Slow - Slow - Slow

[Ross]

Working on a Dell Dimension 2400 (less than 2 years old) with Pentium 4, 256
meg, XP Pro. The PC is as slow as a snail. I just reinstalled XP Pro and it
took a total of 14 hours to install – that’s how slow the pc is. What would
cause a PC to be this slow? I have reseated the memory and checked all
connections. All help and suggestions appreciated.

 

[Gerry]

Ross

What is the processor speed?

Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy before running the Defragmenter.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You could look at the Error and Warnings in the Application and System
logs in Event Viewer.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools,
Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information
regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&Product=winxp

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event
Viewer. Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. This will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report
complete with links into the message. Make sure this is the first paste
after exiting from Event Viewer.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

14 hours to install?
Was that a Clean Install?
In either case try it again.
If it was not a Clean install, it is possible something has remained.
If it was a Clean Install, there was something wrong with the
installation or the hardware.

Check your memory, step 4 on this page:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm
Let the test run for at least 3 hours.

Then remove/disconnect all nonessential hardware such as sound card,
NIC, modem etc.
Disconnect all printers, cameras, scanners etc.
If you have onboard video as well as a video card, remove the card and
temporarily use onboard video for installation.

Also see:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/cleanxp.htm

Is it still in warranty?
Consider contacting Dell.

 

[Daave]

Working on a Dell Dimension 2400 (less than 2 years old) with Pentium
4, 256 meg, XP Pro. The PC is as slow as a snail. I just reinstalled
XP Pro and it took a total of 14 hours to install - that's how slow
the pc is. What would cause a PC to be this slow? I have reseated the
memory and checked all connections. All help and suggestions
appreciated.

Did you perform a clean install or a repair install? What method did you
use?

 

[Jim]

Working on a Dell Dimension 2400 (less than 2 years old) with Pentium 4,
256
meg, XP Pro. The PC is as slow as a snail. I just reinstalled XP Pro and
it
took a total of 14 hours to install - that's how slow the pc is. What
would
cause a PC to be this slow? I have reseated the memory and checked all
connections. All help and suggestions appreciated.

It will run much faster with more memory. I thought that my Dell 4600 had
enough (512MB), but adding another 512MB (only $33) made quite a bit of
difference.

Besides, a 2400 isn't the fastest system on the block.

Jim

 

[peter]

256 meg of RAM???? God!!! when did you buy this in the 90's???????
peter

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It will run much faster with more memory.

That depends entirely on how the computer is used--what applications
are run and how the files opened with them are. This is *not* a
one-size-fits-all situation. You get good performance if the amount of
RAM you have keeps you from using the page file, and that depends on
what apps you run. Most people running a typical range of business
applications find that somewhere around 256-384MB works well, others
need 512MB. Some (apparently you, for example) need more.

I thought that my Dell 4600 had
enough (512MB), but adding another 512MB (only $33) made quite a bit of
difference.

I'm glad that you got a performance increase, and that the expenditure
of only $33 was worth it to you, but please don't assume that everyone
else will have the same experience.

A 14 hour installation is far from normal, and indicative that
something is seriously wrong or was done incorrectly, not that there
wasn't enough RAM.

 

[Elmo]

Working on a Dell Dimension 2400 (less than 2 years old) with Pentium 4, 256
meg, XP Pro. The PC is as slow as a snail. I just reinstalled XP Pro and it
took a total of 14 hours to install – that’s how slow the pc is. What would
cause a PC to be this slow? I have reseated the memory and checked all
connections. All help and suggestions appreciated.

Turn on DMA, an option in Device Manager for the IDE channels, and
enable write caching on the hard drive.

 

[windmap]

Working on a Dell Dimension 2400 (less than 2 years old) with Pentium 4, 256
meg, XP Pro. The PC is as slow as a snail. I just reinstalled XP Pro and it
took a total of 14 hours to install – that’s how slow the pc is. What would
cause a PC to be this slow? I have reseated the memory and checked all
connections. All help and suggestions appreciated.

Start the computer when u see the dell logo on screen Press CTRL+F11 to
start dell IDE drive diagnostics.If diag fails time replace the
Harddrive.If diag passes Replace the Motherboard.

 

[JS and Danny]

Joe, thanks for your reply. I just looked in Device Manager and I do not see
anything about DMA. Will you please be a little more specific about where to
find DMA and how to turn it on. Once again thank you for your reply.

 

[Daave]

Will you please be a little more specific about where to find DMA
and how to turn it on.

Have a look at: http://www.dansdata.com/io066.htm

Scroll down to "Can't find second gear."

 

[Elmo]

Joe, thanks for your reply. I just looked in Device Manager and I do not see
anything about DMA. Will you please be a little more specific about where to
find DMA and how to turn it on. Once again thank you for your reply.

If that's your problem, look in Device Manager, IDE Controllers, Primary
IDE Channel, Double-click to see the Properties, click Advanced Settings
tab. I've also seen DMA located in the Hard Drive Properties, so it
could be different on your system.

 

[Bob I]

If so then it wouldn't be "less than 2 years old" as stated.

 

[Unknown]

There are many computers being sold with only 256 Megs of memory to this
day.
I might add it is the wisest purchase. Just price the memory from any
manufacturer
and compare it with what you can get it for at a place like Crucial.