How to troubleshoot CPU/Disk spikes?

G

gregrocker

New Member
I have narrowed down my serious start up degradation on a Gateway ML3109 to spiking CPU and Disk activity as I start up and do almost anything on the notebook. Something is making various services, apps and drivers throw up errors about taking too long to start-up and shutdown. I thought I had narrowed it further to Sound drivers but updating and repeated reinstalls only reduced the sound-related errors. I'm almost sure this is hardware because I have done two clean reinstalls of just the Vista Basic system and it doesn't change. I thought it could be the generic drivers Vista's install disk uses, so I replaced every driver I could find on gateway's website for my model (only chipset wouldn't download, saying my system didn't "meet minimum requirements" even though it was downloaded from Gateway for my serial number) but the result is just fewer errors at each startup, or shutdown, in the Performance-Diagnostics>Operational log accessed on the Advanced Tools panel. These errors (sometimes Critical) are for different services/apps/drivers each time although Management Console, Prefetch, Error Reporting, Volume Shadow Service, Sound (including PCI slot, driver, and service) are frequent offenders. The startup and shutdown time are about 3 minutes each, up from 20 seconds previously. It is the critical error on each startup (degradation error 100) that bothers me.

Can someone tell me the exact procedure to troubleshoot these as I watch the performance graphs spike for CPU, hard disk, Memory? By the time I get to the log after startup, it is too late, but the spikes continue anyway even though no additonal errors are thrown up except at startup and shutdown. The error log in Administrative View is clean. I have no viruses, now or previously. I run no startup programs except Avast. I keep it CCleaned and Auslogics Defragged daily. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

Try resintalling again and *not* CCleaning, and see if your results persist.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
I will certainly do another reinstall if you think that can solve this but I need to ask what about CCleaner could corrupt a newly installed OS? I remember doing the CCLeaner and Auslogics defrag right after I installed SP1 from disk, but I believe the logging of startup delay errors had already begun before that. I was trusting the CCleaner based on hundreds of reviews without one complaint, as with the Auslogics defraggers.

I ran autoruns and have a LXCSF driver at logon which I had set to Manual in services and removed from startup in the Windows Defender Software Explorer. It is software for my Lexmark cheapo printer which is buggy but needed in order to get the driver.

I have also enabled boot logging but need to know where and how to view it.
 

My Computer

System One

gregrocker said:
... I remember doing the CCLeaner and Auslogics defrag right after I installed SP1 from disk, but I believe the logging of startup delay errors had already begun before that.

I ran autoruns and have a LXCSF driver at logon which I had set to Manual in services and removed from startup in the Windows Defender Software Explorer. It is software for my Lexmark cheapo printer which is buggy but needed in order to get the driver.
Click to expand...
So you installed Vista and before you could grab the SP1 disc you started getting errors? Did you install anything in between Vista and SP1, or was it immediate?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Fumz' Flux-Capacitor
    CPU
    E8400
    Motherboard
    DFI LP DK P35-T2RS
    Memory
    4GB G.Skill PC-1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA 8800 GTS
    Sound Card
    X-Fi XtremeGamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500GB W.D. RE2 Primary
    1TB W.D. Caviar GP WD10EACS
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610
    Case
    Lian Li Lancool K62
    Cooling
    Thermalright Ultima-90/S-Flex 120mm
    Keyboard
    MS Natural Elite 4000 Ergonomic
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    2.5MB/430
    Other Info
    D-Link DGL 4500
It was immediate which makes me think that the generic drivers provided with the VISTA install disk (not Gateway recovery disks which I don't use to avoid bloatware) are causing the errors. I took as many drivers as were provided off of the Gateway site for my model and serial number, plus reinstalled the audio driver since audio errors were most common. The boot log showed a network driver failing to load so I went into safe mode and did sfc /scannow. Now things have simmered down to just Warnings for Events 100 and 200 Startup and Shutdown are about half as long as they were and no additional cascading errors for services/apps/drivers taking too long to startup/shutdown. My graphs are also not spiking and the heat feels a lot less, as though it has resolved most of the problem. I wonder if it could have been a combination of things like sound and network drivers, prefetching running out of control with new install (repeated prefetch errors). I also learned that this cheap Gateway ML3109 with Celeron M is lucky to run Vista well at all, even with a gig of memtested ram.
 

My Computer

System One

Could you list all the drivers you installed along with the chipset you're using? Also, are you using a clean Vista DVD or one provided by Gateway that also contains their software?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Fumz' Flux-Capacitor
    CPU
    E8400
    Motherboard
    DFI LP DK P35-T2RS
    Memory
    4GB G.Skill PC-1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA 8800 GTS
    Sound Card
    X-Fi XtremeGamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    500GB W.D. RE2 Primary
    1TB W.D. Caviar GP WD10EACS
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610
    Case
    Lian Li Lancool K62
    Cooling
    Thermalright Ultima-90/S-Flex 120mm
    Keyboard
    MS Natural Elite 4000 Ergonomic
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    2.5MB/430
    Other Info
    D-Link DGL 4500
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