31 replies to this topic

[stevie d]

My computer hasn't been running smooth for a while. I previously posted on this site a few months back due to my computer running slow and taking a long time to load when changing web pages. The problem never got resolved because my graphics card went out during the process and it took a while to get a new one. During my talks with a tech member he suggested that it might be an add-on extension that was causing the problems. I tried to disable them a couple at a time but never got it figured out. My computer was still somewhat working ok with the exception of the loading problems some of the time. Today I started to have a new problem that is driving me crazy. I was attempting to disable some of the extensions as suggested by the tech team member when all of a sudden my computer is constantly freezing up every few seconds. The freeze only lasts a couple of seconds but is really bothersome. As I am writing this it is constantly freezing where the cursor goes away and the letters dont show up while I am typing. Once a few seconds go by the cursor comes back and the letters appear. This is a brand new problem that I have never had. After disabling the move media player I had to restart firefox for it to take effect. When my computer starts to really slow down due to the long waits during web page loading, turning my computer off and then back on usually makes it better for a while. I did this after disabling the extension to see if it was the one possibly causing the problem. When I powered my computer back on it behaved different than usual. At the very beginning of powering on it showed what I think is called the DOS page. This was on the screen for a few seconds and then it went to the normal windows xp screen with the status bar on the bottom. This screen usually is up for only a few seconds but this time it was up for quite some time, a lot longer than normal. Once I got online I had this brand new problem. I ran Malwarebytes' anti-malware scan and it said I had no infections. I am sorry for writing so much info and I hope it wasn't too confusing. This new problem is really annoying and I want to fix it ASAP. If there is anything that can be done I would really appreciate some help. Thanks, Steve

[Ztruker]

Hi Steve. I read through your malware thread and I see you updated to IE8.

What are the specs for your computer?

Make/Model
How much memory
Hard drive size (total and free)

Please Run the PCPitstop Full Tests, here: PCPitstop Full Tests

You must use Internet Explorer as it needs to install an ActiveX program.

Note: Vista users with UAC must first Right-click IE - Select "Run as Administrator"

If you haven't already registered, Click - Sign up now! (left hand column in User Login)

Register and create a password
Accept the ActiveX component to allow your machine to run the Full Tests
Registering and accepting the ActiveX are both SAFE and FREE.

The Full Tests take less than 5 minutes for most machines.

Once you have your Results, please post the URL (the http:// stuff) back here into this thread for review.

Note: Vista users, please close your instance of IE "Running as Administrator" after you are finished reviewing your Results.

Caution: During the testing of Video Adapter, a variety of patterns, shapes, colors and text are “flashed” onto the users monitor screen. In the many thousands of daily uses of the PCPitstop Full Tests over several years, two individuals who suffer epilepsy experienced discomfort and temporary dizziness when viewing the flashing patterns.

If you know that you are susceptible to photo driven seizure, please look away from your screen during the Video Adapter testing sequence.

Note: The PCPitstop Full Tests Results is a free service, but is supported by various paid product advertisements for utilities that "could" remedy the OP's problem.

Since this site is a "free-help" forum, we do not recommend or endorse purchase of automated utilities, and will assist you in manually correcting any problems and settings necessary to optimize your machine's performance. Ask your questions here. We'll help you walk through any necessary steps.

[stevie d]

http://www.pcpitstop...?conid=22569790

I am hoping this is what you were requesting from the PC Pitstop test results. I have a Dell Dimension 4600. I dont exactly know what these #'s mean but I got it from right-clicking on my computer: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.60HGz 2.59GHz, 512MB of RAM. I have a 120 GB hard drive with 74.1 GB of free space.

Thanks for helping me with this problem. As you can probably already tell, I am mostly computer dumb so bare with me. If there is anything else you need just ask and if I did the scan wrong just tell me how to correct it. Thanks again.

Steve

[Ztruker]

Thanks Steve, that's exactly what I wanted.

If you look at your PCPitStop Summary, you'll see the first item Change Internet Receive Buffer. You should make this change, but before you do that, install ERUNT and create a full registry backup following the directions here: http://forums.whatth...UNT_t99376.html Once that's done, go ahead and make the registry change.

DO NOT update any drivers at this time. We can do that a bit later if needed, but only do it from the Dell site. I'll provide a link when we get there.

[stevie d]

I followed all directions like you stated but I got confused at the end. After I followed the tutorial from the geeks to go page I did not know what to do. You stated in your last post that once thats done to go ahead and make the registry change, I don't know how to do this. I think that ERUNT was successful and created a full registry backup but I am not for sure. I went into my windows folder and did find a folder for ERUNT after, but I have no idea if everything was done correctly. Can you please write me back with the info of how to check that everything worked correctly as well as how to go ahead and make the registry change? Thanx, Steve

[Ztruker]

Hi Steve. When ERUNT makes a backup, it places it in C:\Windows\ERDNT. If it was an automatic backup then it will be in the Autoback folder there.

At the PCPitStop link you provided, click on the Change Internet Receive Buffer, it will tell you exactly what to do, step by step.

[stevie d]

Rich, I completed all the instructions you gave me. Do you have an idea as to what is making my computer behave the way it is (constantly freezing up every few seconds)? Right before the new problem occured I was trying to fix something that had been going on for a little while. When I would shut down my computer I would get these pop up boxes that said I had to close them before it could shut down. One of them was the shellconhiddenwindow (which I learned had to do with musicmatch) and the other was jusched.exe. I learned that this last one was connected with java and had to do with automatic updates. The webpage I read said that it was not needed and it was best to disable. When I did this there was a Warning pop up window that I went ahead and ignored as recommended by the website I was following. The next time I shut down my computer was when I first started having this new problem. I just wanted to go ahead and tell you this incase it is important.

[stevie d]

I also want to add that after I started having the new problem I downloaded CCcleaner and scanned my computer. I did this because I read that this might fix the new problem that might be caused by corrupted registry files. The scan obviously didn't fix the issues I am having.

[stevie d]

I keep thinking of things that have happened recently and I want to give you as much info as I can to help you better determine what might be causing the problem. I have been getting a lot of messages that say my virtual memory is too low. I do not know how to fix this. I have gotten probably about 10 of those messages in the last month. I don't know if this is of any help, but I thought I would tell you.

[Ztruker]

Let's try running with just the basic devices and services, see if that makes a difference.

Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the General tab then select Diagnostic Startup.
Click Apply then OK.

Reboot and see how your system performs. Run with it this way for an hour or so unless you see immediately that it is no different. If that's the case go back into msconfig and select Normal Startup.

Post back with results.

[stevie d]

I tried to follow your full instructions but was not allowed to. I was able to go into msconfig and select diagnostic startup. Once I did that and restarted, a popup box appeared when windows was starting up. The popup was confusing and was pretty much saying that I was in diagnostic mode and I had an option to check a box to continue (I cant remember how everything was worded). I first just clicked OK without checking the box and I the computer went straight into msconfig with the same screen as before. I then closed out of that and restarted again, this time I did check the little box. Windows did open up into my desktop screen but I could not get online. When I tried to get onto IE it said that there was some kind of problem (I cant remember exactly. So in short I wasn't able to see if your instructions worked. Sorry I cant be more specific with what happened, But I am hoping that you are familiar with what I saw when attempting your instructions.

[Ztruker]

That's okay Steve, that seems to have been a bit overkill. Lets try it this way then. You already have RUNT Installed and have a full backup of the registry so doing the following should be okay.

How does it behave if you boot to Safe Mode with Networking? You can get to Safe Mode with Networking by pressing F8 when you boot the computer, as soon as you see the manufacturers logo. Press it every second or so until you get the Windows Advanced Options menu. Select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter.

If better then something is starting at boot that is causing the problem. Use msconfig to determine what is causing the problem.

Before you do any of the following, record what is currently being started on the Startup and Services tabs so you can put things back when done.

Use msconfig to determine what is causing the problem.

These are good tutorials on using msconfig in XP or Vista:
How to use msconfig in Windows XP
How to use msconfig in Windows Vista

Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Startup tab then the Disable All button.
Do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable several items at a time till you find the culprit.

If no, boot to Safe Mode again, start msconfig and click on the Services tab.
Check the Hide All Microsoft Services box then click the Disable All button.
Again, do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable services till you find the culprit.

Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system.
Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best.
Enable everything else you disabled.

[stevie d]

Sorry about the overkill, I just want to be as specific as possible due to the fact that you can only respond a few times a day. From now on do you want just really simple and quick responses such.... tried instructions, didn't work? Would doing a defrag or chkdsc maybe help or point out the issue? I hope I can follow your last set of instructions without messing anything up, it seems kinda complicated.

[Ztruker]

Steve, no such thing as too much information. Anything you can tell me may help, certainly won't hurt

You can try chkdsk /r but I doubt it would make any difference in this case.Won't hurt though.
Defrag, no, I don't see how that can cause this kind of problem. Again, won't hurt to do it but will not make any difference.

Read through my directions for using msconfig and let me know if you have any questions.

What we're trying to do is see if something that is starting at boot time is causing the problem. If yes, then we should be able to isolate it and update or remove it.

One other thing you can try in addition is to uninstall IE8. It has cause some severe problems on lots of system, including mine. You can do this from Add/Remove Programs, after checking the Show Updates box.

[stevie d]

I will try not to overkill this one. Like a stated in an earlier post, when I power on my computer or restart it, the ROM BIOS screen appears for a couple of seconds. At the bottom it shows diskette drive 0 seek failure. When I was pressing F8 right when I saw the Dell logo, it stopped on the ROM BIOS page and now it also showed... hit F1 to try reboot or F2 for system utility. Nowhere did I see anything that had windows advanced options. I could not get out of the ROM BIOS page even when I tried to hit F1(it just kept repeating the same line whenever i hit F1). I tried control-alt-delete to reboot but it would just go right back to the BIOS page. I had to do a manual shut down to get out of the screen. I just wanted to make this clear because the first time I saw this BIOS page was right when my computer started having the problem, now I get it every time I power on or reboot. Do you have any other suggestions as how to continue?