Performance Component on Overview Screen does not populate

[Josef W]

Dr. Doctor Blip, I have been using PC-Doctor Toolbox for Windows for many years. Never had a problem until now.

I just installed the new version 7.0.6852.45 on my old Lenovo X61 with Windows 10 Home 64bit, Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.40 GHz, 6GB RAM, Samsung 240GB SSD.

Now the Performance Component indicator keeps circling without populating data. I can click on it and it shows me -

"Computer last started - Oct. 18, 10:30 AM

Installed Memory - 6.00 GB
Maximum Supported -
Memory Slots - 2(0 available)
Current Virtual Memory - 1GB   Settings

Power Plan  - Balanced     Settings
Sleep - 180 minutes
Turn Off Monitor - 60 minutes"

This is a Lenovo X61 from 2009. I installed a new Samsung 240GB SSD. I then did a clean install of a purchased version of WIndows 10 Home 64 Bit. (I couldn't do an upgrade since I was still using Vista Business 32 bit).

I made absolutely sure that the motherboard, processor and system, which is an x64, could support 64 bits, thereby allowing me to upgrade from 4 GB of RAM in 2 slots to 6 GB, (#1 slot = 2GB, and #2 slot = 4GB). I also made absolutely sure I had the correct version,(PC2 5300 SODIMM, 5-5-5-15, 667Ghz speed) to match the existing RAM. Windows 10 and your diagnostics clearly recognizes and utilizes the expanded capacity.

Everything is working fine on the computer. The only thing I noticed is that under Devices and Printers even though Windows recognizes my Notebook, the Manufacturer - Lenovo, the Model - 7675CTO, and the Category - Notebook PC, it tells me it can't find a driver for the device and the troubleshooting option - "PCI Memory Controller is not installed. Install the latest driver for the device", doesn't turn up anything.

Again everything is working perfectly and all PC-Doctor tests seem to recognize all components and return "Passed" results. But the fact that Windows can't seem to find a driver for the "PCI Memory Controller", is maybe causing the Performance indicator to not populate.

There is no error message, and interestingly the previous version of PC-Doctor did populate and check off this box.

I had purchased a new version of PC-Doctor back in July after installing Windows 10. I had originally had the Thinkvantage version of PC-Doctor on the computer but Lenovo no longer used PC-Doctor and only offered "Lenovo Solution Centre" which consistently and completely froze my computer, forcing a hard shutdown, without completing any tests even after hours of waiting.

Any ideas on this? I still have the original full download of the previous version. Should I uninstall the new version and re-install the earlier version?

Josef

[PCD_James]

Hi Josef,

There is a chance that the missing driver is the cause of the issue. I would try locating the driver from Lenovo and seeing if that fixes it.

If not my next suggestion would be to uninstall the software and install the old version. If the issue goes away we can narrow it down to the new version.

Let me know what you find!

James

[donme]

I have the same problem with the new update.  It worked fine on the previous software.
I am using home-built Windows 10 64 bit computers.  One does not show continuous performance circle and the other one does.
Configuration of one with continuous Performance circle:
Intel I5-6600 cpu
MSI pc-mate motherboard
16GB 2800MHZ memory
2 ssd drives
Windows 10 64 bit

Configuration of one with correct Performance circle:
Intel I5-6500
MSI pc-mate motherboard
16GB 2800 MHZ memory
1 ssd and 1 hdd drive
Windows 10 64 Bit

[PCD_James]

Hello,

I am currently working on the issue and appear to have it narrowed down to an issue with WIN 10 units with SSD's and our software. I will post a fix as one comes my way. In the mean time you are welcome to continue to use the software, or if you send me a PM I can send a link to version 6.3.

-James

[donme]

I removed my second ssd drive and it still did not work.  I then installed a hdd as my second drive and it works fine.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Don

[Josef W]

Hi James,

Thanks for your suggestion about the missing driver. This is what I suspect as well.

For Windows "Device Manager" listing "Other Devices" with a question mark and returning a "PCI Memory Controller driver missing", but unable to find one, I found some similar threads and possible fixes, as well as "PCI Simple Communications Controller driver" missing.

(I did a search on these terms. This seems to have been a common problem going back to Windows XP on Acer, HP, Toshiba and Lenovo, and is still coming up with Windows 10 installs.
 
Some suggestions are that -

1)Intel Chipset drivers might be missing, (These were missing in "Device Manager" under "System Device". I downloaded the "Intel Chipset Support" for Window 8 and earlier from the Lenovo Support site and installed it. The drivers for the Intel Chipsets were now listed, but no change on the "Other Device" - "PCI Memory Controller" driver missing and PC-Doctor was still not filling in the "Performance" box.)

2)It has something to do with the Intel Management Engine Interface driver or Intel AMT (Active Management Technology). These are features that help allow remote access to the computer for Corporate or Enterprise applications and greater IT security.

There is a setting in BIOS that enables or disables the Intel AMT (Active Management Engine). Mine is currently disabled. Lenovos for Business usually had this pre-installed.
Installing the missing driver sometimes seems to have fixed the unrecognized device.
You can check in the Programs list to see if "Intel Management Engine Interface" is installed.

3) It has something to do with "Intel Virtualization Technology", and turning off virtualization in the BIOS under the CPU setting seemed to fix it for some. I also tried this, rebooted, but no change.

Since for me I don't need to have corporate remote access at the moment and I don't use more than 1 active (bootable) hard drive, nor do I use Virtualization, it's not a big deal and I'm reluctant to make changes without understanding what I am doing and having a backup or restore point.

I will try looking at installing the Intel Management Engine Interface drivers, but I don't fully understand the AMT features and don't really need them.

That's it so far for me. Again thanks for looking into this.

Josef


 

[Josef W]

Hi James,

Good news and Bad news - First the Good

I have solved the problem in "Device Manager" of "Other Devices > PCI Memory Controller" driver missing can'tt be found by Windows.

It seems that on Lenovo X61 with an Intel PM965 Chipset it originally had the Intel Turbo Memory with Intel Matrix Storage Management. Once I had installed the driver and program for these from the Lenovo Support website (for Win 7 64), the "Other Devices" showed up as a "Storage Controller" with 2 drivers - one with the Lenovo "Intel Turbo Memory Controller" driver and on from Windows - "Windows Storage Spaces Controller".

But this did not solve the problem of PC-Doctor Toolbox for Windows not populating the "Performance" box. I now think the "Performance" not finishing has something to do with the fact that there is no maximum memory shown. The Lenovo were originally shipped with 32bit Windows Vista with a maximum RAM memory capacity of 4GB. However the actual processor was capable of running 64bit programs, so I installed Windows 10 Home 64bit allowing a higher amount of RAM. I think the computer and processor could run at least 16GB in 2 slot of 8. I currently have 6 which is recognized, but there is no maximum stated either in Windows System info or in PC-Doctor. This might be confusing the "Performance" reading.


Now the Bad News -

A new problem emerged - PC-Doctor could not find my internal Hard Drive under "Storage", and subsequently can not test it.

I did create Restore points before installing 1) The Intel Matrix Storage Controller driver, which still did not recognize "Other Devices" and then 2) before installing the Intel Turbo Memory Controller driver which also installed the "Intel Matrix Storage Console" and then created the "Storage Controller" listing in the Device Manager.

I also made a complete System Image backup with Acronis 2016, before installing either of these 2 components.

From what I have been able to garner on various web postings, the Intel Turbo Controller is really no longer required with SSDs and doesn't really bring any benefit. The computer seems to run perfectly without but without the driver and Module leaves it unrecognized as "Other Devices".

I have also attached a Screen Shot of the "Windows Reliability Monitor" that shows both the driver installs and the Erro Messages resulting saying "PC-Doctor Module stopped working" continually each time I opened PC-Doctor.

I also have Screen shots showing the "Storage" and "Performance" boxes on the Overview continually spinning. (See attached Office Open XML Document .docx files)

When I click on the the "Storage" box, under "Hard Drive/Solid State Drive" it tells me "No drive detected". Which is odd since Windows has problem seeing this drive and the computer runs normally.

Any ideas on this? Should I try re-installing the earlier version (6.3) of PC-Doctor and see how it reacts, or restoring the computer to before the driver installs?

Thanks again,

Josef

[john7]

I also have this, I have two ssd drives so may be that is  the problem. There are no queries under drive manager.
Also oddly with the first hardware test it found/tested the NNvida card but didn't do the intel
the version 6 when the laptop was undocked used to find test both one

[PCD_James]

Hello All,

It appears that we are experiencing a couple issues around our product enumerating all of the tiles, Performance, updates etc. We have narrowed it down to and issue with systems that have SSD's and systems with certain Anti-virus programs. We are currently working on a patch for the issue that will resolve it and will automatically be downloaded and installed into your system when released.

In the mean time a rollback to 6.3 will fix the issue, just ensure that you turn off auto-updating in the settings to ensure it doesn't just move back to 7. 

Sorry for all the trouble! We test the updates on hundreds of machines, but sometimes a bug or two slips through.

[john7]

I have taken it off. Since the update I have had 3 BSD linked to IRQL not less or equal. I don't understand how these two thing are linked but they only started after the update.

[PCD_James]

I am sorry to here that. If you send me a PM with your preferred email address I can send you a link to the older version of the software. We also are working on a patch for version 7 that should be out very soon.

 

[john7]

Thanks I have a copy of the older one to put on. I will hang on for a "working" update.

Will there be a link when the patched version is out as not having version 6 installed I will not have a update wiorking

[PCD_James]

I will make a forum post as soon as it is out and ready.

[john7]

I am sorry to here that. If you send me a PM with your preferred email address I can send you a link to the older version of the software. We also are working on a patch for version 7 that should be out very soon.

 

There have been no BSD since uninstalling

[john7]

I am sorry to here that. If you send me a PM with your preferred email address I can send you a link to the older version of the software. We also are working on a patch for version 7 that should be out very soon.

Is there any sign of this patch?