SLOW computer

Hi all...

I know this has been asked a zillion times here, and I have even responded to such threads, but I'm pretty much clueless...

A friend has a laptop that is running slow. As a matter of fact, I have never seen such a slow computer. So I made the usual:

-Virus scan
-MBAM scan
-CCleaner
-Free disk space (went from 5% free space to 35%)
-Defrag
-chkdsk

HD Tune shows no problem with the hard drive.

After all that, it showed a slight increase in speed but it's still running extremely slow. Anyone has any ideas (other than a fresh install)??

 

clean some startup items
disable indexing
you can do it by running msconfig

check the total amount of ram used vs the ram installed

which OS? any other info?

Edit:
you can also try to
Disable System restore & hibernation

 

Processor type\speed?

Amount of RAM?

Also guessing it is a 5200 rpm hdd.

Has it always been slow(ish)?

 

Get a can of compressed air and clean the dust from heatsinks, fans and other critical areas. Use something skinny to block the fans from spinning when blasting them so you won't "over rev" them.

 

Start in safe mode. See if speed improves. Start in safe mode with networking. test network also for speed. Use bartPE or similar. Is speed improved? These measures should eliminate driver/software issues, and focus on hardware or some sort of infestiation problem.

Definately post the system specs.

Try running ATTO on the hdd, and then you should be able to compare it's read/write vals to other known vals. Or just to see what it currently does.

Sul.

 

From experience computers also slow down due to a conflict somewhere, if everything suggested fails, you ought to look at what is actually installed.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I'm gonna follow innerpeace's advice and try to clean the heatsinks and fans... other than that, I'm gonna format it this weekend, since the other suggestions (adjust for best performance, disable indexing, etc) where already implemented before the computer turned slow.
I have set this computer up as if it were my own, so I'm really puzzled.

I will check ATTO and check out JRViejo's suggestion concerning DMA. Thanks.

BTW, OS is XP SP2, originally it had 512 MB RAM (but I upgraded it to 1 Gig), HD is 5200 rpm 100Gigs, processor is a Celeron.
Antivirus is NOD32.


Coming to thing about it, I will check if maybe the extra 512 MB RAM I installed are conflicting in some way. Haven't thought about it until now. Will keep you posted.

 

Hi,

Download and run Core Temp 0.99.4: http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/ for 32 Bit.

 

You've already received some good suggestions, although my guess, if you've eliminated malware (of course you never know for sure) is it's software/OS and not hardware related.

You may want to scan for rootkits and run a scan with SAS.

Even though some people think they are useless, based on what you said (and after running the two scans above), I would download the trial version of JV16 and run the registry cleaner. Make sure you back up the changes when given the chance by JV16.

 

It is very painful to make the computer fast unless you do a reinstall. I would suggest backing of data and do a fresh install. Even with all the changes in settings or registry it won't run as smooth as a computer on fresh install because some software are very stubborn to remove completely.

 

Hey HUSRT, You might try running memtest a while. If you have any Linux Live CD's they usually have memtest as an option when booting up to the CD. Or you can burn your own memtest86+ ISO.

Link to memtest86+ : http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

You want the 2nd link down "Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)". Unzip the file and then burn the ISO file as an ISO (of course) and boot into the cd. You may have to change the boot order in the BIOS or perhaps the boot options during the system startup will allow you to boot to the cd. If the cd works, run the test a few times to check for errors.

First check if Windows (right-click My Computer then click properties) and the BIOS can see your new memory. Also make sure it is configured properly (voltage and timings) in the BIOS.

A lot of good advice in the this thread. Keep us updated.

 

Guys, I wasn't able to work on this laptop for a while, but today I could and toggle DMA did the trick. It's fast again.
I just can't explain how it got slow in the first place, since as far as I know nobody could have touched that setting...

Thanks to all