Resolved xp very slow after formatting and installing

Hi,

Recently I formatted my c drive and installed xp in it. But from that time, the booting has been very slow and is taking 8 min to boot. Even after that the programs are running very slow. Sometimes, I don't know why it's mood changes and everything runs very fast, but that is limited to only 40-60 min and then again the slowdown happens. I am not able to understand why this is happening. Any ideas?

Mine is dell inspiron 2200 laptop. Processor -celeron 1.4GHz, ram 1.24GB
From the begining I have used XP SP2 and there were no problems till now. No additional softwares installed than I usually do and there is no virus or malware.

The mistake I did a few days back was I tried to install windows 7. It got installed without any problem (only aero was disabled as there was no compatible graphics card), but as it was slow, I tried to clean install xp again. But somehow, the xp cds didnt boot after that for set up. It is only when I booted with win 2000 cd that the system booted. After that I found that some data in my F drive has got corrupted though other partitions were intact without any problem. Afterwards I even formatted F drive and again clean installed xp in c drive. From that time this problem has started, and I formatted the drive 2-3 times again, but still no use.

I am really frustrated and confused Plz help

update: Forgot to mention - I performed check disk on all partitions and there is no problem in them.

 

Hi za123,

Welcome to the BBS.

I recently went through the same thing with my new desktop, which came with Win7 pre-installed. Deciding very quickly that I didn't like the new OS out of the box, I formatted my C: partition and installed XP Pro, whereupon I had no end of problems.

A quick search using my laptop turned up a website which solved the problems for me, even though it meant starting from scratch again. The instructions are very clear, with screenshots showing every step of the procedure. The site indicates that it's intended for XP Home but, as far as I can tell, XP Pro installs exactly the same way.

It never would have occurred to me to delete the C: partition and re-create it had I not found this site, but after doing so the reinstallation of XP went flawlessly, and I've had no problems since.

Hope this helps.

 

I agree with Jim. Every time I install either a new O/S or re-install the previous one, I always delete all partitions (except 2nd or 3rd Disk drives where I store my Install Files and Data. There's nothing link a CLEAN INSTALL!!!

one2busy

 

Thanks JSS3rd. But right now I want to avoid a fourth formatting & installing process * Not Again!!*
The only step I missed was of deleting the partition whereas I usually format it without deleting. Anyway, r there any other ideas what could be wrong and why I'm getting this problem?

 

za123 ...

My laptop is an IBM/Lenovo T43 with a 1.6GHz Pentium M CPU and 2GB of memory, and it tends to get bogged down from time to time, too.

I know how you feel, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and start from scratch.

To avoid that, as much as possible, I install from a disk containing XP slipstreamed with SP2. Then, after installing SP3 and activating the OS, I create a backup (I use Acronis True Image) of the C: drive on an external hard drive. After installing all the necessary drivers I create a second backup. I really dislike the way XP looks and acts out of the box so, after personalizing it to my own tastes, I create a third backup.

I do this at every step of the way so that, if I do run into a problem (which always seems to happen), I don't have to go back to the very beginning.

I think you need to start over, this time deleting and re-creating the C: partition. Doing so solved the problems I was having, and it might well do the same for you.

 

Hi Jim, I deleted and formatted my c drive as you have suggested. Though the boot time and speed improved, there is still some glitch. It's freezing for about a minute sometimes and this is happening around 5-6 times in an hour. I still have to install some other softwares in it and I guess the problem will be more after that. Any more suggestions as to what I can do?

 

Hi za123,

The only thing that immediately occurs to me (I'm just out of bed and still a bit foggy) offhand, is to check Black Viper's site and see what Services you can safely disable. Many software programs start Services at boot time that really aren't necessary, and they can slow a computer down, especially a laptop that doesn't have the fastest processor or the most RAM.

 

Have you installed all the basic drivers? After installing Windows, you should install the drivers before installing any programs. The age-old installation method is chipset drivers first, then graphics drivers, then audio drivers, then any other major drivers (networking/ethernet would be one of them).

If you go to the Dell website
www.dell.com/support
and use the links to find your Service Tag, it should offer you the drivers you need for your system (unless the hardware has been modified).

Matt
PS ...and I would update any drivers before installing a new Windows Service Pack.

 

Hi All,

My problem is solved now and my laptop is working much fast now. But I don't know how it suddenly started working fast. As Jim suggested I deleted the c partition, formatted and installed my OS. And yes Matt, I do install all the drivers first. But this also didnt solve my problem, though the speed increased lightly. The freezing and slow loading of applications continued. Regarding the blackviper link Jim has given, I knew it was not related to my problem because I am not at all installing any new softwares other than those I had earlier. So disabling some services may improve the booting speed a little, but it's not gonna help me with my problem.

I worked till late night yesterday, trying to follow whatever I can find on the net about solving it, but was not successful. As there had been some problem in F drive also i.e. some data had got currupted in it when I first installed win 7, I thought of deleting that partition also. In that partition also I tried to install xp now(dual boot). Though the installation was not successful due to some reasons, I saw that everything is fine when I started from os in c drive. I dont know what caused this, but I guess it has something to do with hard disk. I rebooted several times and it seems that the problem is gone forever.

Thanks to all for your support, esp. Jim, otherwise I would not have got the idea to delete the partition and format it.