Windows XP Help

[jojo29]

Ok, my brothers computer took a dump, and wouldnt boot into windows. We did a fresh install of windows, it booted up to windows just fine except one thing: Windows XP was running slowly, like when a game has slowdown and runs at like 12 fps.

Example is like, when we hit the start menu, it takes like 10 seconds to bring the programs listing.

So, we thought, maybe its a driver error or something and went and head and did ALL the windows updates, despite it running so slowly, we got it done, graphic card is updated, all updates are finished, but still running slowly?

What else can we do/try to figure out why Windows is running so slowly?

His 1GB of RAM is fine, it registers 1024
Processor seems to be working

 

[bucwylde23]

Have you tested the hard drive? why did it take a dump in the first place?

 

[jojo29]

The reason is crashed, was because some kind of hardware conflict, the message from i can remember was windows wont boot due to some hardware problem that could damage windows

something along those lines, we could never get the whole message because it would reboot much to fast for us to read it, and thats what it would do, boot up, show the windows loading screen, that hardware conflict screen reboot and rinse repeat

Now my brother has two hard drives, he got rid of the 60gb and i think just has the 80gb or 120gb, i cant remember the size.

How would i go about testing the hard drive?
In that case what else should i test?

Since im at work, i would like to discuss the possibilities. So what if the hard drive test comes out ok? What else can it be?

I remember my friend said it could the clock speed. He says when his dad built it he had to "set it" not sure if that can help.

Ill try and remember my brothers system specs;

Mobo: Asus A78nx-x
processor: AMD (1.8 MHz)
RAM: Giel 1GB ( x2 512 )
VGA: ATI 9800Pro


Thats all i can remember off the top of my head

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Extreme slowdown and sometimes be caused by an overheating cpu, it causes the system to throttle the speed down to keep from frying itsself. Check the cpu temps and make sure they arent too high

 

[jojo29]

what would be considered a "high" temperature?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

170F+ is what I would consider "high"

Damage tends to occur at around 180F for intel P4's not sure what it was for AMD. But even 140 if at idle is too warm IMHO

 

[jojo29]

Ok, that might not be the problem as my computer runs in a pretty warm room, on a very hot day(99F+degrees), running WoW/BF2 from 330pm-8pm, between 45-55 degrees Celcius which converts to 113-131 degrees F which is 9 degrees from your 140 degrees maxium,, so my bro's comp shouldnt be too much different? so that might not be the problem?

Also if it was due to heat, wouldn't it gradually get slower, as the temperature rises?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

I have a sneaking suspicion your temperature sensors arent giving you an accurate reading. If the room is 100F then the system should typically be MUCH hotter than 140. Especially when you run a game. You also mention you checked the temps, but didnt say when and where you checked them.


As far as it gradually getting slower, not necessarily, it will throttle the cpu, get slow and then not get much hotter since it is being throttled. Run something like cpu-z to see what the clock is running at just to verify it isnt thermal throttle kicking in

 

[jojo29]

ok will do, i have to download it very painfully slow on my bro's computer lol

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Post back with the results and we'll take it from there

RD

 

[jojo29]

ok it's running at 47C CPU and 38C Mobo??

I opened up the processes menu and

taskmngr.exe is running really high, like at 50+ CPU Usage and his memory usage is at like very low!!??

 

[montag451]

Also can you check your hdd settings - is it set to DMA mode - can see in hardware dev.

And - just to make sure - you are using an 80wire IDE cable, aren't you?

 

[jojo29]

yes, i am using on of the new thinner wires, not the phat ones, and how do i check if my HD is in DMA mode or not??

 

[montag451]

in device manager
view by connection

 

[jojo29]

im not seeing it, when i get into Device Manage it shows all the hardware and stuff , then i clicked on View--View by Connection and it shrunk the list and i dont know which device to look for

 

[jojo29]

Found out what it was

The Bios was reading my DVD/CD Drive as my HDDD and vice versa
the setting were all way off in the bios. Its funny i went to the bios and looked over it, cant believei didnt catch that, but then again i was only looking for a discrepency of the clock speed and whatnot. go figure lol

 

[btcomm1]

How is that even possible? Did it actually say cd drive was your HD? I mean I thought usually bios's only gave a list of IDE/sata devices would not acutally specifiy if that device was a cd/hd unless you are looking at the name or the device. Usually it only lists whether the device was master or slave.

 

[jojo29]

Not sure, but it actually listed it!!! Im surprised the damn thing even booted up in the first place!!

It read like this:

Primary Drive: Toshiba DVD/CDR
Secondary Drive:


something along those lines but it actually listed the ROM drive as the HD!!!!