Update or?

Question

Question

Update or?

by cproject Nov 3, 2012 10:52PM PDT

I have a Packard Bell imedia S3210 with an AMD Athalon 7450 Dual Core Processor 2040ghz, 2.00gb ram on a 64 bit operating system -
Alls relatively good about the machine...however it is starting to sound like a jet plane taking off, and generally sounds like its struggling to keep up with the daily operations I am trying to perform.
I have opened up the case, given it a thorough clean, but this hasnt helped!
I even ran a speedcheck etc to check on its performance, apparently its ok!!?
I have been told by a friend I could do with a new case and power supply and a new cpu fan (the specifics I havent got a clue) All I know is i am usually on the pc throughout the day, therefore the pc is on and running pretty much everyday - I use it for work and music production.
Any help on what best to do, what components to buy etc, would be massivley appreciated (on a small budget too)

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12 Posts

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HI Kees,

Some of that sounds easy enough, some of it, you lost em!! but... Ive judt done the CPU usage using task manager - the usage fluctuates between 7%-38%

Ive got 74 proccesses running on the task manager (again half..ok more than that mean nothing to me) but theres nothing showing me thats somethings running like crazy.

utorrent, windows explorer and task manager are the main processes that show a number increase-decrease etc

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utorrent = typical.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 4, 2012 1:33AM PDT

No need for that to be running.
Bob

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which?

by cproject Nov 4, 2012 3:16AM PST

even when I am running it on purpose?

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Re: utorrent

by Kees_B Former Forum moderator Nov 4, 2012 3:41AM PST

What happens with that sound if you turn utorrent off?
And I don't like that Windows Explorer doing anything if you do nothing except looking at task manager.

Kees

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following

by cproject Nov 4, 2012 5:13AM PST

If i turn utorrent off, nothing changes

like now I only have explorer open and running, thats it, its not as loud as it can be, if i opened another say 2-3 pages then it starts to speed up again, until i start to close pages down

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Re: explorer

by Kees_B Former Forum moderator Nov 4, 2012 5:23AM PST

You said Windows Explorer. That's the program you use to look at your folders and files. Now you're talking pages, so that looks like Internet Explorer. That's the program you use to look at the Internet.

Two things to try:
1. Go to Tools>Manage add-ons and turn all off. Makes a difference?
2. Download and install another browser (Firefox and Chrome are free). Any difference?
3. Make a new Windows account and try the same there. Any difference?

Just having a page open should mean NO change in CPU usage. This is starting to look like malware, or at least an add-on gone wild.
So also better run the malware-checks from Grif's advice at
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6132_102-5098912.html?tag=posts;msg5099421

With utorrent off, and your browser doing nothing except having 10 tabs open, the system idle process in task manager should be 98% at least.

Kees

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will have a play...

by cproject Nov 4, 2012 7:46AM PST

Thanks Kees,

Ill have a look at that malware checking tomorrow when Ive got some time spare and report back.

I do regular checks with windows defender, norton, security essentials etc etc and im usually pretty good and knowing whats spam email and so on.

Just in case it is the hardware side...what do you think about the components I listed in the first post? any ideas on what I should be looking for?

thanks

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Then it's fine.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 4, 2012 4:50AM PST

The machine is behaving as it should. At least you can make choices on what it will be doing.
Bob

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nope

by cproject Nov 4, 2012 5:16AM PST

Unfortunately it ISNT behaving as it should, if I open multiple web pages, which at times I have to...then the sound of the fan goes to an extreme!

Its only when i start closing pages down it slows, like now...

I have open 1 explorer page, utorrent is off...thats it and the noise is intermitent speeds up, then slows down etc and this sometimes slows down accesibility to what I am doing or want to do

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That's proper too.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Nov 4, 2012 5:35AM PST

As you open more pages, those pages have scripts and the CPU gets more and more busy. However you have a lot of folk that are new to computing so they won't catch on what's going on. To get a slick responding machine we stop the utorrent, open just the pages we need and close those that we don't need.

Some folk will upgrade the hardware so yes, that's good for the PC economy.
Bob

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thanks

by cproject Nov 4, 2012 7:48AM PST

Thanks Bob

I have tried all that, numerous times on various occassions, I think its just down to the PC being old-ish and generally getting more of a hammering now than ever before.

thanks anyway

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Kees_B · Answer 1 · Nov 3, 2012 11:08PM PDT

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Answer

Re: sound

by Kees_B Former Forum moderator Nov 3, 2012 11:08PM PDT

The usual cause: too hot a CPU. That's either hardware: check the CPU fan and apply new heat paste, or it's software (some process using you CPU up to 90 or 100%).
It could be the GPU fan also, however, but that's unlike if you do nothing expect having the desktop on the screen.

I'd start with the processes tab in Task Manager to have a look at the CPU usage. After boot, wait a few minutes for the normal startup things to be done (that's Windows Search, antivirus and such), and then with just the desktop on it should be 98% idle at least. If not, sort on that column and tell us the top 5.

Kees

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