Question System Interrupts - How Can I Diagnose & Keep Them From ... Well, Interrupting

boweasel

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Jun 17, 2009
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I don't seem to be able to go more than 20-25 minutes without my laptop (Toshiba Satellite 1803 Build 17134.590) freezing up. When that happens and I somehow manage to view taskmgr, System Interrupts will be chewing up about 45% of my CPU. It takes about 2 minutes for the task to drop to a normal level (1-2%) and invariably anything I've been downloading on Chrome will stop. The download will have a horizontal line through it with the phrase Failed - Network Error next to it. Fortunately there will be a blue box labeled Resume under the download and when I click on it the download will continue.

The interruptions are maddening. Sometimes it takes 6 or 7 'resumes' to complete a download. And these interrupts aren't simply occurring when I download - they seem to occur whenever I'm doing anything with a network connection.

It seems like there should be something I can check, or run that'll tell me what the problem is. And how to keep it from happening over and over ...

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Look in Reliability History/Manager and Event Viewer.

There should be more entries with respect to error codes, warnings, and perhaps even informational events. Look into the details. Maybe some buggy background app is running or trying to run; r.g., "phoning home", backing up, updating. Or trying to do so.....

Doublecheck all ISP and network connections - look for a loose connection. A faulty cable; kinked, smashed, chewed on, corroded, etc.. Any physical damage at all.

How many devices on your network? Network could be overloaded and performance is suffering.
 

boweasel

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Jun 17, 2009
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Reliability Monitor offers next to nothing. There's a single red X on 02/14 and the critical error is said to be utorrent.exe and that it had stopped responding. That's the only Critical Event listed for today, despite the fact that I've had at least 4 System Interrupts. No previous events are listed until the 9th of Feb - and that is for Microsoft Edge. It stopped working. No big deal, since my default browser is Chrome and I hardly use Edge. But I've had many, many System Interrupts since 02/09/19 and not a single one shows up in the Reliability Monitor.

We have 3 wireless PCs in the house, and 2 with ethernet connections. And an iPad. There are never more than 2 devices being used at any one time. As far as I can tell, only this laptop is experiencing any 'freezing'/interrup issues.

I'll check into Event Viewer and report back with any issues.

Thanks.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Resource Monitor may provide some additional information.

Open the utility and slide the window to one side or the other just so you can watch what is going on.

First while doing nothing and then while working on that laptop as you normally do.

Other thoughts:

Is the laptop wired or wireless?

Either way, test further by switching connectivity.

Another thing to try is to reinstall Chrome. Current installation may be been corrupted.
 

boweasel

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Jun 17, 2009
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Resource Monitor may provide some additional information.

Open the utility and slide the window to one side or the other just so you can watch what is going on.

First while doing nothing and then while working on that laptop as you normally do.
We're into unknown territory here. My knowledge of Resource Monitor is rudimentary and I really don't know what you want me to do with it. Your instruction to 'slide the window to one side or the other just so you can watch what is going on' could be in Sanskrit for all it imparts to me. There's a lot of info available in RM, and 5 tabs across the top. And so far I see no difference whether the interrupts are using .8 or 47.8 % of my CPU. A bit of guidance, please.