Brand new reinstallation of WinXP Home but system still SLOW

[Guest]

System: Bought March 2002, emachines T1120, 1.2 GHz Intel Celeron, 256 MB
RAM, 40 GB HD, CD-RW, 56K modem, 3D AGP Graphics.

After trying EVERYTHING with no luck for 10 days (12
anti-virus/anti-spyware, 2 system restores, uninstalling programs, disk
cleanup, disk error-checking, sfc file system scan, defragment, cleaning out
cookies/temp files/history, and adjusting graphics-- no fading etc on menus),
I backed up important files, and reinstalled XP Home, but system is still
INCREDIBLY slow. Shouldn't a reinstallation solve everything? What gives?

[I've contacted my manufacturer's tech support 6 times. They give me canned
responses and tell me to do what I already did or tell me to do irrelevant
things (like defragment a brand new installation!).]

What else can I do? Help!

 

[Ken]

System: Bought March 2002, emachines T1120, 1.2 GHz Intel Celeron, 256 MB
RAM, 40 GB HD, CD-RW, 56K modem, 3D AGP Graphics.

After trying EVERYTHING with no luck for 10 days (12
anti-virus/anti-spyware, 2 system restores, uninstalling programs, disk
cleanup, disk error-checking, sfc file system scan, defragment, cleaning out
cookies/temp files/history, and adjusting graphics-- no fading etc on menus),
I backed up important files, and reinstalled XP Home, but system is still
INCREDIBLY slow. Shouldn't a reinstallation solve everything? What gives?

[I've contacted my manufacturer's tech support 6 times. They give me canned
responses and tell me to do what I already did or tell me to do irrelevant
things (like defragment a brand new installation!).]

What else can I do? Help!

You don't have your cache disabled in CMOS, do you??

 

[Guest]

Ken, thanks for replying. I am nearly bald now (with all the hair-pulling).
How exactly should I check and adjust for the CMOS cache? I'd like to do it
right so not to mess anything else up.

 

[Ron Martell]

System: Bought March 2002, emachines T1120, 1.2 GHz Intel Celeron, 256 MB
RAM, 40 GB HD, CD-RW, 56K modem, 3D AGP Graphics.

After trying EVERYTHING with no luck for 10 days (12
anti-virus/anti-spyware, 2 system restores, uninstalling programs, disk
cleanup, disk error-checking, sfc file system scan, defragment, cleaning out
cookies/temp files/history, and adjusting graphics-- no fading etc on menus),
I backed up important files, and reinstalled XP Home, but system is still
INCREDIBLY slow. Shouldn't a reinstallation solve everything? What gives?

[I've contacted my manufacturer's tech support 6 times. They give me canned
responses and tell me to do what I already did or tell me to do irrelevant
things (like defragment a brand new installation!).]

What else can I do? Help!

Bring up the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and go to the
Processes tab.
Click twice on the CPU column header to sort the list of processes by
CPU usage and make note of the 4 or 5 items at the top of the list.

Post that information back here.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Rock]

System: Bought March 2002, emachines T1120, 1.2 GHz Intel Celeron, 256 MB
RAM, 40 GB HD, CD-RW, 56K modem, 3D AGP Graphics.

After trying EVERYTHING with no luck for 10 days (12
anti-virus/anti-spyware, 2 system restores, uninstalling programs, disk
cleanup, disk error-checking, sfc file system scan, defragment, cleaning out
cookies/temp files/history, and adjusting graphics-- no fading etc on menus),
I backed up important files, and reinstalled XP Home, but system is still
INCREDIBLY slow. Shouldn't a reinstallation solve everything? What gives?

[I've contacted my manufacturer's tech support 6 times. They give me canned
responses and tell me to do what I already did or tell me to do irrelevant
things (like defragment a brand new installation!).]

What else can I do? Help!

Check to see if the hard drive is set for PIO mode instead of UDMA.
Right click My Computer | Properties | Hardware | Device Manager.
Expand the IDA ATA/ATAPI controllers section. Double click the Primary
IDE Channel, then Advanced Settings. For transfer mode does it say
Ultra DMA Mode 5?

And yes a defrag is necessary after a fresh installation.

 

[Rock]

System: Bought March 2002, emachines T1120, 1.2 GHz Intel Celeron, 256 MB
RAM, 40 GB HD, CD-RW, 56K modem, 3D AGP Graphics.

After trying EVERYTHING with no luck for 10 days (12
anti-virus/anti-spyware, 2 system restores, uninstalling programs, disk
cleanup, disk error-checking, sfc file system scan, defragment, cleaning out
cookies/temp files/history, and adjusting graphics-- no fading etc on menus),
I backed up important files, and reinstalled XP Home, but system is still
INCREDIBLY slow. Shouldn't a reinstallation solve everything? What gives?

[I've contacted my manufacturer's tech support 6 times. They give me canned
responses and tell me to do what I already did or tell me to do irrelevant
things (like defragment a brand new installation!).]

What else can I do? Help!

Also see this: http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

 

[Ken]

Ken, thanks for replying. I am nearly bald now (with all the hair-pulling).
How exactly should I check and adjust for the CMOS cache? I'd like to do it
right so not to mess anything else up.

Generally there is a message during Power On Self Test (POST) that
tells you how to enter CMOS. On most computers it is the depressing of
the DELETE key during POST, but it could be another. From my
recollection, there is often a setting in Advanced Chipset settings
where you can enable or disable CACHE memory. Look for the word CACHE
memory and make sure it is ENABLED, not disabled.

The cache memory should NOT have been disabled, but stuff happens and
it is wise to check as it WILL slow down your computer significantly.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Rock.

For Device 0, for Transfer Mode, it says "DMA if available." For Current
Transfer Mode, it says "Ultra DMA Mode 2." What does all this mean?

The defrag analysis shows that it's not defragmented. But OK, I'll do one
anyway.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ron.

I've been watching CPU usage in Task Manager for some time. The top process
is usually svchost.exe by UserName=Network Service at 98% CPU usage, even
when I'm not connected to the Internet. The other 2% would be taskmgr.exe.
However, sometimes when I end the process, CPU usage goes down to 14%,
primarily explorer.exe but my system is still incredibly slow. (Today, my
system is OK and svchost is not at 98%, but I have a feeling the good luck is
only temporary.)

System: Bought March 2002, emachines T1120, 1.2 GHz Intel Celeron, 256 MB
RAM, 40 GB HD, CD-RW, 56K modem, 3D AGP Graphics.

After trying EVERYTHING with no luck for 10 days (12
anti-virus/anti-spyware, 2 system restores, uninstalling programs, disk
cleanup, disk error-checking, sfc file system scan, defragment, cleaning out
cookies/temp files/history, and adjusting graphics-- no fading etc on menus),
I backed up important files, and reinstalled XP Home, but system is still
INCREDIBLY slow. Shouldn't a reinstallation solve everything? What gives?

[I've contacted my manufacturer's tech support 6 times. They give me canned
responses and tell me to do what I already did or tell me to do irrelevant
things (like defragment a brand new installation!).]

What else can I do? Help!

Bring up the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and go to the
Processes tab.
Click twice on the CPU column header to sort the list of processes by
CPU usage and make note of the 4 or 5 items at the top of the list.

Post that information back here.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Ron Martell]

Thanks Ron.

I've been watching CPU usage in Task Manager for some time. The top process
is usually svchost.exe by UserName=Network Service at 98% CPU usage, even
when I'm not connected to the Internet. The other 2% would be taskmgr.exe.
However, sometimes when I end the process, CPU usage goes down to 14%,
primarily explorer.exe but my system is still incredibly slow. (Today, my
system is OK and svchost is not at 98%, but I have a feeling the good luck is
only temporary.)

That sounds suspiciously like there is something on your machine that
is trying to "phone home" or access the Internet for some other
reason.

You didn't name the specific antivirus/antisypware products and
procedures that you have tried, and there are great variations in
quality and performance between them. Also many of the current
spyware items require a multi-tool approach in order to get rid of
them.

Download HiJackThis from http://www.aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.zip
and run it to create a log file. Post the log file to
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Guest]

Yes, it does sound like something was trying to phone home. However, before
the reinstallation, I used Lavasoft Ad-aware, Spybot S&D, Microsoft's
Anti-spyware, AVG Antivirus, Panda's online scan, TrendMicro's online scan,
Computer Associate's online scan (can't remember it's name), CWShredder,
checked for vcleaner and stubby, used Symantec's tools for Sasser and
Blaster, use Sygate's Personal Firewall, used Hijack This and removed
extraneous things, and went into msconfig and unchecked unneeded Startup
options. Didn't solve the problem. Then I posted to this and a few other
discussion boards to see if other people were having the same problem (if
it's a virus or spyware, I would expect so). Then I manually removed
leftover registry entries and extraneous files. Since all else failed, I did
a reinstallation. I wanted to format c: but there were no options to do so.

 

[Rock]

Thanks, Rock.

For Device 0, for Transfer Mode, it says "DMA if available." For Current
Transfer Mode, it says "Ultra DMA Mode 2." What does all this mean?

The defrag analysis shows that it's not defragmented. But OK, I'll do one
anyway.

The Ultra DMA Mode 2 is ok. If it said PIO mode that would be a problem.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

1.2 GHz celeron is just slow.

Too slow for what? A 1.2 Celeron can run Windows XP just fine, if
it has adequate RAM--256MB or more, depending on what apps are
run. My wife runs Windows XP just fine on a *much* slower
machine--a P2-400, with 256MB. It's no speed demon, but it's
adequate for her needs.

 

[Leythos]

In


Too slow for what? A 1.2 Celeron can run Windows XP just fine, if
it has adequate RAM--256MB or more, depending on what apps are
run. My wife runs Windows XP just fine on a *much* slower
machine--a P2-400, with 256MB. It's no speed demon, but it's
adequate for her needs.

I agree, my wife uses Windows XP Prof with 512MB RAM on a Celeron 900Mhz
system - she runs QuickBooks, MS Office 2003, and Outlook and then plays
online games on POGO. The computer performs well enough for her needs.

 

[Plato]

1.2 GHz celeron is just slow. It might speed up your computer if you
upgraded the RAM to at least 512. As far as your defrag, you should do
a disk cleanup before running defrag.

1.2 gig cpu is perfectly fine for XP. Ram is what XP is after. I say now
go for 1 gig ram if doing the latest graphics programs and/or new games.