I just purchased a used Thinkpad SL410, 3gb ram 250gb harddrive, 2.1ghz dual core.
I did an install over the home edition that came on it to windows 7 business.
Very since I got the thing, it will randomly be delayed for just about anything. Such as typing this sentence it will randomly wait 1 second or so to continue typing. Clicking through menus does the same thing. It does it more so when its been 'idling.' Clicking between menus such as clicking on the start menu then back to PFF, the start menu stays up for an additional second, etc. Very annoying...
I went through and updated all the drivers, ran RAM and Harddrive tests and haven't found a single issue so far. Its driving me nuts though! Any ideas where to get started?
Only things installed so far are skype, VLC, winamp, utorrent, and thinkvantage. Happened before/after all of these installs.
Did you install ALL the drivers? Might have missed one for a subsystem or chip set. Even if there's no "?" in your hardware manager, you may need a driver or something something...
Install and run "process explorer" and see if anything consistently lights up red when the delay occurs.
Even tho you say your drive is good, its still suspect.
What does the system load look like?
Yeah, I've seen a few drives go from "healthy" to "dead" and the only warning was that occasional delay...(and sometimes one of several awful or subtle sounds)
spyware maybe. i'm having to run my anti-spyware a lot the last month or so, which clears it up for a couple of days. the mouse cursor will just freeze for a second or so. i've been visiting some odd webpages lately, so it's my own fault.
The other thing I would suggest, to point to hardware failure vs the OS, is boot into safe mode with networking, or try a live disk. If it only does it when booted to the normal mode, then you have something stealing clock cycles. As previously suggested, this is usually malicious software.
The other thing I would suggest, to point to hardware failure vs the OS, is boot into safe mode with networking, or try a live disk. If it only does it when booted to the normal mode, then you have something stealing clock cycles. As previously suggested, this is usually malicious software.
You cant really test speed if you boot off cdrom or usb. its slow to start with.
Are you running any antivirus programs or more than one antivirus program (they typicalley run in the backround, more than one will really sow things down). Might allso be mallware or a virus. Try Process Explorer (free).Read here: http://www.komando.com/down...wn-your-computer/all
I installed the process explorer, but that didn't show anything that stuck out. SystemIdle and then the process explorer were the most used. Although explorer jumped up here or there, but I was also going through system folders.
I don't have any antimalware or anti virus software installed.
You cant really test speed if you boot off cdrom or usb. its slow to start with.
You should never, ever have typing delays booting off a live distro. Also USB or cdrom shouldn't matter. Once the live distro has booted, the OS is running in memory. This is why I recommend it as testing for hardware. It's not your faulted OS environment. If you can replicate the problem on a live distro, then it's going to be a hardware issue. If you can't replicate the issue on a usb/cdrom boot, or in safe mode, then it's going to be an issue with the regular mode OS. If you can't even get into safe mode, then your OS is hijacked.
[This message has been edited by no2pencil (edited 07-04-2014).]
Once the live distro has booted, the OS is running in memory.
Not all of them. The ones that do, most of the time its optional, depending on how much ram you have. ( ok with 2G he has enough for a small one but the point is the same )
I used a Win7 install disc and cleared the partition and installed over. Is there another way to format?
It doesn't matter where it came from, if its used you wipe it, no exceptions. Deleting and then recreating partitions + a full format should be enough 99.9% of the time. I would do more tho. I don't want something hiding in the boot sector or something.
( actually, i would do it on a new windows PC too, but for different reasons )
I used a Win7 install disc and cleared the partition and installed over. Is there another way to format?
If by 'cleared' you mean the partition was deleted, then part of the install process will format the new partition. A partition is just segregated disk space. Formatting is the part of the process that puts a file system on that partition. For example, NTFS.
& I agree, it doesn't matter where the PC is from, it should be formatted & freshly installed. Not only for security, but with a fragmented file system such as NTFS, you're going to get good as new performance off a fresh format.
If by 'cleared' you mean the partition was deleted, then part of the install process will format the new partition. A partition is just segregated disk space. Formatting is the part of the process that puts a file system on that partition. For example, NTFS.
& I agree, it doesn't matter where the PC is from, it should be formatted & freshly installed. Not only for security, but with a fragmented file system such as NTFS, you're going to get good as new performance off a fresh format.
Wiping the partition table then recreating is an additional step, and does reset a bit more more than a simple format of an existing partition. Extra protection.
I haven't done a fresh install as suggested yet. I'm not convinced thats going to solve this issue because when I originally got it and messed around on it, it had the same symptoms, a delay before everything.
The other night I went to watch a 1080p video downloaded (not streaming) and used the HDMI port.
Using VLC player, it had issues where the picture would 'grey' out for a few seconds, eventually it would shudder and lag. WMP showed the same symptoms after about 10 minutes, where it would stop and loose audio eventually fixed by me moving the movie back a few seconds. Again it was downloaded so streaming wasn't an issue.
I remember there was something that I could disable in administration tools that fixed a number of issues. Any ideas?
I haven't done a fresh install as suggested yet. I'm not convinced thats going to solve this issue because when I originally got it and messed around on it, it had the same symptoms, a delay before everything.
The other night I went to watch a 1080p video downloaded (not streaming) and used the HDMI port.
Using VLC player, it had issues where the picture would 'grey' out for a few seconds, eventually it would shudder and lag. WMP showed the same symptoms after about 10 minutes, where it would stop and loose audio eventually fixed by me moving the movie back a few seconds. Again it was downloaded so streaming wasn't an issue.
I remember there was something that I could disable in administration tools that fixed a number of issues. Any ideas?
In XP, you could scale back the video acceleration, in 7, you can turn off Aero...
Did you try safe mode, maybe try a Linux live CD.
I wish I could remember what was the "cause of the pause" we had experienced around 2006... I think it was bad caps on a batch of mobos...
Originally posted by TheDigitalAlchemist: I wish I could remember what was the "cause of the pause" we had experienced around 2006... I think it was bad caps on a batch of mobos...
In my experience bad capacitors on the logic board will cause BSOD (if on the bus/next to cpu), video issues (if on the on-board video), or reboots/sudden shutdown (if they are in the power supply). Basically absolute failure of the device the capacitor is a part of. Though it's not to say it couldn't cause speed issues. When capacitors fail, you get all kinds of funky, one-off type of issues.
