Windows XP freezes constantly for a split second!

While using Windows XP everything freezes for a split second about every or every other second. This is really annoying especially when playing audio or video. It just recently started.

I have uninstalled programs that I don't use and defragged the hard drive with the hopes that it might make a difference, but it didn't. I have also changed the power supply but no luck. When I use Ubuntu on this same laptop, everything works fine, so I guess it has to be something with Windows XP. I have googled a lot and have not found anyone who has been able to resolve this issue.

I have a Dell Vostro 1500 notebook running Windows XP, 2GB ram, Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated on this.

Thanks.

put 4gb of ram in it

First thing I'd do is launch Task Manager and see what's running and temporarily spiking the CPU.

Iv launched task manager and when i look at the performance, i can see the spikes going up and down. On average the cpu usage is around 30% - 40%.
And when I look at the processes, only the System Idle process is ~90%. Everything else is under 5%.

Thanks.

valtopps said:

put 4GB of ram in it

Click to expand...

That very likely will not help. I highly doubt 2 gigabytes of memory is not enough for what he is running on this notebook.

I would try using System Restore. Restore your Windows back to an earlier date before the problems started.

try running chkdisk and check display settings, is display driver correct? if ur not using more graphics then keep 16 bit colour in display settings

i had this problem before with a laptop i was repairing and the solution may be of use to you, what had happen is that windows had failed to access a dma mode successfully several times and had eventually defaulted back to pio to check this please go to your device manager, to do this follow these instructions

hold down the windows key and press R > this should bring up a run box > type in devmgmt.msc and this should bring up the device manager

on the device manager please look for the section named IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers and expand the box

now select the channel your hard drive is on, for example mine is on the primary channel, the right click and select properties > advanced settings > then check if dma mode is on and pio is not selected,

if it is and you cannot change it back manually i just unistalled the channel and windows xp reinstalled it on reboot and completely fixed the laptop, there are some programs which say they do this for you but i havent tried them so i am reluctant to link you to them

OvenMaster said:

First thing I'd do is launch Task Manager and see what's running and temporarily spiking the CPU.

Click to expand...

2048Megabytes said:

That very likely will not help. I highly doubt 2 gigabytes of memory is not enough for what he is running on this notebook.

I would try using System Restore. Restore your Windows back to an earlier date before the problems started.

Click to expand...

Agreed on the RAM. I would try the Restore as a second choice to seeing if there is something that is spiking the CPU usage. If you can find it. then remove whatever it is. Then, if you can't, I would restore

innercx said:

now select the channel your hard drive is on, for example mine is on the primary channel, the right click and select properties > advanced settings > then check if dma mode is on and pio is not selected,

Click to expand...

It says that the device type is on auto detect and under Transfer Mode it says "DMA if available." So I guess that DMA mode is on? and PIO was not selected.

Also, I tried system restore to about two weeks ago and the problem still exists. Everything freezes for a split second and then resumes normally.

I think I'll just back up my files and restore windows to factory settings.

Thanks everyone for the help.