Author Topic: System stuttering (Read 833 times)

daddog · « **on:** July 06, 2001, 08:00:00 PM »

For about two weeks now my system has been "stuttering" for lack of a better term. It does not matter what I am doing. Happens when I am in Aces High, typing e-mails, reading BB's etc. It just starts to lock up and frees up every second or so for about 30 seconds. I installed Dx8 and that actually took away the problem for about 2 days then it started up again. Several have suggested that something is running in the background taking up resources but I don't know what it could be.

Flying is getting more difficult/frustrating as it can and has happened at the worst times.

PIII 450
MS 6163
128 Ram
Viper 770 Ultra
Sound Blaster Live Value
2 15 Gig HD's both are about 1/3 full

Resources on boot up are about 80%. No conflicts in the device manager. I had not installed anything when this had started. Have McAffee virus scan and it is clean. Could it be my video card or processor?

grizz · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2001, 09:13:00 PM »

Hi daddog,

I just recently had this problem with Zonealarm. vsmon (zonealarm program) kept trying to access the internet and couldn't.I had to uninstall zonealarm and can't reinstall it. It won't install properly anymore.

Hit alt/ctrl/del once and see what is
running. Shutdown everything but systray and explorer. See if that makes a difference.

daddog · « **Reply #2 on:** July 08, 2001, 10:13:00 AM »

Will try that grizz. I do have zone alarm and actually can't run Aces High with it. It "always" locks up though I have set to to allow Aces High to host. I will see what else is running and turn them off one by one.

214thCavalier · « **Reply #3 on:** July 08, 2001, 10:37:00 AM »

With Zonealarm set it up to allow connect for local and internet.
You do NOT need to set it up to be a server at least not for normal MA etc play.
Maybe if you host a H2H game it would be needed but thats for you to experiment with.
Also under properties for AH in Zonealarm easiest to set it up to allow to connect to all ports and protocols.
If having reinstall problems make sure the Zonelabs folder in Windows\system has been deleted before reinstalling.

bloom25 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 08, 2001, 08:04:00 PM »

Do you have Microsoft Office by chance?

Try disabling fastfind if you do.

sprint · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2001, 11:27:00 PM »

Mr Daddog. Go to> http://www.4techsys.com/krnltoys.exe

and install the KernelToys package and run
WinTop.exe ..that will tell you not only what programs are running but how much resources your using, very interesting.
Get a process monitor that allows you to kill processes. I suggestProcess Monitor from here
http://www.leinen.com/software/system.htm

Between Wintop and the Process Monitor you should be able to determine What/If program is causing your grief.

*Have you made any BIOS changes?
*Is your machine dusty inside? Could cause some heat problems.
*What was the last program you install?, anything for Winamp or anything like that.
*Did you change drivers of any sort?

Perhaps you could copy your system.ini file and post it for the guru's to look at .. maybe its something in there.

sprint
*MOL*

flakbait · « **Reply #6 on:** July 09, 2001, 05:47:00 AM »

If you got rid of ZoneAlarm 2.6 (whatever latest version is) look for a file called "vsdata**.vdx". If you find it, kill it. That was my problem for nearly three days, plus it cut off internet access since ZA wasn't installed. This could be your problem too.

And about Fast Find; turn it off or get rid of it if possible. It chews up resources like crazy, eats hard drive space alive, and is the most useless piece of junk ever invented. So naturally M$ decided to stick it in with every copy of Winblows.

-----------------------
Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta Six's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High
"During the Battle of Britain the question 'fighter or fighter-bomber?'
had been decided once and for all: The fighter can only be used as a bomb carrier
with lasting effect when sufficient air superiority has been won." Adolph Galland

[ 07-09-2001: Message edited by: flakbait ]

janneh · « **Reply #7 on:** July 10, 2001, 11:50:00 PM »

Hi daddog!

Do you have win2k? I recall win2k has its own fastfind-like HD "performance" software, which should be disabled too.

bloom25 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 11, 2001, 01:16:00 AM »

In win2k all you have to do is go to run and type "diskperf -n"

This will generate an error log in the system logs though, but nothing bad will happen.

grizz · « **Reply #9 on:** July 11, 2001, 02:33:00 AM »

Thx flakbait,

Had that vsdata95.vxd file in windows/temp folder. Its a .dll file and was hidden. Didn't see it the first time around.

Eaglecz · « **Reply #10 on:** July 11, 2001, 04:45:00 AM »

Hi
If you wanna useing firewall , then try set up it first. im useing Atguard and it working well

daddog · « **Reply #11 on:** July 11, 2001, 09:23:00 AM »

Hi guys! Thanks for all the help!

Bloom I have Win 98 and I do have Microsoft Office. banana had mentioned "fast find" before to me but I could not find it. In my programs listing I have word, excel, publisher, power point, outlook, access, and Microsoft Small Business tools. Any idea where I would find "fast find"? All I have used so far is word and excel.

Sprint I will try those links today!

Quote

*Have you made any BIOS changes? *Is your machine dusty inside? Could cause some heat problems. *What was the last program you install?, anything for Winamp or anything like that. *Did you change drivers of any sort?

I did install winamp come to think of it, but it is not running when this happens. And yes it was dusty but I gave it a good cleaning.

Flak still have zone alarm. I just turn it off prior to flying. I when I ctl/alt/del it is not listed as running.

Janneh I have win 98 here.

Sprint I will post my ini file if what you all gave me does not work.

[ 07-11-2001: Message edited by: daddog ]

straffo · « **Reply #12 on:** July 11, 2001, 09:37:00 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by daddog:
Bloom I have Win 98 and I do have Microsoft Office. banana had mentioned "fast find" before to me but I could not find it. In my programs listing I have word, excel, publisher, power point, outlook, access, and Microsoft Small Business tools. Any idea where I would find "fast find"? All I have used so far is word and excel.

Look in start menu\programs\startup it should be here.

Lephturn · « **Reply #13 on:** July 11, 2001, 09:38:00 AM »

Executing diskperf -n will disable your hard drive performance counters in 2k, which is fine. In Windows NT 4.0 all disk counters for Performance Monitor were turned off by default. In Windows 2000 the Physical Disk object is turned on by default and the Logial Disk object is turned off by default. You can ensure 2k doesn't waste time monitoring your physical disk by disabling the physical disk counters. It is a small performance hit to have them enabled.

Check your Services applet (Start-Admin Tools-Services or Start-Admin tools-Computer management) and make sure your Indexing service is disabled. That will fix it.

Set the service to disabled and Win2k won't index anything. I've mucked with my machine enough that I don't know if that service is on by default or not in Professional, but you should definately check to ensure your machine isn't indexing everything.

Lephturn · « **Reply #14 on:** July 11, 2001, 09:44:00 AM »

Oh and a bit more detail about FastFind.

FastFind is installed with the Office suite, not with windows. If you go to add/remove software and choose "change", or run Office setup and choose "Add/Remove", you can remove the FastFind service from your Office install. I believe it can be found under the "Office Tools" heading in the setup for Office 2k. If you are ever installing Office, be sure to do a custom install, and don't include FastFind or that horrible Office toolbar. I'm not certain you can disable "office startup" this way, but if not be sure to check yout "Startup" folder in your start menu and remove "Office Startup" from there. It's another useless "feature" that you don't want on a gaming box.