Extreme Slowness

[Pirate43]

Symptoms

• Random program freezes at completely random intervals. They don't crash, they resume functioning after a bit.
• Random freezing in games with soundlooping while frozen. Notable examples include TF2 and BFBC2. Frame rates are well above 60 on both.
• File transferring/Copying Across a hard drive, to a usb drive always takes at least twice as long as the calculated time, and transfers extremely slowly.
• Sporradic blue screens at least once or twice weekly. (PFN LIST CORRUPT and one or two others I can't remember)
• Running programs - They take forever to load up.
• Deleting things - Even one or two small files -> 5 minutes. (absurd, since using a 160GB intel SSD as the OS drive.

Already tried

• clean reinstall of W7. Tried Ultimate and Home premium (in case it's some sort of malware)
• graphics card replacement. Now: MSI Cyclone R6850 1GB. Before: Zotac 9600GT 512mb (I thought this would fix the freezing in the games, it didn't)
• Restoring all bios settings to default (in case my slight overclock was causing problems)
• Updating bios (SEEMED to have helped a bit, but was probably placebo effect)

I am truly stumped. My current specs are listed in my profile. This is being posted from a laptop that works fine. These problems are in a desktop.


Any ideas, anyone?
Thanks!

 

[Sbrideau]

Hi and welcome to the Windows 7 forums.

Are you able to get the dump file and attach it when you post back? Since you are getting blue screens, this could help some guys here see if they are relevant.

How long have you had this issue?

 

[Pirate43]

More than three months. Where would I find the dump file? I'll have it right up as soon as I know this.

Thanks for the welcome

 

[lehnerus2000]

Have you checked your HDD (i.e. reviewed the SMART data)?
Are all the power and data cables properly seated and in good condition?

I had a weird problem with some of my MB SATA sockets (SATA controller?).
I would get delays opening folders on certain drives.
After some messing around, I was able to find a combination that eliminated the problem.

 

[Pirate43]

I haven't checked the SMART data actually. How would I go about this?
And it shouldn't be my SATA controller since it's integrated, although I guess something could go wrong with it... but this problem came about later. It used to work perfectly.

 

[Pirate43]

and just to clarify, check the SMART data on the SSD right?

edit: I found a program tailored for SSD's. SSD life - tool for solid state drives health and endurance monitoring . Screenshots of the results are attached.

 

[lehnerus2000]

I actually thought that you had an ordinary HDD.
Your SSD shouldn't cause any slow downs (but I know very little about what can go wrong with them).

The programs that are causing problems are on the SSD (not the HDD)?

Do you have Process Explorer or know how to use the Performance/Resource monitors in Windows?
Perhaps some process is running amok and using up your CPU power (or accessing your drives causing the slow downs).

 

[Pirate43]

I actually thought that you had an ordinary HDD.
Your SSD shouldn't cause any slow downs (but I know very little about what can go wrong with them).

The programs that are causing problems are on the SSD (not the HDD)?

Do you have Process Explorer or know how to use the Performance/Resource monitors in Windows?
Perhaps some process is running amok and using up your CPU power (or accessing your drives causing the slow downs).

This, while possible, isn't likely since this problem transcends fresh installs of windows 7, so unless an out-of-the-box-included process in windows 7 is running amok, that can't be it :/

 

[lehnerus2000]

I still suspect some sort of hardware problem (MB SATA controller?).

Have you tried an Internet search, looking for reported problems with your MB?

 

[torre]

I still suspect some sort of hardware problem (MB SATA controller?).

What is make/model of your computer ? Does computer have installed software in Help Section that can scan/detect hardware failure ?

 

[lehnerus2000]

WD HDD Fix?

Have you applied the HDD fix for your WD 1 TB drive?

SevenForums
http://www.sevenforums.com/news/158333-wd-caviar-green-hdds-suffer-critical-design-flaw.html

Softpedia

This type of abnormal behavior can lead to loud clicking noises, a shorter drive lifespan as well as a loss in performance and an artificially increased number of load-unload cycles in the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring system.

Western Digital is well aware of this problem and has released a DOS-based utility which makes the drive wait longer before entering the Intellipark mode.

WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw - Softpedia

The Fix
Critical Design Flaw Found in WD Caviar Green HDDs​

 

[Pirate43]

@torre Yeah, the M4A78 PLUS is a bit obscure for some reason. Haven't found anything.
@lehnerus I'm not using that drive, the problem is within the OS, that is just my storage drive which I have no issues with.

 

[lehnerus2000]

If the drive is disconnected ...

I'm not using that drive, the problem is within the OS, that is just my storage drive which I have no issues with.

Fair enough (if the drive is disconnected).

Are you sure that Windows doesn't try checking that drive, when you are doing something unrelated?
You haven't moved any system files to it (e.g. Hibernation file, Page file, User folder)?

When I have Process Explorer open, I can see that Windows is regularly performing HDD operations (only a few bytes at a time).

Every 60 minutes or so, my floppy drive "clunks" (i.e. performs the checking for disk action) even though I haven't used it for months.

Another thing that happened to me is that I had a dodgy power cable on my DVD drive.
My machine took ages to boot, because it kept trying to check the DVD drive, even though it wasn't required for booting at all!

If you are not "using" the HDD, you could disconnect it and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Pirate43]

I'm not using that drive, the problem is within the OS, that is just my storage drive which I have no issues with.

Fair enough (if the drive is disconnected).

Are you sure that Windows doesn't try checking that drive, when you are doing something unrelated?
You haven't moved any system files to it (e.g. Hibernation file, Page file, User folder)?

When I have Process Explorer open, I can see that Windows is regularly performing HDD operations (only a few bytes at a time).

Every 60 minutes or so, my floppy drive "clunks" (i.e. performs the checking for disk action) even though I haven't used it for months.

Another thing that happened to me is that I had a dodgy power cable on my DVD drive.
My machine took ages to boot, because it kept trying to check the DVD drive, even though it wasn't required for booting at all!

If you are not "using" the HDD, you could disconnect it and see if that makes any difference.

I will try disconnecting the WD.

 

[AddRAM]

Do you have any other drives laying around you can install Windows on and test ? It also sounds like a hard drive to me. At least this will rule it out.

 

[stevieray]

Have you tried the Performance Troubleshooter? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/472-troubleshooting.html

 

[gregrocker]

Unplug any floppy drive and leave it unplugged.

It's hard to see how it can be the OS when you clean reinstalled two different versions. Nevertheless work through these troubleshooting steps which cover most problems with OS and hardware. Make sure to achieve and maintain a clean boot straight away, replace any bloated AV with MSE or Avast 6 and Win7 firewall for best performance.

Test your RAM - Test with Memtest86+ overnight to stress test it.

Burn WD Data Lifeguard ISO to CD, boot and run the Extended HD scan. In addition you could have boot sector corruption which can cause all kinds of problems, so as a last resort wipe the HD with the CD.

Test your CPU - Stress Test with Prime95 - Windows 7 Forums.

If none of these help, study the logs as given in the steps to look for repeat errors and resolve all.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Do you have any other drives laying around you can install Windows on and test ? It also sounds like a hard drive to me. At least this will rule it out.

It seems like some sort of hardware (or driver) problem.

I believe that Pirate43 has Windows on an SSD.

@lehnerus I'm not using that drive, the problem is within the OS, that is just my storage drive which I have no issues with.

I wonder if it is a MB SATA controller problem.

I had a weird problem with some of my MB SATA sockets (SATA controller?).
I would get delays opening folders on certain drives.
After some messing around, I was able to find a combination that eliminated the problem.

 

[Pirate43]

I have done both Prime95 and Memtest86+ before for many many hours and to my frustration, they show everything as normal. I do indeed have W7 on the intel 160GB SSD shown on my specs.

Would the MB SATA problemstill come into effect if I said another symptom was copying a file from one flash drive to another? Because that is also another issue. Less than 1 megabyte per second.

 

[gregrocker]

Likely USB controller issues - either hardware or driver could be responsible.

Have you tried the manufacturer's chipset?

If so, and you've only tried the manufacturer's chipset, have you tried running for awhile with the chipset the Win7 installer issues during install, and/or quickly updates after install via optional Windows Updates?