BIOS upgrade - will it help performance?

BIOS updates rarely improve performance.  I presume your MB are actually GB.  Possibly not enough memory wasn't the fundamental problem.

 

Peter

oops, you're right, i meant GB.

what other inhibitors would there be to improve speed?  as i said, it's been pretty slow from the very beginning.  you'd think that a three-fold increase in memory would do SOMETHING! :smileysad:

A couple of things:

 

First, when do you notice the machine is slow?  How are you measuring this effect?

 

Second, 3x memory may very well do nothing.  1G is a fair amount of memory for everyday use and adding memory will not increase performance at all if you weren't already using the original 1G.  I rarely need more than 1G, but when I do, having the extra memory does help.  The rest of the time, it doesn't do anything.

 

You should use task manager to see if any processes are running to consume your CPU cycles.

 

Peter

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@theleeb wrote:
Problem Description: Windows Vista Home Premium
Dell Dimension C521
Microsoft Office 2007

The performance of this PC purchased just over 1 year ago ...

I was told to update the BIOS by the folks that supplied the memory - but I have not done that as I'm not sure if that will take care of the problem.  I currently run BIOS 1.1.6 and I know there's a more recent version out there.

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There is a long running saga on the E521/C521 BIOS that has two key elements.

1. BIOS versions prior to 1.1.11 have issues with the handling of USB devices - either not recognising them or hanging on a warm restart when a USB hub is attached. BIOS 1.1.11 is the latest and probably last version and appears to have resolved these problems.
2. Properly executed BIOS flashes on the E521/C521 have been known to fail requiring the motherboard to be replaced. This is an irritatingly intermittent problem and I canot say whether the fault lies with the design of the flash software, the design of the motherboard or the quality of the components used. I can say that 2 out of 5 BIOS flashes I attempted failed. I'm now on my third motherboard and NOT planning to flash the BIOS again ...

If your C521 is still under warranty you may want to consider upgrading the BIOS to version 1.1.11 ... talk with Dell customer service first, make sure they agree with / recommend the update, and then they should replace the motherboard under warranty if you are unlucky and the flash fails

 

If your C521 is no longer under warranty I'd strongly recommend leaving the BIOS at version 1.1.6.

 

Either way, as Peter says, flashing the BIOS will make no difference to Windows performance ...

Sounds like you need to recover your system to its factory default.  I am running Vista Home Basic with an AMX X2 processor and 3GB of memory.  I still often use up 2GB of memory doing everyday stuff.  I use Safari and it's a memory hog, and running Vista doesn't help any either!  I've encountered numerous problems and errors, have had my system slow down, blue screens, and so forth, and thus, have done the system recovery a number of times.  It's actually a good thing to do once in awhile, (more often for heavy users), and always speeds up your system and makes things run smoother.  With most PCs running Vista, there's a recovery partition of the HDD and that's where your O/S is along with all your system drivers and other original system software included with your PC.  But make sure you back up all your personal files before doing this, 'cause all those will be gone after you do this. 

Thanks all for your insights.  I may try the system recovery procedure, but only if MicroSoft or Dell are not able to provide a solution.  Is there a template for going thru the system recovery process?  I've never done one before, althought I know Step 1 is backup the data!

Thx.