T
TVeblen
I visited my in-laws this weekend and observed multiple issues on a Dell
Dimension 8100 computer running XP-SP2 (now SP3) that I had cleaned up and
set up for them a year or more back. It ran very well when I turned it over
to them.
The system is painfully slow:
1. It boots to the Users screen quickly, but takes over a minute to log on
and "load personal preferences" (There is only one User).
2. Opening programs is slow.
3. Opening windows and menus is slow.
Automatic Updates was ON (It is now set to prompt) and I suspect that SP3
was downloaded and installed automatically while the user was merrily typing
away and using the machine. The AV was probably updating at the same time!
The users are no help in determining what might have happened.
The following error messages show up in Event Viewer. Same 3, every day.
(From notes)
Event Type : Error
Event Source: ACPI
Category: None
Event ID: 4
7/11/09
7:05:35 AM
Description: AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port
address (0x71), which lies in the 0x70-0x71 protected address range.
Event Type : Error
Event Source: ACPI
Category: None
Event ID: 5
7/11/09
7:05:35 AM
Description: AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port
address (0x70), which lies in the 0x70-0x71 protected address range.
Event Type : Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Category: None
Event ID: 7026
7/11/09
7:07:27 AM
Description: The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to
load:
Cdrom
Imapi
redbook
The CD drive does not show in Windows. It has power and all connections are
good. It shows up in the BIOS. Device manager has the yellow ! mark and
states that the device driver failed to load (Code 39). THe users were
unaware that the CD did not work. They just do Word, Email, and Internet.
They had added a USB keyboard at some point. I found that the PS2 mouse had
been plugged into the keyboard connector. I plugged it into the correct
port, and tried the system with a PS2 keyboard plugged into the keyboard
port. No change. Reinstalled the USB keyboard.
The USB keyboard does not work correctly when going into safe mode. I can
use the F8 key to get to the mode screen but once there I can not get the
selection to scroll up to choose safe mode. No keyboard functions work in
the mode screen. I can get into safe mode with the PS2 keyboard.
I removed the CD-RW in safe mode and restarted. Windows finds new hardware,
recognizes it as a CD-Rom, sits there for 2 minutes or so, then abandons the
process. CD-ROM still not functional in device manager.
They don't have a proper Windows CD so I could not run SFC. I could bring my
copy of XP-SP3 with me the next time I see them.
The DELL bios does not have a "Restore Defaults" option. I know there is
some key-combination to do this which I will look up later.
I know these are multiple problems and may not be related but I list
everything I know here just in case it might be relevant.
Anyone have an idea of what is going on here? What could they have done to
cause such havoc?
TIA
Dimension 8100 computer running XP-SP2 (now SP3) that I had cleaned up and
set up for them a year or more back. It ran very well when I turned it over
to them.
The system is painfully slow:
1. It boots to the Users screen quickly, but takes over a minute to log on
and "load personal preferences" (There is only one User).
2. Opening programs is slow.
3. Opening windows and menus is slow.
Automatic Updates was ON (It is now set to prompt) and I suspect that SP3
was downloaded and installed automatically while the user was merrily typing
away and using the machine. The AV was probably updating at the same time!
The users are no help in determining what might have happened.
The following error messages show up in Event Viewer. Same 3, every day.
(From notes)
Event Type : Error
Event Source: ACPI
Category: None
Event ID: 4
7/11/09
7:05:35 AM
Description: AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port
address (0x71), which lies in the 0x70-0x71 protected address range.
Event Type : Error
Event Source: ACPI
Category: None
Event ID: 5
7/11/09
7:05:35 AM
Description: AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port
address (0x70), which lies in the 0x70-0x71 protected address range.
Event Type : Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Category: None
Event ID: 7026
7/11/09
7:07:27 AM
Description: The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to
load:
Cdrom
Imapi
redbook
The CD drive does not show in Windows. It has power and all connections are
good. It shows up in the BIOS. Device manager has the yellow ! mark and
states that the device driver failed to load (Code 39). THe users were
unaware that the CD did not work. They just do Word, Email, and Internet.
They had added a USB keyboard at some point. I found that the PS2 mouse had
been plugged into the keyboard connector. I plugged it into the correct
port, and tried the system with a PS2 keyboard plugged into the keyboard
port. No change. Reinstalled the USB keyboard.
The USB keyboard does not work correctly when going into safe mode. I can
use the F8 key to get to the mode screen but once there I can not get the
selection to scroll up to choose safe mode. No keyboard functions work in
the mode screen. I can get into safe mode with the PS2 keyboard.
I removed the CD-RW in safe mode and restarted. Windows finds new hardware,
recognizes it as a CD-Rom, sits there for 2 minutes or so, then abandons the
process. CD-ROM still not functional in device manager.
They don't have a proper Windows CD so I could not run SFC. I could bring my
copy of XP-SP3 with me the next time I see them.
The DELL bios does not have a "Restore Defaults" option. I know there is
some key-combination to do this which I will look up later.
I know these are multiple problems and may not be related but I list
everything I know here just in case it might be relevant.
Anyone have an idea of what is going on here? What could they have done to
cause such havoc?
TIA