Weird pauses in XP

Hi folks,

I have an intermittent problem on my computer which is extremely annoying. Once or twice a day my computer will start "pausing" for a couple of seconds at a time as I move the mouse across the desktop. This also happens inside some games. Sometimes optimizing the memory with TweakXP will stop the pauses; sometimes it won't. This happens when there are no applications running as well.

Usually, the System Idle Process is the only thing showing CPU usage (99 percent).

My system is as follows:

Pentium IV 2.661 gHz Socket 478 processor
Aopen AX4T II Motherboard (online sound and modem disabled in BIOS)
512 mb of Samsung RDRAM
Soundblaster Audigy II
Radeon 9700 Pro video card
Sony 40X/16X DVD-ROM drive
Sony CRX140E CDRW
WD 80 gig hard drive (ATA100)
Logitech Mouseman Marble
Linksys LNE100TX NIC
Linksys Wireless Access Point router (using cables, not wireless)

It is very annoying when the system starts doing this, and I usually have to reboot to make it stop. This happened before I put the Radeon or the Audigy in my system (I reformatted before those installs too) so I suspect they are not the problem.

I am running Windows XP Professional.

Anyone have a suggestion?

Thanks,
John

How many running Processes do you have?

Is hibernation enabled? I have seen it cause problems on pc's before.

Try a memory test

Looks like I have a default of about 20 processes running.

atiptaxx.exe
csrss.exe
cthelper.exe
iexplore.exe
explorer.exe
lsass.exe
pstrip.exe
regtwk.exe
services.exe
smss.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe SYSTEM (two of these)
svchost.exe NETWORK SERVICE (1 of these)
svchost.exe LOCAL SERVICE
System
System Idle Process
taskmgr.exe
winlogon.exe

What kind of memory test should I run?

Thanks,
John

Just a thought, I remember reading about a problem with one of the security patches that MS released for XP a short time ago that caused slowdowns and pauses.

If I find that info I'll look into it but it escapes me right now and I am still kind of busy here at work.

I found the article I was thinking of and it is definetly not the same as you describe and it is on Win2k systems so I was wrong.

Here is a link to a free memory testing application but be warned it can take a day or two to run. Memtest86

Of course another standard response is to make sure all your motherboard drivers and BIOS version are all up to date.

You could always reformat... again.

And run
Ad-Aware in case you have some insidious advertisers spyware worming on your system.

The first place I would look, if you have already re-formated since this started, is at motherboard drivers. Then BIOS. I run ad-aware once in a while anyway.

Thanks Widow. I run Ad-Aware daily ... just to purge all that crap. This problem is annoying, not critical ... so a two-day memory test would probably be overkill.

I wonder, could the problem be due to overclocking? Right now, I have PC800 RDRAM running at 1gHz, with the clock speed multiplier I have in effect. This is an unlocked PIV, and I am not sure what it's "true" clock speed is. The multiplier I am using (20) keeps the AGP and PCI buses at the correct speed of 33/66 respectively. My CPU temp is about 35 degrees Celsius under heavy load and the ambient is rarely up over 27 degrees Celsius.

Of course, I do have 10 fans in the case. :-)

I just added the 10th - a side-mounted fan, today.

The problem may be from overclocking but somehow I doubt it. Your problem does not sound like it is due to overheating or going too fast for the ram. If you were having problems with that I think you would see a hell of a lot more problems. Data corruption springs to mind if your ram can't handle the speed but your data sounds ok. It could be an overclocking problem. You could reset your motherboard settings to their factory default for a day or two to see though.

I'm not expert at overclocking, I don't do it. I like things to last and not make me spend money to replace parts or having 10 fans in my case. What are trying to do? Make the first personal computer/hovercraft?

I like the way the lights dim when I turn the computer on. :-)


I don't think I am overclocking this system much. Since this processor does not have a set clock speed, it is hard to tell.

I notice that the HD usually appears to be accessing during these pauses too. It's really weird. I suspect it is one of the consequences of having a $59 Aopen motherboard. At the time I bought it my only options were a $250 MSI motherboard or a $59 Aopen. I went cheap.

5 case fans
2 power supply fans
1 CPU heat sink fan
1 graphics card fan
1 slot cooler

How much free disk space do you have? How long since you did a full defrag?

I do defrags weekly, and have about 60 gigs free on my 80 gig drive. Maybe these pauses are related to the fact that my drive is not performing at anywhere near ATA100 speeds (which my mb supports). It always benchmarks way slow. I am using those round ATA100 cables from Best Buy.

Sounds like it's pausing to cache something off to disk...dunno, it's beyond my meager skills. I could conjecture and I might luck out, but I'd more likely end up looking foolish.

The Patch thing that Widow mentioned has been a big pain point for Microsoft. Please go back to the Windows Update site and re-run the setup. It should fix the Q-fix that was causing issues with alot of machines.


Plus, you are running lean mean and fast with only 20 Processoes... good work!!

You know this has been happening to me recently. Where I move my mouse and it just sort of hangs there for a while. I just thought it was my wireless mouse flaking out and I replaced the batteries, but it still occurs now and again. Now that you mention it , it did start happening around the time I did my last Windows update. I'll try another update tongiht.

It sounds to me like it may be System Restore doing its thing. If you have it enabled, right click on "My Computer," select "Properties," click on the "System Restore" tab, then check "Turn off System Restore."

I don't know why your hard drive is underperforming. I would recommend ensuring that it is plugged into an ATA133 IDE connector, but since it is only ATA100, I doubt very much that it would make a difference. The motherboard (along with, to a lesser extent, the power supply) is the foundation of any system, and without a strong foundation, the whole system crumbles. Thus, the motherboard is the last component that I will skimp on when building a new system. In other words, you may want to think about getting a new one (I recommend Gigabyte, which is essentially the king of motherboards manufacturers right now; they have the best for both AMD and Intel).

Yes, System restore. I always forget about checking that since it is one of the first things I turn off when I set up XP on my system. Good call.

Also make sure device manager has both IDE controlers set to "DMA if available" otherwise it will be stuck in PIO mode.

I'm sure you run windows update regularly but I would go run it again to do its scan to see if it finds anything that will help, look in the optional components section of windows update after the scan too, you may find something you want in there.

Thanks!

System restore WAS on. I didn't know to turn that off. I just disabled it. Hopefully that will resolve the problem. It is an intermittent thing, and I have never found a pattern to it.

I check Windows update regularly. I have everything installed except the .Net framework(thanks for security holes, Microsoft!) , Messenger 4.7 (blech!), and the Euro conversion patch. (Euros? We don' need no stinkin' Euros!)

I did not realize that 20 processes was a low number. Is that good?

Thanks,

About those wireless mice:

They do or at least some of them take a nap during inactivity to conserve battery power. There will be a pause before the cursor will move again. The Microsoft wireless eats batteries so I have six NiMH on duty; two in the mouse and four charged and ready to go. When they die, it's instant with no warning. I won't buy another wireless. The mouse has farther to fall or fly when my wrist over-reacts like a kneejerk. Mice need to be kept on a short leash.

About motherboards:

Considering that the following site has done few tests lately including the Intel 865's and others with the 800Mhz FSB but....

Gigabyte is still the king on the Intel side HERE.

This one is still in the box and I can't give my opinion yet. Availability is good with the second version. There were some bios quirks with the first version. The price has dropped well under $200 at some locations. It's dual everything and I wonder about the necessity of some of it but dual bios and dual channeling the DDR memory is ok. The rumor at Tom's Hardware indicates the next version of the Intel E7205 chipset will quad channel the memory. Maybe RDRAM can be buried once and for all.