Hey computer nerds! Whats wrong with my computer?

Will12785

Will12785

Well-known member
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
174
Messages
865
Loc
Syracuse, NY
One of my stores has constant issues with their computers freezing. They are always blaming it on slow internet speeds, but I don't think that's the case. We have spectrum internet on 20mb fiber line. It sucks but my office manager locked us in for 3 years. I still dont think that's the issue.

in case it matters all the computers are dell workstations provided by napa that run through a napa server and their provided security network.

what happens is, they try to open the catalog, or process a part in the point of sale system and the CPU usage shoots up to 100% and the computer locks up. Either the whole computer locks up or the point of sale program locks up and needs to be restarted.

I don't know **** about computers but spectrum says the internet is fine. What else should I look at?

1000005318.jpg
 
NakedJeep said:
This happens in a browser? Have you tried other browsers? Sounds like it is not processing the page properly
Click to expand...
Not in a browser. The computer program is called TAMS its our point of sale and inventory management software. The parts catalog is browser based and it works best on chrome but we've tried other browsers with the same result.
 
So here is what the task manager says. When I took this picture Microsoft edge was not open and there was only 3 tabs open in the chrome browser, the employee time clock, the parts catalog, and a pdf of an exhaust diagram. So its not like they are streaming music and watching YouTube.

1000005319.jpg

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click on memory to sort by that section, you are only showing about 1.5gb of your usage, something else is eating up your memory that we are not seeing in that list.
 
That ram limit might be your biggest issue.

Chrome needs something like 64G of ram to run nowadays, (yeah that's an exaggeration, so calm the **** down with the aaaacktually comments...) so if anything is dependent on a web browser, 8G is not nearly enough.
 
Edge always runs in the background, it's got functions tied into the OS on Windows 10 and 11 so you can't even uninstall it anymore.

Chrome has always been prone to memory leaks, idk if it still has this function but you used to be able to hit Shift+Esc in Chrome and it would tell you exactly how much memory was being used by what. Edge probably has the same function since it's Chrome based.

woods said:
Yawp. 32g is about baseline nowadays.
Click to expand...
No it isn't. 16 is, 32 is only "standard" now on DDR5 because DDR5 is so cheap and 32 costs the same as 16. In 99% of use cases it's totally unnecessary to go over 16 as far as performance goes. The machine he's posting screenshots is from is going to be on DDR4, it'll cost way more money for no benefit to put 32 in that system where he can get 16 for ~$40.
 
JunkCJ6 said:
click on memory to sort by that section, you are only showing about 1.5gb of your usage, something else is eating up your memory that we are not seeing in that list.
Click to expand...
How do I expand the section to see what all is being used?
animator said:
That ram limit might be your biggest issue.

Chrome needs something like 64G of ram to run nowadays, (yeah that's an exaggeration, so calm the **** down with the aaaacktually comments...) so if anything is dependent on a web browser, 8G is not nearly enough.
Click to expand...
None of my other stores have this issue and they all use the same, or older machines.
 
Motorcharge said:
No it isn't. 16 is, 32 is only "standard" now on DDR5 because DDR5 is so cheap and 32 costs the same as 16.
Click to expand...
I think that's what I was saying?

But I agree on the DDR4 thing.
 
Will12785 said:
How do I expand the section to see what all is being used?

None of my other stores have this issue and they all use the same, or older machines.
Click to expand...
Upping your ram will be a good thing, regardless.

Are you able to easily reformat the machine and reinstall software? It's possible there's a corrupt file somewhere causing issues. Or there could be a bad sector on the hard drive that the system is looking for and can't find. Things like that can cause the system to hang as well.
 
woods said:
I think that's what I was saying?

But I agree on the DDR4 thing.
Click to expand...
Sort of, you're right in a specific circumstance, just not overall big picture. There's a ton of use cases where 32 makes zero sense and the majority of systems out there aren't running 32.
 
animator said:
Upping your ram will be a good thing, regardless.

Are you able to easily reformat the machine and reinstall software? It's possible there's a corrupt file somewhere causing issues. Or there could be a bad sector on the hard drive that the system is looking for and can't find. Things like that can cause the system to hang as well.
Click to expand...
Could that be something happening on the server itself that would effect all 4 machines in the store?

I have a guy that could probably reformat the machines but napa doesn't like when we **** with the computers because I lease them but I pay a **** ton for support that absolutely sucks so **** em.
 
Will12785 said:
Could that be something happening on the server itself that would effect all 4 machines in the store?

I have a guy that could probably reformat the machines but napa doesn't like when we **** with the computers because I lease them but I pay a **** ton for support that absolutely sucks so **** em.
Click to expand...
Are the machines run as virtual machines from the server?
 
Will12785 said:
Not in a browser. The computer program is called TAMS its our point of sale and inventory management software. The parts catalog is browser based and it works best on chrome but we've tried other browsers with the same result.
Click to expand...
The conversations about RAM are valid, but if there are plenty of other machines equally equipped, it seems like a red herring.

reading this:
"The parts catalog is browser based" and "what happens is, they try to open the catalog... "

sounds "networky"

I have to ask"
Does the TAMS software have the browser function built in? as in you never do launch a browser?
That makes it harder.

IMHO:
You need to see what is happening under the hood and using the task manager is OK, but just tells you the processor is busy with x processes - not why.

If you can capture a HAR file from a browser when it hangs, you would see the conversation the PC is having and what was requested that puts it into overdrive. I have seen PCs spin hard on network issues. And, since I see Java in the task manager I am really suspicious. (I don't much like Java).

Good luck!
 
NakedJeep said:
The conversations about RAM are valid, but if there are plenty of other machines equally equipped, it seems like a red herring.

reading this:
"The parts catalog is browser based" and "what happens is, they try to open the catalog... "

sounds "networky"

I have to ask"
Does the TAMS software have the browser function built in? as in you never do launch a browser?
That makes it harder.

IMHO:
You need to see what is happening under the hood and using the task manager is OK, but just tells you the processor is busy with x processes - not why.

If you can capture a HAR file from a browser when it hangs, you would see the conversation the PC is having and what was requested that puts it into overdrive. I have seen PCs spin hard on network issues. And, since I see Java in the task manager I am really suspicious. (I don't much like Java).

Good luck!
Click to expand...
When you open the catalog from TAMS it opens the web browser its not built into TAMS.

It happens a lot when you open the catalog but today it froze when the counter guy was adding a core to an invoice because the part gets added first then the core gets added automatically and it was freezing when the core would be added.

How would I capture a HAR file?
 
Motorcharge said:
Edge always runs in the background, it's got functions tied into the OS on Windows 10 and 11 so you can't even uninstall it anymore.

Chrome has always been prone to memory leaks, idk if it still has this function but you used to be able to hit Shift+Esc in Chrome and it would tell you exactly how much memory was being used by what. Edge probably has the same function since it's Chrome based.


No it isn't. 16 is, 32 is only "standard" now on DDR5 because DDR5 is so cheap and 32 costs the same as 16. In 99% of use cases it's totally unnecessary to go over 16 as far as performance goes. The machine he's posting screenshots is from is going to be on DDR4, it'll cost way more money for no benefit to put 32 in that system where he can get 16 for ~$40.
Click to expand...

Can confirm. I have 2 DDR4 machines, and the one with 16gb may bump to 15+, but the one with 32 is never over 20.
Windows does a fairly good job on memory management, but at a certain point it just won't use anymore because there's not enough bandwidth.
 
NakedJeep said:
The conversations about RAM are valid, but if there are plenty of other machines equally equipped, it seems like a red herring.

reading this:
"The parts catalog is browser based" and "what happens is, they try to open the catalog... "

sounds "networky"

I have to ask"
Does the TAMS software have the browser function built in? as in you never do launch a browser?
That makes it harder.

IMHO:
You need to see what is happening under the hood and using the task manager is OK, but just tells you the processor is busy with x processes - not why.

If you can capture a HAR file from a browser when it hangs, you would see the conversation the PC is having and what was requested that puts it into overdrive. I have seen PCs spin hard on network issues. And, since I see Java in the task manager I am really suspicious. (I don't much like Java).

Good luck!
Click to expand...
I too cringed when i saw java.

Its probably a twenty year old java app thats been hackfucked 32 ways to keep it alive with the current java.
 
Will12785 said:
Not in a browser. The computer program is called TAMS its our point of sale and inventory management software. The parts catalog is browser based and it works best on chrome but we've tried other browsers with the same result.
Click to expand...
Just because you aren't directly using a browser doesn't mean the main program isn't using a "browser plugin". Been there, seen that with a ERP system.

As other says, memory IS a big issue with computers now days especially with the number of **** coders providing software :shaking:

My windows 8 machine with 8GB will lockup just by watching youtube videos on rare occasions. I wouldn't run a system with under 16GB now days... 32GB for gaming.
 
Will12785 said:
When you open the catalog from TAMS it opens the web browser its not built into TAMS.

It happens a lot when you open the catalog but today it froze when the counter guy was adding a core to an invoice because the part gets added first then the core gets added automatically and it was freezing when the core would be added.

How would I capture a HAR
Click to expand...

Will12785 said:
When you open the catalog from TAMS it opens the web browser its not built into TAMS.

It happens a lot when you open the catalog but today it froze when the counter guy was adding a core to an invoice because the part gets added first then the core gets added automatically and it was freezing when the core would be added.

How would I capture a HAR file?
Click to expand...
Depends on the browser. It is a mini network capture usually done via F12 menus for Devs. Google is your friend.
Capturing is easy - reading and understanding is harder.
 
Lil'John said:
As other says, memory IS a big issue with computers now days especially with the number of **** coders providing software :shaking:
Click to expand...
Why would memory be an issue at this store but not my 17 other stores?
NakedJeep said:
Depends on the browser. It is a mini network capture usually done via F12 menus for Devs. Google is your friend.
Capturing is easy - reading and understanding is harder.
Click to expand...
Ill try to record tomorrow if I can catch it happening.
 
20mb internet sucks?

I'd be tickled to death having internet that quick. I usually get 4-5mb
 
Lil'John said:
Depends upon what is loaded differently on the issue computer. You may think they are all 100% identical with what is being loaded but all it takes is one thing different to cause memory issue.
Click to expand...
Makes sense. No idea how I'll find that one different issue but it's been a problem since I opened this store 3 years ago.
 
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