Hey, I am trying to get my desktop up and running, but for some reason the system slows to a crawl.

it is a AMD 1.2, 768md sdram, 30gig hd, radeon9000 pro.

in the taskmanager, two things alternate between the 99% of CPU usage.

Services.exe and lsass.exe

any ideas why?

I dunno, i get the same problem with a similer setup (AMD 1.4, 256 DDR SDRAM, 80 GB Master 8 GB Windows/Slave, Radeon 9200)

My buggy program is sysconfig

Services I think is the program running the messenger program(the one u get ads from). Try disabling that in msconfig . I did and it fixed the problem on my dad's computer.

Perhaps Services is trying to start something that won't start, and puts in all the CPU resources...

well still no luck in this ..

i have tried to disable all non essential things from startup hoping to see what happens. It gets into windows then a few seconds later... the CPU usage sky rockets to 100%

I mean all that has happened to the system is...

Wheni got home from uni, WIN98Se wouldnt boot missing a whoiloe pile of virtual device drivers. SO i went through my format and putting on XP pro... however during install i was often told cannot read from cd... which was almost literally taken of a new pkg, i also tried a scratched up one same msg.. but reads on every other computer fine. other than telling it to "RETRY" finding the file on CD nothing unusual happened.

could my HD have anything to do with this? I hear grinding noises which i believe it to be makin.. DK advised to double check that it was HD and not a FAN.

put simply

1. hd grinding noises are *BAD* if its not a fan and def the drive - do a complete backup of any imporant stuff on it either backing it up to another HD or to floppies if need be. you might need to boot into dos to do this if the windows issue is stopping you.

2. bad installs can cause all manner of problems - if you didnt get a clean install then reformat and go again, check your ram boards by removing one (if you have multiple) and doing an install with just one - if it works then run memtest or something simlar on your ram. if you get a bad or error messaged install then remove the ram and put the other one back in and go again. etc...

3. failing both this, see if you can borrow a mates xp disk, use your own serial for installing obviously as you'll need to activate it. if this doesnt work. then assuming your hardisk is okay i'd drop down to either windows 2k or 98se again and try an install of that.

4. ar you using xp pro with service pack 1 or 2 or is it the release version - perhaps you've hit a bug in the original release?

5. i'm pretty much out of ideas for now but i like the number five

good luck mate,

Awai.

well it is legally allowed to install XP pro on one laptop and one desktop with same key.. Info from MS certified Tech.

its SP1 or sp1a

From what i have research.. the cpu hogging is more of a RAM issue.. like you suggested.

it also comes up to a WINDOWS IS NOW STARTIING up page and stays there for a WHILE! then waits for a while on the WELCOME screen.

Hmmm... If your HD is making noises of any kind of scratching/grinding noises, that is a very likely problem. Those noises generally mean that you HD is about to become a useless of metal quite soon. It could be a faulty disk that's preventing Windows from operating normally and having trouble loading necessary resources. The fact that your system is hanging on Windows startup could also be caused by this. Since you mentioned various errors during Windows installation... I would put some blame on that, but the fact that it reads fine on other PCs rules that out. The best way to test the HD theory would be to pop out your HD and go hook it up into another rig that works. If the problem persists, then you should probably (as said) completely reformat (eliminating any possible software problem), reinstall, and try again. If the OS works fine on another rig, then there's a problem somewhere else in your hardware. Try booting up with different RAM sticks and see if the problem persists. I would possibly suggest a problem with your CPU or mobo, but generally faulty mobos/CPUs result in much more dramatic system errors.

Try another CD-rom drive if you have access to it. Also, try scheduling chkdsk to run during startup. You may well have several bad clusters on the harddrive.

thanks, for the overwhelming responses here. I have tried changing the RAM disks,one or the other ram stick, in different slots.. since i started with the Ram it got EVEN slower.

I have 2 cdroms.. a CDRW which works, and a CDROM (8years old) that is burned out. and an non functioning DVDROM.

Do a mem test like awai suggested, you can do with with a bootdisk which is usualy included with the memtest thingy.

For not booting all the way. You might want to disconnect all devices except for the bare minimal (Mouse, keyboard). Might be a faulty driver that is loaded and doesn't release it's resources...

well... i decided to try the fresh install..

I cannot format beyond 35%..

retry.....

now 14%.....

again

passing 50%.....semms to be hokding at 77%

4th try finished.....

now reformattingin NTFS

it took quite a few tries to get the format going but i did,... and know it is flying...


thanks everyonE!

I had a similar read issue with the CD during an XP installation. I found switching the cd into my other drive would recover a few files, but then it would have the same problems on different files .... was a nightmare! Finally got it up and running only to find the services controlling net connections did not install correctly so I couldn't even setup a connection to the net and get the missing files off a mate ... GRRR!
After hours and hours of frustration trying to get it working, I ended up doing a new install using a mates Cd the next day.
Even so, I still have occassions were the CPU usage spikes right up and stays there... the machine slows to a crawl, even open up a new browser window takes 5 secs or more.
I used to have W2K prior to this and it was lightning fast and just as stable ... I miss it and will be sorting out a new partition for W2K soon. Then use W2K for daily use then XP just for games.