G
Greg Kamer
Hi All,
I'm just posting this as general info, since I have seen a
number of questions posted here by people who say their computers have
suddenly begun to run really slow. Thought perhpas this might help someone
having a similar problem. I know this is not goinig to be the case in all
situations, but it might be something to consider.....
A friend call me the other day saying his computer just suddenly began to
run really slow. As an example, he told me when he right clicks the desk top
to open the display settings box, it takes 30-45 seconds for the context
menu to pop open. He complained that other things were equally or even more
slow to happen, opening Explorer took forever, opening other programs took
forever... etc.
Well I stopped by and sure enough his system was a snail..... He told me
just before it happened, he was on the web reading a web site about sipeing
tires. He had an updated anti-virus program which I ran. After a god awful
amount of time (during which we installed an inground sprinkler system in
his back yard, repainted the kitchen and put a bay window in his living
room) the program completed with nothing found.
I brought over my 3 favorite spyware programs and we ran those, again with
nothing found. He told me had had not installed any new programs recently so
I was stumped. I told him I wanted to re-boot the computer to see if
anything appeaed on the screen that might give me a clue. During re-boot,
the Windows XP screen came up, but than the monitor went into stand by mode
and nothing else came on the screen. We powered down and re-booted several
times with the same results.
I thought this was going from bad to worse. I disconnected everything from
his computer and pulled the case. I noticed something right off.
Though his system had onboard video, he also had a video card installed. I
asked him why he had 2 video ports and he told me he installed the 2nd video
card last year because he did not have a stand alone DVD player, and he used
the TV Out connection on this card to play dvd's on his computer but send
them to his TV to watch.
I pulled this second card, reconnected everything (connecting the video
cable to the onboard video connection port) and started the computer. It
booted right up, and the problem with his computer running super slow was
resolved. In fact he swears it seems to be running even faster now, but I'll
have to just take his word for it.
So the only explaination I can come up with is that for some reason as yet
unknown to me, a conflct suddenly developed between these 2 video sources
and by removing the video card, the conflict was resolved and things are
back to normal. I also suggested that since dvd players are now dirt cheap,
he might want to invest in one and save himself some heart burn.
I admitt is seems strange it would take a year for this to happen, but
sometimes computers, like people, do wird things....
So if your having a problem with your system running super slow, this might
be something to look at if you happen to have 2 video sources on your
system.
I'm just posting this as general info, since I have seen a
number of questions posted here by people who say their computers have
suddenly begun to run really slow. Thought perhpas this might help someone
having a similar problem. I know this is not goinig to be the case in all
situations, but it might be something to consider.....
A friend call me the other day saying his computer just suddenly began to
run really slow. As an example, he told me when he right clicks the desk top
to open the display settings box, it takes 30-45 seconds for the context
menu to pop open. He complained that other things were equally or even more
slow to happen, opening Explorer took forever, opening other programs took
forever... etc.
Well I stopped by and sure enough his system was a snail..... He told me
just before it happened, he was on the web reading a web site about sipeing
tires. He had an updated anti-virus program which I ran. After a god awful
amount of time (during which we installed an inground sprinkler system in
his back yard, repainted the kitchen and put a bay window in his living
room) the program completed with nothing found.
I brought over my 3 favorite spyware programs and we ran those, again with
nothing found. He told me had had not installed any new programs recently so
I was stumped. I told him I wanted to re-boot the computer to see if
anything appeaed on the screen that might give me a clue. During re-boot,
the Windows XP screen came up, but than the monitor went into stand by mode
and nothing else came on the screen. We powered down and re-booted several
times with the same results.
I thought this was going from bad to worse. I disconnected everything from
his computer and pulled the case. I noticed something right off.
Though his system had onboard video, he also had a video card installed. I
asked him why he had 2 video ports and he told me he installed the 2nd video
card last year because he did not have a stand alone DVD player, and he used
the TV Out connection on this card to play dvd's on his computer but send
them to his TV to watch.
I pulled this second card, reconnected everything (connecting the video
cable to the onboard video connection port) and started the computer. It
booted right up, and the problem with his computer running super slow was
resolved. In fact he swears it seems to be running even faster now, but I'll
have to just take his word for it.
So the only explaination I can come up with is that for some reason as yet
unknown to me, a conflct suddenly developed between these 2 video sources
and by removing the video card, the conflict was resolved and things are
back to normal. I also suggested that since dvd players are now dirt cheap,
he might want to invest in one and save himself some heart burn.
I admitt is seems strange it would take a year for this to happen, but
sometimes computers, like people, do wird things....
So if your having a problem with your system running super slow, this might
be something to look at if you happen to have 2 video sources on your
system.