MASSIVE system slowdown on 2 PCs!!

B

Brett

I have two PCs:
-- HP desktop (Athlon 2800+, 1GB, two 200GB drives)
-- Fujitsu laptop (PIII-M, 1GB, 40GB)

I recently installed SP2 on both PCs. Havoc ensued. I
lost all my network connections immediately -- and D-Link
said it's a known problem with SP2 rendering their
hardware inoperable. (Though there's nothing on their
site about SP2.) After literally hours reconfigging and
on with D-Link tech support, I had to give up and roll
back to pre-SP2 on both PCs.

I still had serious problems getting my home network &
internet back; had to call D-Link several times, reset
the router repeatedly, remove & reinstall
connections/bridges, etc. Finally got things working
again.

But now, BOTH computers run like molasses! Internet
connections are noticeably slower (I'm on broadband), and
occasionally time out. But the worst part is my day-to-
day usage. Some examples:
-- Startup takes MUCH longer than before. Gets to the
desktop, then the HD light clicks for a REALLY long time
(way longer than it used to) before it calms down and I
can run a program.
-- Accessing the HD for anything at all results in huge
disk-access delays. Double-clicking a folder to open it,
using Windows Explorer, right-clicking a file, dropping
down a menu -- you click and it's literally several
minutes of disk activity and frozen screen before
anything happens.
-- I have a home wireless network. Accessing files
between the computers used to be tolerable, but now it's
just ridiculous. Double-clicking a folder or tree on the
other computer leads to 5-10 minutes of hourglass. (!!)
-- And very strangely, on the desktop PC, I'm coming back
after a while to find it's rebooted and is at the login
screen! This is happening a couple of times a day. I
save data, of course, but am now constantly getting
the "XXXX was closed abnormally" error whenever I run a
program, because the thing rebooted on its own. It's
never done this before, and I have no idea what's causing
it.

Quick stats: I'm using eTrust Firewall & AntiVirus;
Spybot, SpywareBlaster, AdAware, and SpySweeper. (All
current and updated.) I defrag regularly, and run
utilities to find & remove disk junk. I work all day at
this machine, so I keep it tuned very well. I am
thoroughly stumped, and very frustrated.

I see a lot of posts about slowdowns, but all seem to
trigger the answer to "clean up the computer." Well,
mine's clean, and the only thing I've done recently is
add and remove SP2.

Any insight or ideas at all would be MUCH appreciated.

Thank you!
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

Troubleshooting Windows Firewall settings in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875357&Product=windowsxpsp2

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I have two PCs:
| -- HP desktop (Athlon 2800+, 1GB, two 200GB drives)
| -- Fujitsu laptop (PIII-M, 1GB, 40GB)
|
| I recently installed SP2 on both PCs. Havoc ensued. I
| lost all my network connections immediately -- and D-Link
| said it's a known problem with SP2 rendering their
| hardware inoperable. (Though there's nothing on their
| site about SP2.) After literally hours reconfigging and
| on with D-Link tech support, I had to give up and roll
| back to pre-SP2 on both PCs.
|
| I still had serious problems getting my home network &
| internet back; had to call D-Link several times, reset
| the router repeatedly, remove & reinstall
| connections/bridges, etc. Finally got things working
| again.
|
| But now, BOTH computers run like molasses! Internet
| connections are noticeably slower (I'm on broadband), and
| occasionally time out. But the worst part is my day-to-
| day usage. Some examples:
| -- Startup takes MUCH longer than before. Gets to the
| desktop, then the HD light clicks for a REALLY long time
| (way longer than it used to) before it calms down and I
| can run a program.
| -- Accessing the HD for anything at all results in huge
| disk-access delays. Double-clicking a folder to open it,
| using Windows Explorer, right-clicking a file, dropping
| down a menu -- you click and it's literally several
| minutes of disk activity and frozen screen before
| anything happens.
| -- I have a home wireless network. Accessing files
| between the computers used to be tolerable, but now it's
| just ridiculous. Double-clicking a folder or tree on the
| other computer leads to 5-10 minutes of hourglass. (!!)
| -- And very strangely, on the desktop PC, I'm coming back
| after a while to find it's rebooted and is at the login
| screen! This is happening a couple of times a day. I
| save data, of course, but am now constantly getting
| the "XXXX was closed abnormally" error whenever I run a
| program, because the thing rebooted on its own. It's
| never done this before, and I have no idea what's causing
| it.
|
| Quick stats: I'm using eTrust Firewall & AntiVirus;
| Spybot, SpywareBlaster, AdAware, and SpySweeper. (All
| current and updated.) I defrag regularly, and run
| utilities to find & remove disk junk. I work all day at
| this machine, so I keep it tuned very well. I am
| thoroughly stumped, and very frustrated.
|
| I see a lot of posts about slowdowns, but all seem to
| trigger the answer to "clean up the computer." Well,
| mine's clean, and the only thing I've done recently is
| add and remove SP2.
|
| Any insight or ideas at all would be MUCH appreciated.
|
| Thank you!
 
G

Guest

Thank you -- but as I stated in my post, I've REMOVED
SP2, and am using eTrust Firewall, not the Windows one.

Any thoughts on what might be continuing to cause such
huge slowdowns & performance issues, or how to correct
it, will be welcome indeed.

Brett
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top