performance issues

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jamie
  • Start date Start date
J

Jamie

A few weeks ago my computer suddenly decided that it did
not have a hard drive. I have been working diligently ever
since trying to get it back up to speed. After
reformatting twice, repairing and reinstalling windows xp
several times, increasing to twice the amount of memory,
and running countless system diagnostics and performance
tests my computer is still EXTREMELY SLOW.

From what I can gather with all the tests I've run, I've
got something called a "disk bottleneck." Something about
not having enough cache, too small of a paging file,
excessive paging hogging up memory resources, a program
running that has not dumped memory and released cache (or
something like that???? it's been too much to try to
understand). When I view the performance chart, it shows
every click of the mouse causes the system's resources to
be used up to the max.

I have tried everything I know of to improve my system
configuration (including the reformatting and starting from
scratch twice). Could someone PLEASE PLEASE tell me how to
go into the system files and make adjustments to improve
performance (changing amount of available memory,
increasing paging file size, and/or any other way to
"unbottleneck" my system? Any help would be appreciated!!!!

Thanks!!!! :)
 
Even though you've apparently reformatted and started over a few times, if
you've restored your backup, reinstalled anything, there's always the
possibility you've picked up a virus or have some malware on your system.

First, be sure your antivirus software has the latest definitions and run a
virus scan.

Second, download, install and run Ad Aware:
www.lavasoftusa.com

I don't know if you've already done this but since you suspected you might
have issues with your hard drive, go to the hard drive manufacturer's
website, download their disk tools, note the information about creating a
boot floppy with their tools, boot and run their diagnostic. NOTE: you
should do this even if you've run chkdsk as that utility is not as thorough
as the manufacturer's diagnostics which are designed to pick up specific
issues as well as work with various self monitoring features of many of
today's hard drives.

If your hard drive is find and if your system is clear of viruses, open
Control Panel, open System, go to
the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, remove the
check from "Automatically Restart" under System Failure. This will cause
the system to blue screen instead of restarting on errors and the
information on the blue screen may give a clue as to the source of the
issue.

Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for
errors corresponding to the crash, double click the error, the information
contained within may give a clue as to the
source of the problem. If you don't understand the information inside, the
third button down in that dialog box will copy the information,
you can then paste it into a message and post it here and maybe we can
figure out what is going on.

Assuming you have an XP CD and not a recovery CD, place the XP CD in the
drive, when the setup screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility,"
the report it generates may point to problem hardware or software on your
system. If you do not have an XP CD, you can download this application
known as the Upgrade Advisor from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp
Note: If you have access to a broadband connection it might be best to
download using that as this is a rather large download.

Check for the latest drivers for your hardware, especially your graphics
card and soundcard and all peripherals connected to your system. Do not use
Windows Update for this, go to the device manufacturer's web sites and if
you install updated drivers, ignore the message about drivers being unsigned
by Microsoft. *Before installing any drivers, be sure you are well backed
up and it's probably a good idea to manually create a restore point in
System Restore in case you have problems as a result of the driver update
and note, System Restore is not a substitute for a backup. Start\All
Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Restore
 
Jamie said:
A few weeks ago my computer suddenly decided that it did
not have a hard drive. I have been working diligently ever
since trying to get it back up to speed. After
reformatting twice, repairing and reinstalling windows xp
several times, increasing to twice the amount of memory,
and running countless system diagnostics and performance
tests my computer is still EXTREMELY SLOW.

From what I can gather with all the tests I've run, I've
got something called a "disk bottleneck." Something about
not having enough cache, too small of a paging file,
excessive paging hogging up memory resources, a program
running that has not dumped memory and released cache (or
something like that???? it's been too much to try to
understand). When I view the performance chart, it shows
every click of the mouse causes the system's resources to
be used up to the max.

I have tried everything I know of to improve my system
configuration (including the reformatting and starting from
scratch twice). Could someone PLEASE PLEASE tell me how to
go into the system files and make adjustments to improve
performance (changing amount of available memory,
increasing paging file size, and/or any other way to
"unbottleneck" my system? Any help would be appreciated!!!!

Thanks!!!! :)
Click to expand...

Did you also do hardware diagnosis? If your system decided it didn't
have a hard drive, I'd suspect a failing motherboard or hard drive
connector as opposed to a software problem. Reinstalling Windows and
doing other software-related troubleshooting isn't going to help at all
if the underlying problem is bad hardware. Tell us about your system
and what precisely you've done to troubleshoot.

Malke
 
Jamie said:
A few weeks ago my computer suddenly decided that it did
not have a hard drive. I have been working diligently ever
since trying to get it back up to speed. After
reformatting twice, repairing and reinstalling windows xp
several times, increasing to twice the amount of memory,
and running countless system diagnostics and performance
tests my computer is still EXTREMELY SLOW.

From what I can gather with all the tests I've run, I've
got something called a "disk bottleneck." Something about
not having enough cache, too small of a paging file,
excessive paging hogging up memory resources, a program
running that has not dumped memory and released cache (or
something like that???
Click to expand...

There are two things for you to check. One is to see if the fundamental
caching that the hardware uses has got turned off. As you power up, hit
the hotkey that loads BIOS setup. This is often DEL, and if you hit
that and it is wrong there will probably be a message to 'hit whatever
to enter Setup'

In that, on the 'BIOS Features' or 'Advanced' page (names vary ) make
sure that CPU Level 1 Cache and CPU Level 2 Cache are enabled. If not
get to them with the arrow key and use PageDn key to change. Hit ESC,
then Exit - saving changes. Having level 2 off is bad: having level 1
off too will make a Pentium feel like an abacus

The other is to check in Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device
Manager under the IDE TA/TAPI Disk controllers -- the Primary one,
double click and on Advanced Settings make sure that 'DMA If available'
is selected in the Transfer mode. If it is, and the Current Mode below
shows as being PIO, cancel that and just above Primary highlight the
Master IDE controller and take Action - Remove. OK out and reboot to
let Plug and Play find it again
 
Just a suggestion - PCPitStop offers a basic performance test on
their website. The useful part of it, is that it can isolate specific areas
of your computer that are operating below other comparable PC's.

Testing categories include CPU, Memory & Disk performance.
Login is optional, they have a Anonymous test. The website is @
http://pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp

The results are posted in a comparison fashion. So that your score
is based on similar systems. It might help you to isolate the problem
area.
 
i've suspected a virus all along. Thank all of you for your
helpful suggestions!!! I will definitely give them all a try.

As far as my hardware goes, I have a Gateway pentium 4 with
512 mgs of ram (a month ago i had 256 and it worked better
than this!) and a 295 mhz processor. When I got the disk
failure, I contacted gateway and got instructions to use my
recovery disks. I've been following all prompted
instructions since and my own judgement as to what to look
for. In the very beginning, after trying to recover and
running the chkdsk and other diagnostics they suggested, I
got blue screens filled with text indicating severe hard
drive failures. First it said i had an unrecoverable
error, then it started saying things like "windows that it
recovered from a serious error" and would ask me if i'd
like to submit a report. sometimes I did, sometimes I
didn't. every time I did, if i received a response from
microsoft, it said the computer had temporarily lost it's
ability to communicate with windows, but such a problem is
very rare and should not reoccur (i did get this message
quite a few times.) The computer seemed for a long time to
be in a perpetual state of rebooting itself. through the
mist of it all i kept trying to repair and replace windows,
and finally did the reformat (twice).

at this point i'm almost back. I have been able to recover
the system enough to use the computer, but as I said
before, the performance sucks. once I'm in a program, it
seems to work fine, including highspeed internet
performance. however, starting up, shutting down, and
opening up any application is like pulling teeth. I have
not yet reinstalled my MS office or any of my data files,
pics, etc.

I have looked at every setup I can find, both within bios
and windows, and from what I can tell, everything is
enabled/identified by the system and it says "device
working properly" - processor, mother board, hard disk,
etc. (except my sound which I also need to attempt to resolve).

thanks again for all your suggestions. i'll keep you all
posted as to how i do.
-----Original Message-----
Click to expand...

it did
 
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