Performance Console Set-up & Use

[AnnieMS]

I'm trying to use the Performance Console and counter logs to figure out why my computers w/ the GHz processors, RAM in MB, giant HD's, faster bus speeds, etc. ran just as slow out of the box as my old computers and are only getting worse with time despite my efforts to optimize. I've read thru the console's help, the chapter in the MCDST training kit book and googled and I still can't do much with the console. I have a lot of questions but I'll start w/ a few.

First, setting the sampling interval.

The default interval for the default counters and any I've added thus far is 1 sec. Are all counters best sampled at the same rate?

I get an error message when I go to add a counter to System Monitor

“At least one data sample is missing. Data collection is taking longer than expected. You might avoid this message by increasing the sample interval.” I don't understand why I get that message when I go to add a counter rather than when I highlight a counter already running. I have no idea which counter - if any - the message refers to.

The result boxes in System Monitor seem self-explanatory. I don't know what the Duration box is measuring tho. It doesn't change if you add a new counter and highlight that counter. It doesn't measure the time since you opened System Monitor. Currently it's reading "5:00" for all counters and has been for way more than 5 minutes.

Counter logs

I figured out how to set up logs but not how to access the information they collect. Do you need another program to actually use counter logs?

Acceptable Values

I've found some articles here and there that provided a few values to which to compare my computer's counters. Is there someplace that lists bad/acceptable/good/excellent values for performance counters?

[cluberti]

Unless you're saving out to a log, the data overwrites itself on a set time - in this case, it would seem to be a 5 minute loop. If you want to set up and collect data over time on an XP system, consider using perfwiz to configure and gather .blg logs for you over time.

As to why a system is slow when it's hardware should be newer/faster, assuming it's not bad hardware you have to assume that the load then comes from something you've installed on top of windows that would have the potential to cause perf issues (like antivirus or firewall software that loads filter drivers, or bad hardware drivers, for example). If you're loading these machines exactly the same, new vs old, then it's likely they have something in common other than Windows.

[AnnieMS]

Well, that's the question - is it bad hardware, improperly configured hardware, hardware that's not compatible w/ the OS or the computer’s other hardware, bad software, poorly configured software or some combination of problems. And I’m working on two problems – slow performance and program instability – which may or may not arise from the same cause.

Whatever the problems are, they were present in the two very different computers - the desktop and the tablet - before I installed programs or printer or scanner drivers or AV or firewalls. The Thinkpad X41 tablet demonstrated dramatically slow performance and repeated crashes truly “right out of the box” when I tried using the computer's Help, Explorer and Wordpad to start gathering info on the hardware and already installed software. After being shipped back to Lenovo and returned it had improved, but its performance is still not what I’d expect from its specs and MS Word [updated thru MS Update site when MS says so] should not be repeatedly crashing.

As for the Dell, I certainly didn’t say “Wow” when I first booted it up and opened the pre-installed Word – and considering how much the technology had changed since my last desktop I should have.

I know the GHz of a processor, the amount of memory and the size & rpm of the HD aren’t adequate guides to the performance of a computer. Whether the speed of the processor results in faster performance depends on the architecture of the processor, the performance of its caches, the performance of memory, the performance of the MB, the performance of the HD, the system and I/O buses and how well the OS and hardware work together.

So I'm trying to establish counter logs to run at different times and under different conditions to start checking for a paging problem or a HD queuing problem, etc. MS made it sound like Performance Monitor had that ability. Help tells you how to set up and configure logs, turn them on and off, etc. But unless I missed it [i do do that sometimes], there are no instructions on how to access that data. The log is IDed as a binary file, so there must be some Performance Monitor plug-in or other application to output the log’s data.

I followed the link to the Performance Monitor Wizard. The Overview talks about “gathering the logs” and configuring the counters and creating logs. It sounds like it makes the job of setting up a log to measure a certain function easier but it doesn’t mention accessing the information in the logs. I’ve created and run .blg logs through Performance Monitor. The links on the Wizard page are to server and IT tools which makes me think you still need another tool to access the log info and there are hundreds of them [exaggeration], none of which say “Performance Log Reader’.

Have you used the Wizard? Will it open the logs it configure

[cluberti]

First, please tell me you aren't using the OEM preloads that ship with these things and you're reinstalling Windows from scratch using the Windows disc and key that shipped with the machines - if not, you can stop right there, don't go any further.

If you're reloading Windows from scratch, from OEM media (not recovery media, but an honest-to-goodness Windows install disc) and you're not adding anything else software-wise but Windows and Windows Updates, but still seeing the problems, then you've entered the twilight zone and you should investigate further. If you use perfwiz to create/capture logs, the .blg files it creates can be opened and analyzed in perfmon - you need no additional software. As someone who worked doing primarily performance-related and crash/hang-related support for many, many years, I can say if there's a problem with the OS (and sometimes even with the hardware), you'll find it with perfmon/perfwiz on 2003/XP and older. There are other ways to do this now in Vista and Win7 that are far more advanced than XP/2003 was, but this will work.

[AnnieMS]

Well, that's interesting. So if you have a computer w/ an "OEM preload" you can't use perfom + perfiz to create and analyze performance logs?

I'm troubleshooting two computers- one w/ its WinXP OS disc and one without. The Dell380 workstation did come with its WinXP OS disc and a computer tech I hired helped me re-format and re-install awhile back. It solved some problems but I still didn't really say wow. The trouble w/ the Dell is that I can't sit up at it for long - disability problems.

So I end up doing most of my work on the Thinkpad X41 tablet - which does not have a WinXP Tablet ed CD. It doesn't have a CD drive - can one even install from an external USB CD drive?. I started troubleshooting the tablet pc first since I can work at it longer. It does install from a hidden partition on the HD and now I know why the C drive is named IBM_Preload. I hadn't heard the term "OEM preload" before and none of what I read said perfmon didn't work on an OEM preload WinXP installation.

So I'll switch over to the Dell to start using/learning perfmon. I'm still not clear if perfiz is necessary to open the .blg files in perfmon or if it just makes it easier to set up and use the logs, but I'll set up some counter logs on the Dell and see what I can do just with perfom and then with perfiz.

Can you recommend any performance utilities that do work on OEM Preloads?

Thanks for your help.

[cluberti]

Well, that's interesting. So if you have a computer w/ an "OEM preload" you can't use perfom + perfiz to create and analyze performance logs?

No, I'm saying the reason it performs like crap is because the OEMs don't do a good job of initially installing Windows, they don't tune it for performance, and they load it up with crapware, bloatware, and trialware (I'm not sure which is worse, honestly). The very first thing you do when you buy an OEM machine, after finding all the latest drivers for the hardware, is reinstall Windows. If it's still slow, then go from there, but trying to get an OEM preload to be performant is an exercise in futility - you might succeed, but you'll have far less hair on your head after pulling most of it out.

So I end up doing most of my work on the Thinkpad X41 tablet - which does not have a WinXP Tablet ed CD. It doesn't have a CD drive - can one even install from an external USB CD drive?

Yes, there are ways to do it posted here on MSFN, or you could consider using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 to create an installer for Windows that will work from a USB key (shameless plug for my blog here).

[AnnieMS]

Addendum:

After doing more reading - the Duration Value in System Monitor is determined by the sampling interval you select in Properties > General Tab. 1 sec - 1.4 min; 15 sec - 25 min; 36 sec - 1 hr. The Source Tab has a Time Range Area where some instruction said to enter a duration, but it's grayed out on my computer.

I'm still trying to open a .blg file in System Monitor. I hit the View Log Data button on the toolbar that opens the Source Tab in Properties, chose Log Files in Data Source Area, hit the Add Button. Before it was taking me to Administrative Tools [Doc&Settings\User\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools] where nothing showed. I found the counter logs by browsing to C\PerfLogs, selected a .blg, clicked Open, clicked Apply. At that point the Time Range Area in the Source Tab shows two sets of start & stop times [not identical for some reason, altho only one log is selected]. But when I click OK I get a Details Pane w/ no counters, no graph, no values except for Duration of 11:30. I've tried running the System_Overview log for about 15 minutes and then trying to open it and a log I've created - both 128 KB in size - with the same results.

Below are links to two articles with instructions on how to set up memory and page file monitoring mmc consoles based on System Monitor. They are a good place to start learning how to create your own consoles.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-...11-5073570.html

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-...tml?tag=btxcsim

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Yeah, I agree w/ the trialware, etc. I wrote Lenovo pointing out that trialware should not be installed since software installs change the registry and uninstall under Windows does not necessarily remove those changes. I'm not at the point that I can do a reformat/reinstall on my own, but I've always insisted on a licensed copy of an OS install disc - except for the tablet - with the intention of being able to do so.

The tablet was bought for mobility - not speed - and a special need and I had to make some concessions. Only it couldn't even do its limited and specialized functions in a reasonably timely manner and without crashing. Lenovo support has been somewhat helpful and might be more helpful if I can figure out exactly what questions to ask.

I had to reread my performance monitor notes when I went to set up some counter logs on the Dell and discovered I couldn't remember how to create a counter log. So I now realize you can create a log as a comma or tab delimited text file as well as a .blg file. [Don't know how I missed or forgot that] And you have to set all the counters in System Monitor or a counter log for the same collection interval which makes sense if one [namely me] actually thinks about what is going on. One of my references suggests a 15 sec interval for logs < 4 hrs, so that's what I'm going with.

So I'm going to set my first logs up as text logs so I can access the data and plug the numbers into the few ranges and formula I've collected so far. My first log is going to check for excessive paging by measuring Logical disk\% Disk Time; Physical Disc\ Avg. Disk Queue Length; Memory\Page Reads/sec. I want to run the same counters a few times and see if the values are consistent. With System Monitor a couple of counters have had values all over the place. Once I can actually set up a log and access the results I hope that the learning process will go faster.

I'll do a search for "USB boot" here and check out your blog. I've been trying to set up Emergency!!!/troubleshooting/repair protocols for when I suddenly can't boot into Windows or get a bad viral/malware infection for years, done extensive reading, and other than having my data and registry backed up am totally unprepared.

Thanks again for your help.

Edited October 5, 2009 by AnnieMS