Win XP starts and runs slowly

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Rands

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Hi,
Since Saturday my win xp has booted very slow( abouy 10 mins before it responds to clicks) and when it is running it seems like only half speed. It works, but very slowly.

Its a P4 with 1gig ram and some nvidia graphics card. Worked fine for the last few years.

Started after I did an update on sat. I have since removed the updates, but no change.

My avast was also unable to update for the last few weeks. So I uninstalled it thinking that it could be slowing the system down trying to update.

I have tried to disable unknown services in the startup config : no change

I have cleared browsing history : no change ( where thw hell is the temporary internet files in xp?) : no change

I have run defrag : no change

Scandisc runs to the end but gives some error. Will grab a screenshot tomorrow

Just before it started giving problems I also (foolishly) installed the optional Windows live suite from the win update site. Since removed it : no difference

Short of formatting the c drive, what else should I check?

Could it be a sign that the hd is on its way out?

Shots
 
Last edited:
1. Possibility of HDD going south
2. Virus/trojan/rootkit infestation
3. Something else, check your CPU temperature
 
Xp rot, i don't notice the same rot with windows 7. Xp was terrible, reload every 3 months :D.

If you the spare money, adding an ssd would boost performance. 120gb's are about 1k or so depending on the brand.
 
Ya but the thing is that it ran well for over 2 years. Never had to do anything.

Oh well. I had to happen sometime I suppose
 
killadoob said:
Xp rot, i don't notice the same rot with windows 7. Xp was terrible, reload every 3 months :D.

If you the spare money, adding an ssd would boost performance. 120gb's are about 1k or so depending on the brand.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, XP doesn't support TRIM, so the SSD will perform slower or equal to a standard hard drive.

OFFTOPIC: I have more or less the same PC running XP (P4 2.8,1GB Ram,128MB card) will this PC be able to run Windows 7 flawlessly (No areo just win basic,and no fancy visual effects)
 
Rickster said:
OFFTOPIC: I have more or less the same PC running XP (P4 2.8,1GB Ram,128MB card) will this PC be able to run Windows 7 flawlessly (No areo just win basic,and no fancy visual effects)
Click to expand...

You should be OK but more RAM would help a lot.
 
Rands said:
Hi,
Since Saturday my win xp has booted very slow( abouy 10 mins before it responds to clicks) and when it is running it seems like only half speed. It works, but very slowly.

Its a P4 with 1gig ram and some nvidia graphics card. Worked fine for the last few years.

Started after I did an update on sat. I have since removed the updates, but no change.

My avast was also unable to update for the last few weeks. So I uninstalled it thinking that it could be slowing the system down trying to update.

I have tried to disable unknown services in the startup config : no change

I have cleared browsing history : no change ( where thw hell is the temporary internet files in xp?) : no change

I have run defrag : no change

Scandisc runs to the end but gives some error. Will grab a screenshot tomorrow

Just before it started giving problems I also (foolishly) installed the optional Windows live suite from the win update site. Since removed it : no difference

Short of formatting the c drive, what else should I check?

Could it be a sign that the hd is on its way out?

Shots
Click to expand...

There's the problem ... XP slows on a daily basis :p
 
If unloading software is not doing anything but you say scandisk reports an error then it is probably a sector error on your drive. Buy a new drive or spinrite.
 
Switch to Linux. With those specs he'll get much better performance out of a clean Gnome environment.
 
OK, just finished backups & reloading XP, with full format......will see how this works out.

Have another hd from a spare pc on standby if i hit any snags
 
Ok, Fresh install & everything loads fast, but windows my Nvidia graphics card is not recognised. Seems to be running some default driver. scrolling is like a slideshow.
How can i make windows see the graphics card? It does not ask for drivers
 
Rands said:
Ok, Fresh install & everything loads fast, but windows my Nvidia graphics card is not recognised. Seems to be running some default driver. scrolling is like a slideshow.
How can i make windows see the graphics card? It does not ask for drivers
Click to expand...

You need to install drivers from the nvidia site but just change you resolution for now. No idea what monitor you have but go change the resolution. Install the nvidia drivers though.
 
Found the CD that has the display drivers. installed it & everything is good :)

thanks for the help guys
 
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