Windows Vista Computer just stops working?

OK... I'm waving the white flag. I give up. Vista wins.

Two years and things just (slowly) keep getting worse.

It is now to the point where I have to reboot several times a day to use it. I'll be happily surfing the 'Net, minding my own business. Usually (but not always) if I go away from the computer for a while (errands, snack run, long downloads, work, etc.) when I get back and try to surf it won't. The only exception: Windows Mail 99% of the time still functions. It doesn't seem to matter what I was doing (at one time I thought it was a downloading issue but now I'm not so sure). Very occassionally it will slow down and then stop while I'm using the computer.

The longer the computer is on, the longer the lag time between trying to run a cleaner program (ATF Cleaner & CCleaner) and getting the UAC pop-up window.

Vista Home Premium, SP1, 32-Bit OS
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+, 2.6 GHz
2 GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430

This computer is wired into a Belkin Wireless Router, which plugs into a Westell dsl modem.

Any thoughts / ideas / reasons why ?

 

I don’t know why it’s not ‘surfing’ but here are a couple of ways to determine what could be slowing it down:

1. To check if a particular program is slowing the machine, go to Control Panel > Classic View > Performance Information and Tools > Advanced Tools (in the left pane). On this screen the problem is sometimes shown. If not, click View Performance Details in Event Log (Event Viewer). Events in the 100 series are boot events and those in the 200 series are shut down events, so look for other series of numbers. These can be followed up by double-clicking them, then clicking Event Log Online at the bottom.

2. Use Process Explorer to see what services are running, including those as a part of a svchost.exe process by hovering the mouse pointer over the words svchost.exe. Get it here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

 

"Programs are causing Windows to shut down slowly" (yeah, I forgot THAT was an issue, too!) and "Performance can be improved by changing visual settings" come up. Yesterday I did try to change the visual settings but very quickly reversed it back to the original settings so I could actually see and read things. It's telling me to do the same thing today.

As for the current "shut down" list:

180.1 seconds for RealPlayer (Sept. '08), Internet Explorer (Feb. 16) and Windows Media Player (Feb. 24)

When I click on "View Details in the event log" NOTHING HAPPENS.

When I click on the Help button, it comes up OK. Following "To check for performance issues" it tells me "New hardware detected" (my issues go back much farter than the recently added printer and web cam) but to make it happy I hit "Refresh Now ". It didn't change any of the scores.

Oh... found the events log (Windows is SO GOOD at explaining things, like you have to return to the Advance Tools page to get to the Events Log... ). There are PLENTY of Warnings and Errors. What do I do with all this?

 

In Event Viewer, double-click on an error (ignore the warnings) and the General Tab summarises the error. At the bottom, click ‘Event log online help’ for a fuller explanation.

Did you run Process Explorer to check out what the individual svchosts were running?

 

OK... I am not sure what I'm looking at. Suffice it to say that Event Viewer is listing 1,683 Events.

Different Programs... slow boot ups... and slow shutdowns....

I'll run Process Explorer and see what it says...

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All right... What am I suppossed to be looking at here??? There are multiple svchost.exe entries. Like 16 or so. The only thing that seemed wrong to me was one of them listed Windows Firewall, which is turned off. Several listed HP items (several HP printers in my "network ", plus this is an HP computer). Many listed multiple files.....

 

I’m trying to help you and I think you could use a little more decorum rather than using aggressive language!


If you look at my initial reply regarding Process Explorer, I mentioned hovering the mouse pointer over svchost.exe in the left pane to see what it/they are running. You may notice that one or more of them are running a service that is unnecessary.

 

Perhaps I should have added a ?

I am and frustrated (my computer experience stretches back almost 30 yers, to the Vic 20 and the original RS CoCo with the "Chicklets" keyboard!) but not aggressive. I asked for help because I am at my wits end with this problem.

Event Viewer didn't tell me anything I didn't already know: This computer starts slow and shuts down slow. It doesn't say why it's doing it. (More later)

Process Explorer didn't tell me anything, either. Nothing looks out of place to me, except for an entry for Windows Firewall... and it is turned off.

I run my cleaners and run scanners and try to keep everything as up to date as possible... yet this computer just keeps running just a little bit worse than it did the day before.

I did just go back and look at the Event Viewer (now up to 1,710 events!) and looked closer at the Event ID numbers. While most are 100 & 200 series events, I did notice the following:

Earliest entries are dated 11/7/08 - multiple 203 "delay in system shutdown process" warnings, followed 2 seconds later with a 100 boot-up Error

1st non 100 or 200 series entry is 7 days later: two Event ID 500 "Video Memory Degradation" Warnings 97 seconds apart, with an Event ID 501 "Video Memory Responsiveness" Warning at the same time as the 2nd 500 Event. Three days later, there is an Event ID 400 "Shell Information" ( "System Responsiveness" ... "unable to find any rootcauses ").

All of these, when I click on "Event Log Online Help" take me to the "Events and Errors Message Center" and I get the following:

Does ANY of this help? All I get is that 3 months ago something must have changed (but I don't know WHAT), it appears to be video-related (or causing video issues), and my frustration over this issue is causing me to accidentially tick-off people here.

 

UPDATE (for those of you keeping score at home and to help others later)

The Event Log apparently only keeps 3 months worth of info, as the oldest info that was listed earlier today is now gone

I kept mulling that over, then finally decided to check. It appears that I may have either missed an HP update or perhaps at some point I may have updated the video drivers but not from HP.

This is not to say I've fixed everything (or anything!) but three things have occurred since running the video update:

1 - I've seen a dramatic increase in the speed of page loading (caveat: it's only been a few minutes...)
2 - I checked the Event Viewer and less events are listed with the last shutdown / reboot sequence
3 - My desktop icons have moved all over!

I'll update again as I continue to use the computer later today.

I don't believe I've fixed the problem(s) but I may have made a marked improvement.

 

UPDATE # 2:

And then, it all fails agin...

Worked GREAT for a little more than 1 hour. Then..... it was like walking off a cliff that you didn't see. No warning, just suddenly couldn't get IE to access web pages.

And I looked. NOTHING in the Event Log, except slow shut down and slow start up.

So now what?

And that slow, steady "thud" sound is my forehead, hitting the wall. Repeatedly.

 

I’m trying to help you and I think you could use a little more decorum rather than using aggressive language!


Come on, a little thin skinned are we? I do not think the remarks were aggressive, a little frustrated perhaps, but not aggressive. At any rate I have been reading this and sympathizing a bit because the same has been happening to me with Vista the last few days. Been using it a year now and am becoming more and more disenchanted with it by the day. I'm almost to the point of a clean reinstall to see if that will help the problem a bit. Sorry no help to you! Just wanted to sympathize a little. Hope you get some answers.

 

Sorry you're Vista experience seems similar to mine, and thanks for the support!

But don't pick on BurrWalnut. Just like all the "Team Members" on this site, they put up with all of us who think "our" issue must be answered now (I am not one of those folks, I just hope to eventualy find the answer).

Directly and indirectly he's helped me before, he's trying to help now, and I'm sure that, at some point, he'll help me again with a different issue.

Besides, I have teenagers, so I'm used to not being understood.

I'm also used to typing something that doesn't quite come across the way I meant it to.

There is an answer for this problem, and so if what I'm going through helps others with their issues, great. That's how we all learn. So keep reading while this great online community trys to figure this problem out.

 

Hi Evan!

I've checked and at first look I don't see much that shouldn't be there. That's not to say there aren't things that I don't use...

I'll go through your other suggestions to see if anything seems to stick out.

Meanwhile, I've noticed three weird things:

1st - Every time I run iTunes, the "iTunes Software License Agreement" comes up. Every time. Followed by the "not default player" pop-up. Every time. It's been doing this for months.

2nd - Suddenly an Adobe pdf file opens up at boot-up (but NOT every time. ) The file is one that my wife was working on this morning (a fill-in IRS tax form). The 1st time I saw this file pop-up, it said it hadn't been closed properly and asked if I wanted to save it from the "restored" file that it found (or something like that...). When I saved it, the original file was also listed in the folder she was saving everything to, so I renamed the file and saved it. ...

After a few reboots, it came back again, but this time no warning about being a "recovered" file. It just showed up. I went to save the file, mostly to check a hunch, and my hunch was correct. The file I save earlier today DID NOT EXIST!

So I saved it (again) with a different file name. That 2nd saved file currently IS listed in the folder. I'll keep track of it...

3rd - Earlier today I decided I probably should try and do a virus scan using Kaspersky's "on-line" version (just in case it might find something that my installed anti-virus program might have missed). Unfortunately, I was unable to get it to load. It kept insisting that I had to install Java, even though I have the latest version installed. (It wouldn't download, of course... and I think it wanted to download a really old version of Java anyway...)

I report these in hopes that it triggers something in someones knowledge bank.

 

Morning! I hadn't tried anything else yet due to it being late and I needed some beauty sleep...

The only things in my system tray I'd consider are OpenOffice Quickstarter and HP Total Care Advisor. Other icons include avast!, ZoneAlarm, SpyBot, WinPatrol, my webcam, Ding, Windows Sidebar and HP Digital Imaging Monitor (for my printers...). I did just exit out the Sidebar to rule it in or out...

I'll take a look at "Answers..." shortly and report back.

 

Possible clue ?

Since last post, I did an outside errand (leaving computer on for about 45 minutes unattended), then wife worked on it for about 45 minutes, then I've been on for about an hour. Also trying to overload the system on purpose with multiple open windows, etc. while on-line. No issues until just a few minutes ago.

Downloading / Listening to very small audio files (biz. web site... not ripping .mp3 files or downloading movies... ) when suddenly everything stopped (stuck trying to download audio file).

Went to Task Manager ( "ctl-alt-del "... followed by a good 5 + second delay to the green vista selection screen, then over 10 seconds of a blank (black) screen, then finally Task manager screen) - Processes Tab and watched the ever-changing list (I already had it set to display based on CPU usage) and noticed the following:

agent.exe - approx. 8,000K Memory - Description "Install Shield Update Service Agent ". I was smart / fortunate / fast enough to be able to right-click on it in Task Manager (the list changes about once a second) and get the Properties info, and it's a Macrovision file / program, dated coded 2005.

While I was getting that info, I also got a ZoneAlarm pop-up for a Microsoft Feeds Synchronization. I don't know if these are related or coincidential, but I'm reporting it anyway as the times are very close.

Does this help anyone smarter than I am???

 

Do you know how to look in ZoneAlarm's configuration for what programs are allowed to access the internet? Macrovision will be a trusted site, but maybe ZoneAlarm has been set to block it's access (for Agent.exe). Here are some FAQs for InstallShield (not Macrovision):
http://consumer.installshield.com/faqs_us.asp
ZoneAlarm is very powerful. If are going to tell it to block a program, investigate what that program is. ZoneAlarm doesn't stop the program from running, the program (maybe an updater) can keep restarting to try and access it's server. If you don't have any malware on your system, you probably don't need to block any programs from contacting their server. If you have "helper "/updater programs running, decide if you if you need them or disable them from within the program. For example, I don't need printer software checking for updates every 15 minutes, if the printer is running fine, I will get it to update manually.

If you have Spybot and WinPatrol running in the background, check that Windows Defender is disabled. I think ZoneAlarm automatically disables Windows Firewall, but check that Windows Firewall is disabled.

All those services starting/stopping might be getting blocked by your security programs. Actually, I would decide between Sypbot and WinPatrol, disable one from running in the background and schedule it to run a full scan every day or so.

Is Avast just an Antivirus or does it have other features?

There is also UAC which wants to monitor everything. Do you have it enabled or disabled?

Check those security programs are Vista versions.

You might be killing the system with security.

Matt

 

Hi Matt!

I've been acussed of worse!

Unless you tell me otherwise, I'll leave SpyBot running and get rid of WinPatrol.

As far as I can tell both Windows Defender and Firewall are off. I'll double check again... I need to reboot (again) anyway. After being left on for a few hours (hey, I do have to work sometime during the day!) web pages weren't loading, so I clicked "restart ". After waiting 3+ minutes with nothing happening, I turned off the computer. Something didn't reset properly on the subsequent reboot, so we'll try a restart again after I post this.

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update - WinPatrol lists Windows Defender in it's Startup Programs tab. I know I turned Defender off...........?

avast! is just the anti-virus program.

I have very little being blocked by ZoneAlarm, but a number of programs that are set to "ask ", and most of them I tell "no ".

 

Deck, you don't mention UAC (Vista's User Account Control). If you disabled it, I recommend re-enabling it, you should only find it bothersome occasionally, but then again, when it asks me, it makes me think twice about what I am about to do. It is overly motherly, but I view it as a good security tool. Your security tools may be set to work with UAC on, not off.

Go to Start and type in msconfig, go to the Startup tab, that should give you a good idea of what is loading at startup (running in the background, maybe the same as Win Patrol information, but does not include Windows programs like Windows Defender). Investigate any programs listed under the Startup tab you are not sure of in a websearch.

You can find out information about Windows Defender by going to Control Panel -> Security (Center) and click on Windows Defender in the left-hand panel.

Matt
PS...As I said, you should not need to have any programs blocked by ZoneAlarm, why do you need to do so?

 

UAC is on and working. I know others find it annoying (or worse ) but like you I don't mind it.

I haven't looked in msconfig in quite a while and I guess it's time.

Given some of my current issues, I am turning off the following that are listed:

Windows Defender (I know I've turned this off, yet it's listed here, too! )
InstallShield Update Service (it's listed twice, one is the scheduler, the other is the update manager)
Adobe Acrobat
QuickTime and iTunes and RealPlayer (although I suspect they will just re-appear again... they always seem to as they've been turned off before)

I'll re-boot and see how this goes for a while today...