Athlon 900mHz processor problem. Please help

D

Darren

I own a 5 year old HP PC and am getting the part together to build my own PC

In the meantime I have been having a problem.

I have an Athlon 900mHz processor and my PC has been running extremely slow
in most cases.

For example, it takes about 10 seconds to open WinAmp when I click on the
icon when it used to open instantly.

I checked my system monitor and it says that my processor usage is 100%.
This is when the PC is completly at rest and not running any programs.

What could be going on here? Can this be caused by a bug or virus?

Processor usage is 100% when all programs are closed and it takes twice as
long to start up!

This used to be a great PC! :(

It has 256 ram and the meters say that most of the meory is available.

Any tips and guidance to fix the problem will put me in your debt!


Darren N
 
J

Jan Alter

For a couple of things

How much hard drive space do you have left? Less than 10 to 20 % will
cause great slow downness.

Have you cleared your temp files out lately as well as your Internet temp
files? A memory sucker

Do you have a lot of programs that start up when windows boots taking up
memory? Same as above

When was the last time you installed your OS fresh? ( this one creates
all kinds of questions but usually has a bearing on how much
garbage is accumulating on your system and the more extraneous files
you have the slower it all goes).

By the way, is your hdd a 5400 or 7200 rpm model?

You have AV software, with up to date definitions and you have run a
scan?
 
D

Darren

Hello, all,

I checked my PC with two virus software pacages and there are none.

My Internet temp and cashe files are emptied regulary.

How do I delete the Windos OS temp folder? that may be part of the problem.

I can't reload windows because I have an OEM disc that came with my
computer. I have since added a new soundcard and a couple other things and
the PC will not let me reinstall Windows. :(

I have a 120 GB HD with about 100 GB free space.

Stil am having problems with slow start ups when I turn the computer and
open certain programs, like WinAmp. :(

Darren Nemeth
(e-mail address removed)
Owner of "Giant Squid Audio Lab" - Specialists in durable, high fidelity
microphones
for discriminating analog and digital recording enthusiasts.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com
 
S

spodosaurus

Darren said:
Hello, all,

I checked my PC with two virus software pacages and there are none.

My Internet temp and cashe files are emptied regulary.

How do I delete the Windos OS temp folder? that may be part of the problem.

I can't reload windows because I have an OEM disc that came with my
computer. I have since added a new soundcard and a couple other things and
the PC will not let me reinstall Windows. :(
Click to expand...

Remove sound card. Reinstall windows. Reinstall soundcard. Just a
hypothetical, there could be more information that I haven't been able
to telepathically retrieve yet that may preclude this series of actions
from being successful.

Is slowness the only problem you're having?
I have a 120 GB HD with about 100 GB free space.

Stil am having problems with slow start ups when I turn the computer and
open certain programs, like WinAmp. :(

Darren Nemeth
(e-mail address removed)
Owner of "Giant Squid Audio Lab" - Specialists in durable, high fidelity
microphones
for discriminating analog and digital recording enthusiasts.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com
Click to expand...


--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
D

Darren

I am monitoring the PC all evening with the processor monitor on.

Sometimes it is at 100% but it is now mostly in the 20% range. Whenever I
open an application it immediately hits 100% and PC slows a great deal down
until the application is opened.

I just doubled my RAM today with a chip from a PC my partents were tossing
out and there is no improvement at all!

"spodosaurus" said..
Is slowness the only problem you're having?
Click to expand...

It seems to be the only problem. That and IE web browser crashing and
sometimes crashing the OS.

Also, about 1/2 the time when I attempt a proper shut down I end up having
to unplug the PC. This is due to having to wait for an unknown application
to close, according to an error message box.

BTW, I can hardly wait for the video card to arrive from Newegg. I really
want the PC that I am building to up an running soon. :( Getting very tired
of this one.

Darren Nemeth
(e-mail address removed)
Owner of "Giant Squid Audio Lab" - Specialists in durable, high fidelity
microphones
for discriminating analog and digital recording enthusiasts.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com
 
S

spodosaurus

Darren said:
I am monitoring the PC all evening with the processor monitor on.

Sometimes it is at 100% but it is now mostly in the 20% range. Whenever I
open an application it immediately hits 100% and PC slows a great deal down
until the application is opened.

I just doubled my RAM today with a chip from a PC my partents were tossing
out and there is no improvement at all!
Click to expand...

Run memtest86 for at LEAST one full pass.
"spodosaurus" said..



It seems to be the only problem. That and IE web browser crashing and
sometimes crashing the OS.
Click to expand...

Run memtest86, just to rule that out.
Also, about 1/2 the time when I attempt a proper shut down I end up having
to unplug the PC. This is due to having to wait for an unknown application
to close, according to an error message box.

BTW, I can hardly wait for the video card to arrive from Newegg. I really
want the PC that I am building to up an running soon. :( Getting very tired
of this one.

Darren Nemeth
(e-mail address removed)
Owner of "Giant Squid Audio Lab" - Specialists in durable, high fidelity
microphones
for discriminating analog and digital recording enthusiasts.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com
Click to expand...



--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
P

pheasant

--
Four boxes protect our freedom: the soap box, the
ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.
Darren said:
I have an Athlon 900mHz processor and my PC has been running extremely
slow
in most cases.

For example, it takes about 10 seconds to open WinAmp when I click on the
icon when it used to open instantly.

I checked my system monitor and it says that my processor usage is 100%.
This is when the PC is completly at rest and not running any programs.

What could be going on here? Can this be caused by a bug or virus?

Processor usage is 100% when all programs are closed and it takes twice as
long to start up!
Click to expand...

Open task manager, see what is using all the cpu time and post back here.

I had something similar to this and it turned out to be Norton trying to
scan friggin instant message crap I don't use. Stopped Norton from trying
to scan IM's and I'm baaaack to normal.
To open task manager, put mouse pointer on taskbar, right click mouse, then
left click task manager when it comes up.
 
D

Darren

memtest86 seems to be for 386 and 486 computers.

Will it o the job for my Athlon / Windows ME?

Darren
 
S

spodosaurus

Darren said:
memtest86 seems to be for 386 and 486 computers.

Will it o the job for my Athlon / Windows ME?
Click to expand...

Yes, unless you're using some fossilised version.
Darren
Click to expand...


--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
B

Bob M

Darren said:
I own a 5 year old HP PC and am getting the part together to build my own PC

In the meantime I have been having a problem.

I have an Athlon 900mHz processor and my PC has been running extremely slow
in most cases.

For example, it takes about 10 seconds to open WinAmp when I click on the
icon when it used to open instantly.

I checked my system monitor and it says that my processor usage is 100%.
This is when the PC is completly at rest and not running any programs.

What could be going on here? Can this be caused by a bug or virus?

Processor usage is 100% when all programs are closed and it takes twice as
long to start up!

This used to be a great PC! :(

It has 256 ram and the meters say that most of the meory is available.

Any tips and guidance to fix the problem will put me in your debt!


Darren N
Click to expand...

If you don't have a virus or any spyware on your system then go to the
manufacturer's website of your hard drive. Download their diagnostics
program and check to see if it finds any problems with your hard drive.
To answer your question about memtest86, yes it will work with your
system. Try that too to rule out memory problems. And finally are you
using Norton? If so get rid of it as fast as you can. It will slow a
system down to a crawl.

Bob
 
R

Ron

Darren said:
I own a 5 year old HP PC and am getting the part together to build my own PC

In the meantime I have been having a problem.

I have an Athlon 900mHz processor and my PC has been running extremely slow
in most cases.

For example, it takes about 10 seconds to open WinAmp when I click on the
icon when it used to open instantly.

I checked my system monitor and it says that my processor usage is 100%.
This is when the PC is completly at rest and not running any programs.

What could be going on here? Can this be caused by a bug or virus?

Processor usage is 100% when all programs are closed and it takes twice as
long to start up!

This used to be a great PC! :(

It has 256 ram and the meters say that most of the meory is available.

Any tips and guidance to fix the problem will put me in your debt!


Darren N
Click to expand...

Download the free programs AdAware and Spybot, then check your machine for
spyware. Sounds like the most likely offender from your list of symptoms.
There are better spyware detectors, but these will get you started.

good luck,
-ron
 
H

H. Seldon

Darren blurted this out on Sunday 2/12/2006

I own a 5 year old HP PC and am getting the part together to build my own PC

In the meantime I have been having a problem.

I have an Athlon 900mHz processor and my PC has been running extremely slow
in most cases.

For example, it takes about 10 seconds to open WinAmp when I click on the
icon when it used to open instantly.

I checked my system monitor and it says that my processor usage is 100%.
This is when the PC is completly at rest and not running any programs.

What could be going on here? Can this be caused by a bug or virus?

Processor usage is 100% when all programs are closed and it takes twice as
long to start up!

This used to be a great PC! :(

It has 256 ram and the meters say that most of the meory is available.

Any tips and guidance to fix the problem will put me in your debt!


Darren N
Click to expand...


Check your processes and see if the following executable is running.
msmsgs.exe
In many instances it will cause 100% cpu usage to the point where the
box has to be rebooted in order to get things back to normal for a
while.

If it is running, my suggestion would be to disable it.

If it is the genuine Micrisoft version, there is no problem as it is
the main executable for MSN. However, if it is not, trouble awaits.

http://www.securitystronghold.com/catalog/MSN-Messenger-msmsgs.exe-problem-solution-4153.php

I've had to clean it out of systems quite often. :')

--
_____________________________________________________________

That's all,


"Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get
you"

< Colin Sautar >
 

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