vista 32 "hanging"

[gissim0]

Hi , I have been having this error for the last couple days. Every 10 to 20 seconds the system just seems to "hang". It sits there for 2 or 3 seconds, then resumes normally. Ive checked memory. IT is good. I then ran performance monitoring and it shows up to 45 hard faults per SECOND. I then watched the hard drive activity lamp. When the system hangs there is no activity. as soon as it unhangs there is a flurry of activity lasting a couple seconds. Its like it has to go to the hard drive cache for everything.

Upon checking the virtual memory it is set on automatically manage paging file size. it says minimum 16 mb, recommended 3067, and currently allocated 2345 mb.

This all seemed to start after loading GTA 4 which recommended 2.5 g memory and i only have 2 g memory. could it have screwed up my paging file? thanks.

 

[bruce2]

Hi gissim0, welcome to the board.

Have you try to restore your system to the date prior to the suspicious mishap. If problem persist I would first do the routine check on the SATA cable to make sure they are secure by shaking and tug on the connector at the HDDs. Replace them with after market ones when you have a chance if not already done. Bad and loosen cable is a know problem for causing bad HDD access. If doesn't work then we start from there.

Good luck and post back.

 

[gissim0]

Ok I restored the system. it didnt help. I also replaced the hdd cables. again, nothing. I dont know (obviously) but could the problem be that the gamereconfigured my memory to use hdd space as ram since there wasnt enough? How would you check that? I remember the old "virtual ram" stuff from a long time ago. I opened the processes and here are the big ones (and their size)

dmw.exe 17,316
explorer.exe 11088
iexplorer.exe 52752
perfmon.exe 11172
sidebar.exe 7880

IM going to try closing them all down and see if that helps at all. Ooh one more question. if I addad another 2 g of memory, would that help? If it would Ill just do that. thanks again. I also have an additional hard drive on my computer. should I back up everythign but windows and reinstall it? I could then fish out the drivers... all the stuff I need from he other one. OR should I just load XP?

 

[bruce2]

Adding 2 g of memory would definitely help but not necessarily fixing the problem. Installation usually would fix all software and virus issues. Yes, back up your data first before you do anything regardless. If problem persists after installation, the problem very likely pointing at your HDD and/or cable. If you are adding a new HDD, may be you can install Vista on it to give you a clearer picture. There also could be your rams or PSU acting up, or GPU, if only if I know what you got in your box. Post back.

 

[gissim0]

The graphics card is a nvidea 8800 gts 782 memory. I did just notice something. I dont knwo if it matters. the core clock says it is set at 567 Mhz and the memory clock says 837 Mhz (1674 mhz data rate). I have tested the ram for 2 hours and it found no errors. I was thinking (and I may be completely wrong) that the memory could have been reconfigured by GTA? Does software even do that any more, where it accesses more memory in the cache? could it be as simple as memory "stuck" in the ram that is plugging it up and making it go elsewhere for space? I currently have vista home premium and have had nothing but troubles with it. In yoru opinion is changing over to XP a better way to go? Ill be gone for he next 2 days at work but when I get home Ill be reformatting the HD and then recovering files I want off the other hard drive. COme to think of it, is there a way I can check it by using the copy of my HD that I burned over on my other HD? THanks alot again

 

[gissim0]

ok I copied my whole HD over to a 2ond one in the system. when I run off that one, there are no troubles?!?!?!?!?! Since they are both on the same cable, whats up with that? is it a bad cache on the primary hard drive? THanks

 

[bruce2]

Well, gissim0, it will not tell you anything if you are testing with an exact copy of the original drive. It will carry all the software issues over if there were any. I would reinstall Vista before doing anything. The rams seems fine. For Vista 32bit, 2 GB is sufficient. If it is hardware issue changing to xp will not help fix anything.