Computer Running Slowly (solved)

[nickmart]

Hello everyone,

My brother's computer has been running really slowly for 3 months. This is his current setup:

AMD Athlon X2 4200+ Toledo

MSI K8N Neo4-F

2 Gb of DDR400 Ram (Mix of Patriot and Corsair Value Select)

eVGA Geforce 6200TC

Antec SmartPower 450W

80 GB Hard Drive

DVD Drive

CD-RW Drive

Running Windows XP Professional SP2

He is experiencing the following problems:

- slower start up and shutdown

- all sounds and video are choppy

- mouse skips across screen

- programs open up slower

He has recently upgraded his CPU and RAM, about 3 months ago. He replaced his Athlon 64 3000+ (Socket 939, Venice) with a Athlon X2 4200+ (Toledo). We essentially dropped in the new CPU and Windows recognized it. I noticed last week that he had installed the heatsink (an Arctic Coolin Freezer 64 Pro) backward such that the fan was blowing towards the front of the computer instead of blowing out to the back of the case. He mentioned that caused the RAM to be slightly hot to the touch.

He also added 2 512MB 400Mhz Patriot Ram (PD5123200) sticks along with his 2 512MB Corsair Value Select VS512MB400 he previously had in there. The Patriot Sticks used to be in my computer. I used them for 4 years without any problems. Since he has all 4 DIMM slots filled, his motherboard automatically slows his RAM down to DDR333.

He has ran virus scans with McAfee's VirusScan and Kaspersky's online scan, which both came out clean. Spybot and AdAware scans were also clean.

We have tried taking out the Patriot Ram sticks, but the computer still ran slowly.

Did we miss a step when we changed the CPU? Would the RAM be damaged from being hot? Is there a RAM timing setting that needs to be changed? I appreciate any help offered.

Thanks,

Nick

Edited September 4, 2007 by nickmart

[martymas]

it is good idea to clean your sys after an install

or when you add hardware or soft ware

and most important you need to defrag you sys

as when your files and folders are scattered

all over the hdd

and the sys has to hunt for those files and folders

if they are scattered then your sys will slow down

marty

[Andro1d]

Has your PC been running slow lately? If it has, and is not being caused my malware then follow these steps to help it get back to its better state.

Step 1

The more start up items you have on your PC, the slower it is overall. These items can be seen as 04 entries in a HJT log. Fixing them will just prevent them from your startup, there fore increasing your boot up time, and increasing your overall PC performance.

Here are some links to where you can research your 04's.

http://www.castlecops.com/StartupList.html

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/

http://www.processlibrary.com/

http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/search.php

Step 2

ATF Cleaner cleans temporary files from IE and Windows, empties the recycle bin and more. Great tool to help speed up your computer and knock out malware that like to reside in the temp folders.

Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune.

This program is for XP and Windows 2000 only

• Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
  Under Main choose: Select All
  Click the Empty Selected button.
  

If you use Firefox browser

• Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
  Click the Empty Selected button.
  NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
  

If you use Opera browser

• Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
  Click the Empty Selected button.
  NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
  

Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.

Step 3

Using one of the following defragmentors is also a very good idea to help yor PC.

JkDefrag - http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/

Diskeeper Lite - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1207

Auslogics Disk Defrag - http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/

Step 4

Chkdsk is a Microsoft utility designed to check the integrity of the data on a computer's hard disk drive as well as find and fix errors which could muddle such data. How to run checkdisk from recovery console (Windows XP).

• Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
  Note:Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
  
• When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
  Note:If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
  
• When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
  
• At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following then press Enter:
  
  chkdsk /r

  
  

• Allow this to run UNDISTURBED until completed (45 min or so)
  
• Report any errors
  

Step 5

Please backup your registry before running Tune-up 2007.

Backing Up Your Registry

• Go Here and download ERUNT
  (ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT) is a free program that allows you to keep a complete backup of your registry and restore it when needed.)
  
• Install ERUNT by following the prompts
  (use the default install settings but say no to the portion that asks you to add ERUNT to the start-up folder, if you like you can enable this option later)
  
• Start ERUNT
  (either by double clicking on the desktop icon or choosing to start the program at the end of the setup)
  
• Choose a location for the backup
  (the default location is C:\WINDOWS\ERDNT which is acceptable).
  
• Make sure that at least the first two check boxes are ticked
  
• Press OK
  
• Press YES to create the folder.
  

Step 6

Red words are clickable for more information

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, (all files will highlight), right click any file, click delete, confirm

Click start then all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up

Reboot

Click start then all programmes, accessories, system tools to run defragmenter

Download, install and run Tune Up Trial

Run Tune Up disc clean up

Run Tune Up registry clean up

Disable the anti virus programme then click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, the screen will lose colour during the process which can take a few minutes and then needs a reboot

Check the anti virus programme is running

Those will have cleared the drive of obsolete software errors

These are suggestions for making the most of the free trial

Click optimize and improve then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot.

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor.

Step 7

I also recommend the following article for great reading on why your computer might be slow.

http://users.telenet.be/bluepatchy/miekiem...owcomputer.html

[sultan_emerr]

I seriously doubt if it helps to be blowing the air the wrong way. Why don't you correct that?

10+ things you should know about troubleshooting a slow PC = http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/down...px?docid=172694

Registry tweaks to accelerate Windows XP = http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/abst...amp;tag=nl.e138

http://www.speed-up-computer.info/index.php?t=speedup

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=122339

23 Ways To Speed WinXP = http://www.techbuilder.org/showArticle.jht...icleID=59201471

Game XP = http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=game+xp&spell=1

http://www.pcnineoneone.com/training_videos

Windows Powertools (exe) = http://software.techrepublic.com.com/downl...amp;tag=nl.e138

http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

SpeedUpMyPC 3.5

http://www.vnunet.com/2128702

Easily speed up your old PC

TweakVI Basic 1.0.1070

http://www.vnunet.com/2169913

Codestuff Starter = http://www.webattack.com/get/starter.shtml .

Clear your cache and go to your local settings folder and empty your "temp" folder.

http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/WindowsXP.htm

Speed tweaks = tweaks and downloads to optimize PC speed without overclocking = http://www.setiathomescreensaverspeed.co.uk/index.html

http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/sgp-tweaks.ars

http://www.tweakxp.com/performance_tweaks.aspx

Windows XP Tweaking – Startup and General Performance Tweaks = http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/sgp-tweaks.ars

= "A guide for tweaking your system."

For desktop pc better performance, I suggest you set your desktop background/wallpaper and screensaver to "none", then right click on desktop, click properties, click 'appearance', choose ' windows classic style'.

Then Start/Settings/Control Panel/Display/display properties/screensaver/monitor power/power schemes/settings/turn off monitor after 10 minutes, and set the next 2 drop down boxes ( 1. Turn off Hard Disks, and 2. System Standby) to "never"/apply/ok/ok.

Go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Advanced tab /under Performance click on Settings / Visual Effects tab/

Adjust for best performance / Ok / Apply / Ok

Then Start/Control Panel/Display/display properties/screensaver/monitor power/hibernate/take check mark out of "Enable hibernation"/apply/ok/ok. Do not to use hibernate on desktop

If I'm going to be away from the pc for more than an hour, or whenever there is lightning in the area, then after shutting it down properly, I unplug the UPS (which all the computer stuff is plugged into) and disconnect the cable.\

Autoruns = http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html =

This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.

Autoruns' Hide Signed Microsoft Entries option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system and it has support for looking at the auto-starting images configured for other accounts configured on a system. Also included in the download package is a command-line equivalent that can output in CSV format, Autorunsc.

You'll probably be surprised at how many executables are launched automatically!

Autoruns works on all versions of Windows including Windows XP 64-bit Edition (for x64) and Windows Server 2003 64-bit Edition (for x64).

http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_scriptuse.html = Silent Runners Revision 49.

What's Running is a product that gives you an inside look into your Windows 2000/XP/2003 system. Explore processes, services, modules, IP-connections, drivers and much more through a simple to use application. Find out important information such as what modules are involved in a specific process. Control your system by starting and stopping services and processes. Configure your startup programs easily. = http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

Version 2.2 of What's Running = http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

http://www.indiahowto.com/how-to-clean-up-windows-xp.html

http://pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp

Clean your cache, = http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup and/or

Disk Cleaner = http://www.diskcleaner.nl ,or

Open up IE and go to Tools/Internet Options/General tab and Delete Temp files and History, then Boot into safe mode, = http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgen...001052409420406 , then enable CHKDSK, = Click your "My Computer" in the start menu, R-Click the C: Drive, go down and click on properties in the drop menu. When the properties folder opens, click on the Tools Tab, The first item in the list is to do CHKDSK. Put a check mark in all the boxes/start/yes/apply/ok . The PC should be rebooted in safe mode to do the scan. To view the results of a CHKDSK go to Administrative Tools > Event Viewer > Application, look for the most recent Winlogon event and double-click on it.

Then reboot into safe mode = http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgen...src=sec_doc_nam , or Start/run/msconfig/Boot.ini tab/check /safeboot - reboot. Afterwards uncheck it and reboot., then go to Start/all programs/accessories/system tools/disk cleanup , and run disk cleanup: Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disc Cleanup and put a check in ALL the boxes(Note: Only check the "compress old files" box if you are running very short of disk space, as those files which haven't been accessed recently will be compressed to save disk space, but at the cost of slightly slower access times to those files. Nothing will be deleted or "cleaned up" as a result of checking "Compress Old Files."). Click OK then Yes in the next little window. Let it finish.

Then run Disk Defrag from safe mode. After booting into safe mode go to Start/all programs/accessories/system tools/Disk Defragmenter. When you open "Defrag", click on "analyze", and it will tell you if you need to defrag or not. (or see = http://www.dirms.com ).

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/...docs/chkdsk.asp

[shanenin]

Choppy video tends to happen alot with not enough cpu power. Maybe you have a process taking all of your cpu cycles. According to the task manager, is you cpu being worked(what percentage) while the system is idle? When playing a video, how is your cpu working(percentage)?

Are both cores showing up in the task manager?

Since you are using a dual core amd, make sure you install the dual core optimizer driver.

Some mother boards need to be flashed to properly support X2 dual core procs. I would research any bio updates for your board.

It may be just simpler to reload your system. it is a quick way to rule out software glitches causing this problem.

[JSKY]

I agree with shanenin on the AMD driver updates and optimizer.

Also with a new processor I would make sure to check on updated drivers for all your other Hardware.

[nickmart]

Thanks everyone for your help. I am sorry I didn't get a chance to reply yesterday since I was helping my brother figure this thing out. Updating all his drivers seems to have done the trick. He also said he was going to defrag the hard drive last night.

There was one thing that confused me as we were working on this. In the Task Manager, his CPU usage would constantly be above 30% when idle, but the CPU usage in his process list didn't add up to 30%. Is that normal?

Thanks again.