Tom's Guide | Tom's Hardware | Tom's Games
 |
 |
 |
My cousin machine was running XP SP1 and was ugraded to XP2. But after installed the computer run VERY SLOW. Loading Windows takes > 10 minutes, starting an application for a first time takes > 60 seconds to load.
The computer is an old one with the following specs.
Celeron 700MHz
196MB SDRAM
20GB HDD
Before upgrade, it was running XP SP1 (clean installed) and it was just fine, although slow but not to a crawl like it is now. My sister has a computer with the same processor with 128MB of SDRAM and it runs XP SP2 just fine.Is it because of upgrading to SP2 cause such a problem? Will reformating the harddisk and clean installing XP SP2 solve the problem?
Currently i have no idea wether it is a hardware problem or a software problem. The motherboard battery were replace a while ago. Any hardware problem will cause something like this? I.e. faulthy harddisk?
Test your HDD for errors first, if it comes back clean, you can either uninstall SP2 or wipe the drive if you so desire a fresh Windows install.
0 
You could start by going to MSCONFIG, to the Startup tab and see how many programs you have checked off. You could possibly uncheck most of them with the exception of your Spyware and Anti-Virus programs and possibly a Firewall. If you don't know which ones you could safely uncheck, go to Castlecops.com and look at their Startup list. good luck
0
The hard drive could be too full now that the SP2 upgrades have been added to it - they take up a lot of drive space - take a look at the hard drive's Properties
(RIGHT click on the drive - select Properties).
If there is not enough free space, XP cannot run properly.
0
Does SP2 affects safe mode? Cause it is just as slow in safe mode. Starting Word takes almost 2 minutes.
I can't unistall SP2 cause it is not in the Add/Remove Panel and not in system restore. Clean install will be my last resort but i am not sure wether it will solve the problem since i don't now wether the problem is with the hardware or software.
Startup programs doesn't matters cause the com has few.
And how do i run scandisk in XP? Can't find it under Accesories/System Tools
0
Possible that the harddrive is not running at its normal speed, freezing up or slowing down.
My computer took 20 min. to boot the other day.
I was watching the HDD activity indicator light,
and it would remain on, and not rapidly blinking.
Mechanical devices do have problems.Harddrive manufacturers have software for download for testing HDD.
-------------------
check for bad sectors on HDD:
How to Perform Disk Error Checking in Windows XP
Perhaps the easier way to go is "To run Chkdsk
from My Computer or Windows Explorer"
Check mark both items under "Check Disk Options",
on your way into starting Error-Checking Tool.
----------------
How to remove SP2Get Your PC Ready for Windows XP SP2
Release notes for Windows XP Service Pack 2
Programs that may experience a change in behavior after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2
0
Did you check to see how full the hard drive is? If it is too full, if that is all that is wrong, it will cause all of your symptoms. All you would need to do is to make more room on the drive - e.g. uninstall what programs you aren't using, delete video files you aren't using or have already seen, etc.
"Does SP2 affects safe mode?"
It affects everything.
"And how do i run scandisk in XP? Can't find it under Accesories/System Tools"
XP does not have Scandisk. It has chkdsk.
It does not run in Windows.
There is more than one way to run it - this is one I know of:You have to select Safe Mode with Command Prompt while booting.
(after booting or re-booting, starting after the memory is counted, press F8 repeatedly - don't hold it down - a menu will appear - choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt)At the C:\> prompt, type: chkdsk c: /f/r (enter)
It will display a summary when finished.
If you want to check another partition, run it again with the drive letter of the partition in place of C:
e.g. for d: - type: chkdsk d: /f/r (enter)
When you want to get out of there.....
Type: exit (enter)
Type: Alt-Ctrl-Del (hold down Alt and Ctrl, press Del, let go of all three keys)
Choose Shut Down from the top toolbar in the window that then appears.
0
I have run check disk and no luck, it is still as slow.
The harddisk seems to be running. (the red light is on all the time) Infact it seems to me as if the computer has too much to handle - imagine pentium 1 100 MHz running XP.
Is there anyway to benchmark the computer without taking faulthy software into the consideration? That way i would know wether the problem lies with SP2 or with the hardware. Would save me the hassle of reformatting.
0
"The disk still has a lot of space left, around 16 GB, so thats not the problem."
Hokay.
....You don't have to reformat in any case.
If you want to remove SP2, see Chuck 2's response 6
"How to Remove SP2"
There is also lots of SP2 t-shooting info on the Microsoft site, and elsewhere. Some is referred to in response 6.
......It is possible, though unlikely, installing XP has set one or more of your drives to PIO mode.
Go here and try the procedure if your drives are found to be in PIO mode:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspxIf you cannot get any one of them "unstuck" from PIO mode, see response 17 in this:
http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/147649.html.......
"Is there anyway to benchmark the computer without taking faulthy software into the consideration?"
Sure - but you would need another hard drive with a properly working operating system on it. It's extremely unlikely to be the hardware in this case, unless you messed around with settings in tne bios.
0  |
 |
 |
This post is quite old and has been locked from receiving new replies. Please create a new posting instead.
| Ads by Google |
