Performance problem after installing Windows XP as second operating system.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Enquiring Mind
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Enquiring Mind

Hi!



I have just upgraded my Windows ME computer of 2001 vintage by adding memory
and a second hard drive. The original computer has a Pentium III processor
running at 930 MHz, 128 MB of RAM, and a hard drive of 20 GB. I added a 256
MB RAM module to bring the total memory to 384 MB, and a second hard drive
of 80 GB capacity. The jumpers of the second drive I set to slave.



I then installed Windows XP Professional on the second hard drive as an
additional operating system, so as to create a dual boot system. I have
transferred my email, internet browser, and other relevant settings and data
to the new operating system.



It all seems to be working well except for two outstanding problems:

1.. When I start up Windows ME, the first time that I call up Windows
Explorer, there is a hammering sound from the hard drive that lasts a few
seconds, as if the hard drive head has gone into a loop.
2.. When I start up Windows XP Professional, Windows XP takes an
inordinately long time to fill the notification area with all the
notification icons, and the first time that I launch Windows Explorer it
displays the search torch rather than the files or devices, and appears to
hang. I have to close down Explorer. After a few attempts, Exlorer launches
correctly, and seems to perform at the expected speed.
I am not sure wherther these Explorer problems are to do with the hardware
installation, or the software installation.



I have opened TaskManager during the slow filling of the notification area,
and have noticed that there are processes running such as Services.exe and
Watchdog.exe that seem fairly slow.



Can you suggest what might be the remedy to the problem?



Thanks in advance.



Enquiring Mind
 
Hi Enquiring Mind

It should be OK to install Windows XP Pro as part of a multiple operating
system in two separate partitions with Windows Millennium provided the
latter was installed first. After installing XP the latter's boot loader
should present the two OS to choose from when you reboot. Except you have
used two separate disks and possibly the boot loader is corrupt.

First from with in Windows XP install the Recovery Console as a boot option.
Put the XP CD in your default optical drive and then hit the Start button,
type in Run, Enter. In the Run box type in d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons,
where "d" is the drive letter of the default optical drive.
Still in Windows, lift eventual Recovery Console restrictions by opening a
command prompt and doing the following commands one by one, observing the
spaces between the texts and equals sign:
set AllowWildcards = True
set AllowAllPaths = True
set AllowRemovable Media =True
set NoCopyprompt = True

Now Reboot.

Select the Recovery Console from the boot options, when asked select the
name of the XP partition. If asked for the Administrators password assume it
is blank. [In the Console type Help hit enter and you will get a list of
commands.]

You need to use
bootcfg /rebuild
which will list your Windows installations and fix the boot.ini.
When finished run the chkdsk with the /p switch to make sure that there is
nothing wrong with your XP disk and then the same for the ME disk.
Reboot and select Windows XP.

Hope it fixes your problem
Uncle John
 
You need more memory.. look at 512mb being the minimum.. most likely, your
video card will also present a bottleneck..

Also, go to Performance options in Control Panel, and set the display for
best performance.. you will be amazed at how much quicker XP reacts.. keep
the 'drop shadows' checked to make desktop labels look better..
 
Hello Uncle John

Thanks for your advice. By way of further clarification, when I boot, I
already get presented with a choice between the two operating systems
installed on the computer on different drives. So I take it that the purpose
of the action that you recommend is to check whether boot.ini file is
correctly configured. Is that right? I understand that one can view the
boot.ini file within Windows XP through the 'Startup and Recovery' window
accessible from the 'System Properties' window. Can one run the command
'bootcfg /rebuild' from within Windows XP rather that from the Recovery
Console?

Thanks.

Enquiring Mind
 
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