Dell Inspiron 9300 problem

[p3tros]

A few weeks ago i bought myself a Dell Inspiron 9300, 1.86Ghz, 1gb ram (533mhz), 80gb hard disk(5400rpm), ati radeon x300, etc, etc.. I was so excited just to find out it's really crawling.. I don't think it's supposed to do that.. I uninstalled all of dell's programs and i have on the startup(from the msconfig) only the essentials.. It runs on xp pro.. Go for a format? Any suggestions to boost it up a little?

 

[jspeicher]

i did a fresh install of xp pro on my 6000 and it ran considerably smoother. there's quite a bit of junk preloaded on there.

 

[bearxor]

Check to make sure the processor is not throttling down when it shouldn't be?

 

[fbrdphreak]

What power setting do you have it on? Is it sluggish on battery or AC?

DL & install Centrino Hardware Control, play with the CPU settings.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Just got an i9300 a couple ow weeks ago (of very similar set-up). I found that the new AIM caused some really odd behavior, and so jumped to GAIM.

 

[p3tros]

What is an AIM and what GAIM? sorry but i'm totally new to this.. Also i would like to know if a 7200rpm hdd would help and if Mobility? Radeon® X800 XT would fit my dell. I have ati x300...

 

[bacillus]

Originally posted by: p3tros
if Mobility? Radeon® X800 XT would fit my dell. I have ati x300...

that model laptop will only support that ati card and the nvidia 6800 videocards.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Originally posted by: p3tros
What is an AIM and what GAIM? sorry but i'm totally new to this.. Also i would like to know if a 7200rpm hdd would help and if Mobility? Radeon® X800 XT would fit my dell. I have ati x300...

Sorry... AIM is AOL's Instant Messanger software, and GAIM is an alternative piece of software that can interface with AIM and other instant messaging formats.

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer

Originally posted by: p3tros
What is an AIM and what GAIM? sorry but i'm totally new to this.. Also i would like to know if a 7200rpm hdd would help and if Mobility? Radeon® X800 XT would fit my dell. I have ati x300...

Sorry... AIM is AOL's Instant Messanger software, and GAIM is an alternative piece of software that can interface with AIM and other instant messaging formats.

I would say reload the laptop. Dell loads a ton of crap by default that most people don?t need or want. The problem is a lot of those programs run in the background and slow the overall performance of your notebook down. If you are completely new to using a computer I would get someone who is a bit more experienced to help you with the reload. XP should pick up most everything but you will need to load some drivers and when you?re new to something you know Murphy always makes an appearance.

 

[p3tros]

Ok, i've backed up my laptop, I have "Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Including SP2", a cd saying Device drivers-Diagnostics and utilities-online documentation,and Microsoft Works (all came with my laptop. I need something else or i am set to go and rebbot with win XP cd, format and reinstall? Oh i also have a "borrowed" XP Pro cd, which should i install? Thanks

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: p3tros
Ok, i've backed up my laptop, I have "Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Including SP2", a cd saying Device drivers-Diagnostics and utilities-online documentation,and Microsoft Works (all came with my laptop. I need something else or i am set to go and rebbot with win XP cd, format and reinstall? Oh i also have a "borrowed" XP Pro cd, which should i install? Thanks

If you have a key for XP pro and need the networking features it provides then by all means go for pro. If your laptop came with home and thats what you have a key for then I can only recommend that you put the OS you are licensed for back on your laptop.

The process for either is the same. Put the cd in the drive and hit a key when you see the "press any key to boot from cd" or whatever the message is. Set up should be pretty straight forward. Just make sure you have your nic drivers if this is your only computer. If XP does not detect your nic and you have no other computer to go gte the driver from dells site it puts you between a rock and a hard place.