36 Hours to install Windows XP?!?!

[srjrol]

I just finished re-intalling Windows XP Professional on my friends laptop. Here are the specs for the computer:

Pentium III @ 650Mhz
128Mb of RAM
20Gb Hard Drive
CD/DVD Combo Drive

I have checked the system requirements for installing xp pro and although it is close, it does meet the requirements.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/sysreqs.mspx

I know this computer is a p.o.s but she just uses it for writing papers and such. Anyways I had previoulsy installed xp on this system in under 2hrs. She complained that it was running slow and asked that I just do a clean install, so I did. Any idea why this took well over 2 full days and is still running so slow?

 

[Nocturnal]

Bad hard drive probably.

 

[Hacp]

Upgrade to 256 megs of ram, or install windows 2000. There was a computer in my school with similar specs, including the 128 megs of ram. It ran like S1ht, even when I disabled all the graphical things. WIndows XP just doesn't like less than 256 megs of ram. Right now on my computer, while running firefox/Itunes/Zone alarm and having open office writer/norton ghost in the quickbar, i'm using 300 megs of ram already.

 

[pibb]

wow 2 days? thats def not right, its slow probley because it only has 128mb, but then again if it took 2 days to install XP i'd prolly be thinking its something else combined with low memory. I installed XP last nite on a 400mhz, 256MB machine of mine in under a hour..

 

[srjrol]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Bad hard drive probably.

If the hard drive is bad, wouldnt that just not allow me to install at all? I dont understnad how this would account for the slowness.

 

[srjrol]

Originally posted by: pibb
wow 2 days? thats def not right, its slow probley because it only has 128mb, but then again if it took 2 days to install XP i'd prolly be thinking its something else combined with low memory. I installed XP last nite on a 400mhz, 256MB machine of mine in under a hour..

Yah like I said...I installed this before and it finished in under 2hrs with no problems. They system was not what I would call fast, but it was usable...

 

[mettleh3d]

bad luck?

 

[Nocturnal]

Not necessarily, depends on how bad the hard drive is. One sign that you've already mentioned is extremely slow downs. I fix computers for a living and every time I come across a computer that after a brand new install or if it takes a long time to install Windows, it normally turns out to be a failing or about to fail hard drive. Just test the hard drive out with the manufactures tools to find out for sure.

 

[srjrol]

Ok I'll run some tests and see what I come across, thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

on a system that old you will have much better luck with 2000 or 98 even. xp needs more ram than that.

 

[Theguynextdoor]

for everybody that says xp needs more ram to run that's BS. I had xp running on a PentiumIIMMX 300mhz on a toshiba satellite with 128MB of ram. It took 40 mins to install XP on it. But after that it ran just fine, a lot better if I turned off the settings. It wasn't fast but it wasn't annoyingly slow. I also was able to run the office suite and StarCraft on it. I ended up donating the machine to a school.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

Originally posted by: Theguynextdoor
for everybody that says xp needs more ram to run that's BS. I had xp running on a PentiumIIMMX 300mhz on a toshiba satellite with 128MB of ram. It took 40 mins to install XP on it. But after that it ran just fine, a lot better if I turned off the settings. It wasn't fast but it wasn't annoyingly slow. I also was able to run the office suite and StarCraft on it. I ended up donating the machine to a school.

yeah, it will work, but the whole idea of multitasking goes out the window. open 2 or 3 apps and see how good it runs.

 

[yourdeardaniel]

yeah bad hd, took me 4 hours on half dead one

 

[Allio]

Originally posted by: Theguynextdoor
for everybody that says xp needs more ram to run that's BS. I had xp running on a PentiumIIMMX 300mhz on a toshiba satellite with 128MB of ram. It took 40 mins to install XP on it. But after that it ran just fine, a lot better if I turned off the settings. It wasn't fast but it wasn't annoyingly slow. I also was able to run the office suite and StarCraft on it. I ended up donating the machine to a school.

I ran on 64 megs for 6 months, others have done it with 48. Please stop saying this crap about absolutely requiring 256 megs, guys.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Allio

Originally posted by: Theguynextdoor
for everybody that says xp needs more ram to run that's BS. I had xp running on a PentiumIIMMX 300mhz on a toshiba satellite with 128MB of ram. It took 40 mins to install XP on it. But after that it ran just fine, a lot better if I turned off the settings. It wasn't fast but it wasn't annoyingly slow. I also was able to run the office suite and StarCraft on it. I ended up donating the machine to a school.

I ran on 64 megs for 6 months, others have done it with 48. Please stop saying this crap about absolutely requiring 256 megs, guys.

Nobody said it woulnd't run but it's slow as hell, and you can't deny that. I won't run windows xp with less than 512, because it will use 256 just sitting idle.

As for the OP, maybe the hard drive is stuck in PIO mode, that would make it extremely slow.

 

[Hacp]

As you can imagine, it becomes very laggy when it requires 300 megs but you have only 128.
http://tinypic.com/dnmwj8.jpg
This is after a fresh Intsall from yesterday.

256 MB with fewr programs running and all the pretty windows GUI off will be enough to not feel "laggy".

 

[w00t]

you need 512mb seriously and for that cheap of a price why not?

 

[gsellis]

ACTUALLY... Slow installs like this are a product of a slow drives, low memory, and/or a pnp device that is not so friendly. Are there ISA cards in this machine (it is dang near old enough)? That could be a big source. Yes, low mem will make it a dog and I had a 64MB PIII 400 laptop install take a day. Since it is a 20GB drive, it should be OK, but nothing stellar. The 650MHz processor with 256MB and a 20GB should take about 1-2hrs IIRC. A 2X CD drive could really dog it too.

 

[Theguynextdoor]

Originally posted by: JonnyBlaze

Originally posted by: Theguynextdoor
for everybody that says xp needs more ram to run that's BS. I had xp running on a PentiumIIMMX 300mhz on a toshiba satellite with 128MB of ram. It took 40 mins to install XP on it. But after that it ran just fine, a lot better if I turned off the settings. It wasn't fast but it wasn't annoyingly slow. I also was able to run the office suite and StarCraft on it. I ended up donating the machine to a school.

yeah, it will work, but the whole idea of multitasking goes out the window. open 2 or 3 apps and see how good it runs.

Not all users are multitaskers, thus the reason I gave it to my school. It was a good internet browser/PP viewer.

 

[imported_rod]

Wow - 36 hours! HL2 took me 14 hours to install on my 3200+, but that included updating steam over a dialup internet connection...



My dad's P4 with XP and 256MB RAM can play UT2K4, BF1942 etc... fine. Not at high res, with AA/AF, but it's still good enough to play it smoothly. XP doesn't need 512MB RAM, 256MB is sufficient.

RoD

 

[Markfw]

128 meg ram ? you should have at least 256, if not 512, thats your problem.

 

[JW310]

Originally posted by: gsellis
ACTUALLY... Slow installs like this are a product of a slow drives, low memory, and/or a pnp device that is not so friendly. Are there ISA cards in this machine (it is dang near old enough)? That could be a big source. Yes, low mem will make it a dog and I had a 64MB PIII 400 laptop install take a day. Since it is a 20GB drive, it should be OK, but nothing stellar. The 650MHz processor with 256MB and a 20GB should take about 1-2hrs IIRC. A 2X CD drive could really dog it too.

They made laptops with ISA slots?

Anyways, I agree that it sounds like it could be a hard drive problem - drive's probably not totally dead yet, but it won't be long. The reason it took so long was probably due to the drive needing multiple read/write requests on each bad/failing sector.

JW

 

[bigboxes]

128mb of ram IS a problem. The hdd could very well be failing and that would explian the long installation time. If my install hung like that for over an hour I would have started over. M$ says that the minimum recommended ram for WinXP is 128mb, but you system will crawl every time you try to do anything. Reminds me of Dell's great deals... selling new pc's with WinXP and starving for ram with only 128 megs. I tell my clients all the time that they need to add more ram. I always recommend 256 minimum, but you really should have 386 or more. You will be, "OMG! I thought that the processor was so slow!" and all you really needed was more ram.

 

[Nocturnal]

Did you figure out what went wrong?

 

[Theguynextdoor]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Did you figure out what went wrong?

I guarantee that it's not the lack of ram. :lol: