Does a Repair Install Affect Performance?

[Guest]

My Dell desktop (2.4GHz, 512Mb, 80Gb disk, XP Home) has slowed to a crawl.
Problem arises at program load: System startup, first time you start Word,
IE, iTunes etc. Following the advice on this forum I have run spyware,
adware scans, McAfee is always active and up to date. I have defragged, run
disk cleanup, CHKDSK etc. I am now thinking of re-installing Windows but I
am apprehensive at restoring all my applications and data. (1) does a Repair
Install leave data and programs where they are? (2) Is a Repair Install
likely to improve performance? Thanks.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

A Repair Install should leave data and programmes as they are but you
are advised to backup data before proceeding.

Doing a Repair Install may ( only may ) improve performance. It is not
intended as a fix for poor performance.

From you are saying you have not reached the stage where a Repair
Install is the right thing to do at this time.

You need to examine Event Viewer logs, check for driver issues and
ascertain whether there are memory related problems. From these
reviews other issues may arise.

You seem to adequate CPU, memory and hard disk space. However,
to what extent is the page file being used?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance Tab.
Under the words Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit, and the Peak?

You may check on pagefile (virtual memory) usage with Page File Monitor
for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Make sure you study the readme.txt file carefully to ensure
you get the utility to work as it should.

What readings are you getting towards the end of a session?

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties. Hardware,
Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

Try Start, Run, type "sigverif.exe" without quotes and hit OK. What drivers
are listed as unsigned? Disregard those which are not checked.

Please check Event Viewer for Warning / Error Reports in the System
and Application logs for the last boot and post copies.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools, and
Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information
regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&sd=tech

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should
double click for further information. You can copy using copy and paste.
Often the link will, however, say there is no further information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double click
on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button
resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now
start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This
will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report complete with links
into the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event
Viewer.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[MAP]

My Dell desktop (2.4GHz, 512Mb, 80Gb disk, XP Home) has slowed to a
crawl. Problem arises at program load: System startup, first time you
start Word, IE, iTunes etc. Following the advice on this forum I
have run spyware, adware scans, McAfee is always active and up to
date. I have defragged, run disk cleanup, CHKDSK etc. I am now
thinking of re-installing Windows but I am apprehensive at restoring
all my applications and data. (1) does a Repair Install leave data
and programs where they are? (2) Is a Repair Install likely to
improve performance? Thanks.

(1) Yes, IF all goes well.
(2) Only if your problem is with the operating system and not caused by
something else. (like too many unneeded programs starting/running,
malware/virus that your scanners missed).

Here is a great site that covers a repair install.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

[Guest]

Gerry - Many thanks for all your suggestions. I have deleted your message
text to save space. Here is the information you asked for. Here goes:

On the Task Manager, the Commit Charge Total varies from 418K to 452K. The
Limit is 1277K and the Peak is 710K.

I ran the Page File Monitor and it showed:

26/01/2006 17:56:36
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 235 MB
Session Peak Usage: 272 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 768 MB


There are no yellow question marks anywhere in device manager.

Sigverif showed the following unsigned drivers:

Omci.sys
Wg111nds.sys
Mdigraph.dll
Mdiui.dll

Event Viewer System Error showed a ton of errors on 25.1.06 (nearly 200) as
below:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7023
Date: 25/01/2006
Time: 17:40:53
User: N/A
Computer: OFFICEDELL
Description:
The Application Management service terminated with the following error:
The specified module could not be found.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Most recent system warning:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: E100B
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4
Date: 26/01/2006
Time: 07:55:17
User: N/A
Computer: OFFICEDELL
Description:
Adapter Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection: Adapter Link Down
Data:
0000: 00 00 04 00 02 00 58 00 ......X.
0008: 00 00 00 00 04 00 04 80 .......€
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 04 00 04 80 ...€

Most recent Application Error was:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Hang
Event Category: (101)
Event ID: 1002
Date: 23/01/2006
Time: 20:57:06
User: N/A
Computer: OFFICEDELL
Description:
Hanging application IEXPLORE.EXE, version 6.0.2900.2180, hang module
hungapp, version 0.0.0.0, hang address 0x00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 48 61 6e 67 ion Hang
0010: 20 20 49 45 58 50 4c 4f IEXPLO
0018: 52 45 2e 45 58 45 20 36 RE.EXE 6
0020: 2e 30 2e 32 39 30 30 2e .0.2900.
0028: 32 31 38 30 20 69 6e 20 2180 in
0030: 68 75 6e 67 61 70 70 20 hungapp
0038: 30 2e 30 2e 30 2e 30 20 0.0.0.0
0040: 61 74 20 6f 66 66 73 65 at offse
0048: 74 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 t 000000
0050: 30 30 00

Most recent Application Warning was:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1517
Date: 25/01/2006
Time: 20:59:26
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: OFFICEDELL
Description:
Windows saved user OFFICEDELL\Chalkers registry while an application or
service was still using the registry during log off. The memory used by the
user's registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded when it is
no longer in use.

This is often caused by services running as a user account, try configuring
the services to run in either the LocalService or NetworkService account.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I hope all this means more to you than it does to me! Any ideas on where to
look next? Many thanks.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

The page file usage is more than one would typically expect. Were you
carrying out video or photo editing or the like at the time? Otherwise
one might expect usage of 30 / 50 mb usage.

Is there any unexpected CPU usage?

One file suggests you have a Dell computer. What model? When was
it new?

Omci.sys is a Dell driver but it can be malware masquerading as a Dell
file. What is the file version and size of file? I believe Dell provide a
diagnostic tool. Have you run this tool?

Wg111nds.sys. Please check you have posted the correct file name
as there is no trace of this file using Google. What does the properties
of this file say about it's source and purpose.

In checking for viruses and spyware did you produce a HijackThis log?
Do either Omci.sys or Wg111nds.sys feature in the log?

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7023
Date: 25/01/2006
Time: 17:40:53
User: N/A
Computer: OFFICEDELL
Description:
The Application Management service terminated with the following error:
The specified module could not be found.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

This error refers to a specified module but does not name it! Click on
this link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. in the log and post a
copy.

Event ID:4. Please check the cabling and connections either end from
the Network Card to the Router?

Event ID: 1002 is a symptom not indicator of cause.

For Event ID: 1517 download and install the User
Profile Hive Cleanup Service
Download details: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service
http://snipurl.com/5b61

UPHClean v1.5e readme.txt
http://snipurl.com/ko8m


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Gerry – Just ran the page file monitor again. Page File usage is at 14MB
(peak 19MB). Much less running this morning. Yesterday Flight Simulator
had been running, though it was closed down when the monitor ran. I had
heard FS doesn’t always free up its storage?

Sometimes CPU usage spikes when lots of apps open, but not often.

Yes it is a Dell – a Dimension 4600 installed December 2004.

Omci.sys: It is 17K in size, Version 7.0.323.0. In properties it is called
“OMCI Device Driver†supplied by Dell Corp. I haven’t run a diagnostic tool
- The only one I can see is a Dell “Driver Reset Toolâ€. Is that what you
mean?

Wg111nds.sys: Sorry, my typo. It is in fact wg111nd5.sys. Location
windows\system32\drivers. 370KB in size, version 3.0.18.201. Description
“wg111 Wireless NDIS 5.1 Driverâ€. From Netgear. I have a Netgear Wireless
Router which was installed on this computer in December 2004 when I installed
the Dell. Probably OK?

I have downloaded and run HiJackThis. Neither omci or wg111nd5 appear in
the log.

I’ve run the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service as you suggested (it seemed
to run OK but didn’t do anything visible!). I will check all connections
between network card and router.

Many thanks again for you help – any other ideas gratefully received!.
-Jeff.

 

[Guest]

Any further ideas anyone? I realise that diagnosing a complex problem
remotely by newsgroup is pretty hard! However I'd be grateful if anyone can
suggest something I might have overlooked. Thanks (to Gerry especially).

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Jeff

When the performance is poor check on CPU for unexplained activity.

Task Manager is useful but you could look at another freeware utility
Process Explorer, which provides similar information but adds that
little bit extra towards seeing what the running processes represent.

For further information about Process Explorer see here:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml

To ascertain which service is causing the problem select the
image name producing the high CPU usage, right click,
select Properties, Services. Note there are the full names and some
explanation of what each service does.

You will find further information on Services here:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

To trace the particular Service involved you need to turn off each
service in turn and then restore it noting what effect it has on CPU
usage. However, you need to take care and watch what other Services are
dependent on that service. When you click on the Dependencies tab allow
it a little time to display the information.

What McAfee programmes are running in the background. If you turn them
off is there a noticeable change in system performance?

What Error Reports have appeared since the last boot?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

OK I downloaded and ran Process Explorer. There are 24 processes running and
CPU is at the moment 8-12%. I started Paint Shop just to see what would
happen. CPU shot up to 80%+ for about 12 seconds while it started. Once
started but not being used, CPU drops back to 8-12%. Processes using CPU are
IE, iTunes, Microsoft Antispyware and Process Explorer itself. (BTW I can’t
find the “dependencies†tab).

I have McAfee VirusScan and Personal Firewall Plus running permanently. My
perception is that the system is generally more responsive if I switch the
McAfee programs off. For example: Start WORD for the first time after boot,
McAfee enabled: 30 seconds. Start WORD again in same session, McAfee
enabled: 12 seconds. Start WORD again in same session, McAfee disabled: 7
seconds.

There have been no error reports since the last boot (this morning). But
looking at the log, there are typically 4-8 Application errors per week.
System errors are heavily grouped into a few short periods of a few seconds
which show many instances (20-30) of the same error. Is this typical?

Many thanks again.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Jeff

I suggest you try cCleaner.
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp
http://www.ccleaner.com/

With any cleaner you need to proceed with caution. I invariably
recommend creating a restore point before using cCleaner.
cCleaner also offers backup before removal.

When using cCleaner think twice before checking before
Autocomplete Form History under Internet Explorer.
You do get a warning but this one has irritating consequences.

You will need to click on Issues and check Registry Integrity.


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

I downloaded and ran ccleaner. "Analysis" found many hundreds of cookies
etc. and "Issues" found 255 items like missing DLLs and leftover bits of
de-installed programs. I took a deep breath and told it to fix everything.
So far so good. Performance when booting the system and starting
applications seems much the same but thereafter everything appears quicker.
A good result and many thanks to Gerry.

Unless anyone else has anything to contribute I think we should leave it
there