Dell c640 interrupts every second???

[dennis123]

My dell c640 performs some kind of interrupt every second or so for a few milliseconds.

This is win2k with sp4 and rollup installed.

You can hear it stop mp3 music. Very annoying.

Makes games hesitate. Poor

Move the mouse pointer across the screen and you see it stop in time with it.

What the heck is going on?

It did this immediately after I got the notebook and with a fresh win2k install. I didn't even get on the internet so I don't think it's a virus.

Is this a win2k problem or was it some faulty drivers from dell? Got the latest drivers.

I am very puzzled

 

[dwellman]

One way to troubleshoot this without too much of a hassle is to quickly load an alternative OS via a live CD (recommend Bart PE as it is Windows based). See if the hardware glitch continues.

 

[dennis123]

Thanks dwellman for cluing me in to bart pe. I have not used that before.

I don't see any glitch problems with bart running.

I sort of figured that. It probably is some software running in the back ground
in win2k.

I can see it using cpu time when looking at the performance monitor.

I have tried turning off programs to see which one was doing it but there
are some programs you cannot terminate.

With only those left running the problem was still there.

Probably something to do with win2k.

 

[dwellman]

Right. I was thinking about your problem, and I have experienced it myself-- but I do not remember if it was. . . hmm, yeah, I think it was Windows 2000. For the most part, Windows 2000 was way better than the Chicago kernel based OSes around at the time, but it still had it's issues. Compatibility mostly. What you should do is launch Task Manager and sort Processes by CPU usage and see what floats to the top.

I think, though you should uninstall all the drivers AND software for any hardware you can-- especially audio and mouse.

When I acquire a "new" laptop, I donload all the drivers to CD-ROM or a Flash drive to keep handy. I download as many as i can from the OEM (not the integrator, e.g. Dell) as I can. In your case, this is:

Install in this order:
Intel (845MP, possibly wireless)
ATI (7500)*
Cirrus Logic (CS4205)
Dell (modem, possibly wireless)

If the official mobile graphics drivers from ATI fail to install, you can use Mobility Modder .NET to get 'em on.

I usually never install mouse, keyboard, or touchpad drivers unless absolutely necessary

 

[dennis123]

I ran the cpu processes. These seem to be the top users.

winmgmt.exe
system idle process
smc.exe
svchost.exe

winmgmt.exe says it's a needed system process and can't be ended.

system idle process I guess is self explanatory.

The bottom 2 I didn't try to end yet. Don't know what their for.

Most of the processes below that are bouncing around so much it's
hard to tell.

 

[kenzz0]

Take out the battery and see if it's still doing it while is powered only by AC adapter. I know it sounds weird but faulty batteries can cause this fault. I have seen it in the past.

 

[dennis123]

Yes it does do t with the battery out. I think it's worse with the battery out.

This has to be some application running in the background sucking up cpu time.

 

[kenzz0]

check hard drive for bad or slow sectors. Use MHDD. If hard drive OK, try full format and install XP

 

[dwellman]

nmgmt.exe

Yes it does do t with the battery out. I think it's worse with the battery out.

Interesting. . . I wonder what would happen if you disable power management in the BIOS and additionally try tochange, disable, or cripple it in windows 2000-- One is to set your power profile to 'Always On' in both cases (On Ac Power / On Battery) and the more drastic measure is to switch you vomputer from ACPI compliant to Standard PC.

You know, Fedora is a fantastic operating system. . . .

 

[dennis123]

keenzzo are you saying that win2k is causing this problem? It may be,
but I don't have the option right now of re-installing the os.

Actually I don't like xp and really don't want anything to do with it.
Don't want to participate in the online registration thing. thanks
And I don't have access to xp corporate.

dwellman thanks for your ideas. I thought this was going be an easy fix.
I just can't believe that a 2ghz processor is being overloaded to the point
of causing these symptoms.

I've tried the linux thing(ubuntu). I'm not that familiar with fedora but I think linux has a way to go yet.

Unfortunately this is my daughters computer and has her collage stuff on
it so I won't be doing an os redo today.

It is very usable, it was just interrupting her mp3's and games. She'll have
to use the desktop for that I guess.
thanks

 

[dwellman]

Ah!

1)You can skip registration with XP, or at least I alwyas have. But you may be .thinking about 'activation'. Wel, I've never had to do that either (well, not more than once and it was for Windows Server 2003). Activation is quite painless and those having a genuine copy of XP should never have any problems whatsoever.

2) Depending on where the daughter goes to school, the school might have a Campus Agreement with Microsoft to provide students with a license to use certain Microsoft products such as XP, Vista, Office, Visio, ect. . . at the cost of media and / or other production costs. OR you can try, and this is a long shot, but still an interesting thing: Microsoft DreamSpark program Windows 2003 and 2008 available to students for free.

3) You should, if you haven't already, back up that drive as soon as possible. Best way to to remove the drive and mount it in an external enclosure or use an 44 to 40 pin EIDE adapter (making sure to connect it CORRECTLY) mounting internally in a desktop.

4) Issues like this is one of the main reasons I switched from Windowss 2000 to XP as soon as I could.

 

[dennis123]

Well see there is the thing right there. She has a valid copy of xp on her desktop.
Not going to spend another $100 for a copy on the notebook.

I don't even think that xp is available off the shelf any more since
microscrew no longer supports it.
I wouldn't mind getting a corporate copy of xp.

Vista is $150. That's not going to happen. Although I was somewhat impressed with vista on my son's computer.

I have another very similar c640 with win2k on it and it doesn't have this
problem.

I already backed up her stuff.

I will just try a clean install this summer and see what happens.

 

[dwellman]

Still, I'd check with the campus book shop or IT services to find if the school has an agreement with Microsoft to provide software to students. We're generally talking about prices between $0 and $20.

 

[dennis123]

I will check on that dwellman. Thanks for letting me know.