Computer running slow but fast (nonsensical I know)

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George Hornsby

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Jul 5, 2013
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Hi my computer has been running smoothly for 8 months but 2 weeks ago after I transported it up to uni it started running slowly. It still takes the same amount of time to boot up to the login screen. Once it opens a program that program runs smoothly: chrome, vlc, itunes, steam etc. However opening these programs can take the computer up to 5 minutes depending on the program. As they run smoothly once open I assumed something was wrong with transferring data from the hard drive to the RAM. I wondered what your opinion was though and whether it is a hardware or software fault. My specs are:

i5 3570k at 4.00ghz
8gb ddr3 1600 vengeance ram
2gb 7870 ghz edition g card
2tb HDD
windows 7 ultimate

any other specs or questions ask and I'll post.
Thanks in advance.
PS as I don't know what the problem is the category may be wrong.
 
Solution
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OK... be primarily concerned with ones in the applications. and not so much the system folder. But application errors can really be a problem, depending on the error. feel free to post one as an example. But I hope I have helped narrow it down.
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tonyzet

tonyzet

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Sep 17, 2013
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The storage device (2TB HDD in you case) is resposible for the slow loading of applications and programs. As long as the binary code of the programs is transfered to the RAM, the cpu processing power is affecting how smooth the programs are running. If you need faster loading, buy an SSD
 
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George Hornsby

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So would the best solution be to get a new hdd or would defragging or something else do the trick.
 
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tonyzet

tonyzet

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First try to clean the system from any unessecery cache junk using programs like CCleaner (free to download).
I don't think that defrag will help much, unless you have filled the whole HDD

PS: I suggested to buy a SSD, not a new Hard Drive...
 
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punk4evr

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May 4, 2012
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If you haven't already, please make sure everything is seated well and correctly. Video card, memory, hard drive, hard drive cables etc.
Mechanical interfaces are the simplest thing to do first. From there, My experience would lead me to believe that it indeed may be closer related to the hard drive, but by all means easy to check.

Nest easiest thing to do is open up resource meters, and take a look at what is chewing up cycles. It should be easy to narrow down here, the right direction to go in. Is it an application that is chewing up all the cpu cycles, or look closely at hard disk access... You should also see memory read errors there and such as well.

And to be sure, Grab one of the low level utilities for hard drive, and look at the error rate, errors and Smart Drive status. (Almost all systems seem to ship with Smart Drive turned OFF). If it's hard drive problem, you should be able to find something there ( Like read error rates) to point to a potential culprit.

I would do those things first, and see where that leads you to.





 
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punk4evr

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Ummm... He stated there was a CHANGE to his system responsiveness. How does getting a new SSD, cause his system from suddenly getting slower?

Perhaps reading the whole question may help?






 
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tonyzet

tonyzet

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And you probaly read the whole thread...
 
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punk4evr

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Also, I would strongly suggest taking a quick look at the application Logs, in Administrative tools, And see if there were any programs or applications "Hanging". If Watching the resource monitors, didn't help alot, Take a look if any applications in there were hanging, and that would certainly cause huge slow downs, since many things will not "Continue" until any hanging apps Time out!
 
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George Hornsby

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Jul 5, 2013
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Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have checked all the connections, moved the ram into different slots moved the cable from the hard drive around into different sata 6g and 3g slots and rebooted for each one. There is no noticeable improvement.

I have now opened up resource monitor. The cpu isn't going above 10% and 50% max frequency at the moment. Memory is static with 2.5gb of ram being used hdd use is spiking a lot but seems to be under 1 mb/s at the moment. When i open up a video highest active time increases and so does read speed after a delay. I am not an expert so I cannot tell you what they all mean.

I am unsure how to access low level utilities for the hard drive. Also can't find application logs in admin tools but I will keep looking

 
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punk4evr

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OK, what i was interested in you looking at is the hard drive access in the resoruces. see if there was sustained reads or writes going to the hard drive. Under Control panel, there should be a Aministrative Tools tabe there..Open up admin tools, and then open up event viewer. Under Local logs open up Windows Logs, and the Application Logs. Open that, and look for any RED flags, that may indicate any program errors... You want to hope to find No red ones, but chances there are some. , / ------------ Then the next. I suggest seagate disk tools, or whatever brand hard drive you have now, and download their utilities. Running those should be able to give you a Hard Drive Smart Statis, and also, looking for read and write errors. If the hard drive has any physical problems, you would see too high a number in either, but that should also trip the smart statis as well. In this way, you can try to identify if its the physical hard drive itself with the problems. If its the hard drive, you should find errors on the self tests.
If it is application related, you will see a red Error flag in the application logs and possibly System Log.
 
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George Hornsby

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I am not exaggerating when i say i have over 1000 red flag errors. I am downloading seagate disk tools and I'll run the stuff i need and get back to you.Thanks again
 
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punk4evr

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OK... be primarily concerned with ones in the applications. and not so much the system folder. But application errors can really be a problem, depending on the error. feel free to post one as an example. But I hope I have helped narrow it down.
 
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George Hornsby

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Jul 5, 2013
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The system red flagged errors are all atapi event 11 errors. The application errors are all ESENT event 419 and 454
taskhost (3156) WebCacheLocal: Database recovery/restore failed with unexpected error -1022.
taskhost (2384) WebCacheLocal: Unable to read page 223 of database C:\Users\George\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache\WebCacheV01.dat. Error -1022.

Also I have used seagate tools in windows and dos. The windows one won't complete and the dos one won't recognise I've got a hard drive. I'll probably end up replacing my hard drive as it's in warranty anyway.
 
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punk4evr

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Indeed, it sounds like there is hard drive corruption. So replacing the hard drive indeed can't hurt. There are others steps I could suggest, but my suspicions would be it all comes down to the same conclusion. Replace the Hard drive, and go from there. i recommend splitting it to 2 drives. One SSD for the windows Operating system, and then a HDD for storage.
 
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George Hornsby

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Changed my hard drive mode to IDE. Ran the sea tools for dos again. First two times it crashed, third time it worked. It found and repaired 8 errors and now my computer is back to its old form. Thanks so much, I didn't have a clue what to do and you saved me £60. I'll probably have to replace it sometime in the future, and when I do I'll get a small ssd for the OS as their price is dropping all the time.
 
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