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Computer Problems

cSpoogecSpooge Registered User regular
edited July 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
Hey guys,


My parents are having a problem with their computer. At random times (approx every 30 seconds) it will hang for a couple seconds then be fine again for a bit. The computer is relatively new (approx 11 months old) and the only non new part in there is their old HD.

I'm leaning towards it being a problem with the HD but I'm not 100% sure, anyone got an other possible ideas on what else it might be if I'm not right with it being the HD?


Thanks.

cSpooge on

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    FantasmaFantasma Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Maybe Spyware, Adware, Trojans, perhaps disk needs to be defragmented, several TSRs eating resources, old HD, overheating, invalid entries in registry.

    Try doing some tune up and maintenance, clean up fans and parts with compressed air, uninstall crap, run a registry cleaner, use a good adware and spyware removing tool.

    Fantasma on
    Hear my warnings, unbelievers. We have raised altars in this land so that we may sacrifice you to our gods. There is no hope in opposing the inevitable. Put down your arms, unbelievers, and bow before the forces of Chaos!
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    cSpoogecSpooge Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Fantasma wrote: »
    Maybe Spyware, Adware, Trojans, perhaps disk needs to be defragmented, several TSRs eating resources, old HD, overheating, invalid entries in registry.

    Try doing some tune up and maintenance, clean up fans and parts with compressed air, uninstall crap, run a registry cleaner, use a good adware and spyware removing tool.


    that was my first thought, but doing all that didn't really do anything.

    cSpooge on
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    iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Have you tried watching the Task Manager to see if some process starts chewing through CPU time when that happens? If it's happening at a given interval like that just open the TM up and watch for something hogging resources.

    iTunesIsEvil on
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    altmannaltmann Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    defrag. Run in safemode see if problem still persists. If problem persists in safe mode it's most likely hardware or an F-ed up spyware.

    altmann on
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    cSpoogecSpooge Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    iTunesIsEvil wrote: »
    Have you tried watching the Task Manager to see if some process starts chewing through CPU time when that happens? If it's happening at a given interval like that just open the TM up and watch for something hogging resources.




    the only thing that hits 99% is the system idle proc... which as far as I know it should be doing that when nothing else is running. Its not really a given interval just giving an estimation of the times on it.

    cSpooge on
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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I'd assume that the hard drive is going, but it would be a good idea to run Memtest or run it with one stick of RAM at a time to see if there's anything wrong with the memory.

    TychoCelchuuu on
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    yotesyotes Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    To see if you're having HD problems, Start/Run/eventvwr.msc, any disk errors in the System Log = back up everything yesterday.

    DO NOT DEFRAG PRIOR TO CHECKING. FOR REALZ.

    yotes on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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    cSpoogecSpooge Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    could it also beat a heat issue by chance?

    cSpooge on
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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    I've never heard of heat pausing stuff, but I guess if the processor's throttling down to keep from melting that might happen, or something. If it's an ASUS mobo they can use PCProbe to check on the temp; otherwise there are plenty of ways to see if it's way too hot. Worth checking out, at least.

    TychoCelchuuu on
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    cSpoogecSpooge Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    TychoCelchuuu wrote: »
    I've never heard of heat pausing stuff, but I guess if the processor's throttling down to keep from melting that might happen, or something. If it's an ASUS mobo they can use PCProbe to check on the temp; otherwise there are plenty of ways to see if it's way too hot. Worth checking out, at least.



    Nah its a disk error just from running some tests... Its odd though because windows is reading it as a SCSI drive when its a SATA drive... but I'm taking it in to get repalced today so no biggy.

    cSpooge on
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    stigweardstigweard Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Check mem used / page file used / mem available. It might just be churning because they have less physical memory than the system is using.

    stigweard on
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