I've got Vista RTM (x86) installed on a reasonably beefy systen (Athlon 64
4200 X2, 2G RAM). Everything initially works fine after boot, but after a
while (sometime 5 mins, sometimes 2 hours) the system grinds to a near halt.

At this point most windows are unresponsive, but some still work to a
certain degree. For example, if I have a Task Manager window open, then it
will often (but not always) continue to update the processes being displayed
(although it is not responsive if I try to kill a process). Similarly, if I
have the performance tool window displayed, it will usually continue to
update it's stats. If I have a "simple" app like notepad open, then I can
often continue to edit the text. In most cases, however, "complex" apps like
IE, Outlook, etc will be mostly frozen. They'll sometime show brief signs of
life, but are basically unusable.

A few other symptoms of the system when it is in this state is that my USB
memory drive (1G) that I have enabled for ReadyBoost stops being used. That
is, it stops flashing like mad as it usually does when being used. (Note that
if I don't use this memory drive at all the problem still occurs.)

Also, if I disconnect the PC from the network it usually springs to life for
a little while. That is various things I'd clicked on previously suddenly
have their affect, commands I'd tried to run suddenly do run, etc, but this
episode of working well doesn't last very long.

Also, some seemingly simple commands are also frozen during this problem
time. For example, I've tried to run "netstat -no" from an existing command
window and that remains frozen (although the command cursor does blink).

I've not yet found any way to get out of this state except for a reboot
(which often needs to be a hard reboot since I can't get enough response from
the system to do a soft one).

Note that during this period the mouse is perfectly responsive, I can
usually drag around most windows (including full Aero effects), even Alt-Tab
and/or Widnows-Tab often work (although not always).

Interestingly, despite the seeming responsiveness of the UI, I can't do
things like bring up the Start menu, or bring up a new Task Manager
(Ctrl-Shift-Esc). Even Ctrl-Atl-Del doesn't work correctly. What happens is a
few minutes after a Ctrl-Alt-Del is that the screen goes darker and a window
comes up saying it can't show the security window/screen (sorry I don't have
the exact error message).

One last bit of info is that I've never seen any processes with particulary
high CPU usage or memory usage during these instances. I've also not found
anything interesting in the even logs (although with all the new logs I'm not
quite sure where to log).


Has anyone else seen this or have any suggestions for diagnosing the root
problem?

sounds like you need to do a thorough cleanup of you system,
using several different virus,trojan,spyware scanners.
the better ones have been listed here numerous times.







"Qythyx" wrote in message ...
I've got Vista RTM (x86) installed on a reasonably beefy systen (Athlon 64
4200 X2, 2G RAM). Everything initially works fine after boot, but after a
while (sometime 5 mins, sometimes 2 hours) the system grinds to a near halt.

At this point most windows are unresponsive, but some still work to a
certain degree. For example, if I have a Task Manager window open, then it
will often (but not always) continue to update the processes being displayed
(although it is not responsive if I try to kill a process). Similarly, if I
have the performance tool window displayed, it will usually continue to
update it's stats. If I have a "simple" app like notepad open, then I can
often continue to edit the text. In most cases, however, "complex" apps like
IE, Outlook, etc will be mostly frozen. They'll sometime show brief signs of
life, but are basically unusable.

A few other symptoms of the system when it is in this state is that my USB
memory drive (1G) that I have enabled for ReadyBoost stops being used. That
is, it stops flashing like mad as it usually does when being used. (Note that
if I don't use this memory drive at all the problem still occurs.)

Also, if I disconnect the PC from the network it usually springs to life for
a little while. That is various things I'd clicked on previously suddenly
have their affect, commands I'd tried to run suddenly do run, etc, but this
episode of working well doesn't last very long.

Also, some seemingly simple commands are also frozen during this problem
time. For example, I've tried to run "netstat -no" from an existing command
window and that remains frozen (although the command cursor does blink).

I've not yet found any way to get out of this state except for a reboot
(which often needs to be a hard reboot since I can't get enough response from
the system to do a soft one).

Note that during this period the mouse is perfectly responsive, I can
usually drag around most windows (including full Aero effects), even Alt-Tab
and/or Widnows-Tab often work (although not always).

Interestingly, despite the seeming responsiveness of the UI, I can't do
things like bring up the Start menu, or bring up a new Task Manager
(Ctrl-Shift-Esc). Even Ctrl-Atl-Del doesn't work correctly. What happens is a
few minutes after a Ctrl-Alt-Del is that the screen goes darker and a window
comes up saying it can't show the security window/screen (sorry I don't have
the exact error message).

One last bit of info is that I've never seen any processes with particulary
high CPU usage or memory usage during these instances. I've also not found
anything interesting in the even logs (although with all the new logs I'm not
quite sure where to log).


Has anyone else seen this or have any suggestions for diagnosing the root
problem?

Thanks for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that this is a new install
and has been scanned for all of those evil things repeatedly, so I'm pretty
confident that's not the problem.

I've intestigated a little more and I'm now tending to lean towards the idea
that it is somehow network related. The reason I say that is because of what
I previously reported in that during a slow period if I disconnect the PC
from the network it temporarily returns to life. I'm reproduced this
repeatedly, although upon reconnecting it it usually slows down again almost
immediately.

Also, using the network does not always cause a problem. So I'm still pretty
stumped.


"mikeyhsd" wrote:

sounds like you need to do a thorough cleanup of you system,
using several different virus,trojan,spyware scanners.
the better ones have been listed here numerous times.

Mine is the same.
I've compared it to a Commodore 64 loading programs from tape, but I think
the Commodore was faster.
I'm currently writing this on my other PC, because nothing has happened on
my Vista machine for about 15 minutes.
I have a P4 3.0ghz Pentium D PC, with 200gb SATA Drive and 1gb RAM. The
slowest component is the video card an Nvidia 7300LE. WEI is 2.6 (processor
4.2, Memory 4.1, Graphics 2.6, Gaming Graphics 3.0, Disk 5.1)
I can sometimes do useful work, or play games, but then, as you said, at
random is goes away with the fairies.
--
Steve Franks


"Qythyx" wrote:

I've got Vista RTM (x86) installed on a reasonably beefy systen (Athlon 64
4200 X2, 2G RAM). Everything initially works fine after boot, but after a
while (sometime 5 mins, sometimes 2 hours) the system grinds to a near halt.

At this point most windows are unresponsive, but some still work to a
certain degree. For example, if I have a Task Manager window open, then it
will often (but not always) continue to update the processes being displayed
(although it is not responsive if I try to kill a process). Similarly, if I
have the performance tool window displayed, it will usually continue to
update it's stats. If I have a "simple" app like notepad open, then I can
often continue to edit the text. In most cases, however, "complex" apps like
IE, Outlook, etc will be mostly frozen. They'll sometime show brief signs of
life, but are basically unusable.

A few other symptoms of the system when it is in this state is that my USB
memory drive (1G) that I have enabled for ReadyBoost stops being used. That
is, it stops flashing like mad as it usually does when being used. (Note that
if I don't use this memory drive at all the problem still occurs.)

Also, if I disconnect the PC from the network it usually springs to life for
a little while. That is various things I'd clicked on previously suddenly
have their affect, commands I'd tried to run suddenly do run, etc, but this
episode of working well doesn't last very long.

Also, some seemingly simple commands are also frozen during this problem
time. For example, I've tried to run "netstat -no" from an existing command
window and that remains frozen (although the command cursor does blink).

I've not yet found any way to get out of this state except for a reboot
(which often needs to be a hard reboot since I can't get enough response from
the system to do a soft one).

Note that during this period the mouse is perfectly responsive, I can
usually drag around most windows (including full Aero effects), even Alt-Tab
and/or Widnows-Tab often work (although not always).

Interestingly, despite the seeming responsiveness of the UI, I can't do
things like bring up the Start menu, or bring up a new Task Manager
(Ctrl-Shift-Esc). Even Ctrl-Atl-Del doesn't work correctly. What happens is a
few minutes after a Ctrl-Alt-Del is that the screen goes darker and a window
comes up saying it can't show the security window/screen (sorry I don't have
the exact error message).

One last bit of info is that I've never seen any processes with particulary
high CPU usage or memory usage during these instances. I've also not found
anything interesting in the even logs (although with all the new logs I'm not
quite sure where to log).


Has anyone else seen this or have any suggestions for diagnosing the root
problem?

Well, I'm vaguely encouraged in that someone else is seeing the same problem.
Can you reproduce my experience in that disconnecting the PC from the network
gives it life for little while?

Also, if you can repro that, I'd start to wonder if it is network card
related. Can you tell me what type of card you have? Mine is built into my
NVIDIA nforce 3 based motherboard.

Is anyone else seeing this?

"Steve Franks" wrote:

Mine is the same.

Disconnecting the network did not improve the performance in my case.
I had to shutdown and restart the PC.

--
Steve Franks


"Qythyx" wrote:

Well, I'm vaguely encouraged in that someone else is seeing the same problem.
Can you reproduce my experience in that disconnecting the PC from the network
gives it life for little while?

Also, if you can repro that, I'd start to wonder if it is network card
related. Can you tell me what type of card you have? Mine is built into my
NVIDIA nforce 3 based motherboard.

Is anyone else seeing this?

"Steve Franks" wrote:

Mine is the same.

I am experiencing the same symptoms, clean install on a Centrino Duo 2300,
with 1 gb of ram. I haven't tried the network disconnect but the next time
it goes (and it will!!) I'll try that and let you know!


P

"Qythyx" wrote:

I've got Vista RTM (x86) installed on a reasonably beefy systen (Athlon 64
4200 X2, 2G RAM). Everything initially works fine after boot, but after a
while (sometime 5 mins, sometimes 2 hours) the system grinds to a near halt.

At this point most windows are unresponsive, but some still work to a
certain degree. For example, if I have a Task Manager window open, then it
will often (but not always) continue to update the processes being displayed
(although it is not responsive if I try to kill a process). Similarly, if I
have the performance tool window displayed, it will usually continue to
update it's stats. If I have a "simple" app like notepad open, then I can
often continue to edit the text. In most cases, however, "complex" apps like
IE, Outlook, etc will be mostly frozen. They'll sometime show brief signs of
life, but are basically unusable.

A few other symptoms of the system when it is in this state is that my USB
memory drive (1G) that I have enabled for ReadyBoost stops being used. That
is, it stops flashing like mad as it usually does when being used. (Note that
if I don't use this memory drive at all the problem still occurs.)

Also, if I disconnect the PC from the network it usually springs to life for
a little while. That is various things I'd clicked on previously suddenly
have their affect, commands I'd tried to run suddenly do run, etc, but this
episode of working well doesn't last very long.

Also, some seemingly simple commands are also frozen during this problem
time. For example, I've tried to run "netstat -no" from an existing command
window and that remains frozen (although the command cursor does blink).

I've not yet found any way to get out of this state except for a reboot
(which often needs to be a hard reboot since I can't get enough response from
the system to do a soft one).

Note that during this period the mouse is perfectly responsive, I can
usually drag around most windows (including full Aero effects), even Alt-Tab
and/or Widnows-Tab often work (although not always).

Interestingly, despite the seeming responsiveness of the UI, I can't do
things like bring up the Start menu, or bring up a new Task Manager
(Ctrl-Shift-Esc). Even Ctrl-Atl-Del doesn't work correctly. What happens is a
few minutes after a Ctrl-Alt-Del is that the screen goes darker and a window
comes up saying it can't show the security window/screen (sorry I don't have
the exact error message).

One last bit of info is that I've never seen any processes with particulary
high CPU usage or memory usage during these instances. I've also not found
anything interesting in the even logs (although with all the new logs I'm not
quite sure where to log).


Has anyone else seen this or have any suggestions for diagnosing the root
problem?

I have the same problems. A Dual core processor and 2gb of ram should not be
plenty to run smoothly. I believe the problem does have something to do with
network settings, because it seems like my system only slows down when I run
a program that trys to connect to the internet. After that everything slows
down until I restart

I have been having the same issues. Seems to happen anywhere from 15 minutes
to 2+ hours after a reboot. Also, usually seems to happen after some
internet activity (email, surfing or online games). Things slow down to a
crawl. Even getting to Task Manager takes 3-5 minutes or more.

"SUP3RMAN" wrote:

I have the same problems. A Dual core processor and 2gb of ram should not be
plenty to run smoothly. I believe the problem does have something to do with
network settings, because it seems like my system only slows down when I run
a program that trys to connect to the internet. After that everything slows
down until I restart

Mine has the same problem, really ****ing me off. My 4 year old Dell Laptop
runs better than a brand new desktop.

"DavidW" wrote:

I have been having the same issues. Seems to happen anywhere from 15 minutes
to 2+ hours after a reboot. Also, usually seems to happen after some
internet activity (email, surfing or online games). Things slow down to a
crawl. Even getting to Task Manager takes 3-5 minutes or more.

"SUP3RMAN" wrote:

I have the same problems. A Dual core processor and 2gb of ram should not be
plenty to run smoothly. I believe the problem does have something to do with
network settings, because it seems like my system only slows down when I run
a program that trys to connect to the internet. After that everything slows
down until I restart