Performance problems, but CPU and Memory use are both low

[Guest]

When I am clicking around, the windows and apps are quite slow, despite
the fact that CPU and Memory use are at 4% and 40%, respectively.

I am used to troubleshooting performance problems by figuring out if
the bottleneck is CPU or memory, and and then figuring out the process
that is causing it, but in this case, it is neither.

Any suggestions?

2000 advanced server SP4.


Alan

 

[Brian Cryer]

When I am clicking around, the windows and apps are quite slow, despite
the fact that CPU and Memory use are at 4% and 40%, respectively.

I am used to troubleshooting performance problems by figuring out if
the bottleneck is CPU or memory, and and then figuring out the process
that is causing it, but in this case, it is neither.

Any suggestions?

2000 advanced server SP4.


Alan

Is this with Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer or something else?

Other than cpu and memory, the other common bottleneck is the disk - either
because its busy or because there is an issue with the hardware or file
system. Does the system event log report any errors? Does chkdsk /f (reboot)
report any issues?

 

[Guest]

I was any window, actually. I booted into safe mode, didn't actually
do anything, then it came back OK. I had tried several reboots before,
didn't do anything.

Thanks for your help.

Nothing in the system event log of note.

 

[Brian Cryer]

I was any window, actually. I booted into safe mode, didn't actually
do anything, then it came back OK. I had tried several reboots before,
didn't do anything.

Thanks for your help.

Nothing in the system event log of note.

Did you run chkdsk /f, although if there is nothing in the system event log
then that's unlikely to be the problem.

Does it make a difference if you disable your anti-virus?

I had a performance issue on one of my databases, which turned out to be
because write caching was disabled on the data disk - but that didn't
manifest itself this way - although conceivably it might if you have an
application writing data to disk?

Otherwise, I'm out of ideas.

 

[Guest]

I'm saying, after I booted into safe mode, and let it come all the way
up, then rebooted normal, it came back fine.

Weird, eh?

Does the system do anything different in safe mode than a regular boot
other than disabling services?

 

[Brian Cryer]

I'm saying, after I booted into safe mode, and let it come all the way
up, then rebooted normal, it came back fine.

Weird, eh?

Does the system do anything different in safe mode than a regular boot
other than disabling services?

Sounds weird. It might be worth taking a snapshot of what processes are
running, when its okay and then comparing that with what processes are
running when its "sluggish".

Looking back at your original post, when you say that memory use is at 40%,
what precisely do you mean? If you look at the performance tab on task
manager (which I know others have said is imprecise, but I find it good as a
guide), are you saying that PF Usage is 40% of your Total physical memory or
that the "Available Physical Memory" is 60% of your Physical Memory?

If its no longer a problem then I wouldn't worry about it. I don't see why
booting into safe mode and then rebooting should make any difference - but
if it works, then that's cool.

 

[Mike Rosado [Windows BETA]]

Hi Alan,

Performance problems are one of the most difficult to troubleshoot. You
can use the following article to isolate bottlenecks with System Monitor.

146005 Optimizing Windows NT for Performance
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=146005

You can use the System Configuration Utility (Msconfig.exe) from a
Microsoft Windows XP-based computer to simplify performing a clean restart
in Windows 2000.

316434 How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=316434

--------------------
Hope this helps,
Mike Rosado
Windows 2000 MCSE + MCDBA
Microsoft Enterprise Platform Support
Windows NT/2000/2003 Cluster Technologies

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