XP Pro Slowdown Every Few Hours

[Tom in PA]

I'm running XP Professional on a Dell Dimension 8200. After a reboot
it's a very quick machine, but then after a few hours of use it's like
someone suddenly flips a switch inside the computer and it converts to
being so slow it's useless. Programs take a very long time to open or
even close, Explorer stops prompting for options when you're typing in
a URL, etc. If I reboot, I'm back to my fast machine.... for a while.

I keep the OS up to date and run virus and spyware scans daily. Any
suggestions?

There's also a weird problem related to booting. I don't know if it's
related to the above. When I try to boot I get the "Keyboard
failure... Press F1 to continue; F2 to run set up" message but it
doesn't respond to F1 or F2 and won't move forward. If I kill the
power and try again, it boots successfully. This happens every time.

Thanks!

Tom in PA

 

[Guest]

:


When I try to boot I get the "Keyboard

failure... Press F1 to continue; F2 to run set up" message but it
doesn't respond to F1 or F2 and won't move forward. If I kill the
power and try again, it boots successfully. This happens every time.

Thanks!

Tom in PA

You have to love a machine that says "keyboard failure" and then tells you
to press a key on the keyboard.

Sounds like the keyboard is going bad, and failing intermittently. First,
try another keyboard (maybe borrow one for a few hours, as it may or may not
really be a hardware problem). Then you may see if the other problems were
due to the keyboard going bad, or not.

 

[Malke]

I'm running XP Professional on a Dell Dimension 8200. After a reboot
it's a very quick machine, but then after a few hours of use it's like
someone suddenly flips a switch inside the computer and it converts to
being so slow it's useless. Programs take a very long time to open or
even close, Explorer stops prompting for options when you're typing in
a URL, etc. If I reboot, I'm back to my fast machine.... for a while.

I keep the OS up to date and run virus and spyware scans daily. Any
suggestions?

There's also a weird problem related to booting. I don't know if it's
related to the above. When I try to boot I get the "Keyboard
failure... Press F1 to continue; F2 to run set up" message but it
doesn't respond to F1 or F2 and won't move forward. If I kill the
power and try again, it boots successfully. This happens every time.

You are having hardware failures. The bootup problem is probably
connected to a failing power supply as may be the slowdown after some
use. Overheating may also be involved. Here are some general hardware
troubleshooting steps:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Troubleshooting

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke