Derek said:
Can somebody give me an idea of what is slowing my machine down? I'm running
XP Home SP2, I've done all the usual things to keep it clean but it takes
minutes to load a web page or start an application. When I run Task Manager
all it shows is the System Idle Process using 98% of the CPU, even when I
have only the desktop, and no programmes running. Help please, it took me
half an hour just to navigate to and sign on to this page
A possible reason for the computer slowing down, is the disk
operating in PIO mode, instead of the faster DMA mode. DMA
or direct memory access, moves data to system memory without
processor intervention for each byte of data. PIO or Polled I/O
mode, moves the data using the processor. PIO may manage 4MB/sec
transfer rates, while DMA goes as fast as the media or the ribbon
cable allow.
You can use HDTune, for a disk benchmark. A normal disk transfer
curve, might be curved in shape, start at 60MB/sec near the beginning
of the disk, and end around 40MB/sec. If instead, you saw a "flat
line" for the benchmark, and the transfer rate was 4MB/sec over the
entire disk surface, that means you're likely in PIO mode.
(Download version 2.55 here and give it a try).
http://www.hdtune.com/download.html
To fix the low transfer rate problem, scroll half way down this
page, to the "Workaround" section. Windows changes the transfer
speed, in response to detecting errors during transfers, and
you end up in the (slow) PIO mode, if enough errors are detected.
The "Workaround" process resets the transfer rate, at least,
until more errors are detected.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472
*******
The "System Idle Process" in Task Manager, is what
runs when there is nothing else to run on the computer.
As such, it provides a mechanism for tracking how busy
the machine is. If the Idle process is active 100% of the
time, then the machine is "completely idle". Any other computing
process is more important than the idle task - if any other
process wants to run, it has priority over the idle task.
So, as you see the idle task percentage drop, it means
other, real processes are getting their turn to run. There
is nothing abnormal about this. So the Idle Task is a
tracking mechanism, for determining how busy the system
is. If the CPU is "pegged" by a real compute job, then
Idle should be getting zero percent.
The "System" entry, is for kernel threads. It is a
measure of certain kinds of operating system activity.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768129.aspx
"The system process
This process contains system threads, which are kernel mode threads.
Windows and various device drivers create system process threads for
various reasons. For example, the memory manager creates system threads
for performing virtual memory tasks, the cache manager uses system threads
for managing cache memory, and the floppy disk driver uses a system thread
to monitor the floppy drives."
You would prefer that one, the "System" entry, to only use
a few percent of the machine.
HTH,
Paul
