Installed XP over ME, now slow as ever

[Joe R.]

I had ME on my computer and finally changed to XP. I did the New Install
since I had a lot of programs and trash basically on the old system. Now
when I go to a web page and scroll, it is very slow and blinks instead of
scrolling smoothly.

I have an Athlon 1.49GHz Processer and I think the RAM was showed to be
about 240M, I am not on the that computer so I can't check, but I know it is
not quite 256M of RAM. Not sure what the Video Card is, or even how to check.

What do I need to do? Is my RAM the problem? I don't want to spend money
shotgunning the problem, that gets expensive quick if you don't fix it the
first time.

Please Help...

Thanks,

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Lots of things can cause a slow system, and I would start with the easy ones
first. If you don't understand drivers and registry work, you might consider
getting local help. Especially avoid 'optimisers', like that one spamming
here from 'blogspot'.

Your first suspect is going to be the driver for your video card. If you go
to the Windows Update site, (start menu/all programs/at the top) you will
find an area to let the site look for better drivers for your system.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I had ME on my computer and finally changed to XP. I did the New
Install since I had a lot of programs and trash basically on the
old system. Now when I go to a web page and scroll, it is very
slow and blinks instead of scrolling smoothly.

I have an Athlon 1.49GHz Processer and I think the RAM was showed
to be
about 240M, I am not on the that computer so I can't check, but I
know it is not quite 256M of RAM. Not sure what the Video Card is,
or even how to check.

What do I need to do? Is my RAM the problem? I don't want to
spend money shotgunning the problem, that gets expensive quick if
you don't fix it the first time.

Have you installed the latest hardware drivers for each hardware component
in your system for Windows XP?
(Motherboard chipset, video card, network card, sound card, etc...)

As for the RAM - sounds like you share the memory with your video card -
likely meaning it is built into the motherboard. You may want to consider
purchasing more memory for your system (visit www.crucial.com and use the
advisor to find out what you need) and then going into the BIOS and seeing
if you can up the amount of memory dedicated to your video card from the
16MB it probably is right now to something above 32/64MB.

 

[smlunatick]

I had ME on my computer and finally changed to XP.  I did the New Install
since I had a lot of programs and trash basically on the old system.  Now
when I go to a web page and scroll, it is very slow and blinks instead of
scrolling smoothly.  

I have an Athlon 1.49GHz Processer and I think the RAM was showed to be
about 240M, I am not on the that computer so I can't check, but I know it is
not quite 256M of RAM.  Not sure what the Video Card is, or even how to check.

What do I need to do?  Is my RAM the problem?  I don't want to spend money
shotgunning the problem, that gets expensive quick if you don't fix it the
first time.

Please Help...

Thanks,

If your PC has 256MB Ram with 240MB available to Windows, sound like
you have an on-board video card. These on-board video cards tend to
be limited since they share RAM with the motherboard.

It is always recommended to have 1GB RAM for XP.

BTW: If you upgraded from ME, you now may have a mixed up system
where some drivers may still be "leftover" from ME. ME drivers do not
work well in XP.

 

[David B.]

Since when? XP runs perfectly fine for the average use on 512MB

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

If your PC has 256MB Ram with 240MB available to Windows, sound like
you have an on-board video card. These on-board video cards tend to
be limited since they share RAM with the motherboard.

It is always recommended to have 1GB RAM for XP.

It may be recommended by you, but I completely disagree. How much
memory you need for good performance with XP depends almost entirely
on what applications you run, and is *not* a one-size-fits-all
situation. Many people do just fine with RAM in the 256-512MB range.

However, I agree that if he has shared video on the motherboard, his
256MB is very likely inadequate for the applications he's running. My
guess is that he would see a substantial improvement by adding another
256MB.

 

[Joe R.]

I am not real sure how to update the drivers. I am going though the Device
Manager updating all my drivers manually. How do I get into the BIOS to see
what is going to what and how do I change it if I can? Thanks.

Joe Row

 

[Joe R.]

I remembered how to get into the BIOS at the start of booting the computer.
It was set on 32MB. I selected the 64MB and everything is back to normal. I
am going to increase my RAM though to at least 512MB if not 1GB. Thanks
everyone, your comments and recommendations definitely got my brain working
in the right direction.