Incredible PC slowness problem

[I D Shukhov]

My PC at work has two partitions -- one for Linux and one for Windows XP.    The Linux partition was installed last year sometime to support a project I am working on.  I never used it, but verified that it seemed to work okay at the time.

As I am now doing some software development on this project I decided I needed to upgrade Linux to the latest project baseline and obtained a disk which installs the latest OS and project software on the Linux partition.  The installation seemed to go okay, as far as I could tell.  The project behaved like it was supposed to -- all the tasks ran fine. 

I then restarted the computer and noticed that the grub boot configuration had reverted back to booting Linux first, so I fixed that by modifying /boot/grub/menu.lst.

I restarted the PC and Windows would not get past the first screen that XP shows when it starts.   I eventually determined that Windows would boot, but it takes 30 minutes.  I can then log in and another 5 minutes passes until the disk stops being active.  Starting Lotus notes, another 5 minutes. 

In fact everything works as normal, just 10-20x slower.

The disk does not need to be defragmented and there is 85% free space on the C: drive.   I don't see any runaway processes when I look at the performance monitor.

I left it tonight running chkdsk C: /F (which takes a minute to start)  and will see if anything has changed in the morning. 

I'm sure that the Linux install messed something up, but I would have thought if it had spilled into the other partition the computer would be unbootable.

[The Gorn]

Is the slowness also when Linux is booted instead of Windows?

Look at the Task Manager list once it is running. What does it show? Go to the Processes tab and sort the list by CPU and by memory to see if anything is clobbering the system.

The GRUB stuff is a one shot thing that happens at bootup. I find it hard to believe that this has tainted how Windows runs.

Also, take a look at msinfo32.exe which reports on what is in the box and what Windows sees. Look for anything strange.

If you're not a Windows box repairer type it would be best to refer this to your corporate support people if you can't get any farther. There's just so much garbage that can fail in Windows and can mess up the system.

[I D Shukhov]

Is the slowness also when Linux is booted instead of Windows?

Look at the Task Manager list once it is running. What does it show? Go to the Processes tab and sort the list by CPU and by memory to see if anything is clobbering the system.

The GRUB stuff is a one shot thing that happens at bootup. I find it hard to believe that this has tainted how Windows runs.

Also, take a look at msinfo32.exe which reports on what is in the box and what Windows sees. Look for anything strange.

If you're not a Windows box repairer type it would be best to refer this to your corporate support people if you can't get any farther. There's just so much garbage that can fail in Windows and can mess up the system.

No, nothing is clobbering the system.  I have referred it to the support group.  I didn't mention it, but when I booted the Linux partition a second time it didn't behave as it did at first and the project start script hung at some point. 

I can't remember what I did next, other than shut down linux.  I guess that needs some investigating.  If programs run slowly in the Linux partition, what could that mean?  I can't imagine that a CPU or memory problem suddenly started.  It would have to be the disk -- but the 2 OSs shouldn't share any part of the disk.

[I D Shukhov]

It looks like I can sleep soundly tonight.   Apparently chkdsk c: /F  may have actually fixed something!

I've just logged in via the VPN and the PC is behaving completely normally! 

This may be it for me and multiple OS partitions.  I had installed the project in Virtual Box on this PC, but was told that this configuration was not supported by the project gurus for one reason or another -- mainly because of hardware and drivers.   

However, for what I want to do I had verified earlier in the day that I could test in the VB setup, and that's what I will do tomorrow. 
I should just stay away from the Linux partition.  Although I'm still curious as to what went wrong and moth-like (as in flame) will probably try to repeat the experiment.

[benali72]

If I read your post correctly, you stated you were in Linux when a script hung so you shutdown the system.

1- Was the Windows partition mounted at the time you shut down Linux?
2- Did you do a normal shut down of Linux?

If YES to (1) and NO to (2) this would explain why the Windows partition would be corrupted. This would also explain why a CHKDSK C:  /F fixed your problem.

Here are some recommendations -- when using Linux, don't mount a Windows partition unless you need it mounted. Also be sure all Linux shutdowns are normal. If any shutdown is not normal perform FSCK equivalents on all paritions to avoid this issue. 

One other thing. You didn't say which Linux distro you used. This is important because some always auto-mount Windows partitions for you while others require explicit mounting. This will help ensure you only mount Wndows partitions when you need them.

Hope this helps.

[Peter Gibbons]

Here are some recommendations -- when using Linux, don't mount a Windows partition unless you need it mounted. Also be sure all Linux shutdowns are normal. If any shutdown is not normal perform FSCK equivalents on all partitions to avoid this issue. 

Good recommendation. I never thought about it but I think you are right - without proper shutdown of Linux bad things could happen to a mounted Windows partition.

[I D Shukhov]

If I read your post correctly, you stated you were in Linux when a script hung so you shutdown the system.

1- Was the Windows partition mounted at the time you shut down Linux?
2- Did you do a normal shut down of Linux?

If YES to (1) and NO to (2) this would explain why the Windows partition would be corrupted. This would also explain why a CHKDSK C:  /F fixed your problem.

Here are some recommendations -- when using Linux, don't mount a Windows partition unless you need it mounted. Also be sure all Linux shutdowns are normal. If any shutdown is not normal perform FSCK equivalents on all paritions to avoid this issue. 

One other thing. You didn't say which Linux distro you used. This is important because some always auto-mount Windows partitions for you while others require explicit mounting. This will help ensure you only mount Wndows partitions when you need them.

Hope this helps.

I don't remember how I shut down the CentOS system.  I remember that I didn't have control of the project startup script, so it's possible that I hit the power off button. 

Wow, benali, after doing some googling I see that it's quite easy to have CentOS mount a windows partition in the /etc/fstab file.  I think this fits the theory then, which I will confirm today:   I lost control of the machine, hit the power off button and it had mounted the windows partition.

I'll look at the fstab file after I create a new VB guest machine with the installation disk I have.   I'd much rather use a guest OS because then I can work from home, as the VPN will only connect to the windows host.

Thanks.

[dinotech]

1. I would never use a partition for a second OS on the same drive.  With today's hardware technology, I would purchase a second drive (SSD if you can swing it financially).  Partitioning a drive for a dual-boot is so old school.

2. If you want to use a virtual machine, try VMWare Player as I had experienced a very smooth installation for Ubuntu TenTen and Fedora 6.  VMWare has been in the virtualization business for a long while and they seem to have all the basis covered.  I'm attaching the user's guide to this post (GOBO if you want to create another section for Virtualization it might be a good idea. There we can post our recipes for each flavor of OS we use in a virtual environment, our experiences with the different virtual products, and any documentation we have, including our own notes!)

3. If any of the above isn't feasable for you, try using hard drive bays.  At Pierce College, we had them in our CIS lab; I don't remember if they are hot swappable, but it doesn't matter.  You would plug-in the HDD for the project you are working on at the time.

Question:If you separate CentOS on its own HDD, will it attempt to mount the Windows drive, or will that only occur if you dual boot on the same drive? I would think not since the environment is separated by a physical drive.

I'll try CentOS myself (it's what HostGator is based on and I heard it is very good).

VMWare Player: http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/player_pubs.html

[The Gorn]

1. I would never use a partition for a second OS on the same drive.  With today's hardware technology, I would purchase a second drive (SSD if you can swing it financially).  Partitioning a drive for a dual-boot is so old school.

I'm so old ... school. 

[I D Shukhov]

CentOS  did not try to mount the Windows partition, it wasn't in the fstab table.  So I don't know what happened -- maybe at some point with all the rebooting I shut down Windows improperly.   The takeaway from this is:

1) From dinotech:

I would never use a partition for a second OS on the same drive.  With today's hardware technology, I would purchase a second drive (SSD if you can swing it financially).  Partitioning a drive for a dual-boot is so old school.

2) From benali:

when using Linux, don't mount a Windows partition unless you need it mounted. Also be sure all Linux shutdowns are normal. If any shutdown is not normal perform FSCK equivalents on all paritions to avoid this issue. 

3) From me:   chkdsk C: /F  (at next startup, which will  happen if the drive is busy) was a real life-saver.