Typical.
Just as I'm getting used to my nice new iPod* (and it's rather turbulent relationship with iTunes), my four-month old Dell decides to kick up a fuss.
Out of the blue, it starts developing problems if I put too much strain on it (and by "too much" I mean stuff it previously had no trouble with). If I try to run a handful of programmes at the same time (or just a single resource-hungry one) it starts running at a snail's pace in a weird fashion: 40-50 seconds of snails pace, then 2-3 seconds of normal speed, then 40-50 seconds of snails pace, and so on... until whatever it's trying to do is completed.
At this speed, the computer is unusable.
It runs fine in Safe Mode. I've done a thorough malware and virus scan. I've also gone through and uninstalled any software I wasn't really using in case one of them was hogging resources in the background, using CCleaner to fix any broken items in the registry - and yet the problem remains. I even tried a system restore, which not only didn't work but managed to crash the computer!
If I take care to only run one or two small programmes at a time it runs without a problem - until about an hour or so in, when random background programmes start encountering errors and have to shut down.
It's crashed a few times in total, and the annoying Blue Screen of Death revealed that there had been an "APC_INDEX_MISMATCH". According to 'Microsoft TechNet:
This is a kernel internal error. This error could be caused by a mismatch between KeEnterCriticalRegion and KeLeaveCriticalRegion in a file system.
...which means absolutely nothing to me.
A bit of googling reveals that this is a memory problem, normally caused by conflicting hardware or software. But I have no idea what could possibly be causing it. The computer has been running fine for months and any software on it has either been uninstalled or has run on it for ages.
If the problem continues then I'll have no choice but to back up my personal files and try a clean re-install of Windows Vista, which will hopefully wipe any corrupted files.
(*Not only is the timing suspicious, but every time I have to change settings or delete software iTunes starts working perfectly [for a time] with my iPod, as if to say "Look at me, this is the kind of smooth running you'd get if you switched to a Mac")
6 comments:
It took about 8 months for my Dell laptop to start going at a snail's pace. I definitely need a memory upgrade to 2GB. I was lucky to be pre-Vista by a couple of months.
But all is not well in Macland, despite what you hear. I have a blog friend who is distraught with her new Mac and blogger. She says it is well known that there are problems between the two.
I feel your pain. No easy answers. At least you seem to know what you are doing, unlike me.
At least you seem to know what you are doing
Heh. Ninety-percent of my knowledge about my computer was gained through trial-and-error in this past week.
My ultimate weapon is simply going to be re-installing and wiping all the old files. Crude, but hopefully effective.
As for Macs - I've tried to use blogger on one before, and remember having trouble using the editor, so I couldn't use italics, etc. I assumed that was more down to the browser than the machine though.
May be no use at all, but have you tried defagging the disk and also looking to see if your paging file is big enough?
Also clear out any .tmp temporary files lurking somewhere in a folder in the Windows directory
I'd completely forgotten about defragging - will do that as soon as I get the chance.
You might try Process Explorer to help find problems. Also make sure you've run malware scans from more than one source as not every problem can be found with one prog.
Hardwarewise, it could need your memory resetting (any violent jolts recently?) or, my favourite culprit for slowdown, the fan needing cleaning/replacing.
Also, have you tried system restores from different time points?
Hi Chris,
A physical problem with the memory is my main concern - as it happened to a laptop I had years ago. But the tower is well protected and there's nothing near it that could hit it (aside from me, but I'm sure I haven't). I don't think it's the fan either, as the whole thing is pretty new.
At the moment it all seems to be ticking along nicely, so I'm a bit reluctant to start messing about with it again. I'm hoping it was just a minor glitch that needed to be worked through the system or something.
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