[Eunomiac]

Hi all! First time poster here...

I recently bought an HP Pavillion Elite m9280f PC. It's running Vista x64 on a quad-core 2.5 GHz Intel, with 4GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT. Full specs are available here.

Every once in a while, my computer randomly slows down for a few seconds -- the best way I can describe it is, Vista "burps." If I'm watching a movie, the video hangs, then fast-forwards really sharply to catch up to the audio, which proceeded as normal. If I'm typing (wireless USB keyboard), Vista drops a few letters before returning to normal ("... Vsta dps fw lters before returning to normal"). If I'm moving my wireless USB mouse, the cursor jerks across the screen.

Some random info: Sometimes I have torrents running, other times I don't. I know I RAID'ed my hard drives (0 or 1 or.. whichever one stripes them for increase performance at half capacity). I have Norton Protection Center ("NPC") running, too. I tend to leave my computer on all the time. I have turned off Indexing, but not Superfetch. I ran Driver Genius Pro and updated all of my drivers (perhaps it did something wrong, and installed a faulty driver?).

I've tried having ProcMon (a process monitor) running, and watching it when there's a slowdown. I've noticed NPC running when it happens, and also the HP "My Display" service. Both of these are doing things when there are no slow downs, though, and there are so many things going on in ProcMon that I'm finding it difficult to narrow down the culprit.

I don't expect anyone to be able to diagnose my problem just from this meager description, but any advice on how I can track down whatever process or device is causing these slow-downs would be much appreciated! Is there a more effective process monitor out there that might be more helpful, perhaps one that directly detects when a process hogs CPU cycles?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[TechOutsider]

.................

run

msconfig

tell me all the things checked under services and startup

[Eunomiac]

Thanks for your reply! So I've gone through msconfig and transcribed everything that was running in Services, and everything listed in Startup (except EA Download Manager, which I was just forced to install five minutes ago to download Spore Creature Creator, and I'm a little embarrassed about it ):

Services
(anything without a manufacturer is "Microsoft Corporation")

Application Experience
Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
Windows Audio
Automatic LiveUpdate Scheduler (Symantec Corporation)
Base Filtering Engine
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Computer Browser
Symantec Event Manager (Symantec Corporation)
Symantec Settings Manager (Symantec Corporation)
Symantec Lic NetConnect Service (Symantec Corporation)
Cryptographic Services
DHCP Client
DNS Client
Diagnostic Policy Service
Portrait Displays Display Tune Service ("Unknown") (it's for my HP w2408h rotating monitor)
Extensible Authentication Protocol
ReadyBoost
Windows Event Log
COM+ Event System
Function Discovery Provider Host
Function Discovery Resource Publication
Group Policy Client
Human Interface Device Access
HP Health Check Service (Hewlett-Packard)
HP Chasis Button Service ("Unknown") (I'm smarter than Vista: it's HP)
Intel(R) Matrix Storage Event Monitor (Intel Corporation)
IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
IP Helper
CNG Key Isolation
KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Server
Workstation
LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service (Hewlett-Packard Company)
LiveUpdate Notice (Symantec Corporation)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Multimedia Class Scheduler
Windows Firewall
Windows Installer
Network Connections
Network List Service
Network Location Awareness
Network Store Interface Service
NVIDIA Display Driver Service
Program Compatibility Assistant Service
IPsec Policy Agent
Remote Access Connection Manager
Security Accounts Manager
Task Scheduler
Secondary Logon
System Event Notification Service
Shell Hardware Detection
Print Spooler
SSDP Discovery
Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider
Symantec Core LC ("Unknown")
Superfetch
Telephony
Terminal Services
Themes
Distributed Link Tracking Client
UPnP Device Host
Desktop Window Manager Session Manager
Windows Time
Windows Connect Now - Config Registrar
Diagnostic System Host
WebClient
Windows Error Reporting Service
Windows Defender
WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service
Windows Management Instrumentation
WLAN AutoConfig
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
Portable Device Enumerator Service
Security Center
Windows Update
Windows Driver Foundaton - User-mode Driver Framework
XAudioService (Conexant Systems, Inc.)

Startup
(after the manufacturer, I put some info from the Command line to help you figure out what things are, but not the full path)

Windows Defender (Microsoft Corporation) - MSASCui.exe -hide
RAID Event Monitor (Intel Corporation) - iaanotif.exe
SplitView (Unknown) - SplitScr.exe -auto
NVIDIA Compatible Windows Vista Display driver, Version 175.16 (NVIDIA Corporation) - NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
NVIDIA Media Center Library (NVIDIA Corporation) - NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
Logitech SetPoint (Logitech, Inc.) - KHALMNPR.EXE
HPRun (Hewlett-Packard Company) - Hewlett-Packard\SDP\hprun.exe
Microsoft Windows Operating System - ehome\ehTray.exe
SplitScreen (Unknown) - SplitScr.exe -auto (same as SplitView, above)
Microsoft Windows Operating System - Speech\Common\sapisvr.exe -SpeechUX -Startup
hpsysdrv Application (Hewlett-Packard Company) - hpsysdrv.exe
KBD (Unknown) - HP\KBD\KbdStub.EXE
OsdMaestro (OsdMaestro) - Hewlett-Packard\On-Screen OSD Indicator\OSD64.exe
Adobe Acrobat (Adobe Systems Incorporated) - Reader_sl.exe
PivotSoftware (Unknown) - Portrait Displays\wpctrl.exe
DT HPW (Unknown) - Common Files\Portrait Displays\Shared\DT_startup.exe -HPW
SplitView (Unknown) - SplitScr.exe -auto (again like SplitView, above)
uTorrent (Unknown) - uTorrent.exe
(... and EA Download Manager. )

Let me know if any other information might help; I could try grabbing the output from ProcMon at around the time of a hang-up if you're better at skimming the information than I am.

Thanks for your help!

[TechOutsider]

HP Health Check Service (Hewlett-Packard)
HP Chasis Button Service ("Unknown") (I'm smarter than Vista: it's HP)
uTorrent (Unknown) - uTorrent.exe
OsdMaestro (OsdMaestro) - Hewlett-Packard\On-Screen OSD Indicator\OSD64.exe
HPRun (Hewlett-Packard Company) - Hewlett-Packard\SDP\hprun.exe
LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service (Hewlett-Packard Company)
Logitech SetPoint (Logitech, Inc.) - KHALMNPR.EXE
KBD (Unknown) - HP\KBD\KbdStub.EXE
OsdMaestro (OsdMaestro) - Hewlett-Packard\On-Screen OSD Indicator\OSD64.exe
PivotSoftware (Unknown) - Portrait Displays\wpctrl.exe
DT HPW (Unknown) - Common Files\Portrait Displays\Shared\DT_startup.exe -HPW

You can uncheck the above items. However, if you feel the item is needed for your productivity tasks, leave it checked. This may free up resources. Also, what are the specs of your computer and CPU usage?

[TechOutsider]

Check you this thread. Your not the only one .

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/141238.aspx

[Eunomiac]

Okay, I've unchecked the items you suggested and restarted; still too eary t... rofl, literally as I was typing this it stuttered, so I left it as it is because... heh, too funny.

This may free up resources.

Hrm. My system is near to top-of-the-line (... I like to tell myself); could it still be a question of system resources?

Also, what are the specs of your computer and CPU usage?

I don't know what you mean by 'usage'...? my computer's specs can be found here, but in brief: HP Pavillion Elite m9280f PC running Windows Vista x64 on a quad-core 2.5 GHz Intel, with 4GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT.

As for the thread you pointed me to... ugh. I was hoping this was an easy problem, not a damn crisis.

Will I ever be able to play Mass Effect?

Thanks again for your help!

[TechOutsider]

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-623...sageID=2199036

Got SP1 yet?