Help! Dramatic Slowdown

  • Thread starter Thread starter paragliider
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paragliider

I am totally stumped. The other day, my computer started experiencing
extreme slowdowns in weird ways. The most noticeable effects of this
(besides going slow) is that whenever my computer tries to do anything
(even simple things, like open windows, open the task manager) cpu
usage spikes to 100% the cursor jerks around the screen and if winamp
is on, it skreetches and skips time.

Im fairly good at computers, so i have completely scoured it for
viruses, spyware, adware etc. ive removed unused programs, turned off
everything non essential in msconfig, both under services and startup,
and STILL no improvement.

In task manager, there are no alien processes, and whatever is being
used will jump to 100% (even task manager). Does anyone have ANY idea
what would be causing this? Is the cursor slowing down with
everything else normal? I dont think ive ever seen jerky cursors like
this.

Thanks!

Running Windows XP, SP2, AMD Athlon64, 1gb RAM
 
I am totally stumped. The other day, my computer started experiencing
extreme slowdowns in weird ways. The most noticeable effects of this
(besides going slow) is that whenever my computer tries to do anything
(even simple things, like open windows, open the task manager) cpu
usage spikes to 100% the cursor jerks around the screen and if winamp
is on, it skreetches and skips time.

Im fairly good at computers, so i have completely scoured it for
viruses, spyware, adware etc. ive removed unused programs, turned off
everything non essential in msconfig, both under services and startup,
and STILL no improvement.

In task manager, there are no alien processes, and whatever is being
used will jump to 100% (even task manager). Does anyone have ANY idea
what would be causing this? Is the cursor slowing down with
everything else normal? I dont think ive ever seen jerky cursors like
this.
Click to expand...



Check in the control panel to see if the HD went to PIO mode
 
Check in the control panel to see if the HD went to PIO mode
Click to expand...

... and in Event Viewer, a failing drive (or merely cabling
gone bad) can also cause similar symptoms.
 
Check in the control panel to see if the HD went to PIO mode

Ahha! You're great. that is exactly what happened! Now I need to
figure out why it decided to do that. Also, when I reverted it back
to DMA mode, it only went into ultra dma mode 5, while an older hard
drive i have is in ultra dma mode 6. What is the difference? Why
would a drive not default to the fastest? Thanks!
 
Ahha! You're great. that is exactly what happened! Now I need to
figure out why it decided to do that. Also, when I reverted it back
to DMA mode, it only went into ultra dma mode 5, while an older hard
drive i have is in ultra dma mode 6. What is the difference? Why
would a drive not default to the fastest? Thanks!
Click to expand...

You should get the manufacturer's tools and run a diagnostic on the drive to
see if it's
ok...as windows can drop a drive to PIO if it has read/write errors.

If the drive checks out ok...see what kind of tools the mfg provides...
it might be possible to enable DMA-6...
though I'm sure DMA-5 is way better than PIO!
 
You should get the manufacturer's tools and run a diagnostic on the drive to
see if it's ok...as windows can drop a drive to PIO if it has read/write errors.
Click to expand...

Nope, if its getting CRC errors over the cable to the drive.

So you need to replace the cable and reset the DMA.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472/, WORKAROUND section.
If the drive checks out ok...see what kind of tools the mfg provides...
it might be possible to enable DMA-6...
though I'm sure DMA-5 is way better than PIO!
Click to expand...

It'll likely fix itself when the other problem is fixed.
 
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