# Computer question for DoperSuperBrains **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171 "2003-07-13T16:36:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/1 "2003-07-13T16:36:07Z")
About 2 weeks ago, my computer suddenly starting hiccuping. It will run for about 15-20 seconds, then freeze for 2-3 seconds. I’ve scanned for viruses and spyware, nothing there. Watching the Windows Task Manager looking at CPU activity does not reveal any wierdo process coming up and running. There are no background tasks running that shouldn’t be. As you might imagine, this really throws a kink into my gameplaying. Watching my armies march across the screen and pause every 15 seconds or so is really starting to suck bigtime. Any suggestions? BTW - Windows XP, all service packs current. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/2 "2003-07-13T16:54:44Z")
Proc speed? Type of video and sound card? 3D graphics accelerator? Just gathering this info on behalf of those who might need it, since I don’t know wtf is up with your pc:) ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/3 "2003-07-13T17:01:28Z")
Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | Event Viewer Any events logged that correspond to the date/time of your “hiccups”? MeanJoe ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/4 "2003-07-13T17:58:40Z")
Maybe some of your memory went bad and you’re paging more than you were? ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/5 "2003-07-13T18:10:43Z")
Heat problems on the processor maybe? That’s my best guess. Check the temp of the CPU when it starts to hiccup. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/6 "2003-07-13T18:59:52Z")
The only time I saw this kind of behavior it turned out someone’s wife had secretly installed a background website and keystroke logging program on the PC. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/7 "2003-07-13T19:03:38Z")
Is the HD running during these pauses? Otherwise, I agree with New & Improved Scott (interesting nick)…sounds like you might have an overheating issue. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/8 "2003-07-13T19:09:22Z")
Keystroke logging or bad memory pages does sound possible. In the case of an overheating processor, generally you’ll get spontaneous shut downs or reboots of the system, not just a slowdown. Another suggestion: Might be the hard drive itself. Either bad sectors, or just corrupt data. Run a full scandisk with physical scanning, followed by a defragmentation of the HD, and see if that improves the situation. Good luck with it, oh turtle of a wizardly mein. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/9 "2003-07-13T19:38:30Z")
There’s no HD activity, so it’s not swapping itself to death, and the event viewer doesn’t show anything out of the ordinary. I followed up on the heat idea from N&I Scott, to the point where I shut down, opened the case and blew any accumulated dust off the heatsink vanes. The fan’s working ok, so it’s not a circulation problem. However, cleaning the vanes was done in vane (heh, heh), as The Damn Thing ™ is still hiccupping. I think it’s time for an upgrade and my computer is telling me so. Now if it would only tell me where to find the money to perform said upgrade… ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/10 "2003-07-13T19:58:26Z")
FWIW many snoop viruses and event loggers can make themselves invisible to the event viewer. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/11 "2003-07-13T22:07:01Z")
" In the case of an overheating processor, generally you’ll get spontaneous shut downs or reboots of the system, not just a slowdown." I got a slowdown on one of my computers that has temp monitoring built in. I just set the temp in the bios higher. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/12 "2003-07-14T02:13:25Z")
Like I said, generally. Rebooting is one of the most common (IME) responses to overheating, but by no means the only possible one. Just for ha-has, how much was your temp monitored system overheating? Are we talking a minor temp increase (two degrees or so), or catastrophic heat sink failure, here? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/13 "2003-07-19T01:26:37Z")
An update, with a happy ending. I’m posting this in case someone else has this problem occur. I had tried rebooting numerous times and could not get the problem to clear up. Today, for no good reason other than sheer desperation, I powered down. And I mean down - after the shutdown finished, I turned the whole nine yards off with the master switch on the power strip. Powered up, and voila - problem is gone. Ain’t that wierd? Thanks to all the folks who tried to help. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-question-for-dopersuperbrains/188171/14 "2003-07-19T15:56:25Z")
Yep, it’s usually best to unplug it from wall for a full minute, this really resets everything. A minute too, not 20 seconds 🙂 Works for just about any appliance, tvs, vcrs, etc.