system very slow indeed :/

Mp4

Mp4

Mp4

Soldato
Joined
21 Apr 2006
Posts
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Location
Eastbourne
Hi all,

Yesterday I went to sort out a computer from DELL it’s a Dimension 2400 spec

Intel Celeron that runs at 2.0, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, or 2.7 GHz internally and 400 MHz externally

512MB PC 2700 RAM

40GIG HDD
“17 flat screen TFT

Broadband 2MB

McAfee Security centre

And the preloaded rubbish that Dell install.

The problem im having is, it takes over 4-5 Minuets to boot into windows, it’s then very slow when its loading the background applications, it takes ages to complete a disk clean up, Defrag etc e.g. 30+ . And ive also noticed that it’s fairly slow on the internet with browsing websites.

I’ve tried going through the dell technical support pages and going through there guide but no one of it has made any difference what so ever. I’ve tried the guide on ocuk on how to optimize the system get rid of services and start-up programs. Disabled Mcafee to see if it was that & it was still slow scanned for Trojans, worms, spyware, malware etc & nothing. Ive checked the memory when it’s idle at cold boot usually has 211MB free but ive noticed that the processor goes to 100% quite a lot, ive thought of getting more memory for it but I don’t know what else could be making it slow as hell , ive also defragged it eventually and deleted the cookies/recycle bin etc

Anyone have a clue?
 
Press control alt delete and see how many background tasks are running. Performance Tab then Processes, it's in the Total box under memory use.
 
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Reformat using an XP CD and the original CD Key that came with the machine. I have done this on dell's before and as far as I know this is perfectly legal as you are using a legit CD key which came with the system. It also means you dont have to worrey about all the other crap Dell bundle with the system.

McAfee could possibly be using a lot of cpu?

The CPU is bound to reach 100% a lot as Celeron are really poor CPU's in terms of performance.
 
do you think that its worth getting 512mb ram extra? ill have to take a look at the system as im not infront of it right now
 
It really comes down to what they use the pc for. As a Celeron based system I dont think there would be a very noticable difference.

Have you ran HDTach? Just another idea as you said the bootup took 4-5 minutes. If thats correct that sounds like theres some transfer issue. I have seen P2's start up in just over 2 minutes from power on, or less.
 
check your PAGEFILE size.. it's quite a common oversight. Your pages file should be set to at least 1.5 x your physical RAM size.

Also, check there is enough disk space on the partition were the PAGEFILE resides. If, not you'll need to either clear some space or move it to another partion.

Also, It might be a good idea to "defrag" the partition where the PAGEFILE reside.

Poor pagefile settings and maintenance will result in a large increase of CPU overheads.

Try it and see before reformating :)

.. also, might be worth checking the memory with memtest86+.. there might be a fault in the memory causing an overhead.
 
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the chances are it will be mcafee and anything else like zonealarm which are messing it up, as was already sugested, just ctrl alt del it and have a look at how manay processes are running, you can end most of them

if you do msconfig from the run command and then go to startup you can stop most of them loading on boot up from there as well

but tbh as its a carp computer, I would just back up what you need and format it because any PC from dell or any other main stream manufacturer should be instantly formatted on purchase coz they fill them with so much rubbish its unbelievable
 
Well they run a hotel, and need to check email , take bookings online , and create flyers and do word processing.

The Pagefile size is set to system managed size
and i have been to msconfig and disabled all apart from Mcafee and a few other bits

celliott said:
It really comes down to what they use the pc for. As a Celeron based system I dont think there would be a very noticable difference.

Have you ran HDTach? Just another idea as you said the bootup took 4-5 minutes. If thats correct that sounds like theres some transfer issue. I have seen P2's start up in just over 2 minutes from power on, or less.
Click to expand...

No i havent done this , what program can i use?



i'm going to break the news to them that they will need a copy of winXP , Dell installed WinXP Pro on to the computer but im just going to tell them to stick with Home as its sufficient for what they need and maybe another 512 ram, they only bought the Dell last year so i cant really say , oh you need a new computer ! :)
 
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if it takes yonks to boot up, then type "msconfig" into run from the start menu... then go into the "startup" tab... and un-tick the unimportant programs that load up when you start your computer... like useless Dell programs for example, that would help decrease the loading times on bootup.

things you might not want running on bootup might be:
MSN Messenger
iPod updater, iPod stuff etc
bascially anything other than anti-virus/firewall software.
 
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Mp4 said:
i'm going to break the news to them that they will need a copy of winXP
Click to expand...

They already have a licence for XP so there is no reason to purchase another one, install using any XP Pro disc then use their licence key and you will be fine.
 
As ive said i checked the page file size acording to what the dell technical guide said , and i know that they have a key already for winxp pro , but i dont have Winxp pro :P so a bit screwed really
 
Yup fresh install imho :)

also zonealarm is great, mcafee is pants lol

And another thing to check, whip the side panel off, have a good look around the motherboard at all the capacitors. If some or all look like this:
20020419-bad_board.640x480.jpg


Then thats the problem

If all the caps are ok then do the fresh install :)
 
Bit OT but recently I had to change my dad's optical drive, when I took the side panel off and looked at the motherboard the capacitors were popped just like these and had some brown stuff on top of them. My question is, does that mean its going to a "better place" soon? :D
 
yup sounds like it m8

my brother-in-laws pc did this, it just got slower and slower and one day it just wouldnt turn on properly

I decided to have a look and under mounds of dust I found rows of popped caps, one new motherboard later and all was well :)
 
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