Grinding to a halt

[Henry Stable]

Hello

My pc has been taking far longer, than iit used to, to carry out any
function. It is particularly bad when printing in that nothing can
happen for several minutes before the printer, slowly, produces the print.

The problems have only started a week or so ago, however using sytem
restore to a date two weeks ago does not help.

I am running XP pro SP2 but there were no problems after upgrading and
my printer is an HP deskjet 930c. My pc has an Athlon 1100 processor
and has 384mb RAM.

Any ideas please?

HS

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Henry,

You need to isolate the cause before you can address it. This can help:

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP [Q310560]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310560

HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316434

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Henry Stable]

Hi Henry,

You need to isolate the cause before you can address it. This can help:

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP [Q310560]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310560

HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316434

Thank you Rick.

After printing off the instructions for using msconfig I decided firstly
to start in safe mode. Now whilst I can start normally I am unable to
start in safe mode.

As it's the printer which performs the worst I wondered whether the
driver might need updating but was unable to find a printer in Device
Manager; should there be one there?

So as a next step using the ad hardwhere wizard I installed a new
printer, which I set as the default.

The "new"printer works much more quickly however if I revert to the
previous printer as the default it drags its heels so I'll delete the
former entry in printers & use the new installation; however I still
cannot start in safe mode.

Have I swopped one problem for another?

So before I have a go at using msconfig I thought I'd mention the
inability to start in safe mode in case it is relevant.

HP

 

[Guest]

I've had the same problem, particularly with Word, but only after installing
the latest Windows upgrade yesterday (can't remember the version). If you've
found any solution, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Thanks in advance. NC

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

What happens when you try loading safe mode?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Hi Henry,

You need to isolate the cause before you can address it. This can help:

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP [Q310560]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310560

HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316434

Thank you Rick.

After printing off the instructions for using msconfig I decided firstly
to start in safe mode. Now whilst I can start normally I am unable to
start in safe mode.

As it's the printer which performs the worst I wondered whether the driver
might need updating but was unable to find a printer in Device Manager;
should there be one there?

So as a next step using the ad hardwhere wizard I installed a new printer,
which I set as the default.

The "new"printer works much more quickly however if I revert to the
previous printer as the default it drags its heels so I'll delete the
former entry in printers & use the new installation; however I still
cannot start in safe mode.

Have I swopped one problem for another?

So before I have a go at using msconfig I thought I'd mention the
inability to start in safe mode in case it is relevant.

HP

 

[Henry Stable]

Hi,

What happens when you try loading safe mode?

After pressing F8 & selecting Safe Mode the pc starts to load driver
files, reboots and presents the following message with "Start Windows
normally" highlighted.

"We apologize for the inconvenience but Windows did not start
successfully. A recent hardware or software change may have caused this.

If your computer stopped responding,restarted unexpectedly, or was
automatically shut down to protect your files or folders, choose Last
Known Good Configuration to revert to the most recent settings that worked.

If a previous startup attempt was interropted due to the Power or Reset
Button was pressed or if you aren't sure what caused the problem chose
"Start Windows Normally"

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Last Known Good Configuration (your most recent settings that worked)
Start Windows Normally

Use your up & down arrow keys to move the hightlight of your choice"

Selecting Safe Mode brings be back to this message

Selecting Last Known Good configuration starts Windows normally but if I
later attempt to start in Safe Mode I'm back to this message.

Similarly if I start Windows Normally, Windows stasrt up ok but
attempting to start in safe Mode later brings me back to this message.

Sytem restore doesn't help as which ever restoint point I use I
eventually, when trying to start in Safe Mode, end back at this message.

Regards

HS