Slow computer at random times

Computer is great untill i listen to a song on i tunes, play poker, or watch a video on youtube. 2 mins into any of the above and it slows down but doesn't freeze and task manager shows 100% cpu. As soon as i close the program and wait a few mins its fine what is causing this?

System Info
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
System Model Presario CQ62 Notebook PC
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 330 @ 2.13GHz, 2133 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard F.07, 10/02/2010
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Total Physical Memory 2.99 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.96 GB
Total Virtual Memory 5.98 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.68 GB
Page File Space 2.99 GB

 

When it happens next, open task manager, set it to show processes from all Users then sort the processes by CPU% and report back on which ones are the highest CPU users.

 

Internet Explorer 46%
Windows Audio Device Graph Isoslation 27%
Windows Desktop Gadgets 08%
Windows Task Manager 06%

That's the main ones out of 80 processes

 

Ok, parts of the audio service have been known to create excess CPU%, try to check whether your audio is using any special effects, if so, turn them off.

Check that you have the latest version of Flash. Uninstall any older versions.

Visit HP/Compaq and download and install the latest graphics driver for your PC.

Test and report back

 

If satrow's tips don't solve the problem you may have an issue with a failing hard drive (HDD) .

I just went through a "stealth" hard drive failure on a client PC for the second time in a few months. I call it a "stealth" failure since chkdsk and some disk checking programs won't catch it.

My drive checking tips are:

1. Back up all your data, music etc. immediately. If the drive is, in fact, failing you're playing Russian Roulette on losing everything on it.

2. Run "chkdsk /f". If it doesn't show issues, move to step 2.

3. Look at what brand HDD you have. If you don't want to open up the PC, go to CONTROL PANEL>SYSTEM>DEVICE MANAGER>HARDWARE PROFILES and it should tell you.

4. Download Advanced System Care (http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5927), go to the "utilities" option and run Disk Doctor. If the test freezes or tells you to reboot to finish the repair, the HDD has issues. If the drive is a Western Digital or Seagate, you can also download the respective mfr's. drive utility test (WD Data Lifeguard or Seagate SeaTools) and run a "long/full" drive test (note: I have found other mfr's drive tests - such as Hitachi and Toshiba - not that effective). ​

Given the low cost of replacement drives, I always err on the side of caution with a new HDD and a clean Windows install. If a drive is "repaired" by one of the above methods, it's still a sign the old HDD likely isn't long for this world.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your help it seems to have done the trick once i re installed the graphics card i'll write again on this thread if i have a problem, Thank you!!!

 

Thanks i'll keep this in mind if it happens again

 

Computer was fine last night but it's back to usual problem, what's svchost.exe? had 3 of them on task manager all using 20%ish

I've checked the hard drive and can't find any problems...

 

Ok I've just ran diskdoctor and it got to 47% and told me to restart to complete analysis, this may sound stupid but if my harddrives failing why would my cpu usage go to 100% when i play a song on i tunes? the harddrives a hitachi so what do i do next?

 

Having multiple svchosts running is normal.

What process is using the highest CPU% when playing a music file in iTunes? Is there a particular file/song that triggers the CPU overload? Are you using iTunes as a basic player or are you using it for pretty visualisations too - if the latter, does the same thing happen when visualisations are switched off?

 

I've played three songs and it hasn't done it again, i'm on facebook and playing songs with i tunes and it's hanging around 10%, i don't use the pretty visualisations. It's not a particular song or file that does it i'm gonna try watch a video on you tube and see if that causes it to go crazy and go to 100% cpu.

Thanks for your effort in helping me

 

Yep, Youtube with in 8 secs made it go up to 100% and the music went slow straight away

Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation 24%
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service 22%
I Tunes 16%
Windows Live Mail 08%
Windows Task Manager 07%
Internet Explorer 04%

I don't even have windows media player open?

 

It reads like you share media over your network, is this the case? I don't, for what I hope is higher security, my PC only uses TCP/IP - just the bare bones needed to access the Internet, so I can't directly test what you're doing.

Have you backed up all your valuable data away from that hard drive, just in case something is wrong with it?

Even though you're not directly using WMP, many parts of it could be used by other software anyway, because parts of it are tied to the Operating System.

Back to your latest scenario, does the same thing happen when iTunes is not running? Have you checked that your audio effects, etc., are set to defaults = none, as per the earlier link?

 

Have you checked SMART status of your drive?
You can use one of the following:

http://majorgeeks.com/HDDScan_for_Windows_d6321.html
http://majorgeeks.com/HD_Tune_d4130.html
http://majorgeeks.com/HDD_Health_d3654.html

Should you get some serious errors than backup your data and replace drive!
Dont use imaging tools to back-up your data.

 

If this continues (and none of the other tips in this thread solve the issue), I would still invest in a new hard drive.

The Disk Doctor restart message, based on my experience, is a possible red flag. On three of the past four suspect drives I've received a restart message on, replacing the drive and doing a fresh Windows install eliminated hang-up/freezing issues (even on one where I did a fresh install of Windows on the suspect drive and still had issues).

As to why S.M.A.R.T, dskchk and some other disc checking programs miss issues, I do not have a clue. Using the SWAG (Scientific Wild A:***s Guess) method, I suspect it has something to do with sectors that are mildly damaged (hard to read) instead of severely damaged, causing extra CPU usage. My recommendation to replace your drive is based solely on what has worked for me in the past.

Cloning the drive will work if the data isn't corrupted; however I suggest a fresh install - if the suspect drive has corrupted files they will clone as corrupted to the new drive and the problems may continue.

Finally, you can look at the $40-$60 for an new drive in two ways: An added expense () or added protection. By having an extra drive set up and ready to use, it will take you a few minutes to swap cables or switch the boot drive in the BIOS to get up and running; versus hours to re-load Windows, Office, updates and whatever else you have loaded. Given that hard drives always seem to fail at the worst possible time (such as when you have an important project due in a few hours), it's better to solve a small problem now than wait for a big problem later. Keep the old (suspect) drive as your OS backup drive.

 

Problem's solved, it only did it when i tunes was open i updated it and doesn't do it now, thanks everyone!!!:-D

 

Glad you found a solution.