Computer Running Slow

[koberulz]

I installed those two programs, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with them. There are lots of numbers, none of which mean much to me.

SpeedFan has a couple of icons on it that look like fire, which doesn't seem good.

Worth noting, I'm in Australia and as such we're heading to winter at the moment. This machine's dealt with 40-degree days in the fairly recent past, so for it to be overheating on a 22-degree day (and it would've done so early in the morning, so it wasn't likely to be even that hot) something must surely have changed? I've had it, more or less, since early 2009, and this is the first overheat shutdown I know of.

 

[MilesAhead]

When you do video conversion that's one of the things that tends to put a high load on a CPU or GPU if it is using the graphics card to do the processing. See the documentation for CORE TEMP and SpeedFan. I can't duplicate it here.

If you have never opened up the computer case then either have an experienced person check it out for you or read what precautions to take online. Searching with terms like "open pc safely" will provide multiple hits with step by step instructions. Also technicians are there for a reason. If you are not comfortable tinkering around inside the machine it may be a good idea to take it in to have it checked out. You don't want to wait until after your CPU is toast to do it.

 

[wither 3]

It might sound like a no brainer but the obvious thing to me is to look to see if the fan for the cpu is working at all.

In addition, I don't know if koberulz ever tried my recommendation regarding dumping unnecessary Services and Startup items. There could be things running that are compounding the overheating problem.

Irrelvant to this problem, I'm surprised he can use all of a 2 TB drive. When I installed mine, I could allocate all of it except for 374 MB. I have a very long thread on that problem but I've resigned myself to leaving it alone.

 

[koberulz]

It might sound like a no brainer but the obvious thing to me is to look to see if the fan for the cpu is working at all.

It appears to be. The two fans on the case are working, too. There is a red flashing light on the motherboard that I don't recall having seen previously.

In addition, I don't know if koberulz ever tried my recommendation regarding dumping unnecessary Services and Startup items. There could be things running that are compounding the overheating problem.

I haven't at this stage. I had an encode running, so I couldn't reboot, and it didn't finish before the overheat. After which, I didn't really want to be stressing the system too much in an effort to judge speed changes before/after disabling things. Apparently the CPU beeping was about low fan speed or something, which makes it seem like a hardware problem, and I don't want to melt anything trying to eliminate other possibilities at this point.

I have had a look through, and disabled things I recognise I don't need (but haven't rebooted yet). The rest is either stuff I do need (Skype, Steam, AVG), stuff I presume I need (Microsoft Windows Operating System, NVIDIA Display Driver Service, Adobe Switchboard, Mozilla Maintenance Service, Logitech SetPoint), or don't recognise at all and have no idea what disabling it will break (Nalpeiron Licensing Service, Internet Pass-Through Service, Nvtmru).

Of course, the latter category is where any malware or the like is going to show up, so that's not necessarily a helpful way of doing things.

Irrelvant to this problem, I'm surprised he can use all of a 2 TB drive. When I installed mine, I could allocate all of it except for 374 MB. I have a very long thread on that problem but I've resigned myself to leaving it alone.

Windows lists it at 1.81TB, not actually 2TB, if that's what you're talking about.

 

[MilesAhead]

It appears to be. The two fans on the case are working, too. There is a red flashing light on the motherboard that I don't recall having seen previously.

My instinct would be to zero in on that.

 

[koberulz]

I have absolutely no idea what it is, though. It's not labeled, and doesn't appear on the diagram of the motherboard.

 

[wither 3]

I understood that you couldn't try my recommendation because of the encoding you were doing but it had been a couple of days since you were doing that and commented. I purposely didn't delete the last e-mail notification for that reason.

When you boot your system, the very first thing that happens is that the cpu is set to 0 volts and then a check of RAM and PCI Express is performed. If everything is correct, you'll hear 1 beep before the system is returned to the BIOS for the POST. The sound you're hearing is very abnormal. I think that goes, in turn, with the red light. However, I don't know which motherboard you have so it's hard to say if that's abnormal. You should check your motherboard manual in that regard.

I don't know how to correctly say this but disabling some things, especially startup items, doesn't make the programs disfunctional. Things like the Mozilla maintenance, logitech setpoint, Nalpeiron Licensing Service, etc. are totally unnecessary to be running in the background and can be run manually. Most of those don't consume many resources but why run them at startup? There's probably many more to disable.

However, it's pretty clear that you have a bigger problem with the CPU overheating and that shouldn't happen under normal circumstances. So, either it's going bad or there's a cooling problem.

Yes, your indication that it's only 1.81 TB is what I was referring to. I hadn't intended to buy a 2 TB drive but I was 60 miles from home and at the only place locally where I could buy a new hard drive (other than the internet). They were out of the 1 TB drives. It was very painful to get to the point where it is right now because I don't think those large drives were around when Vista was issued.

 

[koberulz]

It's an intel DX58SO. According to the manual, the light "indicates an elevated temperature on the processor that could affect performance." The beeping indicates "Processor overheat (on reboot)".

The Nalpeiron and Mozilla things I mentioned were under Services, not Startup, which you also recommended disabling. My complete Startup list at the moment:
Windows Defender
HD Audio Control Panel
Realtek Voice Manager
Logitech SetPoint
Canon MyPrinter
Microsoft XBox 360 Accessories
Nvtmru
Adobe Updater Startup Utility
NVIDIA GeForce Experience
Spybot
f.lux
instanteyedropper
AnyDVD
Steam Client Bootstrapper
AVG-Secure-Search-Update_1213b
Microsoft Windows Operating System
Skype
Canon IJ Network Scan Utility
Virtual CloneDrive
AMD Dual-Core Optimizer
SBSV 2010/02/19-11:02:07
AVG Internet Security
Messenger Plus! for Skype
Adobe CS6 Service Manager
1Password
Dropbox
Logitech SetPoint

Now sure, most of those can be disabled for testing purposes, but even if my computer is faster without them running I'd want to have them running anyway. Between that and all the overheating indicators, and the fact that I'd have to run an encode to test relative speed, which could overheat the computer again if that isn't the issue, wouldn't it be better to look elsewhere for now?

 

[wither 3]

I think everybody here has given you good advice in regards to normal causes of a slow computer. You can also reinstall Vista to get some significant improvements in speed but, that can be a real hassle, especially if you have as much software installed as I do.

The idea behind disabling everything except the Microsoft services is to see if the system does speed up. If it does, then you can go back and enable things in small batches until you find the culprit.

Open Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Reliability and Performance Monitor. Is your CPU using much resources at idle? What about Memory?

 

[koberulz]

The light indicating elevated processor temperature is still flashing, even though I'm doing nothing. Is it a good idea to be stressing the system in order to check speed? I'd have to run an encode to get an idea of any possible difference, and my concern is a hardware problem could just get worse doing that.

I've attached a screenshot of the Reliability and Performance Monitor.

 

[wither 3]

The attachment didn't work. On my system, the CPU usage is around 12-14% due to Internet Explorer. You can click on the down arrow at the right end of the CPU button to see what's using resources.

 

[koberulz]

Which column should I be looking at? Under Average CPU, Firefox comes in at around 7, then nothing else higher than about 1.8.

 

[MilesAhead]

I would stop doing anything until you have someone check it out. Is it covered by warranty or any service plan? You don't want to fry your CPU while experimenting. If it is coming up hot without even putting a load on it I say Danger Will Robinson!!

 

[wither 3]

The CPU usage is shown at 7% in your screenshot and the CPU graph looks fine. All the other indicators look normal.

I have to agree with MilesAhead. Since you've apparently checked to make sure the cooling fans are clean and working, I'm wondering if the problem is that the thermal paste needs to be replaced on the CPU. You shouldn't be getting those lights and sounds when you boot and I don't know how to clear them. Do you know if the BIOS is the latest?

 

[koberulz]

I would stop doing anything until you have someone check it out. Is it covered by warranty or any service plan?

I bought it in January 2009, so I doubt it.

Do you know if the BIOS is the latest?

I have absolutely no idea, nor do I know how to check.

 

[townsbg]

What where you doing when you took that screenshot? Where you encoding or doing nothing? What is speedfan saying that the core temp is at when the cpu is under full load? One thing to try would be to get a can of compressed air and blowing the dust off of the fans especially the fan on the heat sink. Without knowing anything about your computer we can't help you with beep codes or light indicators. That should however be covered by your manual if not perhaps there is a more comprehensive guide online.

 

[koberulz]

I was doing nothing. Had Firefox and a few of the programs mentioned here running in the background, plus whatever other things start when my computer does. I don't know which of the temperatures given by SpeedFan is the one you're after, not that I really want to be stressing the CPU too much given that it's overheating as-is.

 

[wither 3]

Go here-

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/search?keyword=Intel®+Desktop+Board+DX58SO

There have been two BIOS updates since you bought your system. They may help with this problem.

 

[koberulz]

Have you got the wrong date in mind, or am I looking at the wrong thing? I see a lot more than two "BIOS Update" entries post-2009.

I assume it's as simple as downloading the newest one and doing whatever needs to be done to install it? Rather than downloading all the new ones. Is there a way to check which one I've got?

 

[wither 3]

I never thought to look down the page (I only opened a partial Window of the site in IE). I assumed they were in chronological order. Yes, I would assume that installing the latest is sufficient. When your system goes through the POST, you should see the BIOS name and type. I assume the POST screen is available.