Help me with pagefile.sys ? For no apparent reason my harddrive starts working at 100% while I am just browsing.
I have identified that at this time there is an enormous amount of data being read. I saw 4,000,000 B/sec. The only way to stop this activity is to shutdown my computer. However, the last time I did this, the computer restarted in recovery mode. Help would be appreciated.
Problem With Pagefile.Sys & Hard Drive ?
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In your response 8 you said:
“I should mention that I brought this problem to the attention of the local Sony Repair Center on two separate occasions. Their solution was simply to restore to the original factory config. this obviously did not fix the problem.”
If they actually restored the original factory software installation, that’s good.
Did the computer come with one or more Recovery disks ? If it did, did you supply them to the technicians ?
If the answer to those is No and No, or Yes and No, then the following may apply…
However, if they just re-installed Windows and the drivers needed for the laptop, if they didn’t install the main chipset drivers, that can often cause the mboard’s ACPI features to NOT work properly because Windows doesn’t have the proper info about the mboard. In that case, it’s quite possible for you to get no video in Windows when the computer goes into Standby or Hibernate mode after xx time of Windows detecting user inactivity, and for you to NOT be able to get the video to come back on like it should, when you press a key or move your mouse.
That problem can be cured by making sure the main chipset drivers have been installed. If those are listed on the Sony site in the downloads for your model, install them.
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I have no idea what programs you may have installed yourself that I have not installed on my Vista installation, other than Microsoft Security Essentials, and Roxio burning software.
By the way, I know from experience that Roxio software has more bugs than most software.
You have mentioned you have Windows Defender as well as Microsoft Security Essentials on the computer, and that Windows Defender seems to be disabled since Microsoft Security Essentials was installed. That’s probably what Microsoft intended, since they provided both of them, but it would be a very good idea to go into Windows Defender and make sure it’s been disabled – you should get a message “Windows Defender is turned off.”
When was the last time you ran a FULL anti-malware scan of at least your C drive? If you haven’t done that lately, do one.
There’s a small possibility something in Microsoft Security Essentials is corrupted or has bugs.
You could try un-installing it and re-installing it, or you could try disabling it’s Real time protection for a while to see if your problem goes away:
Scroll down – it shows where you can enable / disable Real time protection:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/p…
If you stick to major web sites , and don’t use a search engine to find stuff, and don’t go to sites that have illegally gotten software, you’re unlikely to get malware while the Real time protection is switched off.
If you find doing that gets rid of the problem, then there is lots of other good free anti-malware software you can install. E.g. AVG 2011 slows down Windows less than most other anti-malware software.
No one anti-malware program detects and gets rid of everything in any case.
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I’ve mentioned the Share My Media problem Windows Media Player 10 and 11 have with some systems, and it sounds like you have the same in WMP 12. Stopping the service you stopped from running may not completely get rid of that problem. You should go into WMP 12 and disable Share My Media.
See response 11 – how to disable Share My Media
See response 13 – it should be similar in WMP 12.
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Sometimes the Windows Search feature that automatically makes indexes of files does not work properly on some systems. It’s only supposed to do that after xx minutes of user inactivity, but the problem with it is once it’s starts doing that, it may NOT stop doing that when the user resumes using the computer, and if it doesn’t it slows down everything in Windows despite it not using much CPU time.
Try this –
RIGHT click on your C drive in Computer
– Properties
click on the box before Index this drive for faster searching to REMOVE the checkmark.
Click on OK at the bottom of that window.
Try your computer for a while to see if the problem has gone away.
Searching for things on your computer may be slower with that disabled, but that’s not a big problem if you don’t search the computer often, or if you do but you search only the most likely folders that should have the file or folder you’re looking for.
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Other than that, when you do have high hard drive activty for no reason you can determine, do what I have suggested several times – look at Task Manager – Processes while the problem is going on and determine which programs are “pigging out” on the most CPU time, or the most memory amounts. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a larger amount of CPU time for some programs for them to bog down Windows.
Double clicking on the CPU heading will list the programs in the descending order of their CPU time use, “on the fly”.
If a program is not using any CPU time at all, when you look at the list for a while, that program USUALLY has nothing to do with your problem.
Write down the names of the culprit programs and post them here.
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“With regard to the hard drive, I have not had the laptop turned on long enough to be sure the problem has indeed gone away. I will need to have it turned on continuously for 2-4 days.”
It shouldn’t take that long for the problem to show up if it’s still there – it should show up within a few hours.
If you have no legitimate reason to have your laptop running continuously, then DO NOT run it continuously, at the very least while you’re sleeping !
“There was no change in the Windows Experience Index. The rating is 5.9”
That’s pretty good for a laptop.
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” CPU-Z is showing me Frequency, CAS# Latency, RAS# to CAS#, RAS# Precharge, tRAS, tRC and Voltage. Is that what I need ?”
Yes – those are the 4 timing numbers, in that order, and the ram voltage specified by the manufacturer, for each module.
See response 21 starting at
“I don’t know how to check the bios to see if the RAM settings are correct.
I have looked at the modules, but I really don’t know what all the numbers refer to.”
“I still looking to find what key I need to hit to access the bios. I do not see “Press xxx (a key) for Setup” when I boot up my laptop.”
As I said previously, if you don’t see that, the info about which key you need to press is always in the Owner’s or User’s manual for your specific brand name model.
If the guys who worked on your laptop actually reloaded the original software installation, that manual is probably already there in your All Programs list somewhere.
If the manual is not already on the hard drive, then you can look at it or download it from the Sony web site in the support for your model.
I took the liberty of looking that up.
You listed: Sony / Vgnfw590c above your first post.
That model is: “Available only in Canada”
If you didn’t buy it in Canada, you quoted the wrong model number.
If you DID buy it in Canada, are you fluently bilingual, or is English or French your first language ?
VGNFW590C support
http://esupport.sony.com/CA/perl/mo…
(User Guide) – French only
http://www.docs.sony.com/reflib/doc…
Page 85 of pdf
1. Allumez votre ordinateur.
2. Appuyez sur la touche F2 lorsque le logo VAIO apparait.
L’ecran de configuration BIOS s’affiche.
French to English translation
1. Turn on your computer.
2. Press the F2 key when the VAIO logo appears.
The BIOS setup screen displays.
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If you DID quote the wrong model number, assuming it’s close…
VGNFW590
“Available only in the United States”
VGNFW590 support
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/mo…
User Guide – English
http://www.docs.sony.com/reflib/doc…
Page 85 of pdf
1. Turn on your computer.
2. Press the F2 key when the VAIO logo appears.
The BIOS setup screen appears. If not, restart the computer and press the F2
key several times when the VAIO logo appears.