Choppy gameplay in ALL games??? HELP!

[eye_suc]

OK you geniuses out there. I have this very weird thing going on with my system, which started yesterday after having windows XP sp2 running fine for more than 7 months.

in my processes explorer.exe seems to spike (not 100% like some of the older spyware used to do) with up to 50% cpu usage, but normally spiking no more than 20% usage. This causes all the games, and even FIREFOX to lag when scrolling.

The spike occurs like clockwork every 1.5 seconds or so and lasts a few miliseconds, but this is enough to make all games unplayable and the system a total pain to use. I know its explorer causing it, since i can launch BF2 and then "end process" explorer.exe and all will be fine, till i restart explorer again.

I have most uptodate norton running (finds nothing), MS Spyware thingy finds nothing as well. I have also tried re expanding the original explorer.ex_ from the windows xp install disc, but this did not work.

Any thoughts? I do not wish to reinstall windows right now (lack of HDD space for backups).

 

[Toxin]

Your lack of HDD space might be the problem. What size drive you got? Is it partitioned? How much space left per partition?

 

[eye_suc]

160GB drive. no partitions, just single partition

it is at 15% free

 

[Toxin]

Last time defragged?

 

[killadoob]

firsly eye suc get rid of norton its crappy always problems with it
dont think it will help
pm me if you want a good antivirus

secondly go to start run type msconfig
check that there nothing funny running

make sure all p2p program are closed because bearshare and edonkey cause huge cpu spikes

defrag like toxin said

reloading windows you dont need to back anything up, all that happens to it deletes the existing windows directory so only your program will need reinstalling

also there is something running on your computer thats making it spike ctrl alt delete
go to proccesses and watch for something that goes to 50 or 30 because thats where your problem is


make sure you have no firewalls enabled, what ppl use those for im not sure but with norton you should use one because norton missed alot of bad stuff.

norton is rated the 8th best virus scanner yet its the most widely bought?
kinda like mecer if you ask me, kuk computer but good name

one thing i do is the make windows run on its own drive incase anything happens and its help that drive with windows loaded is not full slows it down but thats not your problem

 

[Strobemeister]

Just to add:
When checking msconfig, look for a ticked tickbox with no name next to it, that was my culprit when i had similar performance issues, uncheck, save, then set about identifying.

 

[sburrell]

sp2, theres you problem right there. Why are u using sp2, its the worst upgrade to a system that microsoft have ever made. It makes you system highly unstable for games, and i wouldn't recommend installing it.

 

[mikkelz_za]

I haven't had any game-related problems with SP2 installed.

 

[bb_matt]

I've had problems with windows installed.

 

[MaD]

after having windows XP sp2 running fine for more than 7 months.

Why did you install SP2!?! arrrghh!

norton ... MS Spyware

*cough*

Installing SP2 has signalled the end of many a PC's performance.

 

[Nom Chompsky]

Go to www.blackviper.com and look for what SP2 services to disable.

 

[useless]

lol... SP2 to blame?

eye_suc, like mentioned before you seem to have some kind of virus which is preloading itself in the system shell. other than checking your msconfig settings you might want to run a scan of your system with an updated antivirus in SAFE mode.

if all comes to no avail then try to system restore your system to a previous date which you know your system worked fine. that is if your system restore is enabled. most people disable it anyways.

 

[cybercloud]

Try uninstalling your antivirus, had the same problem trying to play C+C generals and when I uninstalled mcafee (spelling?) everything was 100%.
Which is why I don't any antivirus anymore, system restore works if I ever have a prob.

 

[Strobemeister]

ditto, cybercloud, i have a firewall, thats it. Once a week i visit www.antivirus.com and run their pattern through my system, just in case.

 

[gkm]

I had the same problem a couple of months ago when I accidently installed the wrong version of UltraEdit and uninstalled it again. I do not think UltraEdit itself was to be blamed, just Windows getting its DLL's mixed up. I then installed the right version of UltraEdit, but the problem continues. This all happened just a week after I got the machine. In the end I had to re-install Windows to clear up the problem. It was also Windows XP SP2.

SP2 came pre-installed on the machine, so people, please do not abuse me as well about installing it.

 

[Darth Garth]

SP2 just works great for me ... but then I buy my games and don't d/l them or use dubious cracks to play them

Only had one issue with a game (Freedom Force) and SP2 which was documented by Microsoft and a patch was available a few months afterwards by the developer.

 

[LabAnimal]

1. Goto Start, Run - MSCONFIG. Click Startup - Deselect EVERYTHING except the ones you know your system uses. if you don't know - Deselect it - you can always re-enable them later. - REBOOT.
2. don't un-install any antivirus software just yet. First get/use some software to scan for spyware once done, if you have software to clean the registry, USE IT. REBOOT the pc in SAFE MODE and use your existing antivirus software to scan and repair...
3. when you're done with Steps 1 and 2 - see if the problem is still there with your msconfig the way it is... if so... i suggest that reinstall someone mentioned. IF not... start re-enabling and testing to see where the problem is.

once all is cleared up - GET RID OF NORTONS! it might be good, but it slows your pc down. I would recommend Cheap and Nasty - AVGFree or Fsecure. (not everybody would agree - each to their own.)

2 choises - all of the above and fix the problem to prevent it from happening again OR... take the easy and frustrating way out - reformat/reinstall.

Good luck to you. -t

 

[eye_suc]

well, dont know how it happened but my system ran fine again last night (was away for the weekend). i installed directX again (FEAR demo wanted to do it, so i let it), restarted windows, and all was fine. Well, no more lag while playing games. Go figure. Although, it might be working now cause i pressed the reset button after FEAR didnt want to launch properly and prevented me from closing it (nice feature). NOW i dont want to shut down my pc again, for fear of the problem returning.

anyhow, SP2 hasnt given me problems. it was always working fine and goes for MONTHS of vigorous usage (installing and uninstalling demos, games, applications) and I go LAN regularly at a big LAN (200+ people per pop).

all the advice will be tested though. will try some msconfig stuff and a few free AV tools (tried stinger a couple of times).

you guys are cool! just mention a problem and BAM! sollutions by the dozen!