Help please....any ideas? System is STILL crawling

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lavagirl669

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2004
3,325
1
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Recently upgraded OS on family member's Dell Dimension 8100 from ME to XP Pro(Clean install).

**Updated Audio and Video drivers...couldn't find any Mobo drivers via Dell (that sucks)
I subsequently found out it is an Intel 850 board with a 423 Socket. I updated that DRivER
but that was AFTER the XP install...could that be the reason??**

Disabled Windows services that weren't needed, optimized settings for best performance (Disabled XP bells and whistles) ran scan disk and also defragmented drive twice already in the past month.

Also ran Norton AV and System works, as well as running Zone Alarm Pro on this system.
**Uninstalled NSW and installed NAV 02 instead** left ZA

Recently upgraded RAM to 1GB (4x256MB sticks) Kingston RDRAM. Previous RAM was less than 512MB.

Thought that would definitely speed things up, but NO luck.

System is crawling since XP was installed! I can wait eternally for programs to open up. Slowest programs are:
Outlook Express, Corel Draw, and HP printer program.'
Also experienced a variety of program/software compatibility issues which were resolved by updating or patching software to newer versions or switching compatibility mode to previous OS compatibility in Program Properties.

User reports that ME was WAY faster than current OS and System.

Any ideas? Please help!! These guys are driving me nuts!!

Don't have all the specs on hand, waiting for that info to be sent from source:
Dell Dimension 8100
P4 1.4Ghz CPU
1GB Ram (originally 512MB or less)
One CPU and 1 system fan (seems inadequate)
CDRW drive
CDROM
Mobo...Intel 850 Socket (W)423
 
jpeyton

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
A P4 at 1.4GHz isn't really fast, but it's shouldn't be as slow as you descibe.

This is probably an issue with a particular program or driver that is slowing everything else down.

The only way to narrow it down to the problem is to perform another clean install. Set your Mobo BIOS to defaults, reinstall XP, and immediately after doing so (and before installing any drivers or apps) test Outlook Express to see if it's slow. If it's fast, then use it as a control while you install drivers and apps. Periodically open Outlook Express after installing a driver or app to see if it affected peformance.

EDIT: Noticed that you mentioned you hadn't installed mobo drivers, which can definitely be an issue. I believe Dell uses Intel chipsets in their computers, so XP SP1 should have the proper drivers for it already. Pop open the case, and see if you can read the chipset name off the northbridge.
 
S

sharkeeper

Lifer
Jan 13, 2001
10,886
2
0
Willamette Pentium 4's aren't noted for great performance.

System Works is terrible. I would ditch this POS at once. Switch to a thin A/V client instead.

Windows XP has a built in firewall. If you really need this feature this is better than a third party product such as ZA which I never liked. Better yet, put the pc behind a cheap router which you can find for cheap these days.


You can download the INF package from Intel that will have the latest chipset drivers for your system.

Make sure DMA is enabled on all ATA/ATAPI devices!

Cheers!
 
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johnjkr1

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2003
2,124
0
0
Check and make sure the CPU is not set to compatible mode...it's in the bios, that used to always mess things up for customers when I worked there.

He could also easily have contraced a virus or worm if it was connected to the net before installing patches.
 
R

Red

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2002
3,704
0
0
Get Windows Updates.... my fiancees father has a 1.0Ghz athlon that runs XP + office great, but he has had the Sasser worm on his computer for about 3 weeks (just fixed it last night) and it was making his computer crawlllllll
 
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jhurst

Senior member
Mar 29, 2004
663
0
0
Originally posted by: Red
Get Windows Updates.... my fiancees father has a 1.0Ghz athlon that runs XP + office great, but he has had the Sasser worm on his computer for about 3 weeks (just fixed it last night) and it was making his computer crawlllllll
Click to expand...

Make sure there are no viruses first. Also run Adaware to make sure there are no spyware programs bogging you down. If thats not it, it sounds like its time for a clean reformat/reinstall. I would install I clean copy of WindowsXP, and not the Dell Windows crap.
 
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azndelite6983

Member
May 27, 2004
120
0
0
A single system fan? Yikes...you better hope that one fan is moving some serious air. Maybe check the temperatures on the cpu to make sure it's not cooking itself.

You are kind of close to the minimum cpu system requirement for winxp, so I would not expect such a system to fly. However, not having the chipset drivers is a problem for sure.

Can I ask why you are using RDRAM? I understood RDRAM only necessary for a short span of intel's p4's (not in the 1-2 GHz range). Typo, perhaps?

Originally posted by: jpeyton
The only way to narrow it down to the problem is to perform another clean install. Set your Mobo BIOS to defaults, reinstall XP, and immediately after doing so (and before installing any drivers or apps) test Outlook Express to see if it's slow. If it's fast, then use it as a control while you install drivers and apps. Periodically open Outlook Express after installing a driver or app to see if it affected peformance.
Click to expand...

Have to agree with this. You might just have to go thru the whole thing again.

Good luck.
 
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vapidtransit

Member
May 10, 2004
69
0
0
I ran XP pro on a p3 800 with 256 MB ram and it ran just fine.

Have you tried simply looking at processes in the task manager to see what's bogging things down?
 
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tmccann11

Senior member
Nov 29, 2003
400
0
0
Originally posted by: vapidtransit

Have you tried simply looking at processes in the task manager to see what's bogging things down?
Click to expand...

I agree. Also, check if there have been any hard drive issues in event viewer. Given the processor, i think it's fair to assume the HD is a bit older. Check if your getting any read/write errors.

Tom
 
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lavagirl669

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2004
3,325
1
0
No Spyware running....just NSW and ZA Pro....I know how some people feel about NSW, but
I like some of it's stuff although it can BOG down a system for sure.

As for the P4....this is an Intel 850 board with a W type socket which is old and I can't even find
a processer around with that type of socket.....maybe someone knows?

I'm going to try and slap in another fan....Dell certainly lacked in that area....don't know why (?) duh.
But I'll keep my personal opinion on that to myself before someone here shoots me. ha!

Going to update the Chipset drivers..and I also found an App accelerator driver via Intel that should solve the problem.
Hopefully upgrade that sucky CPU somehow but for now, I hope this does the trick....

You think the added RAM will help things? I sure thought it would.

As for why the RDRAM, that is the type this board takes. I know it sucks...but that was the only option unless I changed out the board....
User is reluctant and unwilling to spend any more money on this crap until system can prove itself to run better.
Otherwise I might as well do a new build and toss that Dell out the window for all the $$ he's already spent.

I know it would be better...but hey... we got to work with what we have right?

I'll let you know how it goes....Anybody got any links to a W socket P4 by all means ...please ....pass it along (for future reference)
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
Never heard of a W socket P4, just the old socket 423 and the newer 478.
 
Cerb

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
Chipset drivers and spyware checking ASAP (especially chipset drivers--could be the HDD controller needs some help :)). A P4 1.4 shouldn't be speedy, but with 256MB RAM, it should match ME's performance with ease. Keep looking!
And ditch NSW if the complaints involve PC speed :).
 
L

L00PY

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2001
1,101
0
0
Boot into safe mode and see if it's still sluggish?

Or open up the task manager and start killing stuff off.

XP has a fair amount of monitoring. Try and hunt down the bottleneck.
 
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VisableAssassin

Senior member
Nov 12, 2001
767
0
0
If I remember right dont those P4s have thermal throttling when they get too hot?
So that one system fan may not be doing much
 
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Shagga

Diamond Member
Nov 9, 1999
4,421
0
76
I agree that System Works should go. This is and can be a right hog on any system. Just a shot in the dark but is the pagefile enabled? :)
 
D

daos

Senior member
Jan 2, 2003
940
0
0
you might have a HDD about to go out. alot of times, hard drives will get slow towards the end of thier life, and then just die. there will not be any signs of corrupted sectors, etc...they just slow down to a crawl and then die.

if you have another harddrive, try swapping it out and install a basic OS on that drive. you dont need to install all applications, maybe just Office. see if thats the culpret.
 
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lavagirl669

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2004
3,325
1
0
thanks guys :)

Got rid of NSW and updated the Chipset Drivers and that seemed to
help...although I'm sure they'll find something else for me to fix next....*sigh*
 
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