Old computer is going slow

the_syco

Hello all,
The family PC is slowing down a lot lately, and I haven't a clue what's wrong with it. Have ran a defrag, full system virus check, and don't know what else I could try. I'd say it's nearly 7 years old at this stage, so it may be just slowly dying, but if so, it's taking a while to die. The slowness has been happening for the past few months.

The specs for this Dell Dimension 8200:
Dell's XP Home Edition
2GHz Pentium4 (Socket 478) (unknown temp, as CoreTemp doesn't support P4's)
768MB RD-RAM (PC800-45)
GeForce FX 5900XT
i850 motherboard

Any idea's on how to get it to go faster? Buying more RAM for the current mobo is not an answer, as 1GB of RD-RAM still costs stupid amounts of money. Heck, it was cheaper to build my own machine 5 years ago, than to upgrade it, and the price of RD-RAM still has not come down!

So apart from getting an entire new system, any ideas?

strangeloop

the_syco wrote: »

Hello all,
The family PC is slowing down a lot lately, and I haven't a clue what's wrong with it. Have ran a defrag, full system virus check, and don't know what else I could try. I'd say it's nearly 7 years old at this stage, so it may be just slowly dying, but if so, it's taking a while to die. The slowness has been happening for the past few months.

The specs for this Dell Dimension 8200:
Dell's XP Home Edition
2GHz Pentium4 (Socket 478) (unknown temp, as CoreTemp doesn't support P4's)
768MB RD-RAM (PC800-45)
GeForce FX 5900XT
i850 motherboard

Any idea's on how to get it to go faster? Buying more RAM for the current mobo is not an answer, as 1GB of RD-RAM still costs stupid amounts of money. Heck, it was cheaper to build my own machine 5 years ago, than to upgrade it, and the price of RD-RAM still has not come down!

So apart from getting an entire new system, any ideas?

click on the start button and go to run. type in msconfig. Go to the startup tab. see all those processes? You don't need most of them but they take up system resources. untick the ones you don't need.

Kinetic^

I'd say a fresh install of XP would be a start tbh.

Is the RAM just 1 stick or 3 * 256mb?

Overheal

ccleaner? msconfig?

reformat: absolute winner for a speedup.

strangeloop

Overheal wrote: »

ccleaner? msconfig?

reformat: absolute winner for a speedup.

Don't agree, a lot of the time a reformat isn't necessary.:) Think about it, the computer has seven years of data waiting to be backed up, then there is the hunt for all the drivers and software, then the os install.... Research the problem then come up with solution. Login under safe mode - if it's quicker then check what processes are loaded under your user account and disable them.

swirlser

I think they are all valid options, obviously going down the format route should be the last one (and Im sure you are aware, so this is simply a reminder - fine comb it and be sure you have everything irreplaceable backed up and that you have all appropriate drivers etc).

2 other things came to mind, does your AV prog scan for spyware also? And are you low on HD space by any chance?

And do reply with regards the Ram Q, IF you have 3 separate sticks and 1 failed, that would explain it.

Overheal

strangeloop wrote: »

Don't agree, a lot of the time a reformat isn't necessary.:) Think about it, the computer has seven years of data waiting to be backed up, then there is the hunt for all the drivers and software, then the os install.... Research the problem then come up with solution. Login under safe mode - if it's quicker then check what processes are loaded under your user account and disable them.

If the problem is elusive enough (it frequently is) you still often spend as much time tracking it down (or more) as you would backing up data and reformatting. Often times you never even find the problem and just end up pulling hair. a thorough malware scan, defrag, etc. when stacked can take several times longer by themselves to perform than an entire reformat from start to finish. And they may not even uncover the problem.

Also all you really need the network driver handy ahead of time. The Operating system (XP or newer) is well capable of handling the rest from there.

A 7 year old machine im guessing - 40gb tops? I could drag and drop the whole thing into any of my external drives. no need to do the dig around. It'd be done copying in an hour or less on USB 2.0. The reformat process takes 30 minutes. The reinstall takes an hour (drivers and essential utility software, web browser+browser plugins etc). I can start at lunch and have the whole thing roaring well before evening.

The process is much faster and safer than most people give it credence.

Effluo

strangeloop wrote: »

Don't agree, a lot of the time a reformat isn't necessary.:) Think about it, the computer has seven years of data waiting to be backed up, then there is the hunt for all the drivers and software, then the os install.... Research the problem then come up with solution. Login under safe mode - if it's quicker then check what processes are loaded under your user account and disable them.

meh,
Reinstall of Windows FTW!!!

It's what computer repair shops do(considering it's what they do most of the day, it's prob the best option), A reinstall of windows will bring you close to the performance that the pc had out of the box 7 years ago...

Drivers will not be a problem, download them b4hand or if you still have the cd's that came with the pc you're safe!

BrokenArrows

you say you have run a defrag! was there a decent amount of space on the pc when you ran it.

Usually a defrag doesnt do a decent job if the drive is very low on space.

clear any unnecessary processes from msconfig as already said.

check for any running processes that are using up all the cpu and memory.

check your antivirus scan is not running at times when the system is in constant use.

open up services.msc and disable and stop any unnecessary services. use google to find out if you need a service or not.

the_syco

Kinetic^ wrote: »

I'd say a fresh install of XP would be a start tbh.

Would prefer to see can I get it fixed, than reinstalling it anytime something pops up.

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Is the RAM just 1 stick or 3 * 256mb?

4 sticks of RAM. 2*128MB + 2*256MB

Effluo wrote: »

It's what computer repair shops do(considering it's what they do most of the day, it's prob the best option)

Actually, it's the lazist way to do it. Half the shops will do a reinstall (even if you tell them not to), and give it back to you saying it's "fixed", without doing any troubleshooting.

Effluo wrote: »

A reinstall of windows will bring you close to the performance that the pc had out of the box 7 years ago...

Sorry, forgot to add that the XP was installed on the 27th August 2008. Had Windows 2000 on it before that.

=-=

There are two drives, each with 186GB's. The Windows partition is 27.9GB's with 4.7GB free. The other 3 partitons (a 10GB, and 2*73GB) on the disk Windows is on only have about 2GB's free each.

Overheal

In fairness though I would not be running an OS as long as 7 years. Not again anyway. With one click reformats under vista and newer its never been simpler. I do it twice a year at least - it keeps everything running superfluously.

You have to shampoo your carpet every 2 years as well in fairness :pac:

the_syco

Overheal wrote: »

In fairness though I would not be running an OS as long as 7 years. Not again anyway. With one click reformats under vista and newer its never been simpler. I do it twice a year at least - it keeps everything running superfluously.

Meh. I'm one of those people who don't like reformatting. A reinstall, maybe, but not a reformat. When using XP on my last rig, I only reinstalled once over 5 years. Never saw a speed decrease. The one time I reinstalled it was due to a virus renaming all my system files :mad:
Also, as I said, the Windows 2000 was replaced by XP August last year.

Anyhoo's, have deleted some of the stuff from the drives, and will do another defrag.

the_syco

the_syco wrote: »

Anyhoo's, have deleted some of the stuff from the drives, and will do another defrag.

After defrag, the D (windows partition) and E partitions went from low fragmentation, to 0%m and the F and G partitions went from 50% fragmentation to 0%. Opening Outlook is seemingly still slow, but working on Excel is normal again.

=-=

Machine is usually used as it's "always on", and thus people find it handy to use, as they don't need to wait for their laptops to boot up, etc. My own machine is locked most of the time, as I'm sick of cleaning up after someone clicks on some pop-up, and infecting my PC :mad:

Overheal

How does it perform in Safe Mode? Thats a quick way to see if its just software hang or if its the hardware slowly dying.

Also try Defraggler instead of XPs default.

the_syco

Overheal wrote: »

How does it perform in Safe Mode? Thats a quick way to see if its just software hang or if its the hardware slowly dying.

Will try that one of the days.

Overheal wrote: »

Also try Defraggler instead of XPs default.

No worries, don't like te XP default either. Used a program called AdvancedDefrag.

Jabel

I have the the very same machine and also had slowing down problems so much so that the machine was rendered almost useless. What worked for me and what I'd suggest is firstly back up all your stuff and then do a complete re-install of Windows XP formatting the hard drive as you do so. You will have to load on your programs again but it's well worth the effort. It has brought my machine back from the dead. One more tip for you is to avoid file sharing programs such as Limewire e.t.c and steer well clear of anything by Nortons.
Good Luck
J

Jibberilins

Its simple reallly, your ram is too small. you will either have to buy some new ram in maplin or somewere or do a system clear out of nearly everything.