So in the last couple days or so, my computer has slowed down to a crawl. Since the only program I have open consistently is Firefox I blamed it on that as it's been known to get screwy on my in the past.

I did a very long voice chat on Skype (with the other person on video) the other night and during that time BOINC ran benchmarks. They were abysmal and I blamed it on having the chat going on.

So I reran the bench marks. Just as bad.

However processing times are matching what the benchmarks are saying (ie claimed credits are still in the same ball park).

No new software installed. Seems to me the problems started about the time I attached to Docking@Home, but I finished that WU and detached.

My current benchmark numbers...

1/6/2007 9:41:37 PM||Benchmark results:
1/6/2007 9:41:37 PM|| Number of CPUs: 1
1/6/2007 9:41:37 PM|| 533 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
1/6/2007 9:41:37 PM|| 996 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU


My previous benchmark numbers...

2006-12-30 19:51:15 [---] Benchmark results:
2006-12-30 19:51:15 [---] Number of CPUs: 1
2006-12-30 19:51:15 [---] 1388 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
2006-12-30 19:51:15 [---] 2061 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU



The computer is a P4 2.8 lap top and has a gig of RAM. It running XP Pro.

I've rebooted multiple times. I've trashed all of Firefox (because it was giving me problems since the last update came out) and started over with that (it seems to be running a bit better). Kaspersky (AV etc) comes up clean.

I went back to the current release version of BOINC temporarily but that didn't help things at all.

The other thing I noticed is that it is running significantly cooler (I use HDD Thermometer... Motherboard Monitor doesn't support my model) than before. It used to run about 53C or so under full load (while on a laptop cooler) and now is running 49-50C. Which makes me think some sort of thermal throttling is going on. But it's never done that before. However checking CPU-Z shows it running at 2.8 GHz or so. So I don't know what to think.




Oh wise crew... what should I do next? This is making me a very unhappy pirate.

Have you tried stopping BOINC? Does the computer still run slow without BOINC running? See if there is another program using CPU with BOINC stopped. (I know you're allergic to CPUs with BOINC off, so am I, but for the sake of testing and hopefully solving the problem...)

I noticed my CPU running cooler for some days too. Now I put case side back on, and it's back at normal temperature (normal for what I'm used to, ~70C).

Good luck traveling those rough seas!

(I'll leave personal comments to you off this thread, I know you're reading us at QMC)

Thanks Nicolas.

It still seems a bit laggy without BOINC running, but not as bad.

Nothing of note in task manager. BOINC still getting the vast majority of CPU cycles with Firefox and TM itself taking the rest when I'm looking at TM.



Things that were snappy before now seem really slow. Like opening the Remote Desktop connection. Or just opening a command window seems slower.


::sigh::

I hate when the computer gods pick on me.

A very basic, but since you didn't mention it... have you done a scan and defrag recently? Has there been a recent Windows update?

MJ
____________
Hail, Poetry, thou heav'n-born maid!
Thou gildest e'en the pirate's trade.
Hail, flowing fount of sentiment!
Hail, all hail, divine emollient!

No Windows updates (I'm one of those people that makes it tell me what it wants to install and I have to tell it ok).


Me thinks there is something seriously wrong....


It couldn't finish phase two of the disk scan. And when I went to defrag it there was a message about some files not being able to be defraged and to see the report for a list. But there was nothing in the report.


I have a new external hard drive so I'm backing everything up (it's only been a few days since I last did that anyways).

I'll try reinstalling Windows (::shudder::) and see what that does.

I'd try Linux, but the last distro I tried didn't want to play nice with my wireless card (Suse I think).


::sigh::

It couldn't finish phase two of the disk scan. And when I went to defrag it there was a message about some files not being able to be defraged and to see the report for a list. But there was nothing in the report.

I did a very long voice chat on Skype (with the other person on video) the other night and during that time BOINC ran benchmarks. They were abysmal and I blamed it on having the chat going on.

So I reran the bench marks. Just as bad.

I did a very long voice chat on Skype (with the other person on video) the other night and during that time BOINC ran benchmarks. They were abysmal and I blamed it on having the chat going on.

So I reran the bench marks. Just as bad.

Is Skype still running? The video process it may have launched?

Before re-installing windows (ugh) I wonder if it's worth trying a system restore...

I'm too tired to think about it now.

If it dies... oh well. I have everything important backed up.

It couldn't finish phase two of the disk scan. And when I went to defrag it there was a message about some files not being able to be defraged and to see the report for a list. But there was nothing in the report.

It couldn't finish phase two of the disk scan. And when I went to defrag it there was a message about some files not being able to be defraged and to see the report for a list. But there was nothing in the report.

It couldn't finish phase two of the disk scan. And when I went to defrag it there was a message about some files not being able to be defraged and to see the report for a list. But there was nothing in the report.

Reboot to Safe Mode, and try the scan again. Defrag from there too. That way you'll have the minimum files open you need to operate.

MJ

Well.

Running AV/scan disk/defrag from safe mode turned up nothing. Virus scan took 3x longer what it used to take. Scan disk and defrag were successful this time.


I ran Memtest overnight. It does appear that I've got a bad stick of RAM. Would that cause this insane slow down?



So I'm praying it's a DIY type job....

I ran Memtest overnight. It does appear that I've got a bad stick of RAM. Would that cause this insane slow down?

I give up....


Was doing some of the alpha test cases this evening.

Needed to check something between 5.4.11 and 5.8.1.

Of course with the version change benchmarks were rerun.

The only thing I changed today was a reboot because Firefox was acting crazy (again). I could ping Google, log into Google Talk, download my email from gmail through Thunderbird, but darn if I could get to Google through Firefox.


2007-01-08 23:50:20 [---] Version change (5.8.1 -> 5.4.11); running CPU benchmarks
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [BOINC alpha test] URL: http://isaac.ssl.berkeley.edu/alpha/; Computer ID: 1291; location: ; project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [Pirates@Home] URL: http://pirates.spy-hill.net/; Computer ID: 31764; location: ; project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [QMC@HOME] URL: http://qah.uni-muenster.de/; Computer ID: 35403; location: ; project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [DepSpid] URL: http://www.depspid.net/; Computer ID: 495; location: ; project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [---] General prefs: from BOINC alpha test (last modified 2007-01-08 23:42:46)
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [---] General prefs: using your defaults
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [---] Local control only allowed
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [---] Listening on port 31416
2007-01-08 23:50:20 [---] Suspending network activity - running CPU benchmarks
2007-01-08 23:50:22 [---] Running CPU benchmarks
2007-01-08 23:51:21 [---] Benchmark results:
2007-01-08 23:51:21 [---] Number of CPUs: 1
2007-01-08 23:51:21 [---] 1379 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
2007-01-08 23:51:21 [---] 2243 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU
2007-01-08 23:51:21 [---] Finished CPU benchmarks


2007-01-08 23:53:59 [---] Version change (5.4.11 -> 5.8.1); running CPU benchmarks
2007-01-08 23:53:59 [BOINC alpha test] URL: http://isaac.ssl.berkeley.edu/alpha/; Computer ID: 1291; location: (none); project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:53:59 [Pirates@Home] URL: http://pirates.spy-hill.net/; Computer ID: 31764; location: (none); project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:53:59 [QMC@HOME] URL: http://qah.uni-muenster.de/; Computer ID: 35403; location: (none); project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:53:59 [DepSpid] URL: http://www.depspid.net/; Computer ID: 495; location: (none); project prefs: default
2007-01-08 23:53:59 [---] General prefs: from BOINC alpha test (last modified 2007-01-08 23:42:46)
2007-01-08 23:53:59 [---] Host location: none
2007-01-08 23:53:59 [---] General prefs: using your defaults
2007-01-08 23:54:01 [---] Running CPU benchmarks
2007-01-08 23:55:01 [---] Benchmark results:
2007-01-08 23:55:01 [---] Number of CPUs: 1
2007-01-08 23:55:01 [---] 1410 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
2007-01-08 23:55:01 [---] 2459 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU



::sigh::