Lagspikes for about 5secs every 5th min

[iamrobinson]

Hi
Problem: My computer lags for a seconds every now and then. It doesn't happen in a fixed interval, but about every 5th min is a good guess.
When I talk on skype, the other person can't hear me, and I can't hear him for a few seconds. Whatever program I have running will freeze for the duration of the lagspike.
When I play a game online, the game will stop and it will wait for me to reconnect. I can't move the mouse really. A few seconds later I'm back in and its running smooth.

History:
I formatted my computer a few weeks ago, and that's when it started.
Iwas running XP, and I started getting blue screens now and again, usually after using it for hours.
One day the blue screen appeared everytime i started the computer, even when i tried starting in safe mode. The error code was
 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
0x00000050 (0xE1A48000, 0x00000000, 0x8053BB25, 0x00000001)

I booted with windows cd ran chkdsk /r on my primary partition (the one with windows installed) and it said something about volume error.
I formatted it, and reinstalled Windows XP pro SP3. That's when the lag issue began.

Hardware(copying from bill, so I hope its good enough)
MB Asus P5KC AiLifestyle SeriesSocket 775/Intel
CPU Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz FSB1066 2x4MB
RAM 2048 MB DDR2 PC2-6400 CORSAIR XMS 800 mhz (2x1 GB)
VGA PCI-E 320 MB Geforce 8800 GTS Asus EN8800GTS
POWER Corsair HX620W PSU /Inter
HDD: Seagate ES 320GB, 16MB, SATA300 7200RPM

Custom built


I currently have no anti virus, anti spyware or firewall. (not even windows is firewall is enabled)
It began after I formatted so I dont suppose that has anything to do with it.


If I missed some kind of info, sorry, please let me know what you need.
Thanks in advance!

[iamrobinson]

Oh, fwiw:
When I had the bluescreen problem, i searched online and found somewhere saying it most likely was a memory issue. So i tried starting the computer with a single block of RAM, first one block then the other - to test if one of those was causing the trouble. It didnt change anything.

[iamrobinson]

bump

[patio]

3  things you can check:
First visit Seagates site and DLoad and create a bootable Seatools CD...use it to check the health of that drive.
Second DLoad and do the same with MemTest...use it to test the memory modules...let it run a few hours. Any errors and you have a bad stick of RAM. If you do get errors power down and test them one at a time to find the bad one.
Third DLoad and install Process Explorer...FREE. Use it to watch for the spikes and see what app or process may be causing the lagspikes as you aptly named them.

Good Luck and let us know.

[iamrobinson]

I did the first 2 things, and both passed.
In the meantime the lagspikes have disappeared, so I guess it was a software issue.
I don't know what fixed it, but I think it might have been windows update.

Thanks for the help! Forums like is another good reason to love the internet.