Sounds like some program is using up the CPU. To find out which programs are 
using the CPU you can do a "ctrl-alt-del" and go to the processes screen and 
click on CPU to list the running processes in order of CPU use (high to 
low). With the computer idling (only running background programs) the System 
Idle Process should be a high number (90 +/- %) with other processes using 
small (2-5%) increments of CPU. If one or more processes are using high 
amounts of CPU, you should investigate them and, if not required (or an 
unwanted program) you should eliminate them or stop them from loading until 
needed.

I hope this helps.

Tom Mayer

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "PawleysGrits" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 5:17 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Suspected Hardware Problem


I am seeking help with a vexing problem; here is the background and the
symptoms:

The system is "white box" Pentium 4, 80 GB HDD (50 GB free, recently scanned
and defragged), 2 x 512 MB memory, Win XP Pro w/SP-2, completely up-to-date
with all Microsoft critical updates, all of the usual firewall,
anti-virus/anti-spy/anti-spam, all up-to-date, and all recently run in
"safe" mode.

The system has begun to slow down considerably, which is most noticable when
web pages are loading (I use RoadRunner, and have checked the connection
with good results), and when the screen saver is running - - the pages are
quite "jerky" as they populate the screen.

Last November, the power supply was replaced, as was the case cooling fan.
A week ago, the system would not boot; the corrective action I took then was
to turn it off for awhile (it stays on all of the time), then boot it to
"Safe" mode, run all of the diagnostics, after which all seemed "right",
except for the slowness I am now reporting.

After ruling out all software issues I know to rule out, I now suspect
either the video controller or the disk controller, but cannot verify or
validate either and am seeking held to diagnose these devices.

Thanks in advance for your (collective) attention to this issue.

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