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I'm using a work laptop running Windows 7 64-bit Professional. The laptop is a Dell Studio XPS and has the following specs:
- Intel Core i5 M460 Quad-core 2.53GHz
- 6GB RAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD4670
- 500GB Toshiba HDD
Frequently, Windows 7 hangs and takes between 1-4 seconds before normal operation resumes. For example, I'll be typing an email and no letters appear. 1-4 seconds later the whole sentence will appear. Here are the symptoms:
- Typing, input will queue up
- Clicking, input will queue up
- In Chrome, browsing can be slow, Chrome reports "Waiting for available socket" in the status bar
Important things to note:
- I have re-installed Windows 7 Professional very recently from a non-Dell disc (the Dell disc has been lost).
- All Windows updates are up-to-date
- I've turned off Virtual Memory - wanted to eliminate swapping from the list of potential causes
- Windows does not report any problems with the system (even when running the performance troubleshooter)
- I've turned off Sticky Keys, Filter Keys, and the ATI Catalyst hot-keys
- I'm using a wired mouse and the laptop keyboard
- This problem has been occurring since Windows 7 was installed and prior to other programmes (Word, Outlook, etc) being installed
To me it feels like a driver problem, or maybe an IRQ issue (do these still occur?). I've done lots of Googling, but haven't been able to fix this.
Does anyone have any ideas? How can I investigate the problem further?
Muel
Posted 2014-03-14T02:47:29.193
Reputation: 111
There's absolutely no good reason to disable virtual memory, and it won't help resolve your issue. The swap file is used when programs require more memory than physical memory can hold. Inadequate virtual memory can slow your system substantially. Set it to "system managed" for now, and open the Task Manager (taskmgr) and look at the processes tab to see what processes are most active when the computer hangs. The Chrome message suggests that TCP/IP could use some tuning, i.e. maybe is set to only allow 2 sockets. Does the lag ever happen when your email program is closed? – Debra – 2014-03-14T07:18:15.457
@Debra In the past, I've been burnt by Windows poor memory management (XP not 7). XP had a habit of using virtual memory despite the computer having 2GB free of physical. On that machine, I turned off virtual memory and got vastly improved performance immediately. Regarding my current problem, I think that it's perfectly valid to disable virtual memory in an attempt to isolate the root cause of the issue. For example, I now know that swapping isn't causing my issue. Wrt TCP/IP tuning are you referring to a Windows or Chrome setting? Thanks for the email tip. I'll close Outlook and report back! – Muel – 2014-03-17T02:56:12.570
The default concurrent TCP connections in Win7 is apparently 10. There's a discussion of the default for browsers at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/985431/max-parallel-http-connections-in-a-browser , but you seem to be getting 2 instead of the 6 mentioned there. Some good discussion of tuning at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.12.network.aspx though it's an old article. My guess is you're getting 2 connections instead of 6 in Chrome, for some reason ... but I'd still recommend re-enabling virtual memory while troubleshooting.
– Debra – 2014-03-18T04:02:51.813