Performance / lockup issue, need help diagnosing

Dstyle

January 22, 2010 11:39:48 PM

Hey guys

within the last few days my pc's performance has dropped significantly, i'm talking delays on typing, frame rate dlelays and jumps when viewing videos etc etc all stuff it never did up untill a few days ago.

On top of that and likely related to the cause is every so often it will lockup completely. I retain control of the mouse on the screen but everything else freezes, keyboard freezes, no control over any programs or the desktop, clicking on stuff does nothing, it is jsut locked up and will only fix itself after a forced restart.

Any idea what could be causing this? is it motherboard related or another component? Hate it when these sort of things happen and i've no clue which part is causing it (i've got bad hardware knowledge as it is) any help will be appreciated

thanks in advance.

More about : performance lockup issue diagnosing

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treefrog07

Motherboard Master

January 22, 2010 11:50:11 PM

Possible malware, virus, trojan. Disconnect any internet connection you have. Run a complete scan with your anti-virus/anti-malware software.

Have you added any hardware recently? Updated any hardware drivers or OS updates?

If you using Windows, your could try using System Restore to a point (date) earlier than you have had the probs.

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Dstyle

January 23, 2010 9:56:15 AM

treefrog07 said:

Possible malware, virus, trojan. Disconnect any internet connection you have. Run a complete scan with your anti-virus/anti-malware software.

Have you added any hardware recently? Updated any hardware drivers or OS updates?

If you using Windows, your could try using System Restore to a point (date) earlier than you have had the probs.

hey,

there hasn't been any updates that i can recall, i tried a system restore that did nothing. It still occurs when im not connected to the itnernet/unplugged from the network, it just has an awful 'hardware' ish feel to me

also when the lockups do occur im quite certain i can hear an unusual amount of harddrive noise.

Ill try run some scans assuming my pc doesn't lockup, which it more than likely will, the lockups only seem to occur when stuff is actually happening, i.e not when it's just stationary.

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rsmith13

January 23, 2010 11:50:09 AM

You might be running out of hard drive space. You need to keep a certain amount free (several gig with some elbow room) for the system swap file. When there isn't enough free space your system will start moving files around (thrashing) in an endless attempt to find free space.

You might just need to defrag your hard drive.

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