Windows XP slow after full restore (long)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mamushka
  • Start date Start date
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Mamushka

Have a HP Media Center PC running XP Media Center (AMD 2.4? GHz, 512
Megs of RAM). A few months back it started running slow when you tried
to do most anything. If you tried opening a folder it could take up to
5 minuets and during this time if you moved the mouse the cursor would
lag the "jump". I had the task manager open and CPU usage would be
pegged at %100 the whole time. When the CPU usage dropped everything
would seem normal again until I tried to open something else and repeat
the process again. At the time I stupidly started playing in the
registry and managed to lose my sound, great. So it's time for a
system recovery. I insert the recovery disk that I made when the
computer was new (per HP's instructions) and find that they are bad,
fabulous.
While waiting for my new disk to come in from HP I try and install
an old copy of XP on the computer, during the install I delete the
partitions for the XP media center and do a clean install. The computer
seems to run fine but no sound. My new disk comes in from HP and once
again I do a full clean install and once again no sound and the CPU
usage goes to %100 if I fart wrong. Would this have to be a hardware
issue at this point? Thanks in advance for any light you could shed on
this problem.

John
 
When you installed Windows using the new CD that HP sent you, did you just
install Windows or did you also install any or all of the addition
applications (if any where included) that may have been on the HP CD?

JS
 
While installing the OS I just clicked "typical" on the install screen.
This thing is huge, it comes on (2) DVD's. The computer ran fine for
about a year before it started acting up. As I formatted the HD (I
believe) and I'm having the same problem I'm guessing its a hardware
issue? Or is there something else I'm missing?
 
Current Microsoft OS'es do not ship on DVD Media. You must
be referring to a "Recovery Set", used to restore a PC to it's state
at delivery time.

Can you describe your issue(s) in a little more detail ? (Such as
PC vendor/model or what it is that doesn't meet your expectations).

Responders here are very good at "Reading between the Lines", as
long as we get enough lines to read through.
 
"Responders here are very good at "Reading between the Lines", as
long as we get enough lines to read through."

R.M.
Sorry, I post and read this from Google, I forget about the other
newsreaders out there that read differently. Here is my original post:
I can get more info as needed and I realy appreciate people taking the
time trying to help.

Have a HP Media Center PC running XP Media Center (AMD 2.4? GHz, 512
Megs of RAM). A few months back it started running slow when you tried
to do most anything. If you tried opening a folder it could take up to
5 minuets and during this time if you moved the mouse the cursor would
lag the "jump". I had the task manager open and CPU usage would be
pegged at %100 the whole time. When the CPU usage dropped everything
would seem normal again until I tried to open something else and repeat
the process again. At the time I stupidly started playing in the
registry and managed to lose my sound, great. So it's time for a
system recovery. I insert the recovery disk that I made when the
computer was new (per HP's instructions) and find that they are bad,
fabulous.
While waiting for my new disk to come in from HP I try and install
an old copy of XP on the computer, during the install I delete the
partitions for the XP media center and do a clean install. The computer
seems to run fine but no sound. My new disk comes in from HP and once
again I do a full clean install and once again no sound and the CPU
usage goes to %100 if I fart wrong. Would this have to be a hardware
issue at this point? Thanks in advance for any light you could shed on
this problem.

John
 
Appreciate filling in the blanks. So I assume your system is now
restored from the HP recovery set. Most of those are dated and
drivers would be somewhat "Out-of-Date". What I would do is
start at Chipset drivers and proceed to update as many hardware
components as possible. Some drivers I would get directly from
the manufacturer's website (Intel...) instead of HP. Use Belarc
Advisor to determine the "Exact" hardware in your PC.
If your PC is like other HP's I've worked on, it's likely the Master
Image had "Phantom" devices in Device Manager that should be
removed.

Also, Clean restorations have all the Valued Added ( -. Junk)
included. I'd go through Add/Remove programs in Control Panel
and start uninstalling all the apps you do not use.

I'd also take a look at Startups and Watchdogs and see about
trimming some of those out of startup. HP is one of the worst about
loading up a new PC with way too many of these S&W's. You can
use MSConfig for that or RegSeeker has a good Startups facility.
After a fresh boot - if you check TaskMgr what is the quiescent
memory footprint usage ? ( Most PCs average around 180-250 ).
 
Thanks for the info RM. Yes the computer is restored from the HP
recovery set. I will try out your suggestions when I get home. I am
still concerned that the computer is so slow after the full recovery.
It was even slow (mouse lagging, ect.) during the recovery where you
inputted the computer name, time zone ect.

John



"Appreciate filling in the blanks. So I assume your system is now
restored from the HP recovery set. Most of those are dated and
drivers would be somewhat "Out-of-Date". What I would do is
start at Chipset drivers and proceed to update as many hardware
components as possible. Some drivers I would get directly from
the manufacturer's website (Intel...) instead of HP. Use Belarc
Advisor to determine the "Exact" hardware in your PC.
If your PC is like other HP's I've worked on, it's likely the Master
Image had "Phantom" devices in Device Manager that should be
removed.

Also, Clean restorations have all the Valued Added ( -. Junk)
included. I'd go through Add/Remove programs in Control Panel
and start uninstalling all the apps you do not use.

I'd also take a look at Startups and Watchdogs and see about
trimming some of those out of startup. HP is one of the worst about
loading up a new PC with way too many of these S&W's. You can
use MSConfig for that or RegSeeker has a good Startups facility.
After a fresh boot - if you check TaskMgr what is the quiescent
memory footprint usage ? ( Most PCs average around 180-250 ). "
 
As RM said HP loads a lot of junk on the PC which was my suspicion. Once you
get the driver issue(s) sorted out and you still don't have any sound try a
different set of external speakers, if this doesn't work then it is likely
that HP used a built in (on the motherboard) sound chip and this has most
likely gone bad.

JS
 
Just to update, it looks like the built in sound chip was the whole
problem. Anytime you would do anyhting that would play a sound (open a
folder, ect) the computer would freeze for 3 - 5 minutes (and no sound
would play). I finaly wnt to the BIOS and dissabled the onboard sound
and everthing has been perfect ever since. I figure I'll just buy a
sound card and be done with it. Thanks to all that posted.

Original post:
Have a HP Media Center PC running XP Media Center (AMD 2.4? GHz, 512
Megs of RAM). A few months back it started running slow when you tried
to do most anything. If you tried opening a folder it could take up to
5 minuets and during this time if you moved the mouse the cursor would
lag the "jump". I had the task manager open and CPU usage would be
pegged at %100 the whole time. When the CPU usage dropped everything
would seem normal again until I tried to open something else and repeat
the process again. At the time I stupidly started playing in the
registry and managed to lose my sound, great. So it's time for a
system recovery. I insert the recovery disk that I made when the
computer was new (per HP's instructions) and find that they are bad,
fabulous.
While waiting for my new disk to come in from HP I try and install
an old copy of XP on the computer, during the install I delete the
partitions for the XP media center and do a clean install. The computer
seems to run fine but no sound. My new disk comes in from HP and once
again I do a full clean install and once again no sound and the CPU
usage goes to %100 if I fart wrong. Would this have to be a hardware
issue at this point? Thanks in advance for any light you could shed on
this problem.

John
 
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