very slow system

i have a p4 2.4 with 1gb of ram and an ATI 9600 running on xp pro w/ SP1. my system has been fine for almost a year. very fast and no problems. well a few days ago something big happened, boot up is fine (very fast) but as soon as i'm at the desktop and i try and access something the system just acts like i've just down-graded a few years. with just opening a window it takes forever. with right-clicking an file, the window that pops up takes forever. if i try and open a program it takes forever. just browsing though my shortcuts under start menu takes forever. you see the pattern here? now i've run all kinds of scans looking for viruses or spyware and my system is clean. also i have no programs running in the background, just norton and the task manager shows that nothing from norton is using high cpu. what takes the most cpu is explorer.exe and system. to the point that it is 100% with just a few simple tasks running. what are my other options here? could it be the hard drive? i just don't know.

 

Hello dru,

To eliminate the possibility of bad memeory: you can start by downloading the MS memory diagnostic tool from here:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

And if you have more than one dimm slot, swapping the stick(s).

Regards - Charles

 

charles, thanks for the quick reply. i will try the mem diag tool in a bit, im running some programs now. i also wanted to point out that once i get the program running, everything is fine. i can run multiple programs with no problem and my games still fly (playin WOW now with no problems). my internet browsing is fast too. just a side note, i don't know if that changes anything. thanks again for quick response

 

Hi Dru,

i also wanted to point out that once i get the program running, everything is fine. i can run multiple programs with no problem and my games still fly

i don't know if that changes anything

Yes, I think it does, that to me is an indication that the system is getting hungup on either a process or driver on not loading everything on startup.

In the msconfig page, there are diagnostic and selective startup options that you can use.

There is also MS's BootVS tool which analyzes the boot process in graphic form; not available from MS any longer. You can try a google search on where to download.

Regards - Charles

 

dru987

I wonder if you are having the same problems I did by doing some that I had to QUIT DOING.

That is trying to do TO MUCH TOO QUICK after booting up.

I have watched Taskmanager and Explorer.exe seems to hang at 100% or close to for a few minutes after booting up. Doing a lot of Exploring I guess.

I also saw ( when I watched ) the lights on my Network switch blinking for a few minutes after booting. Regardless if the other machines were on or not.

So I had to learn to turn the machine on and walk away for a few minutes. That seems to have FIXED AT LOT of problems.

My conclusion is. " Windows IS NOT ready to go just because the DesKtop has showed up. "

BillyBob

PS.

And the more that is loading at boot up the LONGER it takes.

BB

 

k charles, there is obviously something here. i cant run msconfig, it says windows cant find it. also its the same thing with windows help. what can i do to go about fixing this? would windows repair from xp disk help?

 

billy,

im pretty sure that isn't the prob. like i stated above things are a little worse than i thought. and this slow prob is constant, even hours after boot.

 

Hi Dru,

what can i do to go about fixing this? would windows repair from xp disk help?

It may come to that.

First try sfc repair:

Start > Run > cmd sfc /scannow and have your XP install disc handy. There is a space between sfc and /

sfc - system file checker, retrieves the correct version of the file from %Systemroot%\System32\Dllcache or the Windows installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file.

To see what was replaced if anything, right click My Computer > manage, expand event viewer > system.

Regards - Charles

 

Doesn't it make a difference if SP2 has been installed ?

BB

 

No BB, not on XP. SFC is much "Smarter" than it once was and is able to determine what files have been updated and how to replace them from the correct source. You are probably thinking of the Win98 version, which was an absolute nightmare to keep updated and a work in progress at best.

 

As far as SFC goes I was only going by what I was told and/or read.

If things have gotten better thats great. Which is good to know.

BillyBob

 

I'm sure it's still not perfect BB but I have used it several times since SP2 without any hassle.

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

 

Hi 'dude,

Thanks for the additional resource on sfc - tucked away.

Regards - Charles

 

Defrag

Before you rack your brain with all of these other well put suggestions ---If you haven't already ---I suggest you defrag your system first and get everything back in perspective first . Then you know your puter is at least not going to have a hard time trying to find what should be where it is !!
If you still have problems ---you can do a simple soft -reinstall with your system disk and you won't lose any data --but you might have to reinstall a few programs if not working correctly .

 

Hi All,

Sorry to butt in here, but my registry does not have a "Source Path" entry as outlined in the article on the web page.

What I do have there is "installation Sources" entry that when double clicked gives a window with over 25 entries, all highligted in blue. All of my CD drive letters are in there as solo entries, repeated a number of times, also with reference to the XP Home CD, as well as other entries that have no relation to this topic, such as the ATI Driver/Catalyst as well as others program install paths.

Do I need a new Registry entry or should this entry be modified to get SFC to run w/o requesting CD?

Take care,

Martin