Detecting program(s) running in background

Discussion in 'Software' started by secretcodebreaker, Feb 5, 2011.

  1. secretcodebreaker

    secretcodebreaker Specialist

    My secondary PC (Windows XP 2002 Service Pack 2) has started to slow down. This slow down is most apparent when I use ImgBurn to burn a DVD-R. Often the CPU over-load causes an unrecoverable error.

    I've been using this PC to burn DVD-Rs since 2003 and never had this particular unrecoverable error problem. I thought it might be the DVD burner drive. The original drive started to fail about 18 months ago and I replaced it. Then when I started to get these unrecoverable errors I thought it might be the drive. I have replaced that drive 4 times since then and the problem has only become worse.

    I suspect there is a program(s) running in the background that causes the yellow CPU busy light to come on at a constant one second interval. Blink, blink, blink ...

    I checked the Task Manager List (33 Processes listed, none running) and it indicates that nothing is running (99% idle).

    I've used AVG anti-virus, Malwarebytes anti-malware and Avast to scan my system memory and C: drive and all report nothing amiss.

    Is there any sofware that I can use to detect what is running in the background and causing a constant interupt of the CPU?
     
  2. abekl

    abekl First Sergeant

    For he programs running investigation, use Process Explorer from Microsoft.
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653

    I'm kind of an expert with Imgburn. One thing you can do to prevent these unrecoverable errors is to increase Imgburn's buffer size. Go to
    Tools>Settings>I/O>Page2 and drag the buffer slider all the way to the right. This will give you a big buffer so you'll be less likely to run into underrun errors.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2011
  3. plastidust

    plastidust Command Sergeant Major

  4. secretcodebreaker

    secretcodebreaker Specialist

    First I want to thank everyone who replied to my post. Without this forum and those who take the time to assist those of us less technically qualified or experienced, I would have crashed and burned years ago.

    I think I tried all of your suggestions, but alas, the over-heating condition remains as well as the continuous and mysterious CPU activity. The blinking yellow CPU light pulses at about the same rate as one of those flashers you see on highway repair barriers. Maybe it's telling me something. :)

    I've decided that the machine is aging and it's due for an over-haul. New heat sink on the CPU, new C drive and a fresh O/S load.

    Thanks again and Happy New Year!
     
  5. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    The yellow busy light is hard drive activity. Do you derfragment your hd on a regular basis? Maybe the files you are trying to burn are terribly defragmented?

    Excessive HD activity could also be caused by too little RAM. How much RAM do you have installed?

    Lastly, you are sure it is the activity light that is blinking--you have one solid power light and the other one is blinking?
     
  6. plastidust

    plastidust Command Sergeant Major

    Can you give us some hardware spec(s) on this unit?
     
  7. secretcodebreaker

    secretcodebreaker Specialist

    Yes, I defrag occasionally. I have 4 hard drives, 3 are Lacie portables. My C drive is 75 Gb and I'm using 22 Gb (70% free space). According to Disk Defragmenter program my fragmentation is 2%. When I turn off the 3 Lacie portables and only have my C: drive running the 'flashing light' does not change.

    I have 2 Gb of RAM.

    The reason I haven't mentioned specs (other than XP Service Pack 2) is that the specs on this machine have not changed since I got in 2003 and this 'flashing yellow light' and CPU overload problem just started a few months ago.

    It's sitting right next to my keyboard, not running any programs, 99% idle and flashing away. :) About 1 flash/second. Every once in a while I get a double flash.

    This is my secondary machine (rarely connected to the Internet) and is in nearly all aspects identical to my primary machine, which is now running about 25% faster than my secondary during a DVD-R burn. In the past they ran at the same speed. This secondary machine is a desktop and my primary is a tower.
     
  8. satrow

    satrow Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Check that all the IDE devices in Device Manager are still set to DMA; it only takes a bad CD in a drive for a few hours for Windows to blow a fuse and start reducing the transfer speeds across the board to try to stop the errors.
     
  9. secretcodebreaker

    secretcodebreaker Specialist

    Thanks satrow, but it's not that. I've had Windows DMA problems many, many times in the past and have developed more than one way to check that situation. That particular 'quirk' of Windows is annoying, to say the least.

    My grandson, who built both of my identical PCs thinks it some 'rogue' lines of code that are causing Windows to execute a 'loop' during an interrupt and the only cure is to re-load Windows, which will require a reformat of the C: drive.

    BTW, I used that Process Explorer program, as suggested by plastidust and it told me exactly what Task Manager was indicating. 33 programs listed, none running and 98% idle.

    The good news is that I don't use this secondary machine for much except burning DVD-Rs, so rebuilding the C: drive isn't going to take months. :) 95% of my data is stored on the Lacie portables.
     
  10. satrow

    satrow Major Geek Extraordinaire

  11. secretcodebreaker

    secretcodebreaker Specialist

    satrow

    Test Interval 972
    Current Latency changes from 5 to 7 during test
    Absolute Maximum 270

    Appears very flat (very low green bar graph scrolling along display) at a 'pulse rate" that appears to equal the 'flashing yellow light' That does not seem to cause the bar graph to increase in height. Every once in a while the bar does up to what looks like about halfway to the 500 line.

    Message in the space states: This machine should be able to handle real time streaming of audio and/or video data with drop-outs.
     
  12. secretcodebreaker

    secretcodebreaker Specialist

    abekl - I ran ImgBurn twice, same DVD-R image. Using 40 buffer size (default) and 512 buffer (max).

    Not much difference. I have extracted 36 lines of the Imgburn log for each burn (76 lines in text file). If your interested in looking at them, tell me how to send you a text file. I don't want to fill up the forum space with that log info.

    Thanks.
     

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