Laptop performance issue

[BoyBigBrain]

For the past couple of weeks, i have been getting a blip or freeze for a split second in the computer. It is a 6 month old inspiron e1705, and I don't have complete care, just the normal one year limited warranty.

Anyway, what happens is everything on the computer, the mouse, music, video, programs, etc. will freeze for a split second. It comes back just fine, but this happenes every 1-2 seconds. It is a moderate annoyance for me, being a tech nerd and all. Music skips when this happens, and when dragging the mouse accross the screen the ponter will freeze at one point and then reappear where it would have been if it would have followed my input.

Recently, one of my friends spilled a bit of coffee in the computer, but it was taken to a computer repair store and they cleaned it, told me everything was good to go since the friend didn't use milk or sugar in her coffee, they said they ran burn in tests and all was ok. Funny thing is, the blips didnt start until 4-5 days after the incident. I guess it could just be coincidence that they happened so close together.

Another thing I've noticed is that the cpu usage in the task manager is totally sporadic. While just staring at the screen, it will easily jump from 0 to 33% then back to 2% then to 2%, even when i am doing nothing. The cpu is acting funky, and i think that may be the problem. My question is could it be anything else? Is there any other possibility for the problems with the computer? Could it be a software issue, windows conflicts, etc.? If it is worth it i will wipe the HDD and start anew. Below are some screenshots of the task manager performance tab, for reference. I really hope there isn't anything wrong with the cpu, since i can't afford to buy a new one and I need the computer for school so returning it to dell would be problematic, if they even take it back. Anyways, thanks in advance for anything you all can come up with.

(These were taken seconds apart with only AIM, paint, and mozilla firefox open.)

 

[ski]

See if the problem happens in Safe mode. Since audio and video programs may not work in this mode, the only thing you may be able to check is the mouse.
If the problem stops in Safe mode, then do a clean boot to troubleshoot it.

 

[gbaughma]

Another thing you can do is go back to that screen, click on the "Processes" tab, and then click on the CPU heading twice, which will sort the applications by the CPU cycles it's using. If you watch that for a little bit, you will probably see whatever is causing your machine to slow down as it activates.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly exchanged his dilithium crystals for new Folger's Crystals." -- My Sister
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[stduc]

One immediately thinks of virus or malware activity.

I suggest you do the following as your next steps.

1. Scan for malware virus's (I assume you have an antivirus program installed). In addition use hijackthis from

http://www.hijackthis.de

and one or more free online scans.

2. On taskmanager, go to the processes tab and click on the CPU column header twice to bring sort on CPU usage in descending order. Click the box for 'all users' and observe. What process(s) apart from the system idle process are using CPU cycles when the machine is supposedly idle?

As the machine hesitates & your screen shots do not indicate 100% CPU usage something may be going wrong with your hard drive. But don't panic - it's not likely. However, run a chkdsk and a defrag if you don't find the culprit in steps 1 & 2.

 

[stduc]

I see other replied as I was writing LOL

However I just noticed - your second shot shows that during the trace something gave up a substantial amount of RAM. if you didn't close any programs during that time it would be interesting to find out what?

 

[bobw]

BoyBigBrain,
You may get some direction from the event viewer. If you are using Windows XP go to [start][settings][control panel][administrative tools] and click on "event viewer".
Check each of the catagories (usually Application, Security and System) and look for any events with a white "x" in a red circle. These may be significant and could give you a direction to go in.
I hope this helps.
Bob W

"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail." - Abraham Maslow

 

[BoyBigBrain]

I went into safe mode and took a gander at the process and performance tab, at first the cpu seemed to be continuously around 2-4% usage, but then it started to jump around, a persistant 0 then 10, back to 0 then back to 10 would occur for a while, then numbers inbetween would start appearing, still sporadic but with less of an interval. The only process using cpu idlely in safe mode was the idle process itself, and the task manager. I took a look at the processes tab with the computer logged on regularly, and the only processes that were running with numbers higher than 0 were system idle process, mozilla firefox, csrss.exe, nvsvc32.exe, svchost.exe, and occasionaly S24EvMon.exe, all of which should be normal. I did notice that the csrss.exe was jumping from the very bottom to the very top of the cpu list (when sorted from highes to lowest) VERY quickly when I went to view ---> update speed ---> high.

I didn't run a virus scan as of yet, but i regularly run spybot and adaware, and am pretty sure (although i will still run one) that the computer is virus free. I checked the event viewer, and nothing more than the occasional application hang was found, something here and there but nothing with a repeat occurence. I actually did a chkdsk recently, it found and fixed one file cluster (if that is what it was) and that was it. Anyway, here's the hijackthis log...

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 7:45:28 PM, on 1/10/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.5730.0011)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\EvtEng.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\S24EvMon.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\WLKeeper.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehRecvr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehSched.exe
c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\mcdetect.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mctskshd.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfService.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MSKSrvr.exe
C:\Program Files\Dell\QuickSet\NICCONFIGSVC.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\HPZipm12.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\RegSrvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllhost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\ehome\ehtray.exe
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\bin\ZCfgSvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\ifrmewrk.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe
C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehmsas.exe
C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\VSO\oasclnt.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MskAgent.exe
C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\VSO\mcvsshld.exe
c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsescn.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfTray.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_10\bin\jusched.exe
C:\WINDOWS\stsystra.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfAgent.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Intel\Wireless\Bin\Dot1XCfg.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\MouseWare\system\em_exec.exe
C:\Program Files\AIM6\aim6.exe
C:\Program Files\AIM6\aolsoftware.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Timothy Mitchell\Desktop\Download\hijackthis_199\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL =

http://www.google.com/ig/dell?hl=en&client=dell-usuk&channel=us

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page =

http://www.google.com/ig/dell?hl=en&client=dell-usuk&channel=us

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL =

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL =

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page =

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page =

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,Default_Page_URL =

http://www.google.com/ig/dell?hl=en&client=dell-usuk&channel=us

O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: McAfee AntiPhishing Filter - {41D68ED8-4CFF-4115-88A6-6EBB8AF19000} - c:\program files\mcafee\spamkiller\mcapfbho.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: DriveLetterAccess - {5CA3D70E-1895-11CF-8E15-001234567890} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswshx.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_10\bin\ssv.dll
O3 - Toolbar: McAfee VirusScan - {BA52B914-B692-46c4-B683-905236F6F655} - c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshl.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ehTray] C:\WINDOWS\ehome\ehtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NVHotkey] rundll32.exe nvHotkey.dll,Start
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IntelZeroConfig] "C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\bin\ZCfgSvc.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IntelWireless] "C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\ifrmewrk.exe" /tf Intel PROSet/Wireless
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [dla] C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VSOCheckTask] "C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\VSO\mcmnhdlr.exe" /checktask
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OASClnt] C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\VSO\oasclnt.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCAgentExe] c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCUpdateExe] C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\McUpdate.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSKDetectorExe] C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MSKDetct.exe /startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSKAGENTEXE] C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MskAgent.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VirusScan Online] C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\VSO\mcvsshld.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MPFExe] C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_10\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Logitech Utility] Logi_MwX.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SigmatelSysTrayApp] stsystra.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [CUCore Agent] "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\FIRSTV~1\ConfAgent.exe /minimize"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MSMSGS] "C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MI1933~1\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_10\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_10\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {39FD89BF-D3F1-45b6-BB56-3582CCF489E1} - c:\program files\mcafee\spamkiller\mcapfbho.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: McAfee AntiPhishing Filter - {39FD89BF-D3F1-45b6-BB56-3582CCF489E1} - c:\program files\mcafee\spamkiller\mcapfbho.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MI1933~1\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Real.com - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O11 - Options group: [INTERNATIONAL] International*
O16 - DPF: {01A88BB1-1174-41EC-ACCB-963509EAE56B} (SysProWmi Class) -

http://support.dell.com/systemprofiler/SysPro.CAB

O16 - DPF: {39B0684F-D7BF-4743-B050-FDC3F48F7E3B} -

http://www.fileplanet.com/fpdlmgr/cabs/FPDC_2.3.0.97.cab

O16 - DPF: {4ED9DDF0-7479-4BBE-9335-5A1EDB1D8A21} (McAfee.com Operating System Class) -

http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/shared/mcinsctl/4,0,0,101/mcinsctl.cab

O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) -

http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/V5Controls/en/x86/client/wuweb_site.cab?1152300726203

O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{F1D298B2-2B5D-42BA-A449-3F84BD2B1B5F}: NameServer = 128.118.25.3,130.203.1.4
O18 - Protocol: livecall - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\MSGRAP~1.DLL
O18 - Protocol: msnim - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\MSGRAP~1.DLL
O20 - Winlogon Notify: WgaLogon - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WgaLogon.dll
O23 - Service: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Event Log (EvtEng) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\EvtEng.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee WSC Integration (McDetect.exe) - McAfee, Inc - c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\mcdetect.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee.com McShield (McShield) - McAfee Inc. - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Task Scheduler (McTskshd.exe) - McAfee, Inc - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mctskshd.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SecurityCenter Update Manager (mcupdmgr.exe) - McAfee, Inc - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\Agent\mcupdmgr.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Personal Firewall Service (MpfService) - McAfee Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfService.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SpamKiller Server (MskService) - McAfee Inc. - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MSKSrvr.exe
O23 - Service: NICCONFIGSVC - Dell Inc. - C:\Program Files\Dell\QuickSet\NICCONFIGSVC.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: Pml Driver HPZ12 - HP - C:\WINDOWS\system32\HPZipm12.exe
O23 - Service: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Registry Service (RegSrvc) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\RegSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Service (S24EventMonitor) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\S24EvMon.exe
O23 - Service: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless SSO Service (WLANKEEPER) - Intel(R) Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\Wireless\Bin\WLKeeper.exe

 

[Gavona]

did you use the online analysis tool at

http://www.hijackthis.de/#anl

Gavin

 

[BoyBigBrain]

I did, any help? Or am I screwed and have to deal with this random jumping in the cpu usage?

 

[stduc]

Hijackhis log looks clean.

Are you saying that the CPU trace is showing more than can be accounted for in the details list?
Because if the following

mozilla firefox, csrss.exe, nvsvc32.exe,svchost.exe, and occasionaly S24EvMon.exe

Are all consuming 2% then that equates to 10%.

 

[ski]

See if a clean boot finds the cause of the problem.

 

[BoyBigBrain]

I did a clean boot from a windows xp cd, and the problem still occurs. Looks like its a hardware problem then?

 

[ski]

This describes how to do a Windows XP clean boot:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353