Good PC which worked perfectly now lags a lot on startup...

[Ste]

Ignoring suggestions is the absolute best way to never solve something.

It doesn't matter how stupid it seems. do it anyways, if you do not you will never know what could have been.

Its called process of elimination, you have to try everything.

You came to us asking for help, you SHOULD DO everything suggested out of that fact alone, especially since you can always change it back.

And I haven't used an anti virus in over 4 years and have only had 1 trojan in that time, which was easily removed with hijackthis.

 

[Prisonbreak94]

@ Septic. Thanks for looking up and trying to help. To answer your question, no, I did not use a different OS before I got the lag issues. As for the fluctuating CPU speed, I have checked the BIOS but found nothing like speedstep or so.

@Ste. As you insisted, I did what you said. I disabled Kaspersky, set page file to 1512MB, and disabled prefetch. Sorry to say this, but I was right, nothing changed. So, I guess its time to get my backups?

EDIT: Gonna reformat with Gparted pretty soon.

 

[KSoD]

I formatted with the Windows disk; that's what I always do. BTW a friend just told me to start-up with safe mode and see if it still loads very slow; I just did that, I booted with safe mode with minimal services; things loaded very fast...but could we make anything from that? Because I'm guessing minimal services doesn't load many programs, thus making the start-up process A LOT faster?

What do you guys say about this? I'm not really sure if another format is going to help. Perhaps a FULL, clean format, but I don't know...I'm really trying to avoid going through the process again if possible, as I did it a few days ago and got no results.

Safe Mode should ALWAYS be faster. Safe Mode loads MINIMAL driver. This doesnt include your gfx driver among many, many more. So this leads me to say, this is a DRIVER ISSUE. Maybe your chipset, maybe something else. But you have a driver installed that is NOT Windows 7 Compatible which is causing these issues. This is NOT a Microsoft problem. Contact your motherboard manufacturer and find out if/when they plan on finally getting Win7 compatible drivers.

Till then nothing you do will help. Another reinstall will not help. It could if you format properly with GParted, but i highly doubt it.

 

[Ste]

Prisonbreak94: since it changed nothing you can just change them back to previous settings.

 

[Prisonbreak94]

@Ste: Already changed them back to previous settings. Thanks anyways, for trying to help!

So this leads me to say, this is a DRIVER ISSUE. Maybe your chipset, maybe something else. But you have a driver installed that is NOT Windows 7 Compatible which is causing these issues.

Thanks for your reply Mak, but how can you say its a driver issue? I had Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate installed before, and I didn't have the lag issues. After my GPU began to overheat and I gave it to the shop, they gave it back 3 weeks later, just to tell me there was nothing wrong with it. I knew the temperatures were not normal so I bought a new fan. Ever since I reattached my GPU and placed this new, 2 times faster fan, I've had the lag issues. And yes, I updated my GPU to latest driver. Even though I don't see how it would be possible, I put my old fan back to see if the new fan had caused a problem. But either way, with both fans, and the latest GPU drivers, the lag continues.

So I fail to understand how suddenly, with the same OS; no viruses; an even better fan in place - the PC lags so much. And a format doesn't fix it. What do you think?

 

[Ste]

At this point there is not much you can do since you have already tested all your hardware, and done all other suggestions.

The only way to be absolutely sure is to test with other parts, but you don't want to do that.

 

[KSoD]

Thanks for your reply Mak, but how can you say its a driver issue? I had Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate installed before, and I didn't have the lag issues. After my GPU began to overheat and I gave it to the shop, they gave it back 3 weeks later, just to tell me there was nothing wrong with it. I knew the temperatures were not normal so I bought a new fan. Ever since I reattached my GPU and placed this new, 2 times faster fan, I've had the lag issues. And yes, I updated my GPU to latest driver. Even though I don't see how it would be possible, I put my old fan back to see if the new fan had caused a problem. But either way, with both fans, and the latest GPU drivers, the lag continues.

So I fail to understand how suddenly, with the same OS; no viruses; an even better fan in place - the PC lags so much. And a format doesn't fix it. What do you think?

I fail to understand where you get this information.

Do you have proper chipset drivers? Those are the drivers that help the OS communicate and function with your hardware PROPERLY. You never said a single thing about those.

How do you know there are no viruses? I see no HiJack Logs or any information from you in our Spyware area to confirm this. So that tells me you think that by running a scan with some program and it tells you your system is clean you believe it. Not so.

Taking it to a shop. What shop? How do we know we can trust what they said? Geek Squad says all sorts of stuff that isnt true. How do we know a single thing they said is right? Jsut cause they said it makes it so?

We have nothing to go on. You say it was "faster" a few months ago and now it is "slower". All that is to us is relative terms. How fast was it before? How are you measuring how fast it was to now? How can we compare it to have proper information?

See there is no way we can sit here and diagnose this issue. There is no grounds for us to work from and no goal in which to reach other than going from "slow" to "fast" by your terms. Which may not be the same as anyones elses terms for speed on the site. So how would you like us to assist you when nothing we have been provided with can help us accomplish what you want? You want us to make your PC faster or answer why it is slower when all we know is that you said it is so. That doesnt help anything or anyone.

What programs do you have running? you said you left 5 items on your startup? What are those 5? What other programs do you have installed? Are they ALL Win7 compatible? Are you running something from the XP era that has messed with the system and its stability?

We need real information. It would be like me telling you my car was faster 2 months ago but now it is slower. How do i fix it? There is no way to answer it without any information.

 

[Prisonbreak94]

Hey Mak,

Thanks for trying to help. I thought the information I had already given would be enough to get some suggestions from you guys, I didn't want to go into too much detail, but since you ask, I would be more than glad to do so.

Chipset drivers? What I'm working with here are the mobo drivers from windows update, the GPU driver from Nvidia.com, WHQL Certified, for Windows 7, and practically all the other drivers it showed me in Windows Update, I installed. I'm not quite sure about Windows Update, but is this not correct: Windows update recommends updates that are compatible with the current OS?

Well, I'm saying I don't think there is a virus because yes, I scanned it with software that I trust and software that is recommended in Osiris' virus removal guide, and on top of that, I reformatted the PC once already, so it leads me to think theres some other issue going on here, rather than a virus.

I think you misunderstood me about the shop thingy. I took my GPU to a shop about a month ago because it was overheating, it was the shop where I got this custom built PC from, and they sent the GPU to the Nvidia store here in Turkey. On top of that, I wrote how I refused to accept what the shop had told me, so I don't know why you're typing things that suggest as if I believed what they told me. I wrote that I didn't accept what they told me, and I bought a new fan because I believed the GPU temperatures I was getting was not normal. Nevertheless, I don't think that has much to do with my current issue. I just put that in as it was a little detail.

You ask me how am I measuring how fast it was before. I wrote the timings, did I not. I gave information regarding this, so I think you're being a bit unfair when you say you have nothing to work on. I stated it takes at least 5 minutes to be able to perform tasks on my PC; it takes about 40 seconds to pass the Welcome screen, for the first 15-20 seconds after, there are no icons on the desktop, after 20 seconds they show up, and for about 3-4 minutes after that, the computer is unusable. The loading circle shows up instead of the mouse pointer, for 3-4 minutes, and after that, I can start up programs.

I made a mistake previously; there are actually 12 things on startup, but nothing major.
Logitech GamePanel Software, Logitech SetPoint, Google Update, Internet Download Manager, Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Java Platform SE 6 U11, Logitech QuickCamRibbon, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager, PowerReg (Not sure what this is, manufacturer says: Leader Technologies / Logitech), WD Drive Manager, WD SmartWare.

Thats my startup list. I didn't use XP since almost 5-6 months, so I don't have anything left from that 'era'. All the programs I am using are Win7 compatible.

Regarding the speed, my PC didn't take longer than about 1 minute or so to startup. Now its 5. And I'll repeat what I wrote before, I don't see how it can suddenly be a driver issue, or a software issue, when I had the same drivers and software before I sent my GPU to get checked, on the same OS.

I hope I've been able to give you a bit more information to work with now,
Thanks for trying to help.

 

[KSoD]

Okay after reading just 1 sentence in i already see a issue. Stop trying to think that Windows Update is the best tool for your updates! It is FOR WINDOWS not for updates to your mother board drives, sound card drivers and so on. It will get you drivers to have it work. Nothing more. check the mother board manufacturer's site. Windows Update should NOT be counted on to give you updated drivers.

As for the virus, sorry but i dont think so. Just because you scanned with the software in there doesnt mean anything. Can you read a Combofix log? Can you read a malwarebytes log? can you read a hijack log? I can tell you even through all teh time i spent reading them i still cant do it without at least some help.

So you think we can diagnose why a Pc goes from loading up in under a minute to over 3 minutes? Is that it? Is that what you consider a viable measurement? What tool did you use to measure this? How do you know how long it took before compared to now? You gave us guidelines about what YOU think it took. I see nothing about real time stamps or measures.

So you dont think that loading 12 items can cause your PC to slow down? Really? Just becuase you dont "think" you use anything from teh XP era doesnt mean jack. Logitech Setpoint has been nothing but trouble for Win7 all through out the Beta process. Right there is extra time to load. I would bet that the Game Panel is taking up time. Google update is yet another. IDM and your whole list of items you have loading take time to load and can EASILY account for this time difference.

yet again you STILL DID NOT READ a single thing i posted about what chipset drivers are or if you have the most current ones. THOSE ARE CRITICAL TO A SYSTEM. THOSE HELP WINDOWS WORK WITH YOUR HARDWARE. Do you understand now? Without the proper chipset drivers you are not working efficently.

You still do not give anything real to work with other than what you think happens. Telling me that the system started in 20 seconds previously is not true. Cause your system is not that much better than mine and i know for a fact that even a brand new clean install of Win7 64 bit takes more than 20 seconds to load from cold boot. So when did you start this time frame? From the time you started your log on or from the time you hit the power button? Did you use a stop watch to ACCURATELY measure the time it took? Or was it a count in your head thing?

Until you remove ALL items from your startup, not jsut under the startup section but the Services one as well, then all we can say is it is something you have installed.

 

[Prisonbreak94]

Mak, I'm sorry but you're being quite ignorant. I'm trying to ask for help, I'm sorry if I'm not as much as a pro as you, but I would be very happy if you tried to explain things to me in a little more of a kind manner.

In my final post, I said I was not quite sure about windows update, so you don't need to caps lock and tell me don't rely on windows update in what appears to be an aggressive manner (sorry if you didn't mean it that way but on the internet, basically when someone uses CAPS towards me it is aggressive so sorry if you didn't mean to be).

Where did I say my system starts in 20 seconds? I said over a minute about a month ago, around 5 minutes, today. I timed with my iPhone's timer, so you can basically more or less get an idea of how fast my computer starts up. So I don't get why you don't accept my description of over 1 minute and 4-5 minutes. Does it HAVE to be exact? I think the point is, there is about 3-4 minutes of a difference from 1 month ago. I don't see why it has to be precise. It seems as if you want it presented in the form of undeniable evidence, as if you're preparing for a lawsuit or something. I don't see why you can't take my personal judgement on this. I don't know as much of computers as you or many people here but I have quite a bit of IT knowledge for a 15 year old, more than many people I see around at least. But if you really want, if there is some software that you can recommend, I'll use it to time the exact startup and get it timestamped?

Mak I've had a few computers, few different OS's. What I'm trying to say is that I believe the 12 programs on start-up aren't that much. If you didn't realise, only about 4 or 5 of those are software that start up. I've previously run computers with many more software on start-up, and I never experienced such lag. Long time to pass welcome screen, when desktop appears without icons, etc etc. and I can't open anything, for about 3 minutes. Which adds up to the 4-5 minutes I told you about.

I still didn't get this answer from you: If previously when I first installed Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate, and used it for about 2 months without any lag issues, and I had all my drivers coming from Windows Update, except for my GPU driver, and the same programs, then how come its lagging now - what could have changed?

Can you please explain this to me, in a kind manner?

And no, I did read what you wrote about chipset drivers. Thats why I wrote about it and wrote you a question before, linked to that. Now your saying I should go to Asus' website and look for chipset drivers, right? I found 2 drivers. Chipset Version 9.1.1.1019, is the latest, september 18, 2009. It is compatible with win7 64bit. Shall I download that?

And your saying I should remove everything from the startup list, and the services list, is this correct? Is there anything I should not disable. I am not all that familiar with every single item on the services that may need to be running etc, so I don't want to mess up. I'll take your recommendations as soon as I fully understand what you are asking me to do.

If you want, I can also post a hijackthis log onto the forums. Just let me know what you want, explain it, and answer the bolded question, and I'll do what you ask. And hopefully we can talk in a good manner towards each other and solve this problem.

EDIT: Here's the things I found on the Asus site for my mobo: All appear to be win7 64bit compatible, so can u help me figure out what I need, and what I don't?
-Chipset Version 9.1.1.1019
-SoundMax Audio Driver for win7 64bit (guessing this isn't needed?)
-Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Driver V11.10.5.3 for win7 64bit
-Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager Driver V8.9.0.1023 for 64bit Windows 7.(WHQL) Intel(R) AHCI/RAID Driver Disk for 64bit Windows 7
-Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager V8.9.0.1023 for Windows 7 and Windows 64bit 7.(WHQL)

PS: I'm sorry if I asked you to be kind for no reason, it just seemed like with the use of caps and the language you used, it looked like you were a bit annoyed. I just want to understand everything and get answers to questions before proceeding.

Thanks,