High memory usage

[Stuart]

Someone please help me troubleshoot this over the phone. I really don't want to drive to where the PC is.

A friend called me this morning saying that his laptop gets very sluggish (starting about two weeks ago), and according to the Windows 7 CPU Usage Meter gadget, it's using 95-99% memory. I got him to open task manager and it confirms this usage. He has a P8800 CPU, 3GB RAM, running Windows 7 Professional X64.

My initial reaction was to tell him to download and install Spybot and Adaware and run scans. He has done so with Spybot, with no major concerns. I told him to go ahead with Adaware too in the meantime, just in case.

When he called me, all he had open was Skype and his Vodacom Connect software, and his memory usage was hovering around 97%. CPU usage was getting no higher than 3%. Under the Processes tab in Task Manager, the biggest memory user was Spybot's TeaTimer.exe, which was running 20 000K.

He uses Avast. He decided to install AVG this morning too as an added measure, so I told him to uninstall one of them, or even both and try MSSE to see if that makes any difference.

What do I tell him next?

[Monty]

tell him to click show processes from all users

[Stuart]

Did that already (sorry, should have added that), but still nothing unusual showing.

[SykomantiS]

Shot in the dark here, pagefile, or lack thereof? Would that impact memory mangement in a negative way?

[KillerByte]

if the system hasn't really been touched then page file should be in place. EVen that would not explain the high memory usage.

Try deleting System 32. LOL

[rustypup]

1) these things don't magically start happening without the assistance of a budding genius
2) if it's presenting from login, it still sounds very much like conflicting AVs

let's enquire as to what happened about 2 weeks ago and go from there...

[Bladerunner]

When he called me, all he had open was Skype and his Vodacom Connect software, and his memory usage was hovering around 97%. CPU usage was getting no higher than 3%. Under the Processes tab in Task Manager, the biggest memory user was Spybot's TeaTimer.exe, which was running 20 000K.

Has he installed / updated any drivers?

Also try this application: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysi ... 96653.aspx

[Stuart]

Possibly, but it would only be through Windows Update.

[Bladerunner]

Possibly, but it would only be through Windows Update.

I edited my post. Check the link to the application I posted.

[wizardofid]

Someone please help me troubleshoot this over the phone. I really don't want to drive to where the PC is.

A friend called me this morning saying that his laptop gets very sluggish (starting about two weeks ago), and according to the Windows 7 CPU Usage Meter gadget, it's using 95-99% memory. I got him to open task manager and it confirms this usage. He has a P8800 CPU, 3GB RAM, running Windows 7 Professional X64.

My initial reaction was to tell him to download and install Spybot and Adaware and run scans. He has done so with Spybot, with no major concerns. I told him to go ahead with Adaware too in the meantime, just in case.

When he called me, all he had open was Skype and his Vodacom Connect software, and his memory usage was hovering around 97%. CPU usage was getting no higher than 3%. Under the Processes tab in Task Manager, the biggest memory user was Spybot's TeaTimer.exe, which was running 20 000K.

He uses Avast. He decided to install AVG this morning too as an added measure, so I told him to uninstall one of them, or even both and try MSSE to see if that makes any difference.

What do I tell him next?

Virus infection....?. It is possible that avg did not pick it up,it is possible that he might have a virus that does not show in the task manager....That is the only thing I can think of that would use memory without showing it.?It may also be possible that one of the programs he is using has a memory leak...but then again that would show up on the task manager....?

[rustypup]

That is the only thing I can think of that would use memory without showing it.?

drivers and services aren't visible in the running tasks pane as they're not managed there.... as a result, you don't get to see their resource consumption there either... process explorer is a great tool for extracting this sort of detail...

It may also be possible that one of the programs he is using has a memory leak.

if this issue is presenting at login, we can discount this.. a leak generally takes time to build up sufficient impetus to become noticeable...

@sturat: perhaps get them to eyeball disc usage at the same time...

[KALSTER]

What specific brand laptop is it? Maybe it is a known issue, maybe with a faulty BIOS or something?

[Stuart]

Okay, we have a breakthrough. For what it's worth, he says that the machine runs fine for 5-6 minutes after startup, and only after that does it suddenly start giving problems. But to the breakthrough.

This morning he called back to report that he tried everything I suggested yesterday with no joy. I got him to open Task Manager to the Processes tab again, click to show processes from all users, and wait a little while. Suddenly, wpmnetwk.exe spiked major high. On my PC atm it's running 6 184K; on his it was running 2 200 000K! So I got him to end the process and evrything was back to normal.

Off to find out if there are any known problems with this process.

[rustypup]

someone's broadcasting dodgy library content.. get them to:
1) stop streaming media
2) flush the wmp library... one of the entries is, ahem, duff...
3) toss wmp in favour of something more stable...

[Stuart]

someone's broadcasting dodgy library content.. get them to:
1) stop streaming media
2) flush the wmp library... one of the entries is, ahem, duff...
3) toss wmp in favour of something more stable...

I'm taking the lazy route right now and telling him to disable the service on startup. He doesn't use media sharing. He likes WMP because he prefers not having to install third party software if he can avoid it.

It does seem that this issue arises frequently from setting up media sharing with an Xbox. I know his son has a PS3 at home, not sure about an Xbox. If an Xbox was a recent arrival in his home it might explain the issue.

[prophet]

I had a similar problem where svchost used 1.5 gb of memory at startup and used more and more until there was no memory to use

[Stuart]

We just disabled the service. He doesn't use it, so it's all working for now.

[UrBaN]

Great solution rattex.

[Stuart]

It's efficient enough for over-the-phone tech support. Better than you'd get from your average ISP.

[UrBaN]

Why not simply recommend the "Shut Down" function and be done with it? It's a far more -all-embracing solution.

[Stuart]

Why not simply recommend the "Shut Down" function and be done with it? It's a far more -all-embracing solution.

It's an odd fact of modern medicine that doctors seem to rely on computers to do their work more efficiently. Not quite sure why that is.

[Koko_Lion]

Bit late for this but do you think something, probably WMP could be running in Compatibility Mode?

About a month ago I wanted my Skype to disappear from my taskbar by running it in Compatibility Mode, soon after that Skype went mad and the usage sky rocketed. Changed it back and all was fine again.

[rustypup]

naa... the wmp media sharing service is encountering a corrupt file and choking on it... the choices are to hunt the offender down, or stop the service...

wmp should never require compat mode.... ever...