Performance Monitor giving bad readings

[mike_d99]

Hi all,

I got my sparkling new PC last week, and I'm really pleased with it so far

One of my existing drives is failing badly, but CrystalDiskInfo isn't showing any issues with it. In an effort to see what I could use to get a better test, I was guided towards Performance Monitor built into Windows 11. So I ran it, using the guidelines here and it's giving pretty terrible results.

I've had no performance issues with the PC at all, and my CPU usage is generally idling at about 2%. Yet according to this, everything is wrong

For reference, it'a Ryzen 5800CPU, 10GB RTX3080 graphics card with 32GB of RAM, and I'm barely running anything at all.

Should I be concerned, or this process not reliable?

 

[Martinr36]

Can you post the full spec from your orders page and also a screenshot of the windows update page both for normal and optional updates

 

[mike_d99]

Thanks Martin. Here we are:

Case
Send In Your Own Case (Fractal Define 7 XL)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING WIFI (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Promotional Item
Get Far Cry 6 with select Samsung SSDs
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo

No great load on the CPU either:

 

[Martinr36]

ok install that optional update (on new pc's optional updates aren't optional, they are mandatory)

 

[mike_d99]

Ok, done. I checked for updates and it installed a Net Framework update shown below. Now there are no updates or optional updates showing:

 

[Martinr36]

That's good, see how things go, and maybe one of the real wizards with this type of thing will drop by and comment

 

[mike_d99]

Thanks Martin

 

[ubuysa]

TBH I don't think the Performance Monitor has received any attention from Microsoft for many years. There is a bug in perfmon /report that fails to show any memory data for example. I reported that to Microsoft about 5 years ago and nothing has changed.

That said, nothing that you're seeing there is in any sense 'terrible', none of those informational messages should give cause for concern, I'm not even certain that they're genuine given the lack of development of this tool. The error for taskhost.exe is because the performance monitor runs under taskhost.exe!

Please don't worry, this is not showing that there are problems with your system at all.

 

[mike_d99]

Thanks Ubuysa. I did wonder, as the diagnosis seems so far out of step with the specs of the machine in every single way.

Reassuring to hear it from someone who knows what they're talking about though!

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks Ubuysa. I did wonder, as the diagnosis seems so far out of step with the specs of the machine in every single way.

Reassuring to hear it from someone who knows what they're talking about though!

The only one I'd pay any attention to is the disk message about the dirty bit being set. It would be wise to run a chksdk /f command on that disk to be sure there are no filesystem issues - that will reset the dirty bit too. If you don't do that manually it will likely run the next time you reboot.

 

[mike_d99]

The only one I'd pay any attention to is the disk message about the dirty bit being set. It would be wise to run a chksdk /f command on that disk to be sure there are no filesystem issues - that will reset the dirty bit too. If you don't do that manually it will likely run the next time you reboot.

That's the whole reason I came to run Performance Monitor in the first place - I was trying to find something that would actually run a proper test on the disk as I knew it was faulty but Crystal Disk Info was saying it was fine. The disc is going back to Western Digital in disgrace.

 

[ubuysa]

That's the whole reason I came to run Performance Monitor in the first place - I was trying to find something that would actually run a proper test on the disk as I knew it was faulty but Crystal Disk Info was saying it was fine. The disc is going back to Western Digital in disgrace.

What seemed to be wrong with the drive?

 

[mike_d99]

It started making rattling and grinding noises, and then folders started becoming unreadable and corrupted in Windows. First one, then another, now thirty or so. It's only four months old. I've never really had a drive fail on me before, except for a couple of 1TB external hard drives way back in around 2007 or so.

In contrast, I've got two 4TB WD Greens that have been going strong since 2014, and a 2TB and 1TB drive that date back to 2010 and are still running, although I don't use them now. One the 4TB drives is showing signs of failure according to the SMART data, but it's working fine right now. The other one is still ticking along nicely. Also got two Lacie external hard drives which I fired up for the first time in ages recently. They date back to around 2011 and still work fine, amazingly. So I've been pretty lucky overall.

I bought another 10TB WD Black two months ago, and a 14TB Elements external drive last month, hoping they prove more reliable!

 

[ubuysa]

It started making rattling and grinding noises, and then folders started becoming unreadable and corrupted in Windows. First one, then another, now thirty or so. It's only four months old. I've never really had a drive fail on me before, except for a couple of 1TB external hard drives way back in around 2007 or so.

In contrast, I've got two 4TB WD Greens that have been going strong since 2014, and a 2TB and 1TB drive that date back to 2010 and are still running, although I don't use them now. One the 4TB drives is showing signs of failure according to the SMART data, but it's working fine right now. The other one is still ticking along nicely. Also got two Lacie external hard drives which I fired up for the first time in ages recently. They date back to around 2011 and still work fine, amazingly. So I've been pretty lucky overall.

I bought another 10TB WD Black two months ago, and a 14TB Elements external drive last month, hoping they prove more reliable!

And CrystalDiskInfo said it was fine? You don't have a copy of the SMART data from it do you? It sure does sound like it's performing in a less than ideal manner....

 

[mike_d99]

I do, as it happens:

 

[ubuysa]

That doesn't suggest a failing drive, though I note there is a 'Caution' for drive H: - are you sure you're displaying the right drive there?

If so, then perhaps it was a flaky SATA cable or a cable not fully connected at one or other end? You don't exactly get a firm connection with SATA. Still, if the drive has gone back already then it's a moot point.

 

[mike_d99]

Yes, that's definitely the correct drive. The one marked caution is the 4TB WD Green from 2014 that I referred to in my earlier post. Ironically, that one is currently working fine despite the warning message.

It's definitely not the cables or connections, I've copied 3 or 4 TB of data from the drive successfully. It's just that within those copied folders certain files or subfolders are marked corrupted and can't be accessed. The errors have been consistent from day to day, it's not like a folder was inacessible one day and fine the next.

I asked this question elsewhere and was told SMART data isn't perfect and sometimes you need an extended SMART test to reveal any issues, which is why I stumbled across Performance Monitor in the first place. Seems like that's the only thing it actually got right. Even Windows itself started flagging the drive as having errors, but Crystal Disk Info was insisting everything was fine right up to the last, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

 

[ubuysa]

Yes, that's definitely the correct drive. The one marked caution is the 4TB WD Green from 2014 that I referred to in my earlier post. Ironically, that one is currently working fine despite the warning message.

It's definitely not the cables or connections, I've copied 3 or 4 TB of data from the drive successfully. It's just that within those copied folders certain files or subfolders are marked corrupted and can't be accessed. The errors have been consistent from day to day, it's not like a folder was inacessible one day and fine the next.

I asked this question elsewhere and was told SMART data isn't perfect and sometimes you need an extended SMART test to reveal any issues, which is why I stumbled across Performance Monitor in the first place. Seems like that's the only thing it actually got right. Even Windows itself started flagging the drive as having errors, but Crystal Disk Info was insisting everything was fine right up to the last, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

Most interesting, thank you for that. I'm still puzzled how you can be losing folders etc. in Windows caused by a faulty drive and not at least see some read errors in the SMART data.

If you can, it would be fascinating and instructive to find out what was wrong with the drive.

 

[mike_d99]

Most interesting, thank you for that. I'm still puzzled how you can be losing folders etc. in Windows caused by a faulty drive and not at least see some read errors in the SMART data.

If you can, it would be fascinating and instructive to find out what was wrong with the drive.

Would Windows, chkdsk and Performance Monitor not be reading from the same SMART data though? It seems all three of these applications flagged it successfully.

 

[mike_d99]

How bizarre. The faulty drive is still in the PC. I've just opened the folders now and all the files that were locked and inaccesible have vanished, and I'm able to delete the now empty folders. Is this Windows intervening in some way? The drive is now completely empty:

Yet the drive has used space. I'm guessing Windows has partioned the faulty elements of the drive off in some way?

Crystal Disk Info seems none the wiser:

I'm concerned about these drive temperatures, I didn't think they'd be this high