Windows 7: Win7 Has Gone Crazy

Wasn't sure where to put this, so I went here. My Windows 7 Enterprise installation has broke in many ways. This all started with me leaving my computer plugged in and running over night at the office (not the first time I've done this). When I came in the next morning, I noticed it was running a little slow and that one of my communication apps wasn't working. I closed the app and tried to restart it, but that just resulted in an error message when I tried to boot it up. I proceeded to reboot hoping that would help and no luck. I then noticed that some of my processes were consuming an unusually high amount of memory. ipoint.exe (MS Intellipoint) would use about 150 MB of private working set. If I browsed some folders in Windows Explorer, the explorer.exe process would get over 500 MB and not come back down. At the same time, I noticed that the performance of my machine was getting slower and slower and my hard drive indicator was almost on solid. Thinking that work pushed a software update or something to my machine overnight, I tried to run a system restore. After the interface came up for me to select a restore point, I was shocked to see that all my restore points were gone except for the restore that was ran at 12:00 AM that morning. I checked the event log and confirmed that there should have been multiple restore points within the past week.

From here I started looking at my hard drive as the culprit thinking that it was going bad and files were getting corrupted. After running various scans I've confirmed that the drive is fine, but the performance issues remain. I've ran sfc /verifyonly to check for any OS file issues, but that reported all is well. I tried to run that from the Windows 7 disc, but I get a message stating "There is a system repair pending which requires a reboot to complete".

Thinking that I was going to need to wipe or do a repair install, I did some various backups last night. One of the tools I used was Windows Easy Transfer which showed some extremely odd behavior. When it started to scan for files to backup, it started consuming more and more memory to the point that it was using about 3+ GB of private and the physical memory was at 98% consumed. This transfer was EXTREMLY slow, but finally completed. As another step of backup, I also copied some files over to my home PC via the network. If I tried to copy the files to my home PC using my laptop, the file transfers would move at around 3-5 MB/s. I cancelled this and initiated the file copy from my home PC and I was pulling files at over 30 MB/s which is pretty good for this hard drive.

A few other notes in my odd, broken situation. My wireless connections for the office will not connect anymore, although the wired connection is fine. At home, both the wired and wireless connections work fine. I've started the machine up with all services disabled and performance is a little better, but this might just be due to the fact that not as many processes were running.

My system specs are:
Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz)
4GB RAM
120 GB HD (44.8 GB free)
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit

Welcome!

Sounds like a Repair Install may be in order, but first, could you have a virus? Download Malwarebytes and do a scan.

~JK

+1 Repair Install asap. This is an in-place upgrade done from the desktop. Read the link Jon gives above.

Did you complete the repair the booted DVD said it has pending?

I've had MS Security Essentials running since I installed Windows 7 on here and I did run a scan to confirm it was clean.

Something else I came across while looking for some kind of cause. Here are the contents of the cbs.log file between when I left my working PC and the next day when I came in to my fubar PC.

Code:

 
2010-01-20 00:01:06, Info CBS Starting TrustedInstaller initialization.
2010-01-20 00:01:06, Info CBS Loaded Servicing Stack v6.1.7600.16385 with Core: C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-servicingstack_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_655452efe0fb810b\cbscore.dll
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CSI 00000001@2010/1/20:05:01:07.789 WcpInitialize (wcp.dll version 0.0.0.6) called (stack @0x7feeaf8e9a1 @0x7feee988755 @0x7feee952ac7 @0xffa5e94c @0xffa5d769 @0xffa5daff)
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CSI 00000002@2010/1/20:05:01:07.804 WcpInitialize (wcp.dll version 0.0.0.6) called (stack @0x7feeaf8e9a1 @0x7feee9d500e @0x7feee9a1504 @0x7feee952b9d @0xffa5e94c @0xffa5d769)
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CSI 00000003@2010/1/20:05:01:07.804 WcpInitialize (wcp.dll version 0.0.0.6) called (stack @0x7feeaf8e9a1 @0x7fef8468728 @0x7fef8468856 @0xffa5e444 @0xffa5d7ae @0xffa5daff)
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Ending TrustedInstaller initialization.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Starting the TrustedInstaller main loop.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS TrustedInstaller service starts successfully.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS SQM: Initializing online with Windows opt-in: False
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS SQM: Cleaning up report files older than 10 days.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS SQM: Requesting upload of all unsent reports.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS SQM: Failed to start upload with file pattern: C:\Windows\servicing\sqm\*_std.sqm, flags: 0x2 [HRESULT = 0x80004005 - E_FAIL]
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS SQM: Failed to start standard sample upload. [HRESULT = 0x80004005 - E_FAIL]
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS SQM: Queued 0 file(s) for upload with pattern: C:\Windows\servicing\sqm\*_all.sqm, flags: 0x6
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS SQM: Warning: Failed to upload all unsent reports. [HRESULT = 0x80004005 - E_FAIL]
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS No startup processing required, TrustedInstaller service was not set as autostart, or else a reboot is still pending.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS NonStart: Checking to ensure startup processing was not required.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CSI 00000004 IAdvancedInstallerAwareStore_ResolvePendingTransactions (call 1) (flags = 00000004, progress = NULL, phase = 0, pdwDisposition = @0x188fa70
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CSI 00000005 Creating NT transaction (seq 1), objectname [6]"(null)"
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CSI 00000006 Created NT transaction (seq 1) result 0x00000000, handle @0x1dc
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CSI 00000007@2010/1/20:05:01:07.867 CSI perf trace:
CSIPERF:TXCOMMIT;54718
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS NonStart: Success, startup processing not required as expected.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Startup processing thread terminated normally
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: SOFTWARE, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SOFTWARE' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE'.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: SYSTEM, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SYSTEM' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM'.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: SECURITY, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SECURITY' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\System32\config\SECURITY'.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: SAM, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SAM' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\System32\config\SAM'.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: COMPONENTS, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/COMPONENTS' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\System32\config\COMPONENTS'.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: DEFAULT, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/DEFAULT' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\System32\config\DEFAULT'.
2010-01-20 00:01:07, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: ntuser.dat, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Users/default/ntuser.dat' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Users\default\ntuser.dat'.
2010-01-20 00:01:08, Info CBS Loading offline registry hive: schema.dat, into registry key '{bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/system32/smi/store/Machine/schema.dat' from path '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9\Windows\system32\smi\store\Machine\schema.dat'.
2010-01-20 00:01:08, Info CBS Offline image is: read-only
2010-01-20 00:01:08, Info CBS Disabling manifest caching, because the image is not writeable.
2010-01-20 00:01:08, Info CSI 00000008 CSI Store 3666352 (0x000000000037f1b0) initialized
2010-01-20 00:01:08, Info CBS Session: 2864_53281735 initialized by client SPP.
2010-01-20 00:01:14, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SOFTWARE
2010-01-20 00:01:14, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SYSTEM
2010-01-20 00:01:14, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SECURITY
2010-01-20 00:01:15, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/SAM
2010-01-20 00:01:15, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/COMPONENTS
2010-01-20 00:01:15, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/System32/config/DEFAULT
2010-01-20 00:01:15, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Users/default/ntuser.dat
2010-01-20 00:01:15, Info CBS Unloading offline registry hive: {bf1a281b-ad7b-4476-ac95-f47682990ce7}GLOBALROOT/Device/HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy9/Windows/system32/smi/store/Machine/schema.dat
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Reboot mark refs incremented to: 1
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Scavenge: Starts
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 00000009 CSI Store 3525584 (0x000000000035cbd0) initialized
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 0000000a@2010/1/20:05:11:15.576 CSI Transaction @0x33e140 initialized for deployment engine {d16d444c-56d8-11d5-882d-0080c847b195} with flags 00000002 and client id [10]"TI6.0_0:0/"
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Scavenge: Begin CSI Store
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 0000000b Performing 1 operations; 1 are not lock/unlock and follow:
Scavenge (8): flags: 00000017
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 0000000c Store coherency cookie matches last scavenge cookie, skipping scavenge.
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 0000000d ICSITransaction::Commit calling IStorePendingTransaction::Apply - coldpatching=FALSE applyflags=7
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 0000000e Creating NT transaction (seq 2), objectname [6]"(null)"
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 0000000f Created NT transaction (seq 2) result 0x00000000, handle @0x214
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 00000010@2010/1/20:05:11:15.951 CSI perf trace:
CSIPERF:TXCOMMIT;58854
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Scavenge: Completed, disposition: 0X1
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CSI 00000011@2010/1/20:05:11:15.951 CSI Transaction @0x33e140 destroyed
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Reboot mark refs: 0
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Idle processing thread terminated normally
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Ending the TrustedInstaller main loop.
2010-01-20 00:11:15, Info CBS Starting TrustedInstaller finalization.
2010-01-20 00:11:16, Info CBS Ending TrustedInstaller finalization.

I can't interpret that, but you really should do a repair install.

The only reason I haven't done the repair install is because I just want to know what happened.

As for the pending repair, I don't know what its referring to. I've rebooted several times, but that message will show up anytime I try to run the sfc from the Windows 7 disc. While waiting and hoping for a fix, I'm running the SFC command again, but just from the normal load desktop and it is running as admin.

I think that repair install is the only option for you.

Well, I caved in and I'm trying the repair install. But, things aren't looking too good. Just like with the Windows Easy Transfer utility, this appears to be hanging up on the "Gathering files, settings and programs" step. Its been at 0% for over 30 minutes. When I pulled up task manager, I saw the process was consuming over 3 GB of memory, but shortly after that it dropped down to around 1.5 GB where its been sitting out since.

Maybe I will be doing a clean install after all.

Give it a few more minutes, then close it and try again.

When I had things go haywire in a similar fashion on one of my machines recently, I found that the cause was bad installation of the CPU. Actually, it wasn't the CPU itself, but the cooler that I had used. It came with a used CPU that I had bought recently, and though it wasn't visually apparent, the mating surface on it was very concaved, so much so that even with thermal paste it didn't make full contact with the CPU, and the high temp that it ran at caused data corruption on the harddrive, requiring a fresh install of the OS.

It doesn't sound likely that your computer would be suffering the same malady, otherwise you probably would have noted the temp behavior yourself, but I'm just tossing this into the hat to widen the perspective to possibilities that a repair or reinstall might not cure.