

[philkb]

I have tried all you have mentioned except for the restore point since that was so long ago. All seems to be OK concerning all else, as far as I can tell. Of course, with a clean boot, it starts faster, as one would expect, but still seems less fast than before the slowdown. Don't get me wrong, the machine is not crawling along or firing error messages or so, it just seems to take nearly twice as long to boot and about 30 to 50% slower shutdown. Of course there is the weird iTunes startup also. If iTunes is set to start maximized, it starts quickly with a blank white screen, then takes several seconds for the actual song list screen to pop on. When starting in a window, it takes several seconds to start but with no blank screen. this is really strange behavior and even Apple support is baffled and has never heard of anything like that before.
This whole situation seems to be so different from any other complaints of slowdowns that I have read about in the numerous forums I have visited. Even Samsung is baffled but stands ready to replace my drive if I so desire, but all tests show the drive to be blazing fast, both reads and writes. Don't know about access times though. I don't think Samsung magician shows those in their benchmark test.
I did forget to mention that when I first installed the hardware and Samsung SSD I have, I was using Windows 7. But, as I mentioned in the first post, Windows 8 and on to 8.1 ran just as fast, if not a wee bit faster than Win 7 did. It was roughly a week or so after everything was running great that this slowdown hit. Pretty strange. (Hope it wasn't one of the Windows updates that caused this)

Thanks for your reply,
Phil

 

[philkb]

I have run more than one malware checker and all seems clean on the home front. In Event Viewer, there are many warnings, errors, etc. in many categories but all my research on that seems to indicate that this is common all over and that unless a message actually pops up, I should just ignore the Event List. The timing of all the "garbage" in the Event Manager also is so short, I highly doubt any of that would be related to my issue. My startup items are the same as always so I can't imagine them being worse now. As for all the drivers, they are all current and so is the BIOS, which is pretty much at default other than disabling onboard sound and graphics. I ran CHKDSK some time ago and no issues were found. Needless to say, this is all very baffling, as I mentioned before, since everything appears to be on the up and up with every resource I have tried that might show up something. I wish, as do others, that the BOOTLOG feature would show actual times, then perhaps I might spot something strange, but even then, I doubt I could tell.

Thanks for your reply,
Phil

 

[Ketchup]

So what version of Windows are you running now? 32- or 64-bit?

What motherboard do you have, and are you running the drivers off the CD or off a website?

 

[FaceToKeyboard]

Is everything still slow in Safe Mode (i.e. iTunes)?

What anti-virus software do you use?

Nothing to note in Resource Monitor? No program eating up CPU cycles or constantly reading to and from disk?

 

[Drummerdude]

I'd run a chkdsk /r, just in case you might have bad sectors. Also, if that comes up clean, maybe just a good defrag would help? If you've already ran all your malware checks and tune up software, then yeah, a good defrag, and I'd recommend Puran Defrag. It really does an amazing job on mechanical drives.

 

[philkb]

I'm running a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H motherboard with windows 8.1 64 bit. Since I use an SSD, defrag is out of the question but the Windows built in Trim function appears to be working just fine. As mentioned, all the drivers are up to date and from Gigabyte, except for the sound and graphics drivers, which are from Creative and Nvidia respectively. I'm running an Xtreme Gamer sound card and a 660 Ti graphics card too. When running in safe mode, iTunes can't be properly tested since there will be no sound device found by it and the Bonjour service will not be running. Of course when you click through the error messages regarding that, iTunes "appears" to start faster, without that white screen, but of course is useless. As expected shutdown is faster, but all in all none of this really proves anything for sure. I'm going to look a little further into the Logitech set point software as it does show constant, however small, CPU usage. It also appears to be one of the last things to load at normal bootup. I need that frustrating wait for the hourglass to disappear before I can use the side buttons, etc. on my mouse. If I click too soon, weird things happen regarding the mouse, such as no scroll wheel operation, requiring a restart to get full use back. In any case, something is causing that software and others to take much more time loading even after the desktop appears. Of course the boot time up to the desktop is quite a bit longer than it was before that "disappointing moment" back in October.

 

[XavierMace]

When you say the hard drive benchmarks are still really fast, how fast are we talking?

 

[Drummerdude]

My bad, I didn't see that you were using an SSD.

 

[philkb]

When you say the hard drive benchmarks are still really fast, how fast are we talking?

just over 600 something for reads, nearly 700 for writes, since the disc uses the same rapid write system formerly only on the EVO series, now all the Samsung drive have that rapid write software running with them. Writes used to be a lot less and that was way back in the beginning before the rapid write technology. I run Norton NIS on my machine but it has never interfered with anything. I even tried some suggested iTunes changes to speed it up but there was no difference. But obviously something is up otherwise iTunes should start WAY faster on my system than my wife's, who has a mechanical drive and a slower processor, graphics card, and half the memory I have. If I could only pull out of my brain the memory of what else I may have tinkered with before that last restart that began all this issue of slowdown. Sigh.

Thanks for all help,
Phil

 

[Drummerdude]

Maybe try a bios reset? Just a thought...maybe something went fishy in the config of your bios. I mean, you said the only stock setting you changed was just the one, so maybe if you reset the whole bios ( pull battery, move jumper, etc ), then load back up, maybe that'll fix your issue? Also, Just as a thought, maybe your HDD driver is bad? You could always pull the driver, load up with generic drivers, install a fresh version, restart, and who know, maybe that'll fix your issue. Both the bios and driver ( preferably in that order ) are "safe" fixes.

 

[Drummerdude]

Also, as a thought....I've had Norton cause wayyyyy more problems that it's worth. I know you said it's never been a problem, but honestly, I'd try removing Norton ( not by the control panel, but by downloading the Norton Removal Tool ) and seeing if that helps at all. If not, you can always reinstall.

 

[philkb]

Some time ago, in order to access setup, I had to reset the BIOS using the convenient button on my motherboard. I had Quick Boot enabled and had to disable it in order to access setup. So the BIOS has all been reset. As for the HDD driver, it and many others were uninstalled and reinstalled with no effect. I did reinstall Intel rapid storage just today, but there seems to be little, if any difference. One time, the machine seemed to start rather quickly, but even then, the shutdown before that was fairly long. I was already away from my desk by the time it shut down. Also, my Norton renewal expires in a few days and I will be using the Comcast version, which according to Symantec's own support tech, is just the same as my paid version plus it has a computer tune up function. During the brief time that the "old" paid version is removed, I'll be able to see if there is any difference. Of course I'll be very quickly installing the Comcast version before I get "attacked".

Thanks,
Phil

 

[Steltek]

How much free space do you currently have available on your SSD? Generally, as they fill up, SSDs have a tendency to loose significant levels of performance.

 

[philkb]

My drive is only 1 quarter full, surprising for only 250 Gigs. I recently reinstalled the Intel Rapid Storage and my machine now seems to boot faster than it has been for a long time, but still not like it once did, also, there is still several seconds of solid hourglass next to the mouse cursor after the desktop appears. Again, the Logitech Setpoint is still loading, but nearly finished. The shut down time is still much too long still.
I was at my friend's house yesterday whom I helped build a system last November, and turned his machine on to check on something on line while we worked on his wife's laptop. His machine had the "Gigabyte" logo field showing, but quickly after that the Windows 8.1 logo appeared. It showed, it seemed, for barely a couple of seconds, then with barely a second or so of black screen, his desktop popped on, almost no hourglass time, and NO head and shoulders Welcome screen ever showed up. Obviously MUCH faster boot up time than mine is right now, even after the little improvement I got. One thing that might make a difference is he is running a 4770K processor as compared to my 3770K but I still can't see that as speeding up the boot time that much. As I said before, I never used to get that Welcome screen either. I'm nearly ready to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows 8.1 from scratch but I still worry that it might not fix the issue due to some strange change in a piece of hardware that is not obvious since everything all seems to be OK. Not to mention forever losing forever the nice color scheme I have now that CANNOT be recreated in Windows 8.1. My friend's color scheme looks horrible compared to mine and he can't get it anywhere like he himself would like let alone myself. that's what I'll be stuck with once I blow away my present setup. (Sigh)

Thanks, sorry for the long rant again, but this is so disappointing considering the cost of an SSD and my other hardware to lose that much performance.

Phil

 

[philkb]

There has been some changes since all this, generally good, except I am not using my Logitech Set Point software anymore, which of course, is inconvenient. However, after several days of starts, restarts and shutoffs, the system has apparently "tuned" itself for fast boot and shutdown. Essentially, those times are what the were way back when and the head and shoulders "welcome" screen is GONE. Just a couple days ago I noticed that it was gone but wasn't really sure I didn't just miss it. It is really gone, the time for the Windows logo is much shorter and when that goes off, seconds later my desktop pops on. Seconds after that, I do get a bit of an hourglass, but I'm able to use my machine even then. Still don't know why iTunes is no faster on my machine than my wife's or why I had to forfeit my Set Point software in order to get back my original fast boot and shutdowns. They are, at least, much faster than since my last post.