Blinking Icons/Rattling HDD

3926 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by karanislove, Jan 16, 2007

speedo1952

Discussion Starter · Jan 16, 2007

Here's an interesting (and annoying) phenomenon that has been occuring with my computer for about the past year. First of all, the computer seems to be running somewhat slower than it once did. Second, many applications take longer to open, than they once did. Third, the desktop icons blink, and disappear for about 2 seconds, then reappear during the last few seconds of boot (if I look at "CPU Usage" during this time, it spikes to 100% during this phenomenon, then goes back to zero, also, the HDD rattles, as if it's working hard). Finally, when I open windows explorer to look at my drive "D" after a reboot, the same thing happens.........the icons disappear for awhile, then reappear, all the while the HDD is rattling away, working hard, and the "CPU Usage" spikes to 100%, then goes back to zero once the system settles down. The strange thing about this last phenomenon, is that IT ONLY HAPPENS THE FIRST TIME I LOOK INTO THE "D" DRIVE AFTER A REBOOT.....thereafter, the window opens normally, with no hunting of the HDD, normal CPU usage, and immediate appearance of the icons.

Yesterday, I supplemented my original 512 mb RAM with an additional 512 mb. This made absolutely no difference, at all, so I removed the memory upgrade.

Here is some relevant information on the hardware:

Built: 2/04
OS: Win XP Home SP1 and 2.....all updates and security patches are current
RAM: 512 mb ECC SDRAM, dual rank, DDR266
CPU: Pentium 4, 2.66 ghz, 533mhz bus, 512 kb cache (Northbridge)
Mainboard: Tyan S2099, Trinity i845E chipset, socket478, 533mhz FSB, 266mhz memory bus.
HDD: 100gb Seagate
Video: AGP ATI Radeon 8500LE-128mb DDR

Here is some relevant info on operating parameters:

Virtual Memory, Drive C: 768mb/768mb
Virtual Memory, Drive D: 768mb/768mb
Cold boot time (press "on" button", to quiet HDD): 85 seconds
Background running processes (0 appl open) after 5 minutes: 51
Antivirus: McAfee installed
Total Physical Memory: 523,764
Avail Memory (SeaMonkey, win explorer, win media player open): 244,995
Commit Charge Total (same apps open): 264,780
Commit Charge Limit: 2,066,680
Commit Charge Peak: 297,636 (with about 9 apps open)
CPU Usage (at steady-state): generally zero - 2%
CPU Usage

during application opening): approx. 45% - 100%.

What is the "weak link" here. Could it be a virus? Is there a fix?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

See less See more

Save

Status: Not open for further replies.

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

dai

· #2 · Jan 16, 2007

down load seatools from the seagate d/load section and run their diognostic utility on the hard drive

Save

karanislove

· #3 · Jan 16, 2007

speedo1952 said:
Here's an interesting (and annoying) phenomenon that has been occuring with my computer for about the past year. First of all, the computer seems to be running somewhat slower than it once did.

That must be the time when u had jst windows installed on your computer may be with couple of softwares... Time passed and u must have installed more softwares.... Never ran Windows Defragmentater to arrange the files....

speedo1952 said:
Second, many applications take longer to open, than they once did.

Check in your task manager, how many processes are running at that time.. Also time differs in different applications.. coz some applications are bigger than other..

speedo1952 said:
Third, the desktop icons blink, and disappear for about 2 seconds, then reappear during the last few seconds of boot (if I look at "CPU Usage" during this time, it spikes to 100% during this phenomenon, then goes back to zero, also, the HDD rattles, as if it's working hard).

Because during startup lots of applications loads like ur McAfee AV which takes ur whole memory... There might be quite a few programs which u dont want to run during startup. To disable them either go to their preferences/settings/options and disable them or you can go to Run > type msconfig > under startup tab uncheck those u dont want.....

speedo1952 said:
Finally, when I open windows explorer to look at my drive "D" after a reboot, the same thing happens.........the icons disappear for awhile, then reappear, all the while the HDD is rattling away, working hard, and the "CPU Usage" spikes to 100%, then goes back to zero once the system settles down. The strange thing about this last phenomenon, is that IT ONLY HAPPENS THE FIRST TIME I LOOK INTO THE "D" DRIVE AFTER A REBOOT.....thereafter, the window opens normally, with no hunting of the HDD, normal CPU usage, and immediate appearance of the icons.

Windows explorer takes time during first time because other programs are loading up and taking ur memory... If you wait couple of more mins and try to run expror u will find no difference then.....

speedo1952 said:
Yesterday, I supplemented my original 512 mb RAM with an additional 512 mb. This made absolutely no difference, at all, so I removed the memory upgrade.

Moving from 512 to 1024 is a big jump when u talk about memory... You must definately feel the difference.. Are u sure that ur computer has deteced that memory when u inserted in????

In regards to the Virtual Memory.... Dont use that much memory in both the drives... One is fine. The normal recommendation from Microsoft is 1.5times the amout of RAM but not on both the disks... If you add another stick of RAM so it will be 1.5GB on one disk not on two..

See less See more

Save

speedo1952

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 16, 2007

dai said:
down load seatools from the seagate d/load section and run their diognostic utility on the hard drive

Dai,

There is nothing wrong with the hard drive. It is "temporarily" working hard during these "phenomena" (probably hunting for virtual memory????), at steady state, the HDD is fine!

Joe

Save

speedo1952

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 16, 2007

"That must be the time when u had jst windows installed on your computer may be with couple of softwares... Time passed and u must have installed more softwares.... Never ran Windows Defragmentater to arrange the files...."

Sounds like my thoughts......maybe too much stuff working in the background. Even if I disable much of the background stuff, it makes no difference!! I probably should never have updated ANY of my applications, because the new versions ALWAYS need more capacity than the old ones. I run defrag monthly. I run disk cleanup (including registry) weekly. McAfee defaults to a Virus Scan every few days or so. I have AdAware installed, and remove spyware every few days.

"Check in your task manager, how many processes are running at that time.. Also time differs in different applications.. coz some applications are bigger than other...."

As I said, there are 51 processes running, with NO applications started. McAfee alone has about 6 or 7!!That is at steady state (win update and McAfee update finished running).

"Because during startup lots of applications loads like ur McAfee AV which takes ur whole memory... There might be quite a few programs which u dont want to run during startup. To disable them either go to their preferences/settings/options and disable them or you can go to Run > type msconfig > under startup tab uncheck those u dont want...."

I've done that, and disabling makes no difference. My concern is CPU usage. It often spikes to 100% during these "phenomena". Is the CPU overworked?

"Windows explorer takes time during first time because other programs are loading up and taking ur memory... If you wait couple of more mins and try to run expror u will find no difference then...."

I ALWAYS wait for the computer to "settle down" after a boot. When theHDD shows no activity, and CPU usage stabilizes @ 0%, THEN and ONLY THEN do I open win explorer for the first time. THIS is always when the "phenomenon" occurs.

"Moving from 512 to 1024 is a big jump when u talk about memory... You must definately feel the difference.. Are u sure that ur computer has deteced that memory when u inserted in????"

Yes, the initial black screen shows DDR 266 memory: 1,048,052 MB. Before the upgrade, it showed 523,764 MB.

"In regards to the Virtual Memory.... Dont use that much memory in both the drives... One is fine. The normal recommendation from Microsoft is 1.5times the amout of RAM but not on both the disks... If you add another stick of RAM so it will be 1.5GB on one disk not on two.."

OK, I'll make the total for both drives 768 MB (1.5 x RAM) initial/final. I have removed the extra memory because it made no diff, so I'm back to 512MB.

I suspect that either I have a virus somewhere, there are files missing/corrupted somewhere, or the CPU can't handle the software. Thoughts???

Joe

See less See more

Save

karanislove

· #6 · Jan 16, 2007

go through the post below..........u will get lots of good ideas...
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f10/need-help-speeding-up-xp-please-131572.html

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

Status: Not open for further replies.

Top Contributors this Month