Sighns of a dying prosesser?

[Dak]

My PC is under spec, and running xp and firefox is a bit of a strain for it, but i maniged to tweak it so it runs ok and has been doing so for the past year.

 

Recently, however, it has been slowing right down: Espescially when i use firefox. Bear in mind that this PC doesnt have the recomended specs to run XP (which is what its running), and that firefox is a hefty program, but still, its never been this bad.

 

Opening up firefox takes for ever, as does going from one site to another. Even using the firefox scroll bar causes slowdown: if i open up task manager and then use firefox's scroll bar to look further down the page, i can see in taskmanager that firefox's CPU usage jumps up to 95%, as my system tries to follow my commands with the speed and enthusiasm of an arthritic tortoise on ketamine.

 

i checked for malware (none), and i checked my prosesser fan (glued on tightly and working), and the only thing that i can think of is that my processer is dying on me.

 

Whatcha recon, does it sound like that? is there anyway in which i can check the diagnosis?

[mezarashi]

If your processor is in fact "dying" on you, the effects would most undoubtedly be more severe. Losing signals would mean your computer crashes constantly, which is the same thing that happens if you RAM or motherboard is failing. Your system slow down is completely and most definitely because of your software configuration. It is requesting resources from the CPU, and somewhere there is a resource leakage causing your CPU to use clock cycles on unnecessary or redundant tasks. From what you mentioned, I would suggest:

 

1. Firefox is known to be buggy when it comes to resource usage. It is known to do that 95% CPU usage, tabbed browsing is known to leak RAM memory and many discussion boards are claim that it basically hangs your system at times.

 

2. OS degradation - a common but slow process as you use your computer and install/uninstall programs. Because everything you've ever installed leaves some kind of trash in your configs and registry, your computer will spend more time loading.

 

3. Program leaking memory - you may have installed a badly programmed piece of software that is leaking memory. Any kind of windows service that runs in the background especially. This means that you have less and less fast speed memory, and your computer is constantly relying on the relatively "slow" seek and retrieval times from the hard disk.

 

You can try tackling those problems individually, but a fresh format on your OS partition would be an easy solution too.

[Dak]

reformat is not in my vocabulary .

 

1. Firefox is known to be buggy when it comes to resource usage. It is known to do that 95% CPU usage, tabbed browsing is known to leak RAM memory and many discussion boards are claim that it basically hangs your system at times.

hmm... it never did it before. Maybe an update installed incorrectly? I might try uninstalling and reinstalling FF.

2. OS degradation - a common but slow process as you use your computer and install/uninstall programs. Because everything you've ever installed leaves some kind of trash in your configs and registry, your computer will spend more time loading.

I doubt it, seing as the problem came on all of a sudden. also, i run the mighty crap cleaner every month, and manually clean parts of my reg aswell.

3. Program leaking memory - you may have installed a badly programmed piece of software that is leaking memory. Any kind of windows service that runs in the background especially. This means that you have less and less fast speed memory, and your computer is constantly relying on the relatively "slow" seek and retrieval times from the hard disk.

no recent installs which coinside with the start of my problems... still, ill turn things on and off randomly in an attempt to pin the problem down.

 

cheers.

[Spyman]

I agree with mezarashi, most likely a software problem.

 

Does it slow down using all cind of programs or only with firefox ?

 

You could also try running different programs to find the cause.

[Dak]

Only with firefox: well, actually with many programs but only when firefox is also running. I assumed it was because firefox is the meatiest program that i run.

 

Another thing that i noticed is that, if i look at firefox.exe in the taskmanager, its memory usage keeps climbing higher and higher: is that a memory leak?

 

Its been getting much worse later by-the-way.

 

Iv uninstalled the gmail notifyer (which i couldnt get to work) and k-melion, which i installed around-about the time that the problems started, so that may help...

[Newtonian]

sounds more like your memory sticks are knackered...you need more memory...

there isnt any....

there are those that dwell in the mountain..

they answer to no-one...

they will answer to Dak the king of old commodor

[Newtonian]

Corsair formed from the shards of Crucial.....

I give Dak hope..

my old processor will not have forgotten whats it like to have this ....

[Spyman]

only when firefox is also running.

 

its memory usage keeps climbing higher and higher

Then it's NOT a hardware fault' date=' firefox is causing windows to swap memory on the harddrive.

is that a memory leak?

Yes, a program, (in this case firefox), is using memory, (borrowing from the system), without returning it to the system when it's done with the task, so next time it needs memory, (to do the task again), that part of the memory is already occupied so it borrows a new part.

As more and more parts of the memory is occupied but no longer used, (just marked occupied), the system starts to swap memory with the harddrive to free it up. Swapping takes a lot more time, (reading and writing to the harddrive), and eventually, (if let long enough), the harddrive will be full and the system will crash.

Recently, however, it has been slowing right down

Something has changed, problably as mezarashi suggested a "windows service that runs in the background", and which is used by firefox, or a flawed update/upgrade of firefox itself.

 

Now, I don't know anything about firefox and XP so I can't help You with those issues...

[5614]

Everyone's talking about poor hardware and background processes, whilst this is the most likely explanation as I'm sure you are aware (unless you are up north in the UK) it has got very hot here the last few days and hot computers run slower... I guess time will tell with that one though.

 

Check all the fans are working and the heatsinks are not too covered in dust (dust can make a suprising difference).

[Dak]

Yes' date=' a program, (in this case firefox), is using memory, (borrowing from the system), without returning it to the system when it's done with the task, so next time it needs memory, (to do the task again), that part of the memory is already occupied so it borrows a new part.

As more and more parts of the memory is occupied but no longer used, (just marked occupied), the system starts to swap memory with the harddrive to free it up. Swapping takes a lot more time, (reading and writing to the harddrive), and eventually, (if let long enough), the harddrive will be full and the system will crash.[/quote']oooooh, i always wondered what a memory leak is.

 

Well, ill try rolling back some extention-updates/uninstalling-reenstalling FF, and see how that works.

Everyone's talking about poor hardware and background processes' date=' whilst this is the most likely explanation as I'm sure you are aware (unless you are up north in the UK) it has got very hot here the last few days and hot computers run slower... I guess time will tell with that one though.

 

Check all the fans are working and the heatsinks are not too covered in dust (dust can make a suprising difference).[/quote']my fan is pretty crappy: i had to remove the side pannel of my pc to keep it cool enough.

 

We'v got a thunder storm on its way, and im an insomniac so im awake at night (when its cool) alot, so ill see how it works when its not quite so hot.

 

cheers for everyones help

[mossoi]

It's a known fact that firefox does this and that it may be due to the OS or the app itself.

 

This type of slowness is NOT and NEVER WILL BE a manifestation of faulty hardware or anything to do with a rise in room temperature. If a CPU actually starts to overheat you get more obvious and severe problems (freezing, display artefacting, crashing etc.) NOT higher HDD activity and +90% CPU usage.

 

Sorry for the rant but I've seen so many threads in this forum that include answers like "it might be hardware that's faulty or incompatible" which is way off the mark in almost every case. To blame hardware is generally the sort of cop-out that a field technician will use because it's the easiest answer.

 

Please guys, if you're going to advise people either do some homework first and then answer or qualify your statement saying you're only guessing. I've been supporting computer hardware and software for 15 years now and I promise you that most of the problems that crop up here are obvious to diagnose and easy to fix.