Windows 7 running extremely slow under Bootcamp

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Level 1

8 points

Windows 7 running extremely slow under Bootcamp

Hi,

I have been experiencing extreme lag on a fresh install of Windows 7 via Bootcamp. It is very bad. Almost everytime I click on something, Windows freezes for a couple seconds. Programs show the (not responding) thing at the top of the window very often. This happens with every kind of program, even explorer. It is not really usable.

I have installed Windows 7 32-bit (tried 64-bit as well) on my 2008 iMac with 6 GB of RAM and an SSD. There should be no such lag. I have the newest version of El Capitan installed on the Mac side. I have reinstalled Windows a couple times using different ways. I ran chkdsk command. Tried system startup repair. Nothing seemed to fix my problems. I have installed the official Bootcamp drivers from Apple for my iMac model.

Mac OS X is running fast and smooth by the way. I had Windows 7 on the old HDD in the exact same iMac and it ran pretty well. So the hardware can't be the problem.

I suspect some drivers are missing or incorrectly installed, at least that's the only thing I can think of. But I don't know how to determine which drivers are the problem. Running Windows 7 in safe mode gets me much better performance, but sometimes the same kind of lag happens there too.

I hope someone's able to help me with this issue. Just installing Windows on my Mac was driving me insane and now I have to put up with this...

Tim

Posted on Mar 12, 2016 4:57 PM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 12, 2016 5:56 PM in response to T1m444

Are there any missing drivers in Device Manager?

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Answer 2

T1m444 Author

Level 1

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Mar 13, 2016 6:23 AM in response to Loner T

Hi Loner T,

I checked device manager. There are no yellow flags and drivers seem to be up to date. I checked graphics card and processors especially.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 13, 2016 6:37 AM in response to T1m444

There is a limit on amount of memory a 32-bit Windows installation can address. Can you check your Windows installation on available memory?

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Answer 4

T1m444 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2016 8:16 AM in response to Loner T

It's limited to 3 GB, but that should still be enough. I tried a 64-bit version of Windows 7 too and it was just as slow.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 13, 2016 9:18 AM in response to T1m444

Can you Task Manager and see which processes are running? Do you have any Antivirus software?

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Answer 6

T1m444 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2016 10:10 AM in response to Loner T

I have no software installed except for bootcamp drivers. Task Manager doesn't show any processes that need lots of CPU. Only explorer sometimes gets very high.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 13, 2016 12:17 PM in response to T1m444

In Task manager what is the CPU and memory utilization?

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Answer 8

T1m444 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2016 1:15 PM in response to Loner T

CPU was usually at around 40-70%. Memory like 50%.

Now this is weird. I installed Windows 7 64-bit on my other internal hard drive, a 1 TB HDD that I intended to only use for data. But I wanted to see if Windows behaves the same on that hard drive. Surprisingly, Windows runs very well on this drive. It feels like this is the SSD and not the other way round, very odd. I wonder what I bough the SSD for, if Windows runs much better on the HDD...

I am not going to mark this question as solved because I still can't get Windows 7 to run properly on the SSD, but I am pleased with running Windows on the HDD. Thanks again for your input, Loner T.

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 13, 2016 1:30 PM in response to T1m444

What brand/size is the SSD?

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Answer 10

T1m444 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2016 1:33 PM in response to Loner T

It's a 240 GB SSD from SanDisk. Here's the link to it on Amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00S9Q9VS4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detai lpage_o01_s01

Has pretty good reviews and it does its job well with Mac OS X running on it...

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 13, 2016 1:42 PM in response to T1m444

Can you please describe the physical connections for each of the two disks? Or can you check System Report -> SATA and provide details? Is your SSD connected to the Optibay SATA connector?

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Answer 12

T1m444 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2016 1:47 PM in response to Loner T

HDD is connected to the SATA port where the original HDD was seated. SSD is connected to Optibay SATA connector using an optibay kit.

System Report lists the HDD under SATA and the SSD under ATA. What informations do you need exactly? I could provide you with a screenshot but it's all in German.

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Answer 13

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 13, 2016 1:56 PM in response to T1m444

This is what I expected. On Macs prior to 2011, the SSD in Optibay has unstable IO at higher speeds. In your case, it is not even SATA. You will have a lot of problems. As a test, can you switch the HDD and SSD connections and test Windows on SSD?

It is not recommended to use the Optibay connection for SATA disks.

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Answer 14

T1m444 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2016 1:59 PM in response to Loner T

That's intersting, didn't know that. I will try switching them when I find the time this week. Will probably need some adapters because the ports are different.

On a side note: I did the same on my 2009 Macbook Pro and the SSD works flawlessly connected to the Optibay SATA connector, even on Windows. You said this issue occurs on Macs prior to 2011, so is my MBP just the lucky exception?

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Answer 15

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 13, 2016 2:18 PM in response to T1m444

MBPs and iMacs are different. It is not an exception. Check your MBP and you will notice that it is a SATA connection, even though it is at a lower speed. If you want to check you can look at System Report on both machines and check.

The SATA SSDs also come in SATA 1 through SATA 3. Some of the newer SSDs from 2011-2012 can negotiate rates. Some others are fixed at SATA 3. All SSDs are different.

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