Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Memory or?

by Sep 21, 2012 5:56AM PDT

Out of nowhere, after a simple reboot, my XP(SP3) pc has slowed to a crawl. No problems before, running normally. I can no longer open any programs, Internet, etc. so I'm using a laptop from work. Norton opens and the cpu/memory performance graph shows very high memory usage and low cpu. I tried burning the Windows Memory Diagnostic to a cd and dvd but neither boots up, so I'm not sure what I did wrong there. Are there any diagnostics anyone can recommend?

Discussion is locked

9 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Answer
check to see if
by Sep 21, 2012 6:00AM PDT

you Norton ant virus is up to date

- Collapse -
memory or?
by chiphxla Sep 21, 2012 7:42AM PDT

yes, Norton is up to date

- Collapse -
Answer
Sure but first, why not make, model or story?
by Former Forum moderator Sep 21, 2012 6:03AM PDT

This old PC might be suffering from that old XP DMA BUG (a cure was never issued), malware or heat.

I do not suggest any diagnostics. I use what the client tells me and what I see the machine tell me as I boot it up. I have been known to use Grif's advice at http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6132_102-5098912.html?tag=posts;msg5099421 if I suspect malware.

Another discussion went on and on and it turned out the owner was using torrents. Always a bad sign.

Tell more.
Bob

- Collapse -
Now that we see Norton.
by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Sep 21, 2012 7:45AM PDT

Look for any other PROTECTION app such as Spybot or Teatimer and the list goes on and on. But such may work and then spontaneously fail. What I find my self looking for is any overlap.
Bob

- Collapse -
Memory or ?
by chiphxla Sep 21, 2012 7:48AM PDT

Bob,

I'm running Norton, up to date, so I don't want to run competing anti malware programs. I'm not doing torrent, file sharing or anything related.

- Collapse -
Still very little to work with.
by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Sep 21, 2012 8:00AM PDT

No make, model so I can't check if the old XP DMA bug applies. And folk that depend only on Norton often find other pests that Norton does not catch. For that reason I supplied not only my question but Grif's advice for scanners.
Bob

- Collapse -
memory or? narrowed it down to ethernet
by chiphxla Sep 22, 2012 7:08AM PDT

I have narrowed the problem down to the ethernet connection. When this first happened, I had the ethernet cable connected to my laptop from work, had disconnected from there and reconnected to my home pc (where the problem is). Because the ethernet seemed to take a while to reconnect, I had rebooted the machine. When it came back up, that's when the slowdown started to the point of freezing. Today I noticed if I reboot with the ethernet disconnected, all programs (except those Internet related) work fine. Once I plug ethernet back in, everthing slows to a crawl and then freezes. So the turning point was when I rebooted after reconnecting the ethernet cable. When that is disconnected, a reboot brings me back to normal, except without being able to use the internet which then kills everything.

Hope this sparks someone's mental light bulb.

- Collapse -
Read you original post
by itsdigger Sep 22, 2012 12:09PM PDT

why would it spark anyone's mental light bulb?

- Collapse -
correction...
by itsdigger Sep 22, 2012 12:11PM PDT

your

Back to Computer Help forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info