Going REALLY Slow

Question

I have been having problems with my computer, it has been running really really slow, and i was reciving a message that indicated that i had a failing hard drive, but after i got a new hard drive, and was getting everything in order, my computer is still running at that incredibly slow rate, my old Pentium 60mhz runs about twice as fast as what im experiencing, i dont know what to do

Steven

gjetson99 · Answer

What are your system specs?  Windows, ram, cpu, etc........Have you made ANY changes/additions recently in software or hardware (aside from the hard drive).  How did you go about replacing the hard drive, did you format it and start from scratch, or did you copy the entire old hard drive to the new one?

Steven411 · Answer

im running windows xp home, 256 RDRAM, nortan anti-virus, AIM, geforce 3 ti200, turtle beach santa cruz, 2.4 ghz P4, i installed it the way you should, i just connected the cables like they are supposed to be, and formated from scratch, and the hard drive seems to work fine, but everything else but that is wroking horribly, it took me over 15 hours to install windows XP, my hard drive error has been fixed, but something is still wrong, i noticed that my computer kept getting slower and slower on the start up(old hard drive) and now it is just unbelieveably slow, i checked the cables, and they are fine, im guessing it might be the motherboard or ram, thats all i can guess

Steven

gjetson99 · Answer

The fact that it does work at all would make me think its not so much a hardware failure, but a setting of some sort (or lack thereof).  Just how long does it take to boot?  Have you tried starting it in safe mode, to see if it improves the performance at all?  If it is still bad, then start removing hardware one by one, video card (if you have a video card & onboard video as well), cd-drives, sound card....etc. and booting up.

Steven411 · Answer

i will try that, i did that before, i took out all my hardware in their slots, and it still went slow, but i will try that now with the new hard drive, i will get back to you

Steven411 · Answer

i took everything out, except my Geforce 3 Ti200, and it still goes slow, i would take out the GeForce, but i wouldnt know how fast it is going or anything. Steven

John Redcorn · Answer

make sure dma is enabled on the HDD....

Go into Device Manager, open IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
Right click and select properties for the Primary IDE Channel, click on Advanced Settings. Next to the label "Current Transfer Mode" it should say Ultra DMA.

I remember ME and 98 having a screen that would tell you if the computer was running in compatibility mode. I'm not sure where that is in XP.

Steven411 · Answer

the install of the orignial bios had no effect on the speed, so i still need major  help

Steven411 · Answer

that didnt work, it was already set for that, dell even sent me an email saying to go to MSCONFIG and take out programs in my startup, i thought that was funny(because they just sent me a hard drive[nothing on it], and that wouldnt cause what im experincing. i dont know what to do, im guessing now its with the mohterboard or the P4 itself, there is pretty much nothing else that i havent checked, but i did recently put the bois A09 on there, so i am going to put the A07 back on to see if that changed it

lisa11 · Answer

I'm not sure if this will help you or not or if you have already done it. Mine slowed down after reinstall and I had to reinstall the chipset drivers for mine.

This is what it covers:
The Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility installs to the target system the Windows* INF files that outline to the operating system how the chipset components will be configured. This is needed for the proper functioning of the following features: - Core PCI and ISAPNP Services - AGP Support - IDE/ATA33/ATA66/ATA100 Storage Support - USB Support - Identification of Intel Chipset Components in Device Manager

Added support for newer Intel Chipsets.

This file is compatible with the following systems running the following operating systems: Dimension 8100
OptiPlex GX400
Precision 330
Windows 2000
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows Me

I updated mine from the Dell Site and the Intel site. At the Dell site just go to downloads tab at the top of the page.

Lisa

lisa11 · Answer

It is not an update, you can just reinstall them to see if it helps. I used the one from the intel site last time and they work on mine.I have also used the ones on the Dell website and they worked. Mine has the 850 chipset.I had to because I had to reinstall my OS so many times lately. It was all my fault though for having to reload. I was messing with things I shouldn't have been. Gaining more confidence from reading this forum. Wish I knew it was here when I first purchased the computer.

Lisa

John Redcorn · Answer

chipset updates are not available for 8100s running XP. So what should the XP users do?

John Redcorn · Answer

just out of curiosity, what were your other 3 unknowns? one of my pcs has an unknown and ive never figured out what it was.

lisa11 · Answer

Also I have an older Dell, xpsPro200n and with the service tag number I was able to find the chipset drivers on it, although none of the other original devices were listed. You only really need to install them if you upgrade windows or reinstall a clean install.

at least I think. I am no professional at any of this.

Lisa

lisa11 · Answer

One was the integrated network card, the other was the modem and believe it or not, last but not least "Dell's very own Resolution Assistant". I could not believe that something like that would show up in the device manager. I had that last unknown device and found it out on this forum. I wonder how it is set up, as a device, just a link to the webpage? I didabled the device because it ends up in the startup menu.

Lisa

John Redcorn · Answer

upgrading windows is exactly what i did. now im curious if im missing out on performance or something. i dont have an conflicts in device manager tho, so maybe i should leave well enough alone.

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Going REALLY Slow

Was this post helpful?