Slow Compaq

[Lil' Abner]

Just got done working on a Compaq of the following description:
Compaq Evo D300 Desktop Series
Evo D310v Model with Intel 845G Chipset
1.8-GHz with 400-MHz Front Side Bus
Has 128-MB DDR Synch Dram PC2100 (266-MHz) Non ECC

Operating system is XP-Pro.
It was slow to start with. No updates had been done. I updated it to SP1
and installed the rest of the critical updates. Norton was up to date. I
did a full system scan... it was clean. Found a moderate amount of adware
and spyware and removed it all. Only 5 items checked in Msconfig... all
normal stuff. Task Manager doesn't show anything unusual running. It is
*still* slow. I have a 850 Mhz machine of my own (one I built) that will
run circles around this one.
Dunno why it shipped with only 128 Mb ram and I have ordered another 128
for it, but I don't really look for that to speed it up much.
I didn't look in bios but these days there's not much you can change and I
don't want to make it unstable.
Is this just the nature of the beast?

 

[Shep©]

Just got done working on a Compaq of the following description:
Compaq Evo D300 Desktop Series
Evo D310v Model with Intel 845G Chipset
1.8-GHz with 400-MHz Front Side Bus
Has 128-MB DDR Synch Dram PC2100 (266-MHz) Non ECC

Operating system is XP-Pro.
It was slow to start with. No updates had been done. I updated it to SP1
and installed the rest of the critical updates. Norton was up to date.

Remove Norton.



--
Free Windows/PC help,
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email shepATpartyheld.de
Free songs to download and,"BURN" :O)
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

 

[kony]

Just got done working on a Compaq of the following description:
Compaq Evo D300 Desktop Series
Evo D310v Model with Intel 845G Chipset
1.8-GHz with 400-MHz Front Side Bus
Has 128-MB DDR Synch Dram PC2100 (266-MHz) Non ECC

Operating system is XP-Pro.
It was slow to start with. No updates had been done. I updated it to SP1
and installed the rest of the critical updates. Norton was up to date.

Norton? Get rid of it.

I
did a full system scan... it was clean. Found a moderate amount of adware
and spyware and removed it all. Only 5 items checked in Msconfig... all
normal stuff. Task Manager doesn't show anything unusual running. It is
*still* slow. I have a 850 Mhz machine of my own (one I built) that will
run circles around this one.
Dunno why it shipped with only 128 Mb ram and I have ordered another 128
for it, but I don't really look for that to speed it up much.

Actually that may be by far the greatest performance increase possible.
Constantly swapping out to pagefile is a dreadfully slow way to run an OS,
let alone trying to get any work done... but even so, 256MB just barely
adequate, typically 512MB plus is needed for more demanding jobs.

I didn't look in bios but these days there's not much you can change and I
don't want to make it unstable.
Is this just the nature of the beast?

Take a look at the services, disable everything unnecessary and uninstall
3rd party applications fitting same "unnecessary" description. This is
particularly beneficial when running with so little memory. Differences
in HDD age can also make a difference, and you didn't even mention if
it's a Celeron or P4.

If all else fails, backup the current OS partition and do a clean install,
compare them.

 

[Trent©]

Just got done working on a Compaq of the following description:
Compaq Evo D300 Desktop Series
Evo D310v Model with Intel 845G Chipset
1.8-GHz with 400-MHz Front Side Bus
Has 128-MB DDR Synch Dram PC2100 (266-MHz) Non ECC

Operating system is XP-Pro.
It was slow to start with.

What is that 'it' that you speak of?

A computer is simply a machine...that performs certain functions. Is
it slow on booting?...on running a certain program?...on accessing new
programs?...on browsing? You need to be more specific.

No updates had been done. I updated it to SP1
and installed the rest of the critical updates. Norton was up to date

As others mentioned...completely uninstall Norton...reboot...see if
there's a difference. Its not unusual for Norton to provide updates
that can slow a computer to a crawl.

I
did a full system scan... it was clean. Found a moderate amount of adware
and spyware and removed it all. Only 5 items checked in Msconfig... all
normal stuff. Task Manager doesn't show anything unusual running. It is
*still* slow.

What brand hard drive?...defragged?...temp internet files
deleted?...OE compacted?...what size clusters?...etc.

I have a 850 Mhz machine of my own (one I built) that will
run circles around this one.

Run a good, intensive program from a boot floppy...mem tester, etc.
See how it runs that way.

Dunno why it shipped with only 128 Mb ram and I have ordered another 128
for it, but I don't really look for that to speed it up much.

Again...speed WHAT up?

I didn't look in bios but these days there's not much you can change and I
don't want to make it unstable.
Is this just the nature of the beast?

There's a LOT of things that can make one machine run differently from
another...especially motherboards.


Have a nice week...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

 

[Ian Hopkins]

Just got done working on a Compaq of the following description:
Compaq Evo D300 Desktop Series
Evo D310v Model with Intel 845G Chipset
1.8-GHz with 400-MHz Front Side Bus
Has 128-MB DDR Synch Dram PC2100 (266-MHz) Non ECC

You really need more than 128 for WinXP... It's a resource hog (at least
compared to linux)

Operating system is XP-Pro.
It was slow to start with. No updates had been done. I updated it to SP1
and installed the rest of the critical updates. Norton was up to date.

Uninstall Norton
I

did a full system scan... it was clean. Found a moderate amount of adware
and spyware and removed it all. Only 5 items checked in Msconfig... all
normal stuff. Task Manager doesn't show anything unusual running. It is
*still* slow. I have a 850 Mhz machine of my own (one I built) that will
run circles around this one.
Dunno why it shipped with only 128 Mb ram and I have ordered another 128
for it, but I don't really look for that to speed it up much.
I didn't look in bios but these days there's not much you can change and I
don't want to make it unstable.
Is this just the nature of the beast?

Defrag your disk and upgrade file system to NTFS if it's not already.
Is this a new install of Xp or was it already there?

 

[kony]

Defrag your disk and upgrade file system to NTFS if it's not already.

Except with very large partitions holding tons of small files, NTFS is
slower.

 

[Lil' Abner]

You really need more than 128 for WinXP... It's a resource hog (at
least compared to linux)

Now you're talking my language! I have a dedicated machine running
Red Hat 9.0. It's been "up" for over 3 months now. It *does* like memory,
though. I'm running 512 Mb in that one but that may be overkill.

Uninstall Norton
I

Defrag your disk and upgrade file system to NTFS if it's not already.
Is this a new install of Xp or was it already there?

Factory install... NTFS. I'm personally not a big lover of NTFS but
not for really valid reasons. I maintain our phone company's main
computer and usually do what I do at night via a network connection NTFS
has tight file restricitons and won't let me access system folders over
the network. I can go in with PCAnywhere and do it, but that's draggy. I
usually just drag my butt across the street and work on it. A Fat 32
installation doesn't have those restrictions.
Thanks to all of you for your help and suggestions. I've replied to
two different posts here and think I got all the questions covered.

 

[Lil' Abner]

What is that 'it' that you speak of?

A computer is simply a machine...that performs certain functions. Is
it slow on booting?...on running a certain program?...on accessing new
programs?...on browsing? You need to be more specific.

It boots up fairly fast. It's slow opening control panel, My Computer,
Windows Explorer. Office isn't installed, but even Word Pad takes forever
to open. Internet Explorer opens slow, but seems to function pretty well
once it's open. But I have a T1 here at the shop so that tends to make
things look better than they are.

As others mentioned...completely uninstall Norton...reboot...see if
there's a difference. Its not unusual for Norton to provide updates
that can slow a computer to a crawl.

Yeah, I know... I use Norton myself, but if it's not doing updates it
doesn't seem to slow me down. Since it isn't my machine and the guy paid
for Norton, I didn't uninstall it, but I disabled it from starting just to
do a compare. It booted a little faster, but other than that I didn't
notice any difference.

What brand hard drive?...defragged?...temp internet files
deleted?...OE compacted?...what size clusters?...etc.

Ultra ATA/100 20 gig 5400 RPM (according to the specs) I *think* it's a
Seagate, but I don't have it here to check right now. It's the original OEM
installation... NTFS (to answer someone else's question too). I deleted all
the temporary internet files... also the windows\temp files.
Not defragged.

Run a good, intensive program from a boot floppy...mem tester, etc.
See how it runs that way.

OK... I've got Mem tester.

Again...speed WHAT up?

I tried to cover that above.

I have memory ordered. What I'll do is call the guy today and have him
do the defrag. When the memory comes, I'll see how much that helps. I
ordered a matching 128 Mb stick. If it's still slow, I'll test them
individually and together with MemTest. On older machines I usually
routinely do a defrag, but I overlooked it this time. I've never seen
defrag make a *real* big difference, but it could be. I haven't had a whole
lot of experience with defrag and NTFS... maybe NTFS is worse when it gets
fragmented.

 

[Big Mac]

Actually that may be by far the greatest performance increase possible.
Constantly swapping out to pagefile is a dreadfully slow way to run an OS,
let alone trying to get any work done... but even so, 256MB just barely
adequate, typically 512MB plus is needed for more demanding jobs.

I feel the same way. In fact, you should find out if the computer
supports odd-sized chips. Both Athalons I bought in the last year do.
What I am saying is, if you can return the 128 MB you ordered and get
a 256 MB, a total of 384 is going to really help over 256. Personally
I feel that even 500 MBs is low (but adequate). Of course my system
steals 64 MBs of RAM for the graphics.

Go here to this page (below) and follow this guys advice. If the
computer is not networked you can do everything he suggests. (I think
I didn't change just one thing he suggested). You can save quite a
bit of your very precious RAM by disabling some of this stuff.
(Windows XP by default has all kinds of stuff turned on, but they are
unnecessary for regular home users).

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

Go through them one by one, checking each setting (automatic, manual,
or disabled). There is quite a bit to do, so use a couple of windows
going back and forth, so you can keep track. Or else print it out.

I would also track down how to disable Windows Messenger. It loads up
as part of Win XP and even if you change it's own settings from within
the program, it still is engaged. And then just use MSN Messenger
when you want to be available. It is better anyway (uses the same
network).

Big Mac

 

[Mike Walsh]

128 MB RAM is not enough to run WinXP, especially when part of it is dedicated to the video chipset. You should get another 256 MB.

 

[Jon Danniken]

I have memory ordered. What I'll do is call the guy today and have him
do the defrag. When the memory comes, I'll see how much that helps. I
ordered a matching 128 Mb stick. If it's still slow, I'll test them
individually and together with MemTest. On older machines I usually
routinely do a defrag, but I overlooked it this time. I've never seen
defrag make a *real* big difference, but it could be. I haven't had a whole
lot of experience with defrag and NTFS... maybe NTFS is worse when it gets
fragmented.

The memory will make a BIG difference with XP; another thing you might want to take a quick peek at is the
Windows font directory, and make sure the user hasn't installed 5,280 fonts.

Jon