Random System Lag with Vista Home x64

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crash_sc

This is a problem I've had since I bought the pc in April '08. I'll start
with the specs...

HP Pavilion m9200t
Preloaded with Vista Home 64-bit
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4ghz
nVidia GeForce 8600 GT 512mb
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
750gb Seagate SATA HD
6gb RAM

At seemingly random intervals for no apparent reason I would experiece
extreme system lag. I'm talking several minutes for programs to load/close,
text lag while typing, several minutes for websites to load in IE/Firefox,
and 20-40 minutes bootup/shutdown times. The lag would usually clear up
after a few hours or so. When I first contacted HP about the problem they
asked if I would perform a virus scan first, so I ran a full system scan
with Norton Internet Security. The system was very laggy when I started the
scan, so I just let it run and left for a few hours. When I came back the
lag was gone and the scan had removed 1 trojan. HP pinned the problem solely
on the virus and has insisted that was the cause of all my lag.
The lag still randomly pops up, even though virus scans come up clean,
and twice now the lag has persisted to the point where I did full System
Recoveries (the lag has persisted through a System Restore). I assumed Vista
was the problem and wiped the HD (except HP's recovery partition) and
installed a full legal copy of XP Home. Almost as soon as the install had
completed, the lag returned. Same problems, very slow program response, long
shutdown/bootup times, etc...

Now my question is, after a KillDisk HD wipe and 2 OS's, is there any way
this problem could be solely software related?
 
crash_sc said:
This is a problem I've had since I bought the pc in April '08. I'll start
with the specs...

HP Pavilion m9200t
Preloaded with Vista Home 64-bit
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4ghz
nVidia GeForce 8600 GT 512mb
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
750gb Seagate SATA HD
6gb RAM

At seemingly random intervals for no apparent reason I would experiece
extreme system lag. I'm talking several minutes for programs to load/close,
text lag while typing, several minutes for websites to load in IE/Firefox,
and 20-40 minutes bootup/shutdown times. The lag would usually clear up
after a few hours or so. When I first contacted HP about the problem they
asked if I would perform a virus scan first, so I ran a full system scan
with Norton Internet Security. The system was very laggy when I started the
scan, so I just let it run and left for a few hours. When I came back the
lag was gone and the scan had removed 1 trojan. HP pinned the problem solely
on the virus and has insisted that was the cause of all my lag.
The lag still randomly pops up, even though virus scans come up clean,
and twice now the lag has persisted to the point where I did full System
Recoveries (the lag has persisted through a System Restore). I assumed Vista
was the problem and wiped the HD (except HP's recovery partition) and
installed a full legal copy of XP Home. Almost as soon as the install had
completed, the lag returned. Same problems, very slow program response, long
shutdown/bootup times, etc...

Now my question is, after a KillDisk HD wipe and 2 OS's, is there any way
this problem could be solely software related?
Click to expand...
I guess you wasted the 6 Gb RAM going back to XP. You sound like you
know what you are doing and assume it is not the machine Indexing itself?

Have you run a Memory tester on your RAM, that is common throughout your
installs.

I would CERTAINLY dump Norton's. Grab a free trial of ESET Smart
Security suite or Avast AV. What is your Windows Experience score when
you had x64 as the OS? Are your Hard drives set to the correct setting?
If you have Vista back as the OS, go here
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/81176-speed-up-performance-vista.html
In particular item #6 re the Hard drives.

Did you install ALL of the MoBo drivers after the re-install? Grab a
copy of Driver Detective for free it will do the scan and tell you what
drivers are out of date.

I had a 8600 GT card and it was very sensitive to the right driver so
check what others recommend for that. Although this doesn't sound like
a video card driver problem.

Have you run CHKDSK /R/F

Frenchy


Frenchy
 
Thanks for the reply.

The lag I experienced under XP was worse (continued for 4 or 5 hours,
through multiple reboots, then cleared up all by itself) than any I've had
in Vista. And since XP only recognized 3gigs of RAM, and lets face it -
Vista is prettier, I did a factory restore. CHKDSK came up clean. When I
first started looking into the problem I read up on the Indexing service,
but ruled it out since the lag also occured in bootup before Windows loaded.
I disabled it anyway, just to see how it turns out. Thanks for the link, I
had disabled all unneeded/unwanted services in my last setup, and just
finished redoing that. Also went for advanced performace for the HD. I'll go
through more on that list a tomorrow. Months ago when the lag first started
I ran a freebie RAM tester I found online. I'm going to try Windows Memory
Diagnostic tomorrow when I have some more time. My Windows Experience score
is as follows...

CPU - 5.9
RAM - 5.5
Graphics - 5.6
Gaming Graphics - 5.4
Primary HD - 5.9

5.4 Overall.

Right now, I'm paying closer attention to what processes are running when,
so I can compare if/when the lag starts up again.

Thanks again for the reply.


crash_sc
 
crash_sc said:
Thanks for the reply.

The lag I experienced under XP was worse (continued for 4 or 5 hours,
through multiple reboots, then cleared up all by itself) than any I've had
in Vista. And since XP only recognized 3gigs of RAM, and lets face it -
Vista is prettier, I did a factory restore. CHKDSK came up clean. When I
first started looking into the problem I read up on the Indexing service,
but ruled it out since the lag also occured in bootup before Windows
loaded.
I disabled it anyway, just to see how it turns out. Thanks for the link, I
had disabled all unneeded/unwanted services in my last setup, and just
finished redoing that. Also went for advanced performace for the HD.
I'll go
through more on that list a tomorrow. Months ago when the lag first started
I ran a freebie RAM tester I found online. I'm going to try Windows Memory
Diagnostic tomorrow when I have some more time. My Windows Experience score
is as follows...

CPU - 5.9
RAM - 5.5
Graphics - 5.6
Gaming Graphics - 5.4
Primary HD - 5.9

5.4 Overall.

Right now, I'm paying closer attention to what processes are running when,
so I can compare if/when the lag starts up again.

Thanks again for the reply.


crash_sc
Click to expand...

No problems. It helps others if you hit REPLY so they see the original
Post, as others may need a similar solution. I wanted your Experience
scores to make sure there was nothing untoward with the main drivers and
the video driver. They look fine.

Indexing is a good thing, after it has run its course. If you do decide
to put it back on, do so and leave it running for 24 hours while you are
not at the computer. If you go to the Microsoft page, you can download
v4.0 of the Indexing and that is MUCH better as far as search. I
suspect a little better at the initial indexing as well.

Run this on-line tester at Secunia. It is quite non-invasive and
doesn't add anything to your machine and will make sure you have all the
Windows updates and Java etc

http://secunia.com/software_inspector

Also go here

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

Half way down the page, download the Autoruns.exe file. This is an
excellent free and non-installed program to check and alter any start-up
programs and easiy to disable them in your quest for perfection <smile>

I see there is a new process monitor that may help as well

Good Luck

Frenchy
 
I have the same computer,,, and the same problem. I have tried for months to
get HP to fix this problem, but they have done nothing!!! What I notice is
that something is acessing the hard drive 100% YOu can see this in Task
manager, performance, performance monitor. I have also had Best Buy's Geek
Squad look at it, and they think it might be HP software. Since crash_sc
swapped operating systems, it must be something else??? Indexing sound
logical because if you watch the hard drive info, you see services going
through every file on the computer.

Anything else other than get a different computer??? :-)
 
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