Cpu Performance low

[Skull-Drizzt]

about 2 weeks ago my computer started to run rather slow on some games(even the simplest of them) and its been running slower then normal. When i check my cpu performance it is normally running around 50% performance when i dont even have anything runnin! I tried seeing what programs were using up the CPU but it said it was 98% idle? odd? The only changes i actually know on my computer that i have made was #1 installed a game and #2 got some more ram. I did virus scans, defrag, disk clean up and its still running slow. Any help or ideas on the situation would be welcomed.

[MAD_DOG]

Man watch this topic get hammered with answers. Did you install any type of software then noticed this? In your task manager under processes what is running? Get back to us.

[Skull-Drizzt]

Hmm well quite a few programs running, dont even know what most of them do.
winmgmt.exe
WINLOGON.exe
waol.exe
wanmpsvc.exe
tcpsvcs.exe
taskmgr.exe
System Idle Process(says 94% but in performance it says 40% is being used)
System
SymTray.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe(yeah 2 of em)
spoolsv.exe
snmp.exe
smss.exe
shellmon.exe
services.exe
regsvc.exe
nvsvc32.exe
NRPROTECT.EXE
NOPDB.EXE
NISUM.EXE
NAVASPVC.EXE
mstask.exe
MDM.EXE
LSASS.EXE
inetinfo.exe
GhostStartTrayA
GHOSTS~2.EXE
GBTray.exe
GBPoll.exe
explorer.exe
csrss.exe
CCPXYSVC.EXE
CCEVTMGR.EXE
ccApp.exe
aolwbspd.exe
acsd.exe

Those are all the programs running in processes, 37 in all. I dont know what most of them do.

This is also what my computer runs on
74.5GB seagate HD(33.9GB left)
Athlon XP 1800+
Gforce FX5200
785 333DDR
SB Live!
Kt333 Dragon Lite

Im sorry but best I can track this problem back to is a game I installed (FF11) which I can't really tell any diffrence in which it runs. There might have been some other installed software because I let my family use my computer too.

If any of those above processes look strange tell me about it becuase it gives me a access denied on some of these.

Is it possible that my sound card might cause this? because some of my sounds have sounds have been delayed or choppy lately.

If u need any more information post it and ill try to get back to u on it.

[kc0arf]

Hello,

My *guess* is that you have Gaobot virus or the Sasser. There is an extensive writeup at www.symantec.com about it. You did say that you scanned with an antivirus tool... were the definitions current? I would get *today's* definitions and look at it.

It is also unfortuntate that Windows doesn't have a TOP command to see how much CPU time has been consumed historically by a particular process. On my Mac OS X box, I was able to tell that the Palm Pilot software wasn't consuming many resources in realtime, but over the course of the week, that time builtup a lot, and I realized the "leak".

Good Luck.

[Skull-Drizzt]

I updated my virus definitions and scanned again. It did find a virus but it isnt the route of my problems. I tried removing my 512 ram to see if it was the problem and it wasnt. Indeed somthing is wrong with my computer thats causing it to have problems because im noticing changes in programs i havn't used in awhlie. The best I can do is hope someone will be able to help with the best of their ability.

[Catweazle]

I think your problem is software related, rather than hardware related. I'd suggest the heart of it lies in your comment:

"There might have been some other installed software because I let my family use my computer too."

You are unaware what's occurred on your system, and in one way or another Spyware or other problems will likely be slowing your system down. Please work through the suggestions made in the "Helping Yourself" sticky in the Security section of the Forum, and then report back here once you've eliminated those software issues.

[Skull-Drizzt]

This is part of the reason why im not sure if the problem is software related, because I do scan my computer constantly for viruses and spyware and I do have a firewall. I used both spybot and adaware and it wasnt spyware that was causing this. I scanned my computer with 4 virus scans (3 online and one with my nortan), I still cant seem to find the problem. Only thing I can think of is a virus or worm that cant be detected yet or somehow some setting got changed and its causing my computer to run slowly.

Also I asked my family if they had used my computer during the past 3 weeks and it seems no one has used it for awhile.

Still the problem persists and I thank you all for your help. If i can't figure this out soon I might take this to the secruity section.

[Catweazle]

Make sure that your spyware and AntiVirus tools are the latest versions and updated.

Have you also used 'Disk Cleanup' to clean out temp files, cache files and so on. If those become 'clogged up' then your system performance will suffer.

[Skull-Drizzt]

Yes, they are all up to date. I cleaned all my internet cache, cookies, ect. I defragged my computer too.

[Catweazle]

I still think your problem is software related, but please post your system specifications so we have a measure to judge by.

Your processor speed, amount of RAM installed, display card and other hardware info is rather necessary to a hardware discussion.

[Skull-Drizzt]

My Specs are
Processor: Athlon 1800+(1.54MHZ)
Ram: 785MB RaM 333DDR
Video Card: Asylum Gforce fx5200(128 MB ram)
Sound Card: Sound blaster live!
HardDrive: 74.5GB
MotherBoard: KT333 Dragon Lite

if you need to know anything else just ask

[Catweazle]

Roghto then. Here's the hardware issues I can think of:

Has a change been made that's reset the clockspeed of your processor's front side bus? The setting should be 133MHz, to give a 266MHz fsb speed. If it's been reset to 100MHz, then yout processor will be performing nearly as bad as a Duron.

Did you set your RAM to run at a suitable speed? Ideally, you should have all RAM running at 266MHz, to match your front side bus speed, and have things running 'in sync'. If you have your RAM set faster, it can actually slow your system down.

Is the slowdown continual and permanent? If your system starts fine, then slows down and cradhes after a bit of use, that could indicate an overheating problem.

There are no other issues than these, for hardware, that I can think of which would cause a permanent and pervasive system slowdown. As I've said, I believe your problem is software related, and you should look at what you have installed, remove anything you dan't need or use, and attend to adequate system maintenance (as you've said you've done). Make sure you don't have multiple 'system tweaking' and 'troubleshooting' software programs installed. Apart from having a couple of utilities for spyware/malware detection and removal, having multiple instaces of system utilities is one of the worst things you can do to your system.

If you've eliminated all the stuff in that outline as potential causes, perhaps you should try a format/install to freshen things up and get your Windows installation working smoothly again.

[TheRem]

run an anti-spy software like SPYBOT.

[Skull-Drizzt]

Well, I feel i have tried everything to my knowlage, but apprently I have goback (wish i relized this before). But before i go back like a month, will this change alot of drastic things like my nortan version, major programs i have installed, and the problem that might be software related?

By the way thank you all for posting ur ideas

[Catweazle]

Using a Tool such as GoBack would certainly disable access to recently added programs etc.

A point to consider, that hasn't been mentioned before, is that perhaps you should consider backing up all your data, and performing a clean install of your system. It's an unpopular suggestion to make, but when someone wishes to maintain peak performance for games, particularly with a budget range display card such as the one you have, regular format/installs can be a wise procedure to follow.

[Skull-Drizzt]

Hmm, sadly goback doesnt havge a saved point a long time back so i cant revert far enough.

I guess the problem must be software related but i dont know anything about cleaning my system and backup up my data do you know where i could find information on this catwealze?

[Skull-Drizzt]

New problem that I think might be related to this one. I just recently got a new motherboard and processor and replaced them with my old ones.

Motherboard- ASUS A7N8X-X
Processor- Athlon 2800XP

When it starts the first windows load up screen (not the dos looking one) I load it a bit then the screen turns blue and i get a message that says "Inacessable_boot_device" then it says

"If this is the first time you have seen this error mesage restart your computer. If this happens repeatidly follow the steps:

Remove any newly added hard drives. Make sure your harddrive is configured and terminated correctly. Check your hard drive for viruses. Run Chkdsk through floppy disk."

The message did appear repeaidly and I checked the wiring. I'm not sure if this happens becuase somthing I dont know about or becuase of the problem i was having with my harddrive before. If you believe this is related to my current problem then please let me know.

[Catweazle]

That happens, I'm afraid, because Windows XP isn't designed to handle a motherboard upgrade. The Product activation checking is kicking in, failing to recognise the hardware in place (a motherboard change is equivalent to quite a number of component changes) and stopping your Windows installation from being able to Boot up.

There are ways to get around it, but now that you've allowed the system to attempt booting into Windows, it's likely to be a difficult and perhaps impossible job.

The best answer to your dilemma, by far, is to Boot from your Windows CD, and install again fresh and new. A repair install may correct it, and is worth trying, but there's no guarantees.