sound stuttering

[twomill]

hi people,
can anyone help me. for the last three weeks my computer has been slowing down really badly.biggest problem is that the sound stutters when i play a music file or go onto youtube also speed of internet connection seems to be affected and it takes ages for computer to boot up in the first place.
any ideas? i've tried loads of scans etc but not any closer to finding the problem.
thanks ,twomill

 

[Spectre]

Let us know what operating system you are using and if you have recently installed any software or hardware.

From what you say I will guess that something is using up your CPU time. This could be a process from a program that is not working properly or a virus or spyware.

If you can get to the Task Manager (usually by CTRL+ALT+Delete under Windows) and then select the "Processes" tab you will be able to see what's using the CPU as long as the process is not hidden.

 

[gasman]

Had this same problem not long back ..Scans found nothing cpu usage was minimal in the end it turned out my cpu fan was failing and the cpu getting hot caused all the slow downs. Have a nosey at your core temps if you cant find anything in task manager. I use "speedfan" to check cpu temps. I quick google will locate it. Might well be the cause especially in this hot weather..Good luck.

 

[little_pob]

With the recent warm weather I'm going to offer up the usual suspect of dust build up around the CPU, RAM and/or graphics card...

Crack the side of the case off and check around the CPU's heat sink, the RAM and the heat sink on the graphics card for dust build up. If there is excessive dust build up either grab a can of compressed air (available from Maplin, Staples and some PC World stores), an air compressor or the vacuum cleaner (but not the brush attachment).

Do not remove the CPU heat sink unless you have new Thermal Interface Material (TIM), e.g. Arctic Silver V.

 

[twomill]

sorry for getting back to you guys sooner but i was trying a few things. i thing that there are hidden processes going on. i'm getting high values in system idle even though i'm not running anything. i'm still scanning and checking everything but not detecting anything . by the way i'm running xp if that helps

 

[little_pob]

System idle will always be a high number if you are not doing anything.

 

[techquest]

I would go along with the dust issue and also could be that the themal paste between CPU and heatsink has dried out and needs to be replaced. Use something like arctic silver.

Also take a look at what is going on with the processes by using sysinternals ProcessExplorer. It's free and you can get it on the following link.

Process Explorer