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    Periodic CPU/HDD/??? spikes

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by UltiCOW, Apr 21, 2009.

  1. UltiCOW

    UltiCOW Notebook Geek

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    Hey guys!

    Im running Vista 32 on an LG P300 (see sig).

    I use my system a lot and believe to maintain it well (all updates, antivir/spyware, defragging, cleaning, backing up, etc etc etc).

    However, ever 10-30 mins everything locks up for about 5-15 seconds. I cant move the mouse or do anything. After the lockup, it returns back to normal as if nothing had happened.

    I also notice my HDD activity LED lightup through the duration of the lockup, and it turns off again after the system delocks itself.

    Does anyone have a clue what this could be and how I could stop it?

    Thanks in advance,
    COW
     
    UltiCOW, Apr 21, 2009
    #1
  2. catacylsm

    catacylsm Notebook Prophet

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    I had this problem when my system was overheating, had to clean the heat sinc, although my old system was a sony vaio not an LG, get HWMonitor and check your temparatures, if not try get HDTune to test your drive, (I think it does free error check im not sure) or use scandsk.

    Hope this helps
    Cata
     
    catacylsm, Apr 21, 2009
    #2
  3. Reaper05

    Reaper05 Notebook Evangelist

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    it is probally indexing.
    useless imo.
    how to stop it go in Computer select you harddrive (click once) then right-click go to properties and near the bottom there should be a cechbox that allows indexing uncheck it. do for all hard drives and partitions. restart.
    hope this helps.
     
    Reaper05, Apr 21, 2009
    #3
  4. UltiCOW

    UltiCOW Notebook Geek

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    I had indexing turned off from day 1, and i monitor my temperatures at all times. Temps were all normal.

    Ill run HD tune now and see what it says...

    Thanks guys :)

    -COW
     
    UltiCOW, Apr 21, 2009
    #4
  5. UltiCOW

    UltiCOW Notebook Geek

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    Just did a quick scan with HDtune...all is green. Also used diskinfo to read all the SMART data...all of that is green too.

    Im confused to what this could be...

    THanks,
    COW
     
    UltiCOW, Apr 21, 2009
    #5
  6. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    disk sync? How do you have your disk performance setup?
     
    newsposter, Apr 21, 2009
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  7. UltiCOW

    UltiCOW Notebook Geek

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    Im not sure what you mean by disk sync - could you please elaborate?
    If by performance you mean the cache settings, i have the set to "optimise for performance". I cannot check any of the suboptions there because I have the intel turbo boost thingy...

    Thanks :)
     
    UltiCOW, Apr 21, 2009
    #7
  8. ScuderiaConchiglia

    ScuderiaConchiglia NBR Vaio Team Curmudgeon

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    Man, what is this? I feel like Yogi Berra, it's deja vu all over again. I just sent the following reply in another thread:

    To the OP, there is a very easy way to find out what is causing the spikes. Get the previously mentioned Process Explorer from the Sysinternals website. It will pinpoint EXACTLY what is spiking the CPU, without all the wild speculation from the "experts" who just know it is indexing or other such nonsense.

    Gary
     
    ScuderiaConchiglia, Apr 22, 2009
    #8
  9. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Can you open task manger, then go the performance monitor tab. Go to the hdd section, wait for the "lock up" and check which process is using all the resources.

    Then respond back with the process name.
     
    jackluo923, Apr 22, 2009
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  10. UltiCOW

    UltiCOW Notebook Geek

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    Thanks guys for your ideas!
    Ive been using proexp.exe for a while now, so far nothing out of the ordinary has hit me there. (apart from how how much more CPU the sidebar takes than i would have expected, but that seems to be common :))

    Ill try to "catch" a lockup with the monitoring tab open. I guess it would be hard to see anything because during the lockup nothing moves...I just hope that I might find something fishy in read/write per min column :)

    Ill keep you all posted as soon as I find a clue!

    Thanks once again :)

    -Cow
     
    UltiCOW, Apr 22, 2009
    #10
  11. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    You can order the list from "most accessed" to "least accessed" so you can catch the process that's using the hdd the most at the moment it freezes.
     
    jackluo923, Apr 22, 2009
    #11