Unbelievable lag on P4 3.2ghz with HT enabled on Abit IS7 -- need some informative advice

[RussianSensation]

System:
Abit IS7 BIOS 1.8
2x256 Geil PC3500 UP @394 2-6-3-3 @2.8V
GAT@Turbo-A-A-D-D
P4 2.6C w/HT @ 3.2 (246/197)@1.600V
Radeon 8500
80gb WD 7200 rpm 8mb cache
8.0GB samsang 5400rpm
TurboLink 350 Watt power supply (<--- Pathetic, gets as low as 3.18 on 3.3 Voltage rail at load)

Here is my problem:

Whenever I have many programs running my computer will suddenly start to lag hardcore and the mouse will skip and the music will have 'breaks' and pauses and the games will run at 1FPS. First, I thought it was my hard drive that was giving me this problem, but then I would simply close everything restart and leave the computer on and it would boot into windows with minimal initial startup programs only. Sometimes after 5 min or sometimes after 3 hours it will start to lag anyways so I figured how can it possibly lag off the hard drive if I have nothing running?

I press Cntrl+Alt + Delete and close ALL PROGRAMS => still says CPU load is 43% and it fluctuates up and down, BUT I DONT HAVE ANYTHING RUNNING !!!!

Trying to figure out the problem:

1. Then I thought it's my onboard sound card drivers because when I have windows media player on it somehow increases my chances of experiencing this horrible problem every time or when I have the sound on. But, after reinstalling various versions of Realtek AC'97 drivers, the end result is nothing; disabled audio on the motherboard, still shows signs of lag at random times.

2. Then I reinstalled Catalyst drivers from versions 3.7 to 4.2 and it didnt help my problem either.
3. Then I installed the latest versions of Intel accelerator and utility still nothing.
4. Tried BIOS versions 1.6 1.7 and 1.8 for the motherboard ..... nope
5. Finally, downclocked my CPU from 3.2 to 2.6 to it's original speed and reset BIOS to defaults, I still exhibit the problem.
6. Alright then I checked my motherboard, CPU temperatures and they were normal 36* and 63* under load with Zalman CNPS7000, and I turned off thermal Throttling as well
7. The northbridge fan runs normally even though it fails on most IS7/IC7 derivatives so I didnt want my northbridge to overheat....not a problem either
8. Downloaded SpyBot and Ad-aware Lavasoft to search for spyware and anything that can run in teh background I can't detect. Deleted everything both of them picked up
9. Defragged both hard drives and did norton cleansweep and anti-virus search with latest definitions.
10. Downloaded all possible windows xp updates including service pack 1

I was seriously about to hang myself...so about 15 min ago I tried turning off Hyper-Threading and the problem is gone....Now can someone explain how the computer can lag with Hyper-Threading? And how can I fix this or detect exactly what is going on? I mean I do have a C type processor and I do like hyperthreading (when it works***)

Can someone please explain to me my problem or try to possibly come up with another explanation for this behaviour because I am not really sure if it is 100% hyper-threading-related, but I would like to know what I can do about this>>>>if it is.

Duvie, Pete, BenSkywalker, anyone I need you advice. I am out of ideas.

 

[Duvie]

Wow....Quite unique of a situation. Well ofcourse I can tell you this is not normal as I have no issues, but I think you know that....


Often times when ppl have these sort of lags it is usually related to a NIC card....Do you have one???

Also under task manager go to processes tab and watch all those *.exe running and look for one that may be spiking up and done. If the cpu utilization is telling you 43% then one of these exe is running it, and often those are not necessary listed under applications. I have thing sin my task bar I now are open that are not under applications. Folding Home is running 24/7 but it is not listed under applications...


Virus!!! Have latest software updates for Virus software????

Fresh install of winxp??? Did you do one when you added it?? An upgrade to winxp??

Under tak manager with HT on in the bios it detects 2 cpus and gives you a split cpu screen under the performance tab???

 

[Chad]

Try a low level format of the HD (write o's) and reinstall the OS. Update motherboard bios'es etc.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Duvie
Wow....Quite unique of a situation. Well ofcourse I can tell you this is not normal as I have no issues, but I think you know that....


Often times when ppl have these sort of lags it is usually related to a NIC card....Do you have one???
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No I dont have an NIC card, I run onboard Lan.

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Also under task manager go to processes tab and watch all those *.exe running and look for one that may be spiking up and done. If the cpu utilization is telling you 43% then one of these exe is running it, and often those are not necessary listed under applications. I have thing sin my task bar I now are open that are not under applications. Folding Home is running 24/7 but it is not listed under applications...
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Umm...How can i find programs which are not listen under applications but are still running? Usually it will say System Process Idle 97% and CPU Usage will say 39-43% fluctuating with 0 dedication to all other processes.

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Virus!!! Have latest software updates for Virus software????
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I have installed Norton 2003 and updated it using latest updates along with microsoft security updates and searched the computer on Symantec website for additional viruses still nothing.

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Fresh install of winxp??? Did you do one when you added it?? An upgrade to winxp??
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I am starting to think this is my last resort......When I first built the computer I did a fresh install of everything and I didn't upgrade XP even since except for updates.

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Under tak manager with HT on in the bios it detects 2 cpus and gives you a split cpu screen under the performance tab???
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NO, it does not give me a split CPU screen under the performance tab, only shows 1 CPU Usage box with 1 % indicator not 2 for each CPU 0 and CPU 1.

Update: When I turned off Hyper-Threading, I thought it would fix the problem but I was wrong 30 min after it still started to lag again so I am sure Hyper-Threading can be now factored out.

 

[DanZee]

Originally posted by: Duvie


Also under task manager go to processes tab and watch all those *.exe running and look for one that may be spiking up and done. If the cpu utilization is telling you 43% then one of these exe is running it

Do as he says. Something is hogging your CPU. Check for adware and stuff. Download a little prog that scans your start-up file - you might be surprised what you may find. It's not a hardware issue. Oh, and by the way, if you have Prime95 or similar, make sure IT'S NOT SET TO RUN AUTOMATICALLY. Cause if it is then no wonder you get such slowdowns.

 

[Big Lar]

Also, to add to all the above, check to make sure you have the Latest Board Drivers, as I noted you put service pack 1 on, usually helps to update the drivers for the board as well, even if they were there before the service pack. Check Device Manager to make sure there are no exclamation marks there/ windows may be searching for a driver at random. Are you behind a router, if so check your settings, and also check settings for the Nic card as well in windows.

 

[LTC8K6]

I don't think you can turn off the CPU's own clock throttling, since it's built into the CPU. Perhaps you turned off the motherboard's clock throttling?

 

[MichaelZ]

I've had a virus / worm which got in months back. It took 100% CPU and i couldn't do anything. Opening regedit and trying to unload the damn thing out of task manager wasn't possible. Had to load into safe mode to clean the thing off. However you need to look for abnomal things. I keep a close eye on my startup string and the progs in task manager. It was when I loaded into safe mode did I realise this damn thing added itself as a windows service which reloads every few seconds even if you manage to get into task manager and terminate the process. Check the startup progs.

 

[Acanthus]

Check temps for thermal throttling.

And definately reformat when going to an HT enabled CPU.

 

[sonoran]

Whenever I have many programs running my computer will suddenly start to lag hardcore

Any chance you've got so much stuff loaded into memory that it's swapping to disk? Once the OS starts swapping memory to disk performance goes to go to hell real quick (at least 10x slowdown)...

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
I don't think you can turn off the CPU's own clock throttling, since it's built into the CPU. Perhaps you turned off the motherboard's clock throttling?

You are right I should have clarified that. In essence I wanted to isolate any possible problem so I disabled the motherboard cpu throttling. Unfortunately that did not fix the problem.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Big Lar
Also, to add to all the above, check to make sure you have the Latest Board Drivers, as I noted you put service pack 1 on, usually helps to update the drivers for the board as well, even if they were there before the service pack. Check Device Manager to make sure there are no exclamation marks there/ windows may be searching for a driver at random. Are you behind a router, if so check your settings, and also check settings for the Nic card as well in windows.

No explamantion marks are present, so no particular problems have been detected in there. I have the latest drivers installed and latest bios and utilities. I use my onboard Lan connection and I dont use an NIC card but I do have a router and I sometimes reset it but when I experience the lag under Connections, Network Utilization is at 0% so that doesn't really explain how it is clogging the CPU up so much.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Check temps for thermal throttling.

And definately reformat when going to an HT enabled CPU.

Motherboard temperature max at 39*C and CPU idle at 45 load at 64*C with Zalman CNPS7000 so it is not a problem. The fact of the matter is the cpu experiences this problem at random it seems and often I do not even have this lag for weeks and at times it comes on for a whole day making my office work on the computer impossible to complete. I even downclocked the CPU to it's original speed to further help decrease teh temperatures and prevent instabilitiy issues.

Deep in the back of my mind somehow i think it could relate to my poor quality power supply perhaps?

Also this is my first intel rig and I never swapped a different CPU in there, but I had my share of formats previously and even after windows xp complete reinstall the problem comes back (i've had this for 6 months but lately it's been bothering me since it comes at the worst times when I have a lot of programs running too).

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: sonoran

Whenever I have many programs running my computer will suddenly start to lag hardcore

Any chance you've got so much stuff loaded into memory that it's swapping to disk? Once the OS starts swapping memory to disk performance goes to go to hell real quick (at least 10x slowdown)...

I checked Memory subsystem and the Peak does not exceed 512mb limit in office applications.
How do i find out if the OS is swapping memory to disk performance?
I have my pagefile set at 768 min and 768 max which corresponds to the 1.5x RAM rule of thumb.

So far new steps taken to test the systeM:

1. I did test my memory for 30 min and it did not show any problems with winmemtest86 that i ran off a floppy at bootup

2. I looked under Applications and Processes and everything says 00 when the system exhibits the signs of lag except System Idle Process at 97% which is expected since it's malfunctioning. Then I proceeded to turn everything off and it still kept staying at 30-40% for no reason. I turned off all the programs until I was no longer allowed to turn the remaining ones and then the explorer one which shut the system down.

3. Also I tried booting without HyperThreading and the problem still persists. I just got home from school and now it's working fine at full load running 2 instances of SETI. So it happens randomly it seems and I can never anticipate when it will happen or not. Sometimes I do not experience problems for weeks and at other time i am unable to work on the computer for a whole day even with multiple restarts.

4. How do i turn off Microsoft indexing? Someone mentioned this might be slowing my computer down as well?

5. It fails Prime 95 oh oh!!

OK I just checked Event Viewfinder under System I found 2 major errors:

A: CD-Rom error 1:

"The driver detected a controller error on \Device\CdRom1."
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This is listed for about 400 times in the list!!! every second it says it has occurred over the last week.
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Searched for it:

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 11
Source: Cdrom
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: IO_ERR_CONTROLLER_ERROR
Message: The driver detected a controller error on %1.

Explanation
This problem is typically caused by a failing cable that connects the drive to the computer.

User Action
Replace the cable.
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I have DVD and CD-ROm connected by one cable but the hard drives are on a separate cable. Even if the cd-roms do not work properly why would my system lag because of it?

But yes at every boot up the drives are not detected unless I enter and then leave the BIOS and reboot.
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Error 2: Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 10005
Source: DCOM
Version: 5.0
Component: System Event Log
Symbolic Name: EVENT_RPCSS_START_SERVICE_FAILURE
Message: DCOM got error "%%%1" attempting to start the service %2 with arguments "%3" in order to run the server:
%4

Explanation
The Component Object Model (COM) infrastructure could not start the named Windows NT service.

User Action
Review the Windows error code displayed in the message. If the error indicates that the system is out of memory, save your work, close other programs, and then try to start the service again. Alternatively, increase the amount of RAM installed on the computer.

If the message displays a system, server, or configuration error, contact your service support vendor.

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Hmm...but I have 512mb of RAM and under peak it never exceeds 512 unless when I am playing Far Cry.....do i really need more than 512mb for normal windows interface office work?

I usually have 5 Microsoft Word open, 5 Internet Explorers, 1 Netscape, Windows Media Player, MSN, Calculator, Excel, and my folder options in the desktop and sometimes it "freezes" where I click on the windows and nothign moves when I try to minimize them but i can still move the mouse yet when i click on something it has no effect so I have to restart....does that mean I need more ram ?

Sorry for the long response and more questions for you guys.

 

[RussianSensation]

New update:

As for MSconfig:

1. Under startup I have 8 Programs: ccApp, ccRegVfy, qttask, msnmsgr, ctfmon, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Worlks Calendar Reminders, and Shortcut to SoundMan (my onboard audio driver interface)

Nothing unsual to speak of here. hmm...

2. Under Services I have 85 programs, but some of them are 'stopped' so not all of them are 'running'. I don't want to list all of them but it seems a lot of them are unimportant like Speed Disk Service and Windows Updates as well as Remote access and Remote Registry Files...etc.

When I press Cntrl-Alt-Delete I have about 34-35 programs running taking up 128-140M of commit charge. This is on bootup.

 

[Big Lar]

Well, First off, I would replace the IDE cable, or at least make sure it is connected right. Next, 1 instance of control/alt/delete will bring up task manager and under performance will show at any given time the ram you have used to that point.


Edit, I did read it wrong, you spoke of the cpu , sorry.