Processor slows and computer shuts down

[garth.bowman]

Ok here is a few issues that just cropped up.
Computer just shut down during a session and nothing was being done.
This morning the processor slowed I thought it was going to hang up completely. Lost control of mouse clicks but could move it. Would click on board with no response. About 3 min and it returned to normal.
Would this be a computer issue? I haven't ran a defrag or anything on this in a while.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Garth

[gdougherty]

How old is the computer and have you opened it up and dusted anytime lately? Many of the modern processors will clock themselves down for thermal protection if they can't stay cool enough. May also want to make sure all the fans are operating.

[garth.bowman]

It is mounted in a rack.
Only 1 1/2 yrs old.
Running XP.

[gdougherty]

I dust my home computer annually and usually find plenty of dust inside.

[hkmorgan87]

Issues like this are sometimes hard to trouble shoot. Perform the above steps. Hat will at least make sure it's not a overheating issue. I have seen this happen when power supplies start going bad.

[dasbin]

Is it going through the Windows shutdown procedure, or just suddenly losing power?

[garth.bowman]

Is it going through the Windows shutdown procedure, or just suddenly losing power?

Neither!
The faders will slow or you will lose control for a moment or for a few minutes. The processor % in SAC doesn't reflect anything is going on. This is what makes me wonder if it is something with the hardware and not SAC.
Could it be RAM? Power supply? The Processor?
Someone mentioned something about the clocking of the computers processor.
I don't know enough about it to even sound educated, so I may be off and left field here.
Just trying to trouble shoot this.
Any help would be appreciated.

[Bob L]

Look at the Task Manager when this is happening... see if the performance cpu usage goes up to %100.... if so... we need to find what is turning ON in the background that is burning up the cpu.

Also... consider turning OFF any CPU SpeedStep options in the bios so the cpu runs %100 all the time.

If it is overheating (check for a clogged cpu fan... blow it out with a can of compressed air)... then the cpu will slow down or shutdown.

Bob L

[gdougherty]

Neither!
The faders will slow or you will lose control for a moment or for a few minutes. The processor % in SAC doesn't reflect anything is going on. This is what makes me wonder if it is something with the hardware and not SAC.
Could it be RAM? Power supply? The Processor?
Someone mentioned something about the clocking of the computers processor.
I don't know enough about it to even sound educated, so I may be off and left field here.
Just trying to trouble shoot this.
Any help would be appreciated.

Very well could be a bad power supply. I've seen plenty of odd behavior caused by having a cheap power supply that goes south.

[Donnie Frank]

I would keep an eye on hard drive activity. If the HD light is on constantly, this can give you good insight as to your computer woes.

The mouse symptom you describe sounds exactly like what happens when other stuff is ahead of the queue eating up the hard drive I/O. In your Task Mananger in the "Processes" tab under the "View" menu select "Select Columns..." and then select Read and Write I/O. Keep an eye out for Windows Update processes (wucau or somesuch if memory serves) and antivirus programs. If programs seem really sluggish to load, run Check Disk ("chkdsk /r" from the command line). Check your disk for fragmentation, but even a highly fragmented disk won't cause 3 minutes of delay. Bad sectors will slow the bejesus out of your machine.

Low memory will cause your computer to create Virtual Memory, which *really* slows down your machine.

[soundchicken]

at a year and a half you might want to re thermal paste your processor anyway.

[TomyN]

I'd suggest that you use a 'Burn-In' software to test.

Tomy