sluggish performance

[spinaltap]

Hello all,

I was hoping if you had any suggestions for troubleshooting or insights about my latest of issues with my computer.

So, starting yesterday at some point, my computer has become extremely sluggish in performance. Windows boot-up seems to take a lot longer now. Also simple youtube videos and even the windows logon sound extremely garbled. Since the problems seemed to happen all at once as opposed to gradually, my first thoughts were that I had contracted either some sort of adware or a virus. Once I had updated all the definitions files I went to work in these areas. Adaware and Spybot both returned some minor things which I promptly cleaned out, but there was no increase in performance. Symantec Client security did not pick up anything at all, so I guess I must assume it's not a virus. The next step was to use windows disk cleanup and try a defrag using Diskkeeper. While my volume was pretty heavily formatted, this also did not fix the problem.

Now I'm not of ideas on what to do next. It seems like for some reason there is poor memory allocation on my system, meaning theres a lot of extra swapping from disk. I could be totally wrong about that, though. If anyone has any ideas on what I could try next to help diagnose my problem, or other insights as to what could be going on, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[wanderer27]

System config?

Might want to pull up Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) and see if any odd Tasks are running - could still be Spyware/Trojan. That's what this really sound like.

Have you added any components or anything lately? A Driver issue could also cause this.

 

[spinaltap]

System Config:

Compaq Laptop - Presario X1000
CPU - Pentium M 1.4 GHz
Mem - 512 MB
HDD - 60 GB (4200 RPM I belive...its definatley slower than 5400)

Since its a laptop, I haven't added any hardware to the system recently, and havent installed any software. Also there does not seem to be any obvious offenders in my task manager system processes. Hope that helps to clarify things.

 

[wanderer27]

Is it a Corporate Laptop (from work)?

I know my Laptop is always getting crap installed on it. I generally have around 50 Processes running on it, really slows the thing down.

I've only got about 17 Processes running on my home System.

If you're using Wireless, you might check the Networking tab in the Task Manager to see if there's any activity when you're idle. There should only be an ocassional blip (very minor). If there's more, somethings up.

 

[spinaltap]

Wow, thats almost no processes. You must have had a field day with your services.msc.

Anyways, nope, its not a corporate laptop. I generally have between 35 and 40 processes running at a time unless im doing heavy multitasking. My networking tab seems to be pretty clear for the most part as well; basically no blips over half a percent when I'm idle. Can you think of any other diagnostic utililities I can possibly run? It seems to me like I have poor memory allocation or something along those lines. My processor usage seems to shoot up to 100% over the most seemingly innocuous things and I feel like my harddisk is being accessed for stuff more than usual.

 

[spinaltap]

Also, another thing I have noticed is that even when I am idle, the "System" process under the processes tab in task manager seems to be constantly running with about 7-11% of the processors resources/cycles. I seem to remember that usually when I'm idle this number is closer to 0 and the System Idle Process is generally around 98%. Im assuming that the "System" process is either the kernel or something kernel related, so If I could figure out a way to find out what is accessing this I might be able to learn more about my problem.

 

[pkme2]

You can download these.

Belarc Advisor A free ultility that gives info on your system. A great help for serial# of installed software.

Ace Utilities
Free to use for 30 days. I found this excellent to clear up rubbish hidden and otherwise from computers. You can also clearup startup processes to minimal.

AVG Home free home Anti everything.

You may have something lurking on your harddrive. Use AVG to find it, just in case.

 

[wanderer27]

When idle, your System Idle Process should be about 99%. The others should only momentarily jump up a few % points. If you have something running 7%+ constantly I'd look into that - doesn't sound right.

There's an option for fast file finding (Index Service) that will run when idle. This can slow down your System a little - it's on by default, and doesn't usually cause much problem. You can look into turning this off, though I'm not sure where to do that right off hand.

Another thing is the System could be doing background Defragmenting. I believe there's an option for that too somewhere.

The Processes I have running are just the defaults from when I built this System. I didn't add a bunch of Bells and Whistles. I turned off the Scheduler (another option you may want to look at) because that can be a drag sometimes. But that's it, I just try to keep this System clean.

 

[pkme2]

If you want a faster startup, you can go on desktop.

1. Start
2. Run
3. Type in msconfig
4. Hit enter. You get System Configuration Utility.
5. Click Startup tab
5. Check off unneccesary startup items.
Be careful, and check what is 'NOT NEEDED' in startup.

You can uncheck a few to begin with. and try again.

 

[spinaltap]

I don't think this is services related, I've actually been through services.msc (in my opinion a little better than msconfig for dealing w/ services) and gutted out uncessesary services to help clear up memory.

I do have a new theory, though. It seems that both glitches in audio and the unusually low performance correlate directly to hard drive accesses. I have no idea why this is though; i've run chkdsk with the repair option set and also another utility through my bios and haven't gotten any definitive results. Are there any utilities that you all know of that I can use to check hard disk integrety? Also if there are any other ideas you have related to this topic please let me know; im going crazy trying to debug all of this.

Thanks for your help so far, so far its given me some good ideas on how to explore the root of this problem.

 

[vanvock]

Have you looked in event viewer to see if there's a clue there?

 

[law9933]

Maybe you should post a HJT log to find possible causes. (at pcguide.com or amazingtechs.com forums)
What's Running & autoruns are 2 free programs that my be of help. Les

 

[spinaltap]

vanvock: I can't seem to find anything out of the ordinary in my event viewer

law9933 and others: I just downloaded HJT; my logfile should be below. I've never used HJT or posted anything with it, so please excuse my formatting if it is hard to read. From the looks of things, however, I dont see anything particularly peculiar about my background processes. Hopefully you all here will notice something I don't.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 2:07:13 AM, on 11/6/2006
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.5730.0011)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.exe
C:\Program Files\Executive Software\DiskeeperServer\DKService.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMAgent.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMax4PNP.exe
C:\WINDOWS\AGRSMMSG.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\VPTray.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Lavasoft\AD-AWA~1\Ad-Watch.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\MediaSource\Detector\CTDetect.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Digital Imaging\bin\hpohmr08.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Digital Imaging\bin\hpotdd01.exe
C:\Program Files\Trillian Pro\trillian.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Digital Imaging\bin\hpoevm08.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Digital Imaging\Bin\hpoSTS08.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe
C:\DOCUME~1\CRAIGR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Adobelm_Cleanup.0001
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
C:\DOCUME~1\CRAIGR~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Adobelm_Cleanup.0001
D:\Downloads\Hijack This\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_09\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar3.dll
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Conversion Toolbar Helper - {AE7CD045-E861-484f-8273-0445EE161910} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Adobe PDF - {47833539-D0C5-4125-9FA8-0819E2EAAC93} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar3.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ATIModeChange] Ati2mdxx.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ATIPTA] C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMAXPnP] C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMax4PNP.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMAX] C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\Smax4.exe /tray
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AGRSMMSG] AGRSMMSG.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vptray] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\VPTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [Wrapper] runonce
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [GrpConv] grpconv -o
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [!CleanupNetMeetingDispDriver] "C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe" msconf.dll,CleanupNetMeetingDispDriver 0
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [AWMON] "C:\PROGRA~1\Lavasoft\AD-AWA~1\Ad-Watch.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Creative Detector] "C:\Program Files\Creative\MediaSource\Detector\CTDetect.exe" /R
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [AIM] C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe -cnetwait.odl
O4 - Startup: Trillian.lnk = C:\Program Files\Trillian Pro\trillian.exe
O4 - Global Startup: hp psc 1000 series.lnk = ?
O4 - Global Startup: hpoddt01.exe.lnk = ?
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECaptureSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppendSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_09\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_09\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O11 - Options group: [INTERNATIONAL] International*
O20 - Winlogon Notify: NavLogon - C:\WINDOWS\system32\NavLogon.dll
O21 - SSODL: WPDShServiceObj - {AAA288BA-9A4C-45B0-95D7-94D524869DB5} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\WPDShServiceObj.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Adobe Systems - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Password Validation (ccPwdSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccPwdSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Service for CDROM Access - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus Definition Watcher (DefWatch) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
O23 - Service: Diskeeper - Executive Software International, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Executive Software\DiskeeperServer\DKService.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: Macromedia Licensing Service - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Macromedia Shared\Service\Macromedia Licensing.exe
O23 - Service: MATLAB Server (matlabserver) - Unknown owner - C:\MATLAB701\webserver\bin\win32\matlabserver.exe
O23 - Service: Pml Driver HPZ12 - HP - C:\WINDOWS\system32\HPZipm12.exe
O23 - Service: SAVRoam (SavRoam) - symantec - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\SavRoam.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service (SNDSrvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: SoundMAX Agent Service (SoundMAX Agent Service (default)) - Analog Devices, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMAgent.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SPBBCSvc (SPBBCSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
O23 - Service: StarWind iSCSI Service (StarWindService) - Rocket Division Software - C:\Program Files\Alcohol Soft\Alcohol 120\StarWind\StarWindService.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe

One more thing: I tried running the test a second time while playing music. Nothing really changed in HJT other than the added process. But all of the HDD and memory activity from the HJT log generated a whole bunch of latency in the audio and made it even more garbled than usual. I know this sounds crazy, but it feels like my computer somehow lost the ability to multitask properly. I really hope I can find a more concrete explanation for this soon, but thats all I've got for now. Please keep the suggestions coming though; they have been most helpful.

 

[law9933]

I'm not able to do HJT logs, but did plug it into a HJT program, it was OK but these came back unknown.
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [Wrapper] runonce
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [GrpConv] grpconv -o
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [!CleanupNetMeetingDispDriver] "C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe"


O23 - Service: MATLAB Server (matlabserver) - Unknown owner - C:\MATLAB701\webserver\bin\win32\matlabserver.exe
You should post your log (at pcguide.com or amazingtechs.com forums) .
Have you cleaned your Registry? (Eusing Free Registery Cleaner) Les

 

[spinaltap]

Unless I'm reading mine wrong, I'm pretty sure that those services are not a problem. I found them all in my registry and they dont seem to like being deleted, so I'm going to assume they are system processes I need. Matlab is a programming utility I use for vector and matrix programming.

It does not seem that my problem is related to processes running in the background, although I'm not going to rule it out as a possibility. It seems to me like an OS scheduling problem; starting up even simple processes like internet explorer drive my CPU usage up to 100% and every time my music gets distorted that seems to correspond directly to a harddrive access. Honestly I have no idea how this is happening and why it happened all of a sudden, so if any of you have insights on this problem please tell me.

 

[mechBgon]

A couple ideas to try:

1) make sure your drive(s) are still in UltraDMA mode, not PIO mode. Go into Device Manager, expand your IDE/ATA controllers, then go to the Advanced tab for each of the controllers and make sure they're in a DMA mode, and not PIO

2) you might try these online virus scanners for second and third opinions: Kaspersky online scanner and Microsoft online scanner. Use Internet Explorer to run them.


Also, since you have Office software installed, run it through Office Update as well as Microsoft Update to make sure your Microsoft stuff is all patched-up. And it could help to upgrade to 1GB of RAM too

 

[Slikkster]

Here's what I would do:

Use XP's "System Restore" and go back a few days before this problem cropped up. See how your performance measures up after the restore. If it doesn't help, you can UNDO the restore, so it's not an issue as to whether to try this.

Please don't say "I've disabled System Restore". I hear that a lot, and don't understand the rationale. Anyway, hope you have it running. Give it a shot.

Note about Hijackthis log: I see you have a number of "RunOnce" items. What's that all about?

 

[law9933]

a2 Free had a really large update today. Maybe it would find something.

 

[spinaltap]

mechBgon: Thats exactly what I thought was going on but I couldnt remember what the name of it was. I looked in my primary IDE driver and it said to do DMA if available but I'm currently in PIO mode, which explains a lot. Any idea what the root of this could be or how I could get it out of this mode? I hope my harddrive isnt dying....

 

[wanderer27]

Originally posted by: spinaltap
mechBgon: Thats exactly what I thought was going on but I couldnt remember what the name of it was. I looked in my primary IDE driver and it said to do DMA if available but I'm currently in PIO mode, which explains a lot. Any idea what the root of this could be or how I could get it out of this mode? I hope my harddrive isnt dying....

Is it your Hard Drive or your CD/DVD Drive that's PIO?

A lot CD/DVD Drives will have to run in PIO or you get weird IO errors - some things basically become unreadable.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: spinaltap
mechBgon: Thats exactly what I thought was going on but I couldnt remember what the name of it was. I looked in my primary IDE driver and it said to do DMA if available but I'm currently in PIO mode, which explains a lot. Any idea what the root of this could be or how I could get it out of this mode? I hope my harddrive isnt dying....

It could be a failing disk controller, which is part of the motherboard. Make it a priority to back up any important data, and to decrypt it if it's encrypted with the Encrypting File System so you can read it elsewhere.

Once that's done, try going to Device Manager and uninstalling the two disk controllers, then reboot. This sort of "resets the circuit breaker" so that Windows will let you use DMA mode again, after it "rediscovers" the disk controllers on the next reboot.

 

[spinaltap]

Wow, I almost can't believe it, but it worked. After uninstalling my Primary IDE channel driver and restarting a couple times (as per the instructions from windows) everythihng came back to normal. It almost feels like a new computer now, hehe. Thanks to all of you who took the time to help me out. I still have no idea why everything decided to crap out all of a sudden, but at least now I've got some more knowledge in my "debugging toolkit" and I'll know what to do in the event that something like this happens again.