Slow Windows Box
techlists at phpcoderusa.com
techlists at phpcoderusa.com
Wed Aug 2 11:36:33 MST 2023
Hi,
Okay this problem is resolved.
I contacted Dell to determine the type of RAM I should use because they
had installed DDR4-2666 while the CPU called for DDR4-2400. Also the
CPU would handle 64 GB and Dell was saying the box could only address up
to 32 GB.
I bought 32GB of RAM and it arrived yesterday afternoon.
This morning I upgraded the box and it remained slow. Yikes!! The box
was pegging CPU usage at 100%.
Found a video from Dell. Said to run the Support Assist. I ran it and
it said it optimized my box. It also said I had 6 drivers that need to
be upgraded. Did the upgrades.
Still pegging CPU usage at 100%.
The Dell video said to change the power settings to a different setting
and watch to see if the CPU usage went down. Tried several settings and
finally set it to power user and now CPU usage low.
The box is super fast!!
Thanks to everyone for your guidance!!
Keith
On 2023-07-13 19:43, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss wrote:
> On 2023-07-13 18:38, Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>>> Ok, Thanks!! I have an HP laptop running Win 10 Pro that I use to
>> make
>>> videos. It has 8GB of ram and an m.2. It is about 6 years old. It
>> is
>> > using 41% of RAM... Yikes!!
>>
>> I really have to wonder how the browsers work like that with so little
>> ram, they will tend to use as much or as little as you have, and
>> aren't shy about having their way with pagefiles if not.
>>
>> I say this as with 128gb of ram, under linux (any) it's not uncommon
>> to see firefox and worse chrome when I'm busy with multiple customers
>> and browser profiles using 30-40gb of said ram. I use a lot of
>> windows/tabs, I run for weeks or months between session restarts, and
>> various research professional or otherwise, I'll open dozens of tabs
>> on each easily. To hear people use 4-8gb seems crazy to me. My
>> system lets me know, and used to with *only* 64gb that "hey arsehole,
>> you need to upgrade!" with OOM's.
>>
>
> You are on the extreme. On my laptop I may have one browser open with
> 2 - 4 tabs max. Add to that video edition software.
>
> My wife uses one browser and I am not sure she knows about tabs..
> maybe, if so she might have 2 to 4 tabs open at any given time.
>
>
>>> My wife could get by with a netbook.
>>
>> Never hurts to earn some points. Maybe a special dessert for your
>> consideration.
>>
>
> I get it....
>
>>> Next go around I'm going to build anything I need except laptops.
>>> Before 2005 I built everything.
>>
>> Best desktop-ish I've had for a while now is a factory-built Dell
>> Precision T7910, dual xeon cpu, 128gb of ram, super silent, I use it
>> for proxmox now vs actual desktop, but used to.
>
> I like Proxmox and think it would be cool to configure it like you are.
>
>> Not sure I'd build my
>> own vs. buy good bones and augment like I did this with good
>> ram/disks. I've long used Dell Latitude, XPS, Precision, and as long
>> as you get good models, they're tight and work forever. Get the cheap
>> Inspirons or others, you get what you pay for.
>
> I'll bet your laptop cost a few grand.
>
>>
>> If you want a laptop to "build" (or enhance), look at Framework, their
>> 13" and soon 16" are pretty sweet, built to be serviceable/upgradable,
>> and will probably be my next purchase once the 16" is out. My Lenovo
>> Thinkpad is pretty good hardware at the core, but things like their
>> TB4 dock and even their jank website annoy the hell out of me. It
>> doesn't even work in firefox under linux.
>
> I figure I will not upgrade for several more years. I think things
> will change a lot. When I upgrade I want something(s) with lots of
> cores/threads and lots of RAM so I can have lots of options like
> Proxmox running multiple different things all at once.
>
> I'm interested in the Rasberry PI also... would be interesting to build
> a home web server on multiple PIs.
>
> Keith
>
>>
>> -mb
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 1:19 PM <techlists at phpcoderusa.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2023-07-13 10:03, Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>>>> Well that's about what I was expecting you'd see...
>>>>
>>>> First, start with getting her more memory, I'm amazed it'll even
>>> run
>>>> and start a browser with only 4gb of ram. Firefox/Chrome alone
>>> uses a
>>>> good 8-20gb of ram at a time for my normal usage, anything else
>>> will
>>>> just sit in swap/pagefile (which is why your disks are running
>>>> overtime).
>>>
>>> Ok, Thanks!! I have an HP laptop running Win 10 Pro that I use to
>>> make
>>> videos. It has 8GB of ram and an m.2. It is about 6 years old. It
>>> is
>>> using 41% of RAM... Yikes!!
>>>
>>>> I'd say no less than 16gb for any reasonable modern use,
>>> ---
>>>> or if her I'd divorce you for less.
>>>
>>> Funny!!
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Second, get rid of the spinner disk, or at least move it to a role
>>> as
>>>> a secondary drive for storage. Putting the OS on any SSD will
>>> make it
>>>> feel like lightning comparatively. If you can, put an m.2
>>> directly in
>>>> a pci-e slot with a slot adapter, that'll be your fastest choice,
>>> or
>>>> any sata-based SSD as a fallback.
>>>>
>>>> Between ram and new ssd, it should rip even with an older
>>> processor.
>>>
>>> Does not need to be fire breathing. Seems quickest fix would be to
>>> upgrade to 8GB of RAM based off of my HP's performance.
>>>
>>> My wife could get by with a netbook.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> You can probably reinstall the dell image clean downloading it
>>> from
>>>> dell and keep using the oem key (they're baked into the hardware),
>>> but
>>>> they're usually riddled with crapware and demos.. You're better
>>> off
>>>> getting a clean win10 build for $7 bucks from gkeys.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I do not like all the add-ons they provide either!!
>>>
>>> Next go around I'm going to build anything I need except laptops.
>>> Before 2005 I built everything.
>>>
>>> Thank you for all your help!!
>>>
>>>> -mb
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 9:38 AM Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss
>>>> <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thank you to all who replied.
>>>>>
>>>>> I spent over an hour on trying to figure this out.
>>>>>
>>>>> I opened the Event Viewer and discovered the system was using 94%
>>> of
>>>>>
>>>>> memory and 100% of the disk in idle mode.
>>>>>
>>>>> This computer is running Windows 10 pro with 4GB of ram and and 4
>>>>> cores
>>>>> and 4 threads. Is has a rust spinner.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is my wife's computer and she uses it for limited email,
>>> some
>>>>> google searching, and mostly to watch YouTube. This computer
>>> gets
>>>>> used
>>>>> very little.
>>>>>
>>>>> It has been slow from the beginning.
>>>>>
>>>>> One of the issues was once the computer went into sleep mode it
>>>>> would
>>>>> take forever to wake up so I turned off sleep mode.
>>>>>
>>>>> What I found was hundreds of things running in the background.
>>> Not
>>>>> sure
>>>>> why and it was unclear what was the memory hog.
>>>>>
>>>>> I was puzzled what was going on with the HD. Disk properties
>>> showed
>>>>>
>>>>> 825GB of 915GB free. I tried to scan and it said the disk had
>>>>> issues.
>>>>> So I let it troubleshoot and it fixed it in about 10 minutes. It
>>> did
>>>>> not
>>>>> report what the actual issue was.
>>>>>
>>>>> I monkeyed with the background processes and got the memory usage
>>>>> down
>>>>> to 86%.
>>>>>
>>>>> I know next to nothing about managing windows so I do not want to
>>>>> monkey
>>>>> with it much more.
>>>>>
>>>>> At this point I am thinking of creating a reinstall disk or USB
>>> and
>>>>> while I'm at it instating a SSD. Newegg has some really good
>>> deals
>>>>> on
>>>>> SSD.
>>>>>
>>>>> Since this is a Dell computer I suspect the Win install will not
>>>>> complain about the different HD.
>>>>>
>>>>> Will an OEM install require a key?
>>>>>
>>>>> Any thoughts are most welcome.
>>>>>
>>>>> Keith
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2023-07-07 17:06, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>>>>>> Thank you so much!! Might be a couple days before I can work on
>>>>> it
>>>>>> again. I'll let you know how things go.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2023-07-07 15:40, Michael Butash via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>>>>>>> Task manager and/or Resource Manager should show you where your
>>>>>>> bottlenecks lie, but sounds like either disk (spinner vs ssd),
>>>>> memory,
>>>>>>> or cpu is getting pegged. This should show you what processes
>>>>> are
>>>>>>> using said cpu/memory/io, either kill them, or feed them more
>>>>> hardware
>>>>>>> resources. The sysinternals tools like process explorer and
>>> such
>>>>> are
>>>>>>> also helpful in seeing applications and/or system processes
>>>>> freaking
>>>>>>> out, including more hidden ones.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If still a spinner disk, the best thing you could do is get her
>>>>> any
>>>>>>> SSD to run the OS and primary apps on alone.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Could be windoze is just trashed after a while with
>>> applications
>>>>>>> coming and going, upgrading, breaking stuff, etc. Might be
>>> worth
>>>>>>> trying a clean restore of the system and/or wiping the disks
>>> with
>>>>>>> zero's to reset state ala fragmentation or if ssd, needing a
>>>>> reset
>>>>>>> with secure erase.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -mb
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 7, 2023 at 2:29 PM Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss
>>>>>>> <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> This is mostly off topic given this is a Linux List.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have two separate work areas in my house. I have my home
>>>>> office
>>>>>>>> which
>>>>>>>> is doing well. I am using my Linux Ubuntu desktop to send
>>> this
>>>>>>>> email.
>>>>>>>> My Linux machine is hardwired. This is my main box. I also
>>>>> have a
>>>>>>>> Win
>>>>>>>> 10 Pro laptop that I use to make and edit YouTube videos. My
>>>>>>>> editing
>>>>>>>> software only works on Win and MAC. This laptop is connected
>>>>> via
>>>>>>>> WIFI.
>>>>>>>> No Problems. The O/S loads reasonably fast. My video editing
>>>>>>>> software
>>>>>>>> loads reasonably fast and the rendering process takes a bit
>>> but
>>>>> not
>>>>>>>> too
>>>>>>>> bad. This is a 6 year old HP - nothing fancy and it works.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My wife's office in another spare bedroom and she has a Dell
>>>>>>>> mini-tower
>>>>>>>> Win 10 ... I want to say pro as well.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Here is where I need help. My wife's dell is very slow and has
>>>>>>>> trouble
>>>>>>>> with loading Firefox and it takes a while to load YouTube
>>>>> videos.
>>>>>>>> Even
>>>>>>>> windows takes a while to load which make me think it is a
>>> local
>>>>>>>> problem
>>>>>>>> (the Dell box).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I am reaching out because I do not know how to troubleshoot
>>> this
>>>>>>>> issue.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Any help much appreciated.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Keith
>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>>>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
More information about the PLUG-discuss
mailing list