My PC lags every few minutes. Why?

lilboo

lilboo

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I am trying to figure what has been going on with my computer lately. I originally thought it was because of my router, so thats been unhooked (as the apartment complex I live in offers a free wireless!) I thought it was my connection to the internet..and it doesn't seem to be JUST the internet.

It seems like.. no matter what I do, there's like a 5 second lag. Sometimes longer, but never THAT much longer. This happens every few minutes. It seems to do this more if I am actually on firefox (or IE, but I mainly use Firefox).

I've tried uninstalling crap I don't use. I ran numerous virus scans. I've ran numerous spyware scans. I even ran a Disk Cleanup and a Disk Defrag. Nothing seemed to have gotten better.

Now I warn you, I am not 100% PC savvy, but I'm also not a complete retard :lol: So, what could this possibly be? I understand it's old (I bought it new in 2004, yes, 2004) but it's always worked just FINE for me. But this constant lag is driving me crazy.

I really hope someone can help me out. Thanks :)
 
How much ram do you have? Have you checked msconfig(go to start, click run, and type it in) to see what starts up and is running? What sort of video card do you have? Maybe update its drivers.

Hope this helps
 
I've noticed mine sometimes does this lately, too, mostly when I have Trillian active. Since it's such a generic symptom there's a huge chance that we have two (or more) completely unrelated issues, but I just thought I'd mention when I've noticed it. I did a complete reinstall of XP a few months ago, and the parts are all from this last year (except for the HD).
 
Maybe download and run Memtest86 to test the memory.

I know most people don't like the hastle, but its never a bad idea to back up the files you need and just format the hardrive. There could be any number of old drivers and partially deleted programs bogging down the system.
 
I went to my Device Manager and I noticed something odd.
After Network Adapters I have "Other Devices" and that extends to "PCI Simple Communications Controller". Both "Other DeviceS" and "PCI Simple Communications controller" have question mark icons, and the second one has an exclamation point with it.

Does this mean anything? :dunce:
 
Usually, that's Windows' way of saying that they know what it is and have an idea on what drivers are needed... but there's some driver issue. Just right click it and let Windows check the net for updated drivers and see if that helps.

Another thing you could try is leave the task manager processes up and do what you normally do. Organize it by CPU usage (so that the highest is up top) and see if any program is using a lot of processing power. Do the same for memory usage.

Oh, and back up any and all important files. This could be a simple problem or... anything really.
 
This happened to me once. I ran Spyware/Virus Scan, Disk Check, Defrag... nothing.

I had an ISO loaded into my Virtual Drive. I deleted the ISO, but forgot to unload it out of Alcohol 120%. Every time I accessed My Computer & Explorer, things would jam up. Once I unloaded it, it was smooth sailing.
 
[quote name='level1online']This happened to me once. I ran Spyware/Virus Scan, Disk Check, Defrag... nothing.

I had an ISO loaded into my Virtual Drive. I deleted the ISO, but forgot to unload it out of Alcohol 120%. Every time I accessed My Computer & Explorer, things would jam up. Once I unloaded it, it was smooth sailing.[/QUOTE]

Explain what you mean, maybe that's my problem? But I don't know what that all means, LOL

Also, I checked the CPU usage and I checked some other things you guys mentioned. Everything looks and seems fine. I also noticed that it is happening A LOT more when I have an internet browser up (I use Firefox 99% of the time). I didn't have firefox up, and everything was going well, except for 1 small minor lag (that was just barely 2 seconds)

So to me, this sounds like a Firefox problem? Or maybe their's an internet problem? I have Comcast, so it is a cable modem :) :lol:

Anything I can check that's internet related? I understand I don't have the best PC, however, it never did this before a few weeks ago. It's never been the best PC, but I was able to do anything I needed to do just perfectly.

Thanks again for your help thus far. I really hope we can figure this nonsense out soon.
 
[quote name='lilboo']Explain what you mean, maybe that's my problem? But I don't know what that all means, LOL

[/quote]

Do you have Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120% installed?

These program are used to fool the computer into thinking it has an extra cd/dvd drive, called a virtual drive.

The purpose of a virtual drive is to load ISOs into them. An ISO is like a snapshot of an entire cd/dvd, aka copy/backup. By doing this, you bypass the need to burn the ISO to a physical medium.
 
Start
Run
Type in "Msconfig" and hit Enter.
Click on Startup
Turn off EVERYTHING you don't need on Startup.

Do you have a virus scanner running every few minutes? Make sure you turn it off and have it run during the times you are alseep.

How old is your computer/hard drive/processor? Computers are like people with Alzheimer's. They just get slower and slower the older they get.

You may need to format your hard drive and do a clean install of Windows.

Your hard drive may be getting old and its seek time are growing. The same principles may apply to various other components of your computer. The processor. The RAM. Etc.

Additionally, Firefox is a resource hog. Firefox 3 Beta is a lot better about it. IE uses the least resources but is the least secure of the two. Apple's Safari is somewhere in the middle.

Nevertheless, your internet connection will normally NEVER slowdown the rest of your computer function. If you suddenly unplug and plug your ethernet wire back in, you'll notice no sudden hiccup in your performance. All that will happen is a small little blurb on the corner of your screen saying you have no internet and once you plug the wire in, the blurb will vanish.

Also, if you have been visiting too many porn sites, you'll end up getting any number of trojans installed on your computer. Back when I used to use IRC, I would enter a room and people would install send me a file before I had a chance to say no. Next thing I knew, my internet speed was crap and I didn't have access to 60% of my hard drive. Most likely because someone was using the space as server space. No virus scanner could find out what was wrong either and I needed to reformat the hard drive.

Although you probably don't have any viruses. You probably need to reformat your computer and find out less processor intensive programs.

EDIT: 2004? Reformat it and try to find a clean version of Windows to install that doesn't install a bunch of other things like shareware and alternate things as well. It'll be okay for roughly a few months and then start slowing down again.

Post your specs.
 
[quote name='InuFaye']My computer
Right Click on C:
Format Drive
Problem Solved.[/quote]

InuFaye might be joking but his suggestion is probably your best bet. If you can't figure out how to fix your issue you should probably just give Windows a format.

The list of ways to fix issues on a Windows based PC:

Step 1: Reboot - Fixes 90% of issues.
Step 2: Reformat - Fixes 9.99% of issues.
Step 3: Buy a New Computer - Guaranteed to solve 100% of problems!
 
[quote name='SpecTrE3353']InuFaye might be joking but his suggestion is probably your best bet. If you can't figure out how to fix your issue you should probably just give Windows a format.

The list of ways to fix issues on a Windows based PC:

Step 1: Reboot - Fixes 90% of issues.
Step 2: Reformat - Fixes 9.99% of issues.
Step 3: Buy a New Computer - Guaranteed to solve 100% of problems![/QUOTE]


What if lost my windows CD (which I really did) can I still reformat
 
[quote name='munoi']What if lost my windows CD (which I really did) can I still reformat[/quote]

You need a copy of Windows and a valid key. Where you get those items are totally up to you.
 
I'm going to try a few things, if not.. sigh. Looks like I'll have to reformat.

Reformating means I'm going to have to do everything ALL over again, sigh.
So, how do I make back up discs? I never did that before. I have a shit load of music (iTunes, but they have their own backup so I'll have to do that too)
 
[quote name='lilboo']I'm going to try a few things, if not.. sigh. Looks like I'll have to reformat.

Reformating means I'm going to have to do everything ALL over again, sigh.
So, how do I make back up discs? I never did that before. I have a shit load of music (iTunes, but they have their own backup so I'll have to do that too)[/quote]

You could partition your drive so that you have 2 partitions. Put all your data that you want to back up on one partition while you format the other. This is how I do it everytime I format/reinstall (although I have 2 physically separate hard drives so I don't need to create partitions).
 
[quote name='lilboo']I'm going to try a few things, if not.. sigh. Looks like I'll have to reformat.

Reformating means I'm going to have to do everything ALL over again, sigh.
So, how do I make back up discs? I never did that before. I have a shit load of music (iTunes, but they have their own backup so I'll have to do that too)[/QUOTE]

Just burn everything on a disc... as for iTunes, I think they let you download your songs up to 5 times but I could (and am) probably wrong about that since I haven't used iTunes store for years.

And yes, partitioning would be our best bet.
 
Using Vista? Vista's application caching will cause the CPU to cycle to 100% for a second every minute or so.
 
Ok guys, I am almost 99% certain about what the problem is.

I had Windows Task Manager open..the only thing I have running is firefox. When I just sit there, the CPU usage bounces between 2-18%. When I actually DO something on firefox (load a page, scroll, click, etc).. I notice it quickly jumps to the 50-70%..then the next jump is 90+% and then when the PC starts freezing is because it hit 100%. So...why is FireFox (I have the latest) taking up 100% CPU?

Again, I am almost CERTAIN it is this because I'm noticing when it's low % I'm fine. Yet, when it's 90%...my PC is dreadfully slow.
 
I'm a little late getting here, but I'll ask... Is the problem that your computer is occasionally slow, or does it completely stop for 5 seconds occasionally? (Re: does the mouse pointer move?)

My processor (P4 3.0E) had a dispute with Firefox that would cause it to intermittently become completely unresponsive for a few seconds when Hyper-Threading was enabled. That's a pretty obscure issue, but to test for it (assuming you have an Intel CPU with Hyper-Threading), right click on Firefox in the task manager and select "set affinity." Uncheck either CPU0 or CPU1, and exit. See if your problem is fixed.
 
[quote name='CokeCola']I'm a little late getting here, but I'll ask... Is the problem that your computer is occasionally slow, or does it completely stop for 5 seconds occasionally? (Re: does the mouse pointer move?)

My processor (P4 3.0E) had a dispute with Firefox that would cause it to intermittently become completely unresponsive for a few seconds when Hyper-Threading was enabled. That's a pretty obscure issue, but to test for it (assuming you have an Intel CPU with Hyper-Threading), right click on Firefox in the task manager and select "set affinity." Uncheck either CPU0 or CPU1, and exit. See if your problem is fixed.[/QUOTE]


Everything stops, but I can usually move the mouse. Occasionally the mouse gives up too (LOL), but most of the time it's just the web pages or anything that's loading.
I really don't know WHAT I have.. and there wasn't a properties in the task manager when I clicked on firefox.exe.. just had End Process, End Process Tree, and Priority.

This is pissing me off since I never had any problems with Firefox before. I guess it's that newest build..that 2.0 that came out. Ugh.
 
[quote name='lilboo']Everything stops, but I can usually move the mouse. Occasionally the mouse gives up too (LOL), but most of the time it's just the web pages or anything that's loading.
I really don't know WHAT I have.. and there wasn't a properties in the task manager when I clicked on firefox.exe.. just had End Process, End Process Tree, and Priority.

This is pissing me off since I never had any problems with Firefox before. I guess it's that newest build..that 2.0 that came out. Ugh.[/quote]

Are you using any extensions? If so, try disabling them one at a time and see if you can narrow it down to one.
 
Yeah, I just tried that and NOTHING.

For the past 7 minutes I have been using Internet Explorer..and..things seem to going well thus far. I'm watching the CPU usage jump all around but it's only really high up for like a split second..and there's not any lag. To be honest, it's just the typical IE lag..LOL

I'm mad. I love FireFox..but..if I have to use this to make my internet experience more enjoyable..then so be it. Because it was getting infuriating :bomb:
 
[quote name='vasco']Thanks OP for starting this. I have tried several things mentioned here and my PC is FLYING!!!! Thanks fellas![/QUOTE]


What worked for you???

Also, since my default will have to be IE...am I stuck with their RSS Feed thing? I really liked FireFox's..this is kinda lame. Do I have alternatives for RSS when using IE?
 
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