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Inspiron 3541 - Very slow read from HD (new SSD), something with Driver/Queuing?
I bought Inspiron 3541 about 2 years ago.
Key Specs are:
AMD A4 - 6210 APU with AMD Radeon R3 Graphics - 1.8GHz
4GM Ram (3.43 usable)
64 Bit Windows 10 (Original windows 8).
240GB SSD PNY CS 1311. (Original 500 GB 5400 RPM Toshiba HD)
All default software (no anti virus to rule it out as bottleneck)
Under Resource Monitor -> Disk Activity, I see pages and pages (10+ pages) of reads being done almost all the time. This is not limited to one program. For example, If I am running Chrome, I would see Chrome Cookies file being read for several seconds.
I have updated all drivers and system patches.
I think somehow all file reads are being queued or intercepted somewhere in the middle which is super slow. I know SSD worked because boot time is under few seconds. But why all other reads are bottlenecked?
Any Ideas anyone?
Bhusan
7 Posts
0
June 4th, 2016 22:00
Would encryption be slowing down all Hard Drive reads? I have read some posts which suggest encryption causes only a minor performance hit, but is it worth try removing it?
I am looking for ideas on what would cause all Hard Drive reads take about 100 times longer than it should. (I have updated all drivers).
aklee
35 Posts
0
June 10th, 2016 19:00
Check in BIOS if your storage/SATA device is set to "AHCI" or "IDE" mode.
Bhusan
7 Posts
0
June 12th, 2016 14:00
It is set as AHCI.
Only other option is IDE. I tried IDE too but computer won't boot. I suppose it may need some other config changes that I haven't had chance to research yet. I didn't spend much time because most everyone seem to imply AHCI is better option anyways.
aklee
35 Posts
0
June 12th, 2016 15:00
Also please check with the SSD's manufacturer website if there is a firmware update.
Bhusan
7 Posts
0
June 23rd, 2016 10:00
Hi Aklee,
Sorry for the late reply. I have check PNY support site to see if they have any firmware update for my HD. But they don't. Also, my earlier spinning HD had the long queues too so I think it is something else before it gets to HD that is queuing up all the reads.
Bhusan
7 Posts
0
June 24th, 2016 10:00
The internet and dell.com is littered with hundreds of people complaining about how slow this particular model is.
I suppose I bought a lemon, it just took me two years to realize it. I am feeling dumb [:'(]
aklee
35 Posts
0
June 24th, 2016 19:00
Has the drive been completely encrypted?'
If performance is more important than security to you, you should consider disabling encryption.
Bhusan
7 Posts
1
June 25th, 2016 22:00
I actually don't have encryption. it is windows 10 home.
Conclusion here is that Dell messed up big time with this model. Using this laptop is pretty much a punishment for a sane person. I doubt anyone in Dell Quality Control had actually touched this computer.
Me and many other lost faith in Dell that at very minimum it makes computers that you can use to browse internet, or see home pictures and movies. You could possibly ignore 10 minutes boot time, but browsing dell.com itself is a struggle for this unbelievably slow computer. I hope Dell learned its lesson, and a few people got fired for this debacle.