Window loads slow on some machines and fast on others ...

[Guest]

Helllo,

I have installed several machines with WinXP Professional (essentially the
same hardware [processor (Intel P4E 2.8 Ghz or similar; Intel motherboard
D856PERL or similar; SATA disks; see RAM hereunder] and the same softwares
[ZA Security Suite as firewall and antivirus; Microsoft antispyware; other
sofware are standard and motsly from MS]) (Note: I use Corporate versions
with site licences).

Now, WinXP loads quite slowly on some machines and quite fast on others ....

The main consistent difference between the "fast' and the "slow" machines
seem that
- the "slow" ones were installed with a basic WinXP, and then upgraded
successively with SP1 and SP2, and all other patches from Windows Update;
whereas the "fast" ones were installed right away with a WinXP with
integrated Service Pack2 (and were therafter patched through Windows update)

- the "fast" machines have 2GB RAM and the "slow" ones 1 GB... (all modules
are DDR SD RAM 512MB PC3200 mounted in pairs: 2x512 or 4x512)

Where should I look for improving the slow machines...
- make a fresh installation ... (but it will take time...)
- invest in more RAM for all machines ?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Helllo,

I have installed several machines with WinXP Professional (essentially the
same hardware [processor (Intel P4E 2.8 Ghz or similar; Intel motherboard
D856PERL or similar; SATA disks; see RAM hereunder] and the same softwares
[ZA Security Suite as firewall and antivirus; Microsoft antispyware; other
sofware are standard and motsly from MS]) (Note: I use Corporate versions
with site licences).

Now, WinXP loads quite slowly on some machines and quite fast on others .....

The main consistent difference between the "fast' and the "slow" machines
seem that
- the "slow" ones were installed with a basic WinXP, and then upgraded
successively with SP1 and SP2, and all other patches from Windows Update;
whereas the "fast" ones were installed right away with a WinXP with
integrated Service Pack2 (and were therafter patched through Windows update)

- the "fast" machines have 2GB RAM and the "slow" ones 1 GB... (all modules
are DDR SD RAM 512MB PC3200 mounted in pairs: 2x512 or 4x512)

Where should I look for improving the slow machines...
- make a fresh installation ... (but it will take time...)
- invest in more RAM for all machines ?

Seeing that WinXP is reasonably happy with 256 MBytes, you're probably
wasting your money when adding memory over and beyond 1 GByte in
order to speed up the boot process. Windows would not use the extra
memory at that stage. It is only used when running several memory-hungry
applications concurrently. You can easily confirm this by "stealing" memory
from one slow machine and installing it in another slow machine for testing
purposes.

I suspect when you say "slow" you are referring to the time it takes for
Windows to reach the Desktop. If this is much slower on some PCs than
on some of the others then I suspect that your DSN settings are incorrect.
Start a Command Prompt and type this command:

ipconfig /all

Now compare the output of a fast machine with the output of a slow
machine, line by line. This might give you the key to your problem.

 

[Guest]

Dear Pegasus,
Thank you again for your fast answer. However, it only partially helped
this time.
1. the slow boot I mentionned was actually both the time for the desktop to
show up AND the time to load all programmes and services (essentially,
waiting for the "local area connection", the ZA icon, and other icons to
appear in the system tray...
2. I added memory to the slow machines but, as you implied in your answer,
it did not change much...
3. I looked at the results of an ipconfig /all command, but saw no
meaningful differences (all machine are with a fixed IP address and use the
same DNS; they are using the same gateway). Now, one thing which may me
worthwile to explore is that these machines are on a faily large subnet
(about more than 100 machines). Is it possible that some, but not all,
"loose" a lot of time browsing through the network when starting (because
they wait for answers from other computers ??). This large network contains
a variety of machines, some of them joined to a domain, some other not. All
those I speak about are NOT joined to a domain but share the same workgroup
(with about 20 machines, almost all XP in that workgroup). Perhaps I should
try to isolate a slow machine on a small network and see if this helps...

4. Another thing I wonder I should explore is whether a fresh install does
not make the starting files files more contiguous (or more efficiently used)
than what I get with machines that have gone through sucessive upgrades and
patches... Any idea about that ? The obvious thing to do here would be to
make fresh install on a slow machine and see if that helps..., but is is
worth the time (setting up the machines to the same operating stage as they
are now with all softwares etc... will take about 5 h...)

Any other idea ?

Paul

Helllo,

I have installed several machines with WinXP Professional (essentially the
same hardware [processor (Intel P4E 2.8 Ghz or similar; Intel motherboard
D856PERL or similar; SATA disks; see RAM hereunder] and the same softwares
[ZA Security Suite as firewall and antivirus; Microsoft antispyware; other
sofware are standard and motsly from MS]) (Note: I use Corporate versions
with site licences).

Now, WinXP loads quite slowly on some machines and quite fast on others .....

The main consistent difference between the "fast' and the "slow" machines
seem that
- the "slow" ones were installed with a basic WinXP, and then upgraded
successively with SP1 and SP2, and all other patches from Windows Update;
whereas the "fast" ones were installed right away with a WinXP with
integrated Service Pack2 (and were therafter patched through Windows update)

- the "fast" machines have 2GB RAM and the "slow" ones 1 GB... (all modules
are DDR SD RAM 512MB PC3200 mounted in pairs: 2x512 or 4x512)

Where should I look for improving the slow machines...
- make a fresh installation ... (but it will take time...)
- invest in more RAM for all machines ?

Seeing that WinXP is reasonably happy with 256 MBytes, you're probably
wasting your money when adding memory over and beyond 1 GByte in
order to speed up the boot process. Windows would not use the extra
memory at that stage. It is only used when running several memory-hungry
applications concurrently. You can easily confirm this by "stealing" memory
from one slow machine and installing it in another slow machine for testing
purposes.

I suspect when you say "slow" you are referring to the time it takes for
Windows to reach the Desktop. If this is much slower on some PCs than
on some of the others then I suspect that your DSN settings are incorrect.
Start a Command Prompt and type this command:

ipconfig /all

Now compare the output of a fast machine with the output of a slow
machine, line by line. This might give you the key to your problem.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

These links might help:

How to Enable User Environment Debug Logging in Retail Builds of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=221833

Description of the Windows XP Professional Fast Logon Optimization Feature
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305293&Product=winxp

Logon Optimization
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...ry/en-us/policy/policy/logon_optimization.asp

See also my embedded comments below.

Dear Pegasus,
Thank you again for your fast answer. However, it only partially helped
this time.
1. the slow boot I mentionned was actually both the time for the desktop to
show up AND the time to load all programmes and services (essentially,
waiting for the "local area connection", the ZA icon, and other icons to
appear in the system tray...

*** I have had lots of very bad experiences with ZoneAlarm. Uninstall it,
*** then check again. You probably don't need it anyway: If you operate
*** in a corporate environment then you use a router to connect to the
*** Internet, which is a natural hardware firewall.

2. I added memory to the slow machines but, as you implied in your answer,
it did not change much...

*** Thanks for confirming this.

3. I looked at the results of an ipconfig /all command, but saw no
meaningful differences (all machine are with a fixed IP address and use the
same DNS; they are using the same gateway). Now, one thing which may me
worthwile to explore is that these machines are on a faily large subnet
(about more than 100 machines). Is it possible that some, but not all,
"loose" a lot of time browsing through the network when starting (because
they wait for answers from other computers ??). This large network contains
a variety of machines, some of them joined to a domain, some other not. All
those I speak about are NOT joined to a domain but share the same workgroup
(with about 20 machines, almost all XP in that workgroup). Perhaps I should
try to isolate a slow machine on a small network and see if this helps...

*** You should boot a slow machine by itself, with local validation and
without
*** any logon script.

4. Another thing I wonder I should explore is whether a fresh install does
not make the starting files files more contiguous (or more efficiently used)
than what I get with machines that have gone through sucessive upgrades and
patches... Any idea about that ? The obvious thing to do here would be to
make fresh install on a slow machine and see if that helps..., but is is
worth the time (setting up the machines to the same operating stage as they
are now with all softwares etc... will take about 5 h...)

*** In most cases, defragging a disk is like pissing in your wetsuit: It
*** gives you a warm feeling having all files in contiguous blocks but
*** nobody notices the slightest difference.

Any other idea ?

*** Get rid of ZoneAlarm!
*** Temporarily uninstall your virus scanner.
*** Examine your Event Logs.

Paul

Helllo,

I have installed several machines with WinXP Professional (essentially the
same hardware [processor (Intel P4E 2.8 Ghz or similar; Intel motherboard
D856PERL or similar; SATA disks; see RAM hereunder] and the same softwares
[ZA Security Suite as firewall and antivirus; Microsoft antispyware; other
sofware are standard and motsly from MS]) (Note: I use Corporate versions
with site licences).

Now, WinXP loads quite slowly on some machines and quite fast on

others
.....

The main consistent difference between the "fast' and the "slow" machines
seem that
- the "slow" ones were installed with a basic WinXP, and then upgraded
successively with SP1 and SP2, and all other patches from Windows Update;
whereas the "fast" ones were installed right away with a WinXP with
integrated Service Pack2 (and were therafter patched through Windows update)

- the "fast" machines have 2GB RAM and the "slow" ones 1 GB... (all modules
are DDR SD RAM 512MB PC3200 mounted in pairs: 2x512 or 4x512)

Where should I look for improving the slow machines...
- make a fresh installation ... (but it will take time...)
- invest in more RAM for all machines ?

Seeing that WinXP is reasonably happy with 256 MBytes, you're probably
wasting your money when adding memory over and beyond 1 GByte in
order to speed up the boot process. Windows would not use the extra
memory at that stage. It is only used when running several memory-hungry
applications concurrently. You can easily confirm this by "stealing" memory
from one slow machine and installing it in another slow machine for testing
purposes.

I suspect when you say "slow" you are referring to the time it takes for
Windows to reach the Desktop. If this is much slower on some PCs than
on some of the others then I suspect that your DSN settings are incorrect.
Start a Command Prompt and type this command:

ipconfig /all

Now compare the output of a fast machine with the output of a slow
machine, line by line. This might give you the key to your problem.