Calling All PC Geeks

none | Sunday, July 28th, 2002 | BraveMan

[BraveMan]

I need help from the most intelligent people I know, FReepers.

I need to determine what tasks are active on my aging Pentium/Win95 box. Something is consuming an inordinate amount of CPU time. Whatever the task is, it doesn't show up in the Task Manager window (CNTRL, ALT, DEL). I suspect virus activity, because it the slowdowns only occur with internet related programs (Netscape, IE, etc.). Norton, McAffee, and ZoneAlarm all active, caught nothing.

Boot time is terribly slow.

Where do I start digging? Thanks in advance for the replies, especially the comic ones; I could use a little jocularity myself right now. (Focault, are you listening?)

[timpad]

Whatever the task is, it doesn't show up in the Task Manager window (CNTRL, ALT, DEL).

Installed any new software/hardware lately?

Just want to be sure...does your task manager have a 'Processes' tab? Have you looked there?

If so and it's not there, have you tried the step by step boot process? This should be invoked if you hit F8 during startup. It might allow you to catch something in your boot sequence.

[Mike Fieschko]

I need to determine what tasks are active on my aging Pentium/Win95 box.

TaskInfo, a shareware program, displays what processes are running, how much CPU they're consuming, how much memory, etc.

The program also allows you to 'kill' (called 'terminate' in the program) processes.

I am not connected with the author or company, just a satisfied user.

For a unix/Linux user, it's nice to have a 'kill' command in MS-Windows.

[mikesmad]

The first thing I would suggest is a defrag of your disk drive. The more you use your PC the more fragmented your hard drive gets. The more fragmented the slower.

See how much free disk space you have also. Delete any files you do not need. You may not have enough swap file space.

If you have upgraded your software then you may need more memory. The newer the program the more memory you have. The old days of writing small code is long gone.

[balrog666]

See how much free disk space you have also. Delete any files you do not need. You may not have enough swap file space.

I agree with mikesmad. Check the amount of free space on your hard drive (must be more than 10%), then run scandisk or disk doctor(Norton), delete everything under c:\windows\temp\ and all temporary internet files, then a full defrag or speedisk (Norton). Make sure you run in the most rigorous mode and consolidate your free space. Skip any surface test unless you have GRC's Spinrite.

If you have Norton Utilities or Systemworks, you can make sure it's up to date and also run a System Optimization.

These simple steps cure 90% of disk buildup slowdowns.

[balrog666]

Oops, also, tell us more. Win 95 version, IE version, HD size, have you examined the Zonealarm program access permission list? Etc.

[BraveMan]

Win95 build 4.00.950, Netscape 4.7, IE 5 5.50.4134.0600

Two drives; the original 1.6GB set as D, with the added 6.0GB partitioned into equal chunks (C:\, E:\, and F:\), with 123MB left in the Main C:\ partition. I have a 180MMX CPU w/128MB RAM (Maxxed out for this platform). My swap file is huge; 102+MB residing in the Root directory.

Ran ScanDisk (via DOS) last night and ran Defrag (3%) this morning. ScanDisk took forever, yet found no errors. Surface scan OK . . .

ZoneAlarm found nothing unusual; just the usual attempts from my ISP (at least that's what the WHOIS trace attributes the attempts' IP address to . . .)

All TEMP directories emptied; all *.TMP, *.??_, *.OLD and *.00? files removed, with the exception of the NAV definitions . . . How do you clear/reduce/slim down the .SWP file? My gut tells me this is half the problem . . .

Thanks . .

[Mike Fieschko]

Something is consuming an inordinate amount of CPU time.

What indications are there that it's CPU time, that your CPU use is 100%?

[BraveMan]

During boot up, I have no indications; the statement is a guess on my part . . .

After the boot process, a quick look using the bundled System Monitor tool reveals 100% CPU utilization, and a tremendous (Megabytes) amount of file system Dirty Data, for an inordinate period of time. Again, just a guess . . .

During the boot, I cannot hear the usual disk drive seeking going on. The drive light comes on, yet there are lengthy pauses interspersed between audible cues from the disk drive that something is happening; the dive just sits there for minutes on end. A little activity, then a big wait (several minutes), then a little more activity (maybe a second or so), then a big wait, on and on through the boot process.

I realize this isn't the fastest PC on the planet anymore. The 1 hour 45 minute time required to boot the machine is what leads me to believe some task is railing the CPU and preventing the rest of the processes from getting any CPU time.

Worth noting is that once the boot process is complete, things seem return to normal. As I'm typing this (and browsing) the operational parameters appear as expected. Even CPU intensive apps such as Winamp run fine.

What used to be a three minute boot process now takes almost two hours; the machine appears locked, but eventually, if given enough time, completes the process. I'm stumped . . .

[nutmeg]

bump

[Mike Fieschko]

The 1 hour 45 minute time required to boot the machine is what leads me to believe some task is railing the CPU and preventing the rest of the processes from getting any CPU time.

Worth noting is that once the boot process is complete, things seem return to normal.

In that case, ignore my suggestion about TaskInfo, since that program will only give you a report after MS-Windows finishes loading, not a report on the boot process.

I don't know how to diagnose why the box takes that long to finish loading MS-Windows.

[damnlimey]

I'm assuming your virus definitions are up to date so maybe run ad aware and clean out any spyware also check your bootlog see if anything funky shows up on there.

[Sledge]

1 hour and 45 minutes to boot up? Holy crap!

Have you tried booting in safe mode? Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive holding down F8 during boot will allow you to select safe mode (Win 95 was a long time ago!). This will boot the system clean to see if the problem is software.

Run Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs and see if something strange is in there.

You could also look at the win.ini file and see if there is something strange loading up in the "run=" or "load=" lines.

You might want to go ahead and try TASKINFO as suggested earlier. It might point you to something that is eating up the CPU and memory.

[Swordmaker]

" Two drives; the original 1.6GB set as D, with the added 6.0GB partitioned into equal chunks (C:\, E:\, and F:\), with 123MB left in the Main C:\ partition. I have a 180MMX CPU w/128MB RAM (Maxxed out for this platform). My swap file is huge; 102+MB residing in the Root directory."

I think your problem is the 123 MB left on your c: drive... this is way too small an area left on your boot drive for W95. Your swap file may be located all over the place and so badly fragmented that your drive is churning all the time. Move some of your data off to the other partitions, boot into safe mode and defrag the c: drive.

Your drive is getting so old that it may be that the sectors are throwing read errors. This could account for the abyssmally slow boot times... continual read errors.

[mikesmad]

With the additional info, I would guess your hard drive is about to die. The 123Mb is not enough free disk space, but it sounds like a hardware problem with either the drive or the controller.

Make or borrow a bootable diskette. Make sure it is read only. Place this diskette in the A drive and boot your system. What is your boot time then? If normal, then the above paragraph is probably true (although it could still be a boot sector virus). If the boot time is still long, then you could have other hardware problems (memory, system board, bios corruption).

If it boots fairly quickly off of the diskette then you need to have a bootable diskette with virus scan software on it to eliminate the boot sector virus possibility before replacing your hardware.

[fnord]

Try moving your virtual memory (swap drive) to your D: drive, if you have enough room. There is not enough room on your C: for this.

There are lots of other tools and tricks for speedup, but here is one with tons of info to chew on for now:

http://www.forrestandassociates.co.uk/pcforrest/windows.html

I will check when I get home and see if I have anything else to offer.

[balrog666]

The 1 hour 45 minute time required to boot the machine is what leads me to believe some task is railing the CPU and preventing the rest of the processes from getting any CPU time.

Holy Disk Problem, Batman!

Although I'm just echoing the others:

1) Kill more files on Drive C: or move some files/folders to your other drives. You need at least 10% free space on C:. Period. For a 2G partition, even 300M is running low. Also, move your swap file to drive D:, E:, or F: if one of them is empty.

2) Consider moving to Win 98 and not being tied to the 2G Dos limit (if you can find a copy - ebay maybe).

3) Consider another disk drive. 40G runs about $70 here. But another dozen 2G partitions aren't going to be very convienent.

4) Buy Partition Magic (I think it's up to version 7 or 8) and use it to consolidate your 6G hard drive into one partition.

5) A new computer is a last option. Don't overlook it if you are going to spend money to fix the problem anyway. Unfortunately, you will almost certainly have to switch to a newer operating system.

[Celtman]

      A fairly standard shotgun fix for this type of problem is to reinstall Windows.  Sometimes it works. 
      It's been a while since I installed Windows 95, but I believe it does ask for a swap file size and location.  If it does, put the swap file on your second drive, and make it equal is size to your RAM.
      The earlier suggestion that your disk drive is dying may be accurate, though.  A clue is that scandisk took forever. 
      As a second suggestion: Try swapping the master/slave jumpers on your two drives (assuming they are on the same cable.)  This will change all of your drive letters (your C drive will be on the 6 meg drive). You will have to reinstall Windows (and if you swap the drives, put your swap file on the newer drive), and you will probably have to reinstall programs as well, and rearrange your files.  Not a small thing, but it might keep your system going for a while.
      The idea is to put your system on the newer drive.