G
Guest
During the past couple of months, I have noticed increased lag on my XP Pro
machine. The most noticable lag occurs during startup and usage of internet
programs. The startup lag includes a 2 min wait before all my 7 icons appear
next to the clock, the inability to load any program (including Outlook, IE,
Explorer, the Control Panel, and System Dialog box), and the complete
unusefullness of my computer. I can click on the start menu, bring up the
task manager (which shows the system idle process at 99% but I still can't do
anything), but beyond that...nothing happens.
So I took the necessary steps to examine my computer. First, I ran multiple
AntiSpyWare and AntiVirus scans. They came up with nothing. Next, I did a
full scan of my hard drive (80GB WD ATA) and then defragged it. Still, there
was no performance increase. Over time, the lag gets worse and worse.
So finally I got fed up with it. I ditched my P4-2.0Ghz and upgraded to
3.0Ghz HT on 915P. I bought a completely new system. Installed XP on a
serial ATA drive. I got DDR 400, PCI express...I mean, I went all out.
After installing all drivers necessary (in this order: motherboard, network,
video, windows update, office update, sound card) on my new computer, I took
an image of my harddrive. Then i installed the rest of my programs.
Afterward, I did another checkdisk scan and defragged it.
After about 3 days of having SP2 installed on my NEW and clean machine, the
lag came back. This process has effectively eliminated all variables except
SP2. I can, and have, reverted to my image of the computer right after I
finished installing the updates. The computer is lag free for 2-3
days...then the lag comes back. And it gets worse over time.
What the heck can I do to fix this????
machine. The most noticable lag occurs during startup and usage of internet
programs. The startup lag includes a 2 min wait before all my 7 icons appear
next to the clock, the inability to load any program (including Outlook, IE,
Explorer, the Control Panel, and System Dialog box), and the complete
unusefullness of my computer. I can click on the start menu, bring up the
task manager (which shows the system idle process at 99% but I still can't do
anything), but beyond that...nothing happens.
So I took the necessary steps to examine my computer. First, I ran multiple
AntiSpyWare and AntiVirus scans. They came up with nothing. Next, I did a
full scan of my hard drive (80GB WD ATA) and then defragged it. Still, there
was no performance increase. Over time, the lag gets worse and worse.
So finally I got fed up with it. I ditched my P4-2.0Ghz and upgraded to
3.0Ghz HT on 915P. I bought a completely new system. Installed XP on a
serial ATA drive. I got DDR 400, PCI express...I mean, I went all out.
After installing all drivers necessary (in this order: motherboard, network,
video, windows update, office update, sound card) on my new computer, I took
an image of my harddrive. Then i installed the rest of my programs.
Afterward, I did another checkdisk scan and defragged it.
After about 3 days of having SP2 installed on my NEW and clean machine, the
lag came back. This process has effectively eliminated all variables except
SP2. I can, and have, reverted to my image of the computer right after I
finished installing the updates. The computer is lag free for 2-3
days...then the lag comes back. And it gets worse over time.
What the heck can I do to fix this????