I think my CPU is dying a sloooow death...

[vomacka]

I seem to be having trouble with my AMD Athlon 64 X2 3GHz processor. Here is what is happening:

The system is slow loading. The Windows loading/welcome screen takes MUCH longer (5-10 minutes) to load than it used to (1-2 minutes).

When Windows does finally load, it takes longer (5-10 minutes) for the individual components in the task manager to load at start up that it used to last week (1-3 minutes).

It also seems that it takes longer for ANY program to launch when double-clicked on. My programs used to load/launch in 5 seconds. Now it takes more than a minute, and the cursor does not give me the "loading" hourglass symbol for at least 30 seconds after the icon has been clicked on. VERY slow loading of programs.

When the program does finally load it will freeze every so often and becomes very hesitant when running.

When I try to print a document or PDF or anything from the web, the printer will print one page out, then hesitate for 5 seconds, then print the second page, then hesitate 5 seconds, Etc. It took me more than 5 minutes to print out 5 pages when it used to take under a minute.

But wait... There's MORE...

I ran my defrag program and that ran VERY slow as well.

Same goes for my Virus scanner, SpyBot check and other programs I tested out.

Finally it takes longer (1-2 minutes) for the OS to shut down. It used to take 10-20 seconds.

I put the processor in about 4 months ago. The only problem is that I got a used one (DUMB..DUMB!!). It was cheap at the time and I wanted to save some money. I think I am reaping the benefits...

I checked out my HD and it seems ok. There were only a few sectors that needed repair. But running chkdsk /r took more than 7 hours and also hesitated often.

So, after going through all that, I'm thinking the processor is slowly dying....

So, is it time to get a new processor? I think it is from what I am experiencing.

Scott

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I very much doubt that it's the CPU going bad. A bad CPU wouldn't JUST cause slow performance. BSOD's and hard locks, yes, but not just slow performance.

It really does sound like a failing HDD to me.

 

[PaulSouter]

I would say its windows dying slowly and you processor is just fine.Time for a format and clean install.If you have a recovery partition your in luck use this.If you have a OS disk you could use that.Which version of windows are you running ?

 

[$hawn]

Your processor is ABSOLUTELY FINE

Most probably i think your harddisk is gonna die soon better backup ur important data

The very fact that your had a "few bad sectors" indicates a high probability that the HDD is gonna take a dump Let me guess, this HDD is at least 4 yrs old??

If ur processor was faulty, it would cause the system to hang/crash. A dying CPU doesn't execute instructions slowly, it doesn't execute them at all!!! cheers

 

[iam2thecrowe]

failing hdd, ram, or psu. not cpu. maybe an overheating cpu, but not a failing one. Your hard drive could just be full, check that

 

[wavetrex]

Weird virus ?

I've seen cases when rootkits or other strange malware caused a very-very slow computing experience while most antivirus don't detect it.

I suggest backing up important data, and reinstalling by wiping out the harddrive with a hard-reformat ( when installing windows, don't select "quick format" )

This should correct most "bad sectors" on a SMART enabled harddrive ( which are all hdds in the last 5-6 years ). Or, it will completely kill it, and then you'll now what to change

 

[vomacka]

Thanks everyone for the help. I am trying to back up the hard drive now, but it is very slow going.

The way I see it, at this stage, it is probable better that I just replace the HD. It's 4 1/2 years old, but has had a lot of use.

If it is the hard drive, then why would my printer be so slow? I guess the data is not transmitting from the HD fast enough?

The PSU temps are in the normal range. (44-47C).

I will try to do a V-Scan and see if that come sup with anything, but I doubt it.

What about using the FIXBOOT command in the windows recovery console? Would that help any? I have never used it before so I don't know what it does.

What about Windows rot, or something like that?

Just waiting for the backup to finish...

Scott

 

[InvalidError]

If it is the hard drive, then why would my printer be so slow? I guess the data is not transmitting from the HD fast enough?

You said everything that accesses the HDD is much slower than it used to, which does point to HDD degradation of some sort being the cause. I have had my lot of slowly dying HDDs and periodic freezing while accessing files is one of the early signs.

As for why the printer is stalling, that could be because the application or printer driver is using temporary files and access to those temporary files get delayed by HDD problems.

What I usually do in those cases is get a new HDD, install the OS on it, transfer my data to the new drive and do a full-format on the old drive to see whether or not it completes slower than it should. Most of my dying drives survived the data transfer process (albeit after multiple power-up, copy, freeze, power-down cycles while in an external enclosure) but did not survive the format afterward.

 

[mobrocket]

i would recommend u boot up ubuntu / linux mint or even install it

serves two purpose...

one - will show what issues where windows related or not
two- has a great hard drive utility, it will let you know if it is failing right away

cpu failing is very doubtful

 

[dextermat]

+1 hard drive failing or virus,

boot in safe mode and see what happens.

you can download hard disk sentinel trial to check hard drive, also speedfan for temperatures.

Run tdss killer from kapersky, malwarebytes for virus

good luck

 

[vomacka]

I am trying to do a V-scan, back-up and download HD sentinel and it is reaaaal sloooowww....

Speedfan says the temps are ok for the HD (35C).

OH BTW. I almost forgot what started this whole thing. Last week, I started to get a BSOD saying "Uncountable boot volume error" after the "Windows XP logo screen". The system would not boot for three attempts then finally went through and windows would load. It was at this point I booted to the Windows XP disk in recovery console. Errors were found and fixed (chkdsk /r), but the system still booted/runs slow.

That's the latest.

Scott

 

[nforce4max]

It is very clear that your system is long over due for a new hard drive. A new drive will breathe new life into old systems enough to make them almost comfortable. I must ask is this drive of yours a seagate? They tend to go out like this with degrading performance.

 

[gamerk316]

Sounds like the HDD is on the way out. Might want to take a look at the HDD's SMART statistics and see if you have a ton of bad sectors...

 

[$hawn]

before buying a new HDD, i recommend u swap it with a friends spare working one to confirm its the cause of the issue