# Sluggish Behaviour while installing/Downloading/Extracting



## Anthyrst (Aug 4, 2013)

Hello, I've bought a Medion Akoya p6815 a few days ago, specs:

- i7 3630QM
- Geforce GT650M (2GB)
- 8GB RAM
- 1TB Hard Disk (ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB)
- Windows 8 x64
Full list of specs

At first I tried to partition the hard disk, somehow messed up but reinstalled it from the disk without a problem. After installing a few programs I kept noticing that the performance went down a ton while installing software, or downloading updates.

I can understand that it gets a bit slower during this, but I'm talking about "Clicking your browser and waiting ~1-5 minutes for it to open" slow.

This is a graph of my Performance tab in the Task Manager while extracting:










This is a graph while only google Chrome is active (Closed most background applications):










The CPU/RAM are fine, the Hard Disk shoots to 100% and stays there (sometimes going to 99%). I've done some research on it but only found a few suggestions. The suggestions:


It's the 'new way of showing Disk Activity for W8
It's the wifi driver [Tried to update it, no difference]
It's fixed with the new updates [Checked today, should be fully up to date now]

I've sent an E-mail to the Medion Tech Support with the same screenshot and description. Since then I've found out that my Anti-Virus kept my HDD on 100% and making my overall experience horrific, so I deinstalled that. Now it's smooth until I start downloading something, or install something.

I'm pretty sure this shouldn't take so much of my resources, is there anyone who knows anything about this? 

*TL;DR:* Performance tab shows only HDD on high activity, but when I try to open any program/open a new tab while installing/downloading it can take between 1-15 minutes for it to finally happen. Suspecting HDD, not sure though!

Thanks in advance!

Edit: I've just installed a manual patch for Crusader Kings II, the graph now varies from 30-70%, it works better, but still has a few hicups now and then... maybe it's the size of the package?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

How full is your hard drive?

Make sure to uninstall all Antivirus software on your PC and use the built in Windows Defender software for Windows 8.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2020260/how-to-activate-windows-defender-in-windows-8.html

Please also do this:

Download HWMonitor from here: 

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html 










 

Make sure to download the .zip file to your *desktop*. 










 

Once downloaded to your desktop *unzip* the *hwmonitor.zip* folder to your *desktop*. 

Open up the unzipped folder and run either the 32bit Software or 64bit Software. 
How to tell the difference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827218 ​Allow HWMonitor to run while the PC is at an idle state. After about five minutes of running at idle take a screenshot and save the image to your desktop. 

Now allow HWMonitor to run while gaming or doing heavy processing for about five minutes. Take another screenshot and save the image to your desktop. 

In your next reply please include both screenshots. 

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f195/how-to-post-a-screenshot-184291.html


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## Anthyrst (Aug 4, 2013)

Hey, Thanks for the reply!

I've just reinstalled this laptop, so out of the 1TB, I've got around 660GB left.
I've installed Office, Creative Suite, a bunch of software from my schools 'Required Software' list, and some games. In short: more than 60% is free.

I have no anti virus other than Defender.

The screenshots:

Idle:









5 minutes of Skyrim on High: 









5 minutes of utorrent/Winrar/Steam actively downloading and extracting:









For some reason, while trying the last one I didn't have much trouble trying to multitask at the same time... I've disabled and then re-enabled Bluetooth, and had an unsuccesful Automatic Repair during my last restart (I was hoping it'd work but it just hung on "Attempting Repairs").

For now it's okay :s, I'm losing my mind over it though...


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## Anthyrst (Aug 4, 2013)

Update: While the installer for my audio drivers was extracting, I was unable to open programs again, took a few minutes before they started to pop up.

Only difference being that Disk Total B/s in Resource Monitor reached ~30.000.000 
Rest both Hardware Monitor and Resource Monitor had the same results


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

My instructions clearly state to use the free edition of HWMonitor and not the Pro Edition. For future posts please use the free edition and not the trail of PRO.

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Please try running this software here:

1. Download Temporary File Cleaner from here. 

2. Make sure that you *Save As...* the file to your *desktop*. 










3. Make sure to close out all opened programs! 

TFC will close all open program to run, be sure to safe any work! 
4. Double Click on the *TFC.exe* file that is saved to your desktop. 










5. Windows will ask to either Run or Cancel the program. Click on *Run*. 











6. Once TFC has opened, click the *Start button*. 










*7. Allow TFC to run uninterrupted.* 

8. Your desktop icons and other programs may disappear during this process. That is normal. 

9. After TFC has finished it should automatically reboot the PC. 

10. If it does not reboot, reboot manually. 

11. It is normal that after running TFC that the PC will be slower to boot for the 
first time.

Once finished post back of the amount in the red of how much storage was removed.

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I see you have uTorrent installed. I highly recommend you uninstall and stay away from P2P software as it is a excellent way to allow malware and virus onto your PC.


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## Anthyrst (Aug 4, 2013)

I've used TFC, it removed 2,153.00 mb. Manually restarted.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

That should help big time with speeds.

How does the system seem now?


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## Anthyrst (Aug 4, 2013)

Still average Response Times of well over 1500ms during medium Disk Activity, it is less troublesome now because I've installed all the software I'll need for now, but I'd prefer to know ahead if this could be a hardware issue or not..

I mean, I should be able to multitask while my system is creating a .rar, or while installing something. 

It does seem to handle programs that are already running better, but opening any other program still takes a while.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

*First try running Memtest86+:* This runs from a boot disk or CD and should eliminate or confirm if your one or more of your memory sticks are bad. 

Let it run for about 20 passes (An ideal test would be about an hour), if no errors by then your ram is OK. 

Download the bootable .ISO from here: http://www.memtest.org/ 

How to create a bootable CD: How to Create a Boot Disk With Imgburn | eHow


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## Anthyrst (Aug 4, 2013)

I could try that, but I'm honestly doubting it'll be the Ram or the CPU... the response time of my HDD is high, RAM is running fine.

Any program I've run goes on smoothly, it's just when Hard Disk activity rises that it takes a while. While waiting for other applications to start up the process hasn't even started yet and both RAM/CPU are in almost idle state.

Hard Disk > RAM > CPU Cache > RAM 
^
I think the problem is around this point. Though Seagate HD Tools do not show anything out of the ordinary. I'm hoping it's not faulty hardware so I don't have to reinstall everything again.

Another weird thing, Seagate Tools copy the S/N to search for a firmware upgrade but Seagate's website claims the S/N is wrong...


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

Have you installed the correct drivers for your motherboard and onboard devices? That's where I'd start.


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