Windows 7 Temporary unresponsiveness after startup

[Anton17]

[SOLVED] Temporary unresponsiveness after startup

Hi all, I recently bought a refurbished laptop and after fixing most of the problems I've encountered, this one doesn't seem to want to go away.

For a quick run down of specs, I'm running Win7 Home premium 64-bit on an Advent Roma 4001, Intel Dual Core T4400, 4GB RAM and 500GB HD.

During the "Please wait" and "Welcome" messages it can take up to 2 minutes just to log on, but the main problem occurs after logging in. The CPU usage, apart from System Idle Process (of course) is pretty much zero, and the RAM usage is down at about 30MB. Everything seems responsive, however, when I attempt to open a program or process I'm getting incredible lag. If I'm quick enough, I can open up a window or two or a program before the lag strikes. The strange thing is it doesn't actually appear to be unresponsive (apart from when it lags with my internet browser on-screen and the loading animation freezes). The programs all load given time, usually between 2-5 minutes, and for all they run slowly for an amount of time, still run. I don't notice any processes or services that are hogging the memory or being specifically tied to causing the lag after executing them. The slowness is recurrent through every execution I make - through opening windows explorer to my internet browser, a program or just opening up the start menu - everything lags for the same amount of time. Something then just seems to "click" after a while, and everything runs smooth as pie; the programs I've tried to open up all flick on as if they were queued and waiting for something to clear.

I've tried chkdsk, messing around with msconfig, including performing a clean boot by turning off all non-windows process and startup icons within msconfig (and I have kept those settings for every boot, no luck), made sure all drivers are updated and functioning, seeing if the problem occurs in safe mode (it doesn't), checked event viewer for any critical errors (there are none, but a hell of a lot of standard errors, mostly, 7 Disk) no viruses or malware have been found after searches, ran sfc /scannow, checked the memory with a repair disk... I've tried a lot. From other problems with the system I've had to reinstall the OS 3 times and this has occurred on each install, so I'm not going through that again. It doesn't happen for around the first day after an OS install and crops up slowly, which tells me there's something that can be fixed, I just don't know what.

It may be worth noting that I can't seem to do a System Restore, since after running the restore I get a message pop-up after restart that it couldn't locate C:/Windows/assemblys/NativeImages etc... I have tried not to disable services in msconfig since it would delete my restore points, but I'm tempted - the problem may be there.

I haven't tried Driver Verifier (god forbid) and I'm really hoping it's not a hardware issue (since the problem is cured after a few patient minutes, I wouldn't think it was). Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks, Anton.



EDIT: The problem was the services. I was reluctant to tamper with them since it means you lose all your system restore points, but the problem was there. After disabling everything by running 'Diagnostic mode' in msconfig, the problem was gone. I'm still not sure what the service was, but after enabling my critical processes only, voila!

 

[Anton17]

The only other thing I might add is, open the services management console
type services.msc into the search box and hit enter
scroll down to IP Helper and double click it
set the startup type to manual and reboot
see if that helps at all.

Nope. Thanks anyway.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

You can also manage your services from CCleaner.
There are a lot of things that start that are not necessary though nothing like as many as in XP.

I have about half of mine turned off.

Mike

 

[Anton17]

I think it might be good to point out that I still get this lag even after putting the laptop in sleep mode and logging back on. From powering it back up from sleep, everything is instantaneous, as far as logging on goes - then after a few seconds of being back on the desktop the lag kicks in for a few minutes, then everything is ship shape. Maybe it's not down to startup at all?

You can also manage your services from CCleaner.
There are a lot of things that start that are not necessary though nothing like as many as in XP.

I have about half of mine turned off.

Mike

I tried it out, but as far as handling the services CCleaner could only show me the things I've already had turned off (the non-windows processes):

 

[XenAmd777]

Likewise I too have been experiencing this issue. I've seen this happen even after performing clean OS installs, latest drivers, latest BIOS, latest updates, etc. Very annoying. Was going to linux until I kept having problems attaching my network printer. Seriously though, this is getting really annoying.

 

[Anton17]

So it looks like this is unfixable and I'm stuck with it?

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Sorry I didn't mean Services, I meant things that load at startup.
About half of them aren't necessary on my computer, so I just turn them off, but I don't remove them.

I will admit that there are a lot less of them in Windows 7 then there were in Xp.

I see that you have a lot less of them then I do.

It's interesting that I don't see entries for your sound and video, keyboard, and mouse.
Those are always visible on my computer.

 

[Elmer]

I'd still be highly tempted to disable the Windows Update Service (Services.msc) for a while to see if that makes a difference.

 

[TorrentG]

I'd still be highly tempted to disable the Windows Update Service (Services.msc) for a while to see if that makes a difference.

Ehh, that's extremely light on resources and wouldn't cause any issues at all. Besides that, by default, it's already set to delayed startup.

 

[Anton17]

I've already changed Windows Update to manual.

As I said, it still occurs after awakening the computer from sleep mode, which may mean it's nothing to do with startup processes.

I'm also unable to perform a successful System Restore. When shutting down, SR runs and I get the message "System Restore is complete." after it's done it's loading, and then on booting back up to the desktop I get an error message saying it couldn't transfer a file (not always the same one).

I'm all out of ideas. I've tried a repair disk and the only thing I can think of is disabling Windows processes, and I don't much like the idea of that.

 

[Anton17]

Well I've cracked it! It was in the services (see the original starting post, now edited).

I'm not out of the woods yet. Does anyone have a list of critically advised services for an operational Windows? I've enabled Themes, Desktop Management and Networking so far, but I'm still lacking things like troubleshooting and System Restore. Is there a list of processes I should enable without all the crap?

I haven't tried this after disabling the services, but System Restore seems to be at fault. As mentioned in an earlier post: "When shutting down, SR runs and I get the message "System Restore is complete." after it's done it's loading, and then on booting back up to the desktop I get an error message saying it couldn't transfer a file (not always the same one)."

 

[TorrentG]

Concentrate on 3rd party services and not Microsoft ones. VMWare particularly comes to mind here, if you have that.

 

[Anton17]

Concentrate on 3rd party services and not Microsoft ones. VMWare particularly comes to mind here, if you have that.

Do you mean to identify which one was causing the problem? If so, the problem still occurred after disabling all non-windows services. The problem was with a windows service.

 

[TorrentG]

Wow, really? Then I'd suspect your antivirus playing a role or something else affecting the Windows services. They are perfect on their own.

I would definitely disable the Windows Search service. That does cause freezes but that is normal, expected operation at times. Not defective.

You can remove whichever antivirus you have in safe mode with this tool:

AV Uninstallers - Windows 7 Forums

Then reboot and see how it goes. If good, replace with MSE. If not, re-install your original A/V if you want. (Norton and AVG are notorious.)

You can also have a look at BlackViper's site which is well respected amongst the community:

Link Removed

Scroll down and you'll see.

 

[Anton17]

I've stated in response to your advice earlier in the thread that my Antivirus already is MSE, and it's turned off.

The Windows Search service is enabled and has given me no problems, I personally find it quite useful since it means I don't have to hotlink the 'RUN' command!

After looking through the Windows services there was a LOT that I didn't need and were pretty useless. I just have to kind of filter out the ones I need.

Edit: Ohhh, That BlackViper list looks useful, thanks!

 

[TorrentG]

The Windows Search service is enabled and has given me no problems, I personally find it quite useful since it means I don't have to hotlink the 'RUN' command!

Have you tested a reboot while this was disabled though, for troubleshooting purposes, anyhow?

You're welcome. Good luck.

 

[Anton17]

Have you tested a reboot while this was disabled though, for troubleshooting purposes, anyhow?

You're welcome. Good luck.

Yup, made no effect for me.

 

[TorrentG]

Here is how I configure all of my machines and never have the slightest issue to speak of. Perhaps you can use it as a guide to see what I have disabled.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Go to Black Viper's website and check out the setting for Windows 7.
This is the main site for tweaking Windows settings.

Black Viper's Web Site

I've used it for years.

Just print out the services configuration for your version of Windows and sit down and work your way through them.

Everything is clearly explained.

Mike