A Bit of Computer Help

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Esquire Fox
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A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Esquire Fox »

I am boggling my mind around a certain scenario that my computer has succumb to.
Often, I will be in the middle of something (internet surfing, gaming, drawing) and suddenly all my programs will just freeze.
Attempting ctrl+alt+del does not work and after waiting about a minute, the problem will sort itself out (and the task manager window will launch then if I tried to open it earlier).

This would seem to indicate poor performance, but that isn't the case.
When I keep task manager open, it shows that performance levels are normal and no service is hogging all the memory when my computer throws a fit.

I am running a rather new PC with Windows 7 Business 64-bit.
It has a Intel Quad Core Q3000 and 6GB of Dual-Channeled DDR2 ram.
The graphics card is a Nvidia GTS 250.
None of these main components are by any means budget and should easily handle the little I am throwing at them.
All of the drivers are up to date as well.

Now, I am just wondering what you all think might be troubling it?
It would seem to me that the Operating System is corrupted, since the main OS services never have any trouble, only the programs.
I was thinking of just reformatting instead of running a Windows Recovery Disk, to ensure it is fixed.
But I can't shake the possibility that it might just be a compatibility issue with the hardware.

Any advice =P?

EDIT: Besides switch to Linux, I'd prefer to keep software support >_>
Last edited by Esquire Fox on Sat Jun 12, 2010 12:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jakkal
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Jakkal »

hm... sometimes a "freeze" comes from a overheating... then it cools a bit down... then it works further on... ever cleaned your comp inside? is the air hot in your room or comp?
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Esquire Fox »

That actually fried my old graphics card.
Learning from the experience, I clean it out every so often now and I have set it high off the carpeted floor as to give it better breathing room.
The hardware is not being stressed at all during the times when this issue sparks.
I am almost certain the problem is on the software side of things.

At least I hope it is. The hardware side is full of solutions that make my wallet lighter ^^;.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by ReCreate »

You might have a case of overly-bloated-pc. :P To give me a glance at how bloated if at all your computer is. Open task manager, and tell me the number of processes running. Then leave it open for about a minute and tell me your approximate guess of what the average CPU usage is.

Or hardware might be overheating. Get hardware monitor. and show me the temps.

There's a slight chance it could be a problem with your HDD. Attempt defragmenting it and/or running a hdd diagnostics test. If all things complete without any crashing and/or errors then that's not the problem.

Also, what brand is your PC? And is it a desktop or a laptop?
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Typhon
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Typhon »

You might want to run a registery cleaner and check the priority of the task in your task manager. And also like above post said trim your processes. Loads of times you have things running in the backround that you aren't using, aren't essential to running the computer, and basically just sitting there idling. Get rid of those. One example is Applemobiledeviceservice.exe. If you aren't doing anything apple related on your comp then just end it.
Last edited by Typhon on Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by ReCreate »

Typhon wrote:You might want to run a registery cleaner and check the priority of the task in your task manager. And also like above post said trim your processes. Loads of times you have things running i the backround that you aren't using, aren't essential to running the computer, and basically just sitting their idling. Get rid of those. One example is Applemobiledeviceservice.exe. If you aren't doing anything apple related on your comp then just end it.
Most of the time those are services that are started when the computer starts up. To remove things like that you must uninstall all all programs that use them. Like for the example above, uninstall all apple products. Or for example, googlecrashhandler.exe. You must uninstall google chrome or google earth. But those things hardly use any resources or cpu times. So you usually shouldn't bother. Most of the time it's a single thing that has either a bug that makes it eat up so much resources or a vast incompatibility. But no one can be sure until he replies to my above post with the required information.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Esquire Fox »

It is a Gateway brand desktop computer. Model number FX4710-UB003A.
I have since made a few modifications to the hardware (and ditched all of their software from the get-go).

The CPU usage runs at an average of 20%. That is, if the programs I am running are process intensive. On idle it sits at 0%. It is unaffected when a program freezes.
I do not keep a lot of processes running at once and my computer is generally free of junk (no more than 2 start up programs and 45 processes, many of which are just multiple instances of Microsoft's svchost.exe and idle processes for my tablet).
Most of my CPU is going into system idle at all times (above 90%, usually 99%).
I have tried running a registry cleaner to wipe bad and empty registry values, but it didn't fix the problem.

Here are the temperatures with some of my more high end programs running at the same time (Computer having been on all day):
http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/8386/hardware.png

I should note that these issues occur whether or not I have process intensive applications open.
It can freeze when I am simply surfing the web with nothing more than a single Firefox window open.
There is no consistency to it and the program(s) just randomly freeze (Sometimes one program freezes while the other keeps going).

---

I am a computer technician in my own interest, so I am aware of the more upfront steps to fixing most problems.
Reformatting may be the most definite way to fix this issue, but I am curious as to what exactly is causing this.
If I am ever confronted with a similar problem in the future, it would be nice to know what the simplest solution could be;
Since reformatting is not something you want to do for someone else unless they actually need it.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Jakkal »

hm.. one of the 4 processor could be damaged... but I think thats not the problem...

it morelike sounds like a memory failure, trying to access your damaged DDR ram with one of your programs, couldn't use it (freezing) and then trying to use another part or another ram stick (how you call them in English?). I got the same issiue once, my high performance programs were working allright mostly, but when using multiple low performace progies, he freezed up... "worked" some seconds (mainly 30), and worked again... you should run a Mem-check

and it's not a bad idea to run a chkdsk /f /r too, to check the clusters on your HDD
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by ReCreate »

Your CPU appears to be within a safe temperature range(as shown here), So it can't be overheating, And my PC has about 80 processes on average running. it's single core(2 threads), yet there is no lag what-so-ever.

So I don't really know what could be wrong. It can't be a memory failure, because windows would show errors and/or crash with a memory related error.

The only thing that it could be is your HDD. Do what the guy above said. And try running an HDD diagnostics test.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Jakkal »

ReCreate wrote:the guy above
I got a name :evil: :lol:
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Esquire Fox »

I ran a check disk test on start up and it didn't find any problems with the hard drive or C partition.
And ReCreate is right, memory failure is instantly noted by Windows each time it occurs.

It would seems that my Operating System is just corrupted. It is Windows 7 and 64-bit on top of that, both aren't entirely stable.
I will try a reformat (clean install) to root out the issue as a software problem. If it persists, then it must be hardware.
On the bright side, this means I get to renew any 30-day trials since it won't recognize my computer :lol:.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by ReCreate »

64 alone. 64 bit isn't quite as stable as 32 bit yet. But 64 bit with 7 is still significantly better than with vista and MUCH better than with XP. 7 32 bit is extremely stable here.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Two_Twig »

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to post this but here I go. To begin, I am not a computer whiz by any stretch of the imagination, and with that said I'll continue:

Well, what I want to do basically is make speech bubbles similar to ones Rick makes. I know he makes them with photoshop with the shapes tool, which I still need to learn how to do, and that he uses Webletterer BB. I'll be honest, I have no idea how use photoshop (Photoshop elements 7.0), I just use Coral sketch Pad (which is awful). Maybe I could figure out how to make the speech bubble shape, but then there's the font. How to you download fonts? I've tried downloading it, but it doesn't show up on my font list. All it does is show me a graphic image of the font that you can print. I have no idea what to do here. I use a Compaq with Windows if that helps.

Please bear with me, I'm just a guy that wants to draw who's hindered by technology... :(

P.S. I know some of you are probably laughing at me for my silly problem, what with you all being so technically savvy.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Ebly »

Two_Twig wrote:How to you download fonts? I've tried downloading it, but it doesn't show up on my font list. All it does is show me a graphic image of the font that you can print.
to download fonts, you download them
to install the font so you can use it, you move the file into the fonts folder.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Kyderra »

Ebly wrote:
Two_Twig wrote:How to you download fonts? I've tried downloading it, but it doesn't show up on my font list. All it does is show me a graphic image of the font that you can print.
to download fonts, you download them
to install the font so you can use it, you move the file into the fonts folder.
In case you cant find your fonts under your control panel, they are under C:\WINDOWS\Fonts
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by ReCreate »

Or better yet: %windir%/fonts
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Ebly »

ReCreate wrote:Or better yet: %windir%/fonts
or better yet: kis,s.
let's not talk about the various methods he could use to do the same thing
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Two_Twig »

Aha! I did it! Thanks guys for your help :D
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by Esquire Fox »

Oh, I thought this had died with my issue.
I suppose I can post how it was inevitably solved.

The reformatting didn't seem to help, much to my dismay.
So I got to keeping a closer eye on the task manager.
My computer wasn't freezing as harshly and I was able to notice something off.
Just before a program would crash, one of the cores would steadily spike until maxing.
So I opened the case and sure enough, a small layer of dust had clogged the CPU fan.
It wasn't picked up by that program, so I was surprised it turned out to be a heat issue.
Fixed and working now, so I can get to drawing more :D.
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Re: A Bit of Computer Help

Post by ReCreate »

The core temperature was spiking, huh? Well then.:P
If so, your processor may have some slight damage on some cores, depending on how drastic it is, it could cause access violations, freezing, and maybe crashing.
Ebly wrote:
ReCreate wrote:Or better yet: %windir%/fonts
or better yet: kis,s.
let's not talk about the various methods he could use to do the same thing
Mine is better, it will work on any inslallation, while the other one will work only on an installation that has its windows folder named "windows" and on drive C.
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