Computer slowing down: hard disk or processor faillure?

  • Thread starter Thread starter blijvendvertrek
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blijvendvertrek

Dear all,

Since a few weeks, my computer (Windows 2000, Pentium 4) is very slow
at start up: it takes minutes to load the desktop. When I click on a
programm icon, the system is very slow in reacting. I reinstalled
Windows 2000, so to be sure it wasn't a virus or something similar, but

there's no big improvement. About 1 out of 3 times I start up the pc,
it lets me know 'one of your disks needs to be checked for
consistency', but after it's done checking, it always reports it has
found no problems. Still, it won't go faster. Now, I suspect I'm having

a problem with my hard disk, but I'm not sure. Could it also be the
processor? Thanks!
 
Dear all,

Since a few weeks, my computer (Windows 2000, Pentium 4) is very slow
at start up: it takes minutes to load the desktop. When I click on a
programm icon, the system is very slow in reacting. I reinstalled
Windows 2000, so to be sure it wasn't a virus or something similar, but

there's no big improvement. About 1 out of 3 times I start up the pc,
it lets me know 'one of your disks needs to be checked for
consistency', but after it's done checking, it always reports it has
found no problems. Still, it won't go faster. Now, I suspect I'm having

a problem with my hard disk, but I'm not sure. Could it also be the
processor? Thanks!
Click to expand...

You may have a disk problem. Drives will often attempt to recover on
their own, causing very long delays as they struggle to read or write
data. If they recover successfully, the OS is not notified of the
problem, but response time becomes very poor. Eventually the disk
fails so dramatically that the hardware cannot recover, and then the
error is reported and the system fails.

My first guess, however, would be malware on the PC. But if you wiped
the machine clean and reinstalled, this would not be the problem.

You could install smartctl and see if the drives are logging hardware
errors.
 
Since a few weeks, my computer (Windows 2000, Pentium 4) is very slow
at start up: it takes minutes to load the desktop. When I click on a
programm icon, the system is very slow in reacting. I reinstalled
Windows 2000, so to be sure it wasn't a virus or something similar,
but there's no big improvement. About 1 out of 3 times I start up the pc,
it lets me know 'one of your disks needs to be checked for consistency',
but after it's done checking, it always reports it has found no problems.
Still, it won't go faster. Now, I suspect I'm having a problem with my
hard disk, but I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the most likely given that a clean reinstall made no difference.
Could it also be the processor?
Click to expand...

Unlikely. Its possible that the heatsink has come unclipped or something
and you are seeing the cpu slowed down because its getting too hot.

See what Everest says about the cpu temperature
and post the SMART data for the hard drive.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181
 
Have you checked in Device Manager that the IDE controllers are set to DMA?

If they are set to PIO then that will cause your system to run slower.

Adam S
 
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