You've given us lots of information, but perhaps neglected some key information. For example, has the computer always been like this or did this happen after making some recent change? You say you have disabled startup programs, but specifically, what programs are still running in the background? What are the free system resources when the system shows poor performance?
The memory issue is normal for Windows, i.e. free physical memory is wasted memory, since Windows will use as much memory as it needs to run programs efficiently without having to swap to disk. The amount of free memory will vary throughout a Windows session. The only way to keep Windows from not using physical memory is to not run programs.
On the surface it looks like you've done the necessary things to improve performance, but if you post somemore details, we may be able to figure out where the problem is.
I think to improve your performance you need to get at least 256mb ram. What OS are you running? If you are running windows XP 128mb of ram will not cut it. I have a 8100 with 512mb running XP Pro and with only back ground programs running it is using 125mb. Regarding your poor cached and unchached speeds this could be due to antivirus program or another program using that drive. Those results are really poor. Do you have a 7200rpm or 5400rpm drive? I think you should not let windows manage your swap file you are better off setting at 1-1/2 times your total ram. I think if you upgrade your memory to at least 256mb you should be fine. Hope this helps..
Thanks for the replies. Here is some more info. I'm running Windows ME. My hard disk is 5400 rpm
When my memory gets low it coinsides with low system resources. I understand that resources get used when programs are run., but it seems to lose them faster than it used to. I have had this system for almost two years. It is under warranty until feb. 2004. I can't really identify any one thing that was changed when this started happening. It was about 3 weeks ago.
Little things would happen at first. Something different everyday. I really thought I had a virus. The desktop would refresh itself alot (blank icons at first and then the proper icons would come on. Sometimes when I would restart , scandisc would say improper shutdown when it was a proper restart. Pages would scroll up/down very quickly by themselves. Highlighted items, like in the start menu, would flash. I had to reinstall my intellimouse software. Stack error happened on restart. I tought maybe Norton Antivirus was the problem so I uninstalled it and got McAfee virus and firewall but when I was giving my c drive a label , norton came on and said possible virus activity(I know this is normal but I thought I uninstalled NAV) Also I now have the problem where memory shows negative. (I know this does not affect anything , but it was never like that before)
Take a look at these screen shots for my startup menu and my running tasks. If the links don't work , copy and paste them. Thats all I can think of for now. Thankyou again for your intrest in helping someone you don't even know. I appreciate it. , Ken
kennyhorse, One thing that you can uncheck in msconfig is Resolution Assistant. Dell no longer supports this. Stay tuned, I am sure that others can help with your problem. I know that I used to have a few of these problems such as the desktop refreshing,stack error, and some others that were different than yours. My hard drive eventually died and I had to get it replaced. While this may not be your problem, you might want to run the Dell Diagnostics on your hard drive just to rule this out.
One thing I see that is kind of strange is that winmgmt is shown to be one of your running tasks. This program is run by PCHealth, which I do not see in your list of startup programs. I used to always have trouble with my 8100 running ME when winmgmt was running (poor performance like you describe). The solution for me has been to disable PCHealth from the startup group in msconfig. Is the image of your startup group complete? I don't even see a listing for PCHealth there. If it really is there and just not shown on the image, try unchecking it. There is common misunderstanding that PCHealth is required for System Restore to work, but this is not true. I have had PCHealth disabled for over a year and my System Restore still works just fine.
Thanx, I must have made an error when I was cutting the screen shots.
pchealth is listed and checked. So is Scan Registry.
I will uncheck pchealth. I have unchecked resolution assistant as well.
I ran cd110910.exe las night and it found no errors. I don't know how long it is supposed to take to run the diagnostics but it took about 7 to 8 hours.
I did look for a way to disable winmgmt , but I couldn't figure out how. Thanks fo informing me that is is pchealth.
I'll let you guys know how things go after a day or so.
I'm definatly going to upgrade my memory soon as well.
Jim C
124 Posts
0
November 22nd, 2002 02:00
In addition to what Steve has suggested take a look at Taskinfo here:
http://www.iarsn.com/taskinfo.html
volcano11
2 Intern
•
28K Posts
0
November 22nd, 2002 02:00
You've given us lots of information, but perhaps neglected some key information. For example, has the computer always been like this or did this happen after making some recent change? You say you have disabled startup programs, but specifically, what programs are still running in the background? What are the free system resources when the system shows poor performance?
The memory issue is normal for Windows, i.e. free physical memory is wasted memory, since Windows will use as much memory as it needs to run programs efficiently without having to swap to disk. The amount of free memory will vary throughout a Windows session. The only way to keep Windows from not using physical memory is to not run programs.
On the surface it looks like you've done the necessary things to improve performance, but if you post somemore details, we may be able to figure out where the problem is.
Steve
goldstar324
11 Posts
0
November 22nd, 2002 14:00
Hi Ken
I think to improve your performance you need to get at least 256mb ram. What OS are you running? If you are running windows XP 128mb of ram will not cut it. I have a 8100 with 512mb running XP Pro and with only back ground programs running it is using 125mb. Regarding your poor cached and unchached speeds this could be due to antivirus program or another program using that drive. Those results are really poor. Do you have a 7200rpm or 5400rpm drive? I think you should not let windows manage your swap file you are better off setting at 1-1/2 times your total ram. I think if you upgrade your memory to at least 256mb you should be fine. Hope this helps..
Bill
kennyhorse
10 Posts
0
November 22nd, 2002 22:00
Thanks for the replies. Here is some more info. I'm running Windows ME. My hard disk is 5400 rpm
When my memory gets low it coinsides with low system resources. I understand that resources get used when programs are run., but it seems to lose them faster than it used to. I have had this system for almost two years. It is under warranty until feb. 2004. I can't really identify any one thing that was changed when this started happening. It was about 3 weeks ago.
Little things would happen at first. Something different everyday. I really thought I had a virus. The desktop would refresh itself alot (blank icons at first and then the proper icons would come on. Sometimes when I would restart , scandisc would say improper shutdown when it was a proper restart. Pages would scroll up/down very quickly by themselves. Highlighted items, like in the start menu, would flash. I had to reinstall my intellimouse software. Stack error happened on restart. I tought maybe Norton Antivirus was the problem so I uninstalled it and got McAfee virus and firewall but when I was giving my c drive a label , norton came on and said possible virus activity(I know this is normal but I thought I uninstalled NAV) Also I now have the problem where memory shows negative. (I know this does not affect anything , but it was never like that before)
Take a look at these screen shots for my startup menu and my running tasks. If the links don't work , copy and paste them. Thats all I can think of for now. Thankyou again for your intrest in helping someone you don't even know. I appreciate it. , Ken
http://www.geocities.com/kennyhorse1/pic1startupconfig.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/kennyhorse1/pic2runningtasks.jpg
Annie70
2 Intern
•
2.7K Posts
0
November 22nd, 2002 23:00
volcano11
2 Intern
•
28K Posts
0
November 23rd, 2002 01:00
Ken,
One thing I see that is kind of strange is that winmgmt is shown to be one of your running tasks. This program is run by PCHealth, which I do not see in your list of startup programs. I used to always have trouble with my 8100 running ME when winmgmt was running (poor performance like you describe). The solution for me has been to disable PCHealth from the startup group in msconfig. Is the image of your startup group complete? I don't even see a listing for PCHealth there. If it really is there and just not shown on the image, try unchecking it. There is common misunderstanding that PCHealth is required for System Restore to work, but this is not true. I have had PCHealth disabled for over a year and my System Restore still works just fine.
Steve
kennyhorse
10 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2002 11:00
Thanx, I must have made an error when I was cutting the screen shots.
pchealth is listed and checked. So is Scan Registry.
I will uncheck pchealth. I have unchecked resolution assistant as well.
I ran cd110910.exe las night and it found no errors. I don't know how long it is supposed to take to run the diagnostics but it took about 7 to 8 hours.
I did look for a way to disable winmgmt , but I couldn't figure out how. Thanks fo informing me that is is pchealth.
I'll let you guys know how things go after a day or so.
I'm definatly going to upgrade my memory soon as well.
Thanks everybody. :) , Ken
kennyhorse
10 Posts
0
November 24th, 2002 00:00
Update,
I Ran scandisk on november 21
I ran it again today and this is the report I recieved and the 8100 is still running very poorly.
78,085,904 kb total disk space
0 bytes in bad sectors
62,816,256 bytes in 3,705 folders
40,353,792 bytes in 264 hidden files
20,632,128 kb in 75,670 user files
57,353,024 kb available disc space
16,384 bytes in each allocation unit
4,880,368 total allocation units on disc
3,584,564 available allocation units