suddenly slow XP machine -- software or hardware?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris
  • Start date Start date
C

Chris

Hi there,
My girlfriend's Gateway has been running horribly lately. It hasn't
been crashing but it is taking forever to do just about anything. It
didn't used to be like this. Launching applications takes forever and
the hour glass comes up.
I have run Spybot S&D on it again recently and also did a full system
scan with Norton Anti-Virus (yuk!)and the latest defs. Found nothing.
But the thing practically crawls. It's a 300SE I believe. 1.4Ghz
Celeron. It has 256MB RAM and a decent amount of free disk space. I
opened up Task Manager and whenever it's taking its sweet time to do
something, the processor usage is pegged. It seems like it's either the
app or System Idle Process eating up all the cycles. I've also checked
the system logs and don't notice anything unusual.
The only things I can think of are a possible hardware problem or
Norton. I wouldn't rule out either of them. I have found NAV to be a
horribly written piece of software. It often has "internal errors" and
"must close" and LiveUpdate never works -- I'm stuck downloading the
update manually. I've seen this on several computers. The Gateway
hasn't exactly seemed like a high-quality piece of equipment to me
either. At one point it would crash and then fail on the next boot and
subsequent boots until you let it sit off for several hours. I wasn't
never able to locate the problem due to the transient nature of the
failures.
Anyone have an idea as to what could be causing this? I think my next
step will be to disable Norton's on-access scanning and see if that
makes any difference.

Any help would be appreciated!


-Chris
 
Use the following procedure for a "clean install" of Windows XP:

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

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

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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


| Hi there,
| My girlfriend's Gateway has been running horribly lately. It hasn't
| been crashing but it is taking forever to do just about anything. It
| didn't used to be like this. Launching applications takes forever and
| the hour glass comes up.
| I have run Spybot S&D on it again recently and also did a full system
| scan with Norton Anti-Virus (yuk!)and the latest defs. Found nothing.
| But the thing practically crawls. It's a 300SE I believe. 1.4Ghz
| Celeron. It has 256MB RAM and a decent amount of free disk space. I
| opened up Task Manager and whenever it's taking its sweet time to do
| something, the processor usage is pegged. It seems like it's either the
| app or System Idle Process eating up all the cycles. I've also checked
| the system logs and don't notice anything unusual.
| The only things I can think of are a possible hardware problem or
| Norton. I wouldn't rule out either of them. I have found NAV to be a
| horribly written piece of software. It often has "internal errors" and
| "must close" and LiveUpdate never works -- I'm stuck downloading the
| update manually. I've seen this on several computers. The Gateway
| hasn't exactly seemed like a high-quality piece of equipment to me
| either. At one point it would crash and then fail on the next boot and
| subsequent boots until you let it sit off for several hours. I wasn't
| never able to locate the problem due to the transient nature of the
| failures.
| Anyone have an idea as to what could be causing this? I think my next
| step will be to disable Norton's on-access scanning and see if that
| makes any difference.
|
| Any help would be appreciated!
|
|
| -Chris
 
Chris,

"internal errors" in NAV doesn't sound very healthy.
Please make sure you are running NAV 2002 or later.
Also, most of the errors in NAV are linked to Internet Explorer...

Now about "slow". ... You probably need to rescan for viruses and spyware. Please follow these instructions:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/windowsxpsolutions.htm

You could also scan online:
http://www.symantec.com/securitycheck
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php

Now, when the computer is clean, please try this optimization steps:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/optimizewindows.htm

Good Luck!
 
Hmm... the Norton/IE thing sounds interesting. Thanks for pointing that
out. Anyway it's NAV 2003. And I just scanned for spyware and viruses
2 days ago. The "internal errors" come up when I try to access one
settings box if I recall correctly. I may try to uninstall then
reinstall it.
 
Chris said:
My girlfriend's Gateway has been running horribly lately. It hasn't
been crashing but it is taking forever to do just about anything. It
didn't used to be like this. Launching applications takes forever and
the hour glass comes up.

Hi Chris.

Strangely enough, exactly the same thing has happened on a couple of
my PCs in the last few days. Each PC had just performed a Windows
Update, so my suspicion is that one of the updates has caused this.

One PC seems to have fixed itself after a few reboots; applications
now open instantly again just like before.

Regards
Pat Galea
 

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