Constant hd thrashing in vista

S

softwareguy256

New Member
I'm seriously fed up with Vista. I just want to grab some MS guy by the throat and yell in his ear that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is if he can release this kind of **** and expect people to upgrade.

lsass.exe is thrashing my HD
searchindexer.exe is thrashing my HD
2 SVChosts.exe are thrashing my HD, one being superfetch

MS likes to ask tough interview quesetions, but I got a tough question for them: how the hell does someone with IVY league education release software as buggy as Vista and not have any interactive support? Am I supposed to pay 50 dollars just to tell you your software sucks ****?

I've been living with this lag for a YEAR now but damnit it really **** me off today.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

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softwareguy256 said:
I'm seriously fed up with Vista. I just want to grab some MS guy by the throat and yell in his ear that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is if he can release this kind of **** and expect people to upgrade.

lsass.exe is thrashing my HD
searchindexer.exe is thrashing my HD
2 SVChosts.exe are thrashing my HD, one being superfetch

MS likes to ask tough interview quesetions, but I got a tough question for them: how the hell does someone with IVY league education release software as buggy as Vista and not have any interactive support? Am I supposed to pay 50 dollars just to tell you your software sucks ****?

I've been living with this lag for a YEAR now but damnit it really **** me off today.
Click to expand...

What are your system specs. Particularly, how much memory do you have installed. Please, be as detailed as possible.

And do you have SP1 installed? This "disk thrashing" problem is not an issue with SP1.

Have you given the SearchIndexer time to complete it's indexing?
 

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Dzomlija said:
softwareguy256 said:
I'm seriously fed up with Vista. I just want to grab some MS guy by the throat and yell in his ear that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is if he can release this kind of **** and expect people to upgrade.

lsass.exe is thrashing my HD
searchindexer.exe is thrashing my HD
2 SVChosts.exe are thrashing my HD, one being superfetch

MS likes to ask tough interview quesetions, but I got a tough question for them: how the hell does someone with IVY league education release software as buggy as Vista and not have any interactive support? Am I supposed to pay 50 dollars just to tell you your software sucks ****?

I've been living with this lag for a YEAR now but damnit it really **** me off today.
Click to expand...

What are your system specs. Particularly, how much memory do you have installed. Please, be as detailed as possible.

And do you have SP1 installed? This "disk thrashing" problem is not an issue with SP1.

Have you given the SearchIndexer time to complete it's indexing?
Click to expand...

Vista SP1 last updated last night with latest patches
AMD 3800+
ASUS A8Sx
4GB ultra DDR 400mhz - 3 seen by vista
Seagate 7200 RPM 500 GB
nvidia 8800 GTX
4GB Readyboost USB
installed vista ultimate on brand new drive
I let searchindexer complete, but it restarts everytime i login for 5 minutes.
 

My Computer

System One

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
I have killed the indexer but the HD noises continue. I read about superfetch, which doesn't even let me stop/disable from the services page. So I killed the svchost behind it, still no change. Next lsass.exe, whatever that does. I killed that too and my HD is still going, even though its not being reported on the task manager with full privileges.

There is usually silence after about 20 minutes after logging in but it seems to go again around midnight. I did not mention before, but I am using Avast antivirus.
 

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System One

My hd started to do the same until I tracked it down to a newly installed sidebar gadget in the form of a multi meter which showed hd usage and ram usage. Once disabled all returned to normal.
 

My Computer

System One

Hi Softwareguy,

That kind of disk thrashing is not normal.

Not being able to stop the superfetch service is a concern.You can disable it in the registry. Open Regedit and go to

HKLM\System\Current Control Set\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\Prefetch Parameters, then double click Enable Superfetch in the right pane and set the value to 0.

Don't think that will cure it tho. In cases of strange behaviour, it's worth checking for nasties. Avast is good, but he can't catch everything. You might try downloading the free mbam , update and do a full scan

www.malwarebytes.org.

Also run SFC - this handy app. will do it for you - just click find and fix errors

http://www.vistax64.com/software-tools/183170-system-file-check-tool.html

If there are file corruptions that can't fix, using the Vista install dvd to repair the system files without damaging your programs and settings may do the job:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

Hope that helps

SIW2
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
I doubt its a virus. The trick to turn off superfetch is to login as admin. I did that shutoff superfetch and had a few days of peace. Today it started up again for 15 min after I woke up my computer. This time I took a picture:
svchostqc3.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

Hi softwareguy,

You could try this -

Open Regedit and go to

HKLM\System\Current Control Set\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\Prefetch Parameters, then double click Enable Superfetch in the right pane and set the value to 0.


SUPERFETCH12009-01-14_014155.jpg



SUPERFETCH22009-01-14_014255.jpg

Hope it helps

SIW2
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
You may also want to DLoad and run the Free diagnostics from the drive manuf. site.
 

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System One

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    Intel Q6600
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    ASUS P5K MBoard.
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    500G Seagate SATA
    200G Seagate SATA
    100G WD Caviar SATA
    80G WD Caviar IDE
    PSU
    OCZ Elite 800W PSU
    Case
    RaidMax Smilodon Case
    Other Info
    Lite-On dual layer DVD burner X 2
    Dos 6.2;Win2K;XP; &
    Vista Ultimate 64Bit.
I wouldn't worry about scvhost, after reading what you said, I will say that I hate the thrashing so much i wanted to buy a ram drive just so I wouldn't have to hear it.

I finally bought an intel turbo memory chip 1g and now my machine is just silent all the time. Its crashed suspiciously 3 times in 2 weeks, but the lack of chomping on my hard drive is worth it.

2 things off the top of my mind that could help with this problem.

1)Shut off System restore, every time you make a change/patch/whatever, windows builds a new version of the backup, that will thrash the hell out of everything. Personally i wouldent do this because the amount of times system restore has saved machines ive worked on is astronomical.

2)Turn off your page file, although this causes small risk of an out of memory crash, with 4 gigs of main memory and a 4gb ready boost you should be fine. (warning some times vista gets angry about this and will actually inturrupt you with a low memory error when you get to within about 20% of memory capacity this is normal just dont click ok and tab back into your program). Note: if you have more than one drive you will have to turn off the page file on all of them. Windows really really really likes to page.

Best of luck to ya,
-K
 

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  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell vostro 1500
    CPU
    core duo 1.6
    Memory
    4gb + 1gb turbocache
    Graphics Card(s)
    8600m GT 256mb
    Sound Card
    Onboard Sigmatel
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800
Klaudius said:
1)Shut off System restore, every time you make a change/patch/whatever, windows builds a new version of the backup, that will thrash the hell out of everything. Personally i wouldent do this because the amount of times system restore has saved machines ive worked on is astronomical.
Click to expand...

I agree: Turning off System Restore is NOT a good idea. Previous Versions won't work without it, and Previous Versions has helped me recover deleted files ni the past, even after emptying the recycle bin.


Klaudius said:
2)Turn off your page file, although this causes small risk of an out of memory crash, with 4 gigs of main memory and a 4gb ready boost you should be fine. (warning some times vista gets angry about this and will actually inturrupt you with a low memory error when you get to within about 20% of memory capacity this is normal just dont click ok and tab back into your program). Note: if you have more than one drive you will have to turn off the page file on all of them. Windows really really really likes to page.
Click to expand...

Turning of the page file will hurt performance, and seriously cripple the application load capacity of Vista...
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9600 Quad
    Motherboard
    ASUS MB-M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi
    Memory
    2 x A-Data 2GB DDR2-800
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SAHARA 21"
    Screen Resolution
    1600x1200
    Hard Drives
    2 x 80GB Seagate (I)
    2 x 120GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 200GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 250GB Seagate (I/S)
    PSU
    800W
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    Thermaltake Tai-Chi
    Cooling
    Tai-Chi Water Cooler
    Keyboard
    Genius
    Mouse
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    Internet Speed
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    Other Info
    Currently dual booting between Vista x64 Ultimate Windows 7 BETA x64
Turning of the page file will hurt performance, and seriously cripple the application load capacity of Vista...
Click to expand...

I know that this is not true for performance in vista, I have 2 machines that run this way because of the way we have to work on media files and some other really cool specialized software.

Ive been running them that way since vista came out and I got it in the action pack subscription. I've even had the Microsoft engineers working with me to make sure it was running the way its supposed too.

Performance is actually increased, the application load capacity? Ive not had a problem with that. I run everything from high end graphics programs, all microsoft apps and games, on those 2 machines and I never have a problem other than the vista "your running low on virtual memory" error. And that error is not a problem as long as you do not click on the ok button and just leave it there. Every time you hit ok it will retake focus from the process and re-warn you. Microsoft told me there is no way to remove the error, so just dont click ok and switch task back to the program.

Honestly running without a page file works great. But your risk is the following:
If you are running close to the edge of the amount of memory you have you may run out and crash the system. (you can see it in task manager but honestly it was only a problem in this one huge render that ive had, maybe GTA4 could do it with 4 gigs but i doubt it, as most of those games have their own page process that pages to the game directory)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell vostro 1500
    CPU
    core duo 1.6
    Memory
    4gb + 1gb turbocache
    Graphics Card(s)
    8600m GT 256mb
    Sound Card
    Onboard Sigmatel
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800
Klaudius said:
Honestly running without a page file works great. But your risk is the following:
If you are running close to the edge of the amount of memory you have you may run out and crash the system. (you can see it in task manager but honestly it was only a problem in this one huge render that ive had, maybe GTA4 could do it with 4 gigs but i doubt it, as most of those games have their own page process that pages to the game directory)
Click to expand...

My point exactly. I'm in the habit of pushing the envelope. I think my record is something like 30 or 40 different applications at once, each doing their own thing, including DivX Encoding, Image Duplicate Scanning, Application Development, Photo Manipulation and Webpage design and about 6 downloads.

Actually, I've crashed Windows XP and Vista x64 because of not enough memory, even WITH a page file (Windows just couldn't keep up with the demand and went belly up). But that's just me. I can't imagine no pagefile on my system without some serious negative performace degration!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9600 Quad
    Motherboard
    ASUS MB-M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi
    Memory
    2 x A-Data 2GB DDR2-800
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SAHARA 21"
    Screen Resolution
    1600x1200
    Hard Drives
    2 x 80GB Seagate (I)
    2 x 120GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 200GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 250GB Seagate (I/S)
    PSU
    800W
    Case
    Thermaltake Tai-Chi
    Cooling
    Tai-Chi Water Cooler
    Keyboard
    Genius
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    384kbps
    Other Info
    Currently dual booting between Vista x64 Ultimate Windows 7 BETA x64
Yep that can happen if you like run 40 applications at the same time.

But if you happen to not be a user running 40 applications at once, running with no page file is AWSOME !
Best of all, NO PAGE FILE THRASHING haha

And hats off to you for being able to multitask applications like that without a set of compound eyes to pay attention to all of them at the same time.

You sir rock and I salute you.
/Salute

-K
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell vostro 1500
    CPU
    core duo 1.6
    Memory
    4gb + 1gb turbocache
    Graphics Card(s)
    8600m GT 256mb
    Sound Card
    Onboard Sigmatel
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800
Klaudius said:
Yep that can happen if you like run 40 applications at the same time.

But if you happen to not be a user running 40 applications at once, running with no page file is AWSOME !
Best of all, NO PAGE FILE THRASHING haha

And hats off to you for being able to multitask applications like that without a set of compound eyes to pay attention to all of them at the same time.

You sir rock and I salute you.
/Salute

-K
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, try working on two computers at once. I've grabbed the wrong keyboard a couple of times... :o

But that amount of multitasking isn't something I do everyday. I'm just glad my rig can handle the load when needed...
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom Build
    CPU
    AMD Phenom 9600 Quad
    Motherboard
    ASUS MB-M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi
    Memory
    2 x A-Data 2GB DDR2-800
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SAHARA 21"
    Screen Resolution
    1600x1200
    Hard Drives
    2 x 80GB Seagate (I)
    2 x 120GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 200GB Seagate (I/S)
    2 x 250GB Seagate (I/S)
    PSU
    800W
    Case
    Thermaltake Tai-Chi
    Cooling
    Tai-Chi Water Cooler
    Keyboard
    Genius
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    384kbps
    Other Info
    Currently dual booting between Vista x64 Ultimate Windows 7 BETA x64
I'm pretty sure you can't, unless you mess with it in the registry, but I dunno where that is...

~Lordbob
 

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    ASUS P5QC
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    Mobo
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    Samsung SyncMaster 206bw
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    not fast enough
Here is an advice with regards to getting fed up with thrashing noises/disk related slowdowns in Vista...

If you are using Vista Ultimate, use Vista's excellent disk imaging tool (Complete PC Backup) to upgrade from the CRAPPY 500 GB Seagate 7200.10 (I used to have this as my main HDD) to a 640 GB Western Digital Caviar Black Edition. Also, for those using Intel ICHR7 - ICHR10 chipset, make sure you are using the latest version of Intel's Matrix Storage Drivers and that you have enabled write caching in your Drive's Storage Policies (found in Device Manager). It will also help if you enable AHCI in the BIOS and setup Vista to use AHCI drivers if you are not using RAID.

The move from a Seagate to Western Digital was a big relief not only because the Western Digital is almost inaudible (I no longer hear the constant brrrp-brrrp sound of the Hard Drive when it starts seeking, reading, writing), but the disk IO is also faster. After I upgraded, I seldom notice the foreground tasks getting slowed down by disk activity... Note that I don't even notice disk activity that much anymore since the WD drive is almost silent.

Another tip is to right click on the hard drive icon (C drive) on Windows Explorer, select properties, and do a cleanup. Make sure you select the TEMP files for cleaning. If you haven't done this for a while you will notice tens of gigabytes residing in the TEMP files area... Those are the files Vista uses for Shadow Copies and which I suspect is one of the things which is causing all that hard drive activity after all the indexing and Super Fetch caching has been completed.

Note that once you delete those TEMP files, you are also probably deleting older Restore Points. I don't think I ever restored to a much earlier date anyways so that stuff for me is unnecessary.
 

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