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macoy

Hi, i would like to ask on how long will my computer last.I have a
pentium 4 2.6 Ghz 512 RAM which i bought 5 years ago.It has 1
breakdown due to power short circuit and it was replaced with new power
apparatus.Now i've noticed that it is getting slower and most of the
time it crashes.I'm using windows xp home edition service pack2. I dont
install games or other uneccesary programs.I'm up to date with my
norton antivirus 2006 and it always clean up temporary internet
files.Before when it was still a year old, it only takes 30 seconds to
complete during start up but now it takes 2 minutes.Please, has anyone
have an idea.Should i upgrade my clock speed and increase its memory?
 
macoy said:
Hi, i would like to ask on how long will my computer last.I have a
pentium 4 2.6 Ghz 512 RAM which i bought 5 years ago.It has 1
breakdown due to power short circuit and it was replaced with new power
apparatus.Now i've noticed that it is getting slower and most of the
time it crashes.I'm using windows xp home edition service pack2. I dont
install games or other uneccesary programs.I'm up to date with my
norton antivirus 2006 and it always clean up temporary internet
files.Before when it was still a year old, it only takes 30 seconds to
complete during start up but now it takes 2 minutes.Please, has anyone
have an idea.Should i upgrade my clock speed and increase its memory?
Click to expand...

How long a computer will physically last is one of those esoteric
questions. Usually at least 10 years, before an unfixable major system
failure. But given replacement parts, you could keep a machine alive
indefinately.

Most Pentium 1 systems are still in physiaclly good condition.

Your computer is too young to die. But, there are a bunch of
motherboards in that generation that got bad capicitors. Check your
motherboard for any bulging or leaking capaciters (small soda cans).
You have also already replaced a power supply, which is a potential red
flag. You should also check your RAM with memtest86+ (www.memtest.org)

Your crashes may dissappear, providing the hardware is fine, with a
clean reinstall.
 
macoy said:
Hi, i would like to ask on how long will my computer last.I have a
pentium 4 2.6 Ghz 512 RAM which i bought 5 years ago.It has 1
Click to expand...

It can't be 5 years old as 2.6 GHz Pentium 4s weren't available then.
breakdown due to power short circuit and it was replaced with new power
apparatus.Now i've noticed that it is getting slower and most of the
time it crashes.I'm using windows xp home edition service pack2. I dont
install games or other uneccesary programs.I'm up to date with my
norton antivirus 2006 and it always clean up temporary internet
files.Before when it was still a year old, it only takes 30 seconds to
complete during start up but now it takes 2 minutes.Please, has anyone
have an idea.Should i upgrade my clock speed and increase its memory?
Click to expand...

Reinstall Windows instead (after backing up any important files).

Alex
 
Hi, i would like to ask on how long will my computer last.I have a
pentium 4 2.6 Ghz 512 RAM which i bought 5 years ago.It has 1
breakdown due to power short circuit and it was replaced with new power
apparatus.Now i've noticed that it is getting slower and most of the
time it crashes.I'm using windows xp home edition service pack2. I dont
install games or other uneccesary programs.I'm up to date with my
norton antivirus 2006 and it always clean up temporary internet
files.Before when it was still a year old, it only takes 30 seconds to
complete during start up but now it takes 2 minutes.Please, has anyone
have an idea.Should i upgrade my clock speed and increase its memory?
Click to expand...

Crashing and slow startup could just be a Windows thing. No matter how
well you look after Windows it seems to just get "clogged up" after a few
years, especially regarding that monstrocity that is the registry. If
you've been using Internet Explorer for browsing it's quite likely your PC
could be plagued with spyware, unless you take care of that too.

Also, do you ever defragment your hard disk?

512MB RAM should be fine if you're not playing games or using anything
else memory-intensive (graphic design, CAD, etc.).


And for the record, I have a generic 386DX bought in 1992, and it still
works fine with all the original components (plus some additions like a
sound card :D), though it has seen an upgrade to DOS 6.22 and WFW 3.11.
 
How long will a light bulb last is almost the same question..

The reason your computer is slow, is because of all the wanted tras
being loaded into ram at boot up

For exampl
Office 2000 is usually configured to load into ram when you boot up
ie start up programme's.... if you only use this on occasions you ca
stop this from starting 'but' you can still use it, all that you wil
notice is that when you click to use it there will be a delay of
second or so as it 'has' to load into ram

So how many un-wanted programmes, programmes that are not alway'
used..... running and loaded in RAM..

Messenger is always running in the background whether on-line or not
Norton will certainly slow your computer down and quite noticably an
do likewise, so will cookie's

I trust you have done a disc clean up, and cleaned all the temp. file
out, how about a defrag... that can work wonders, these are the firs
things to look at.... not a re-install because you will end up bac
on 'sqaure one' sooner or later with the same problem....

At will, you can stop and start un-used programmes from running a
start up in msconfig

Dav
 
Zilog Jones said:
Crashing and slow startup could just be a Windows thing. No matter how
well you look after Windows it seems to just get "clogged up" after a few
years, especially regarding that monstrocity that is the registry. If
you've been using Internet Explorer for browsing it's quite likely your PC
could be plagued with spyware, unless you take care of that too.

Also, do you ever defragment your hard disk?

512MB RAM should be fine if you're not playing games or using anything
else memory-intensive (graphic design, CAD, etc.).


And for the record, I have a generic 386DX bought in 1992, and it still
works fine with all the original components (plus some additions like a
sound card :D), though it has seen an upgrade to DOS 6.22 and WFW 3.11.
Click to expand...

I bet it won't play 'modern' video files like.wmv etc...
 
I bet it won't play 'modern' video files like.wmv etc...
Click to expand...

I've never tried to play any sort of video file on it :). It never had a
CD-ROM drive or a network card, so it wouldn't have been easy to get any
on it anyway.
 
Zilog said:
I've never tried to play any sort of video file on it :). It never had a
CD-ROM drive or a network card, so it wouldn't have been easy to get any
on it anyway.
Click to expand...

I've got some 4MB 30 pin simms, and an ISA nic, if you want to upgrade.
:)
 
macoy said:
Hi, i would like to ask on how long will my computer last.
Click to expand...

If you're a power user and buy high spec when new then I'd figure on
changing PC every 3 years (to keep up with new technology etc).

If you're a net surfer/word processor user then 5 years is reasonable -
with probably two reinstalls of Windows over that time...


Alex
 
Zilog Jones said:
I've never tried to play any sort of video file on it :). It never had a
CD-ROM drive or a network card, so it wouldn't have been easy to get any
on it anyway.
Click to expand...

Well take it from me that it won't, my Cyric MII 300 (circa 1998?) won't and
it
is several generations ahead of a 386DX


Sound card eh? will it play an mp3?
 
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