System seriously lagging

[shaner66]

Ok, this problem just started today while I was doing some reg hacks to speed up the system. I don't think that caused it though, because I returned the registry to the way it was before the issue started, and that didn't help.

My problem is if I leave the computer for a little while, or restart, when I go to use it again, it hangs indefinitely. I can try and open up IE, OE, MS Word, doesn't matter, nothing will open up, not programs anyway. I can't even bring up Task Manager.

What I can do is browse using Windows Explorer, that opens up just fine, and I have full control over my mouse.

Sometimes it hangs for 5 minutes, other times for 30 seconds, other times for 20 minutes. Sometimes I can restart and that will temp. fix it, other times even if I restart, once it comes back up it's the same thing.

It's intermittent, absolutely nothing specific about this problem except once I'm doing stuff on it, it works perfect until I leave it for a while or restart.

System restore is disabled, so it's not an option.

 

[bcastner]

Before doing the registry hacks having system restore enabled and a restore point set would have been the first thing to do. The second would be to make a complete backup of your registry.

As you have rebooted several times there is no longer a clean registry copy to restore from.

If I were you I would do a maintenance re-installation of Windows, and then spend about an hour at the Windows Update site starting with re-installing Service Pack 1.

http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp&NoWebContent=1

 

[jtarin]

You might possibly check your power settings by going onto "Control Panel", "Display","Screensaver", then at the bottom in the "Monitor Power" box click on "Power". Check your settings in the "Settings for always on power scheme" section. Take note of the tabs available at the top of this dialogue.

 

[1zman]

Had a problem very much like this one. Even re-formated, I was so slow and unable to fix with software. Got to the point that I just lived with it. Processor usage was 40 - 55 with nothing on. Very frustrating.

My CD Rom started acting up one day and I swapped it out. End of problem. I have seen this on 2 other computers. One was the floppy, and the other was a backup hardrive. When I encounter this type of "out of the blue" change, I start pulling cards.

Good Luck
Let us know what happens
Zman

 

[linney]

Out of interest how did you restore your Registry? Was it the full Registry you restored or just a couple of keys that you had changed?

If you used the Export/Import method to restore you may end up with a lot of duplicate keys and values which could be the cause of this problem.

If we are talking about one or two keys you might be able to retrace your steps and make sure the original keys and values have been returned correctly.

If you Exported then Imported the whole Registry that might be an impossible mess to sort out.


There is a slim chance that a Registry Cleaner may help you out.

Reinstalling Windows as a repair may only copy damaged parts of the Registry through to the repaired system. I hope I'm wrong (quite often I am), but it may take a reformat and install to fix this problem.

At least you have some access (all be it slow) so you can save a lot of your data etc.

 

[kmcferrin]

Try to find out what's eating up CPU cycles. Do the CTRL-ALT-DEL and pull up task manager. Switch from the Programs tab to Processes tab, and click the CPU Utilization column to sort by that column. You should be able to determine fairly easily what is monopolizing CPU cycles. That may not help you solve your problem, and you may end up rebuilding your install as bcastner indicated, but it's worth a shot.

 

[shaner66]

Well I found out how to kick the system in the arse so it starts moving. I have to open about 20-25 programs. They can all be IE windows, or they can all be text documents, or I can open 30 task manager windows, it doesn't matter. But I keep opening stuff (although it doesn't open right away) and eventually everything just starts popping open.

And I cannot check the CPU usage because I am unable to bring up task manager. But I can tell that the computer is not even working, it doesn't even attempt to bring up anything I tell it to.

And inney, Yeah I just retraced my steps. I enabled all the services I disabled, reinstalled all the Windows components that I had uninstalled, the system is back to how it was 2 days ago when I formatted and reinstalled. It only does that when I leave the computer for a while, or restart, it's weird.

Oh well, I might have to format again. I went 2 years with zero problems, but I have formatted 3 times in 2 weeks. Win XP is starting to annoy me.

 

[bcastner]

I think linney is absolutely correct that a repair reinstallation of Windows XP does not gaurantee a solution to a damaged registry.

One of the great "myths" of registry backup in XP is that using regedit to perform this function is sufficient. As linney notes, the result at best is essentially a merge operation and can often result in a complete mess of things.

Someone here recently reminded of these freeware tools, and I recommend them highly:

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/

There are also two FAQs in this Forum for doing a better job than regedit by copying the registry hives by hand.

Finally, bookmark the linney find of Charlie Whites howto guide to restoring the registry:

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

 

[jtarin]

I'll go along with bcastner on this one as it pertains to ERUNT...always did miss my registry backups pre-2K days. It is an excellent tool. I keep my backups on a different drive and rotate them per 98SE scanreg.