Slow

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Eversole
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B

Bill Eversole

Hi,

Working on an old Dell computer--P75, 32MB RAM...It takes forever to load
anything. It took all night to install Win95...IE4 has taken over 2 hours
to install, and it's still not done...no errors, just slow....hard drive LED
flashes once every ten seconds or so....Any ideas what is wrong? I've never
seen any computer this slow. Thanks in advance.

Bill
 
In its defense it IS a 75 /w 32m although those speed are tediously slow. HD is the original ..850 meg or so?
 
Bill said:
Hi,

Working on an old Dell computer--P75, 32MB RAM...It takes forever to load
anything. It took all night to install Win95...IE4 has taken over 2 hours
to install, and it's still not done...no errors, just slow....hard drive LED
flashes once every ten seconds or so....Any ideas what is wrong? I've never
seen any computer this slow. Thanks in advance.

Bill
Click to expand...

You should have been able to figure that out after you typed in the word
"old"

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spam trap: replace shyah_right! with hotmail when replying
 
From: "Bill Eversole" (e-mail address removed)
Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 10:41:07 -0500
Click to expand...
Hi,

Working on an old Dell computer--P75, 32MB RAM...It takes forever to load
anything. It took all night to install Win95...IE4 has taken over 2 hours
to install, and it's still not done...no errors, just slow....hard drive LED
flashes once every ten seconds or so....Any ideas what is wrong? I've never
seen any computer this slow. Thanks in advance.

Bill
Click to expand...

What are the minimum system requirements for Win95 and IE4, seem to have lost
my notes?

I would 2X or 4X the RAM.




Gerry Nance
www.fossilfishcomputers.com
Southern California
 
Bill Eversole said:
Hi,

Working on an old Dell computer--P75, 32MB RAM...It takes forever to load
anything. It took all night to install Win95...IE4 has taken over 2 hours
to install, and it's still not done...no errors, just slow....hard drive LED
flashes once every ten seconds or so....Any ideas what is wrong? I've never
seen any computer this slow. Thanks in advance.

Bill
Click to expand...



Win95 should be fine on that spec. I'd try resetting the BIOS to make sure
nothing screwy has been entered into there (like turning off the cache).
Try a memory test (www.simmtester.com) and try a different HDD if poss.

--
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---
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2. Install or enable a firewall. One's included with
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http://www.zonelabs.com
3. Update your antivirus software and do a complete scan
of your computer. If you do not have antivirus software,
AVG 6 is available free from http://www.grisoft.com

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.515 / Virus Database: 313 - Release Date: 01/09/2003
 
Hi,

Working on an old Dell computer--P75, 32MB RAM...It takes forever to load
anything. It took all night to install Win95...IE4 has taken over 2 hours
to install, and it's still not done...no errors, just slow....hard drive LED
flashes once every ten seconds or so....Any ideas what is wrong? I've never
seen any computer this slow. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
It shouldn't have taken that long. Even on a 486 with 8MB of RAM Win95
only tooka couple of hours to install. Make sure that if it has a
turbo button that it's pressed in otherwise its running at 8MHz, not
75.. The only other time I've seen this is on a hard drive with alot of
corrupted sectors. Usually a FDISK sorts it out although I've had to
resort to using the BIOS Low Level Format or the HDD manufacturers
utilities to wipe the drive completely.



--
________________________
Conor Turton
(e-mail address removed)
ICQ:31909763
________________________
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

The specs for this box should be ample to run Win95. Hey, I used to run
Win95 on a 486DX2 50Mhz w/ 16 MB RAM every day for at least a year. It did
a lot of hard drive thrashing...this one doesn't thrash at all...wish it
did...maybe then it would get something done. ;-)

Since my last post, I ghosted the hard drive over to another known good hard
drive. It didn't help. Ran simmtester docmemory tester. It found no errors
in 1-1/2 hours before I stopped it. Found directions for running onboard
hardware test on Dell's web site. No errors except this one:

PCI IDE interface error code A601
Failure: Hard-disk subsystem failure
Invalid jumper settings on PCI IDE interface chip

Have no idea what jumper setting this message is referring to. There is no
such jumper on the motherboard.

My best guess is something is wrong with the IDE controller on the
motherboard, and this box is ready for the dumpster. What do you think?

Bill
 
The jumper on the hard drive that I am trying now is set for "cable
select." CMOS wouldn't pick it up jumpered as master. The original hard
drive was jumpered as "master"--same problems. Have not tried a different
cable.

Bill
 
The jumper on the hard drive that I am trying now is set for "cable
select." CMOS wouldn't pick it up jumpered as master. The original hard
drive was jumpered as "master"--same problems. Have not tried a different
cable.
Click to expand...
If it's an IDE cable with two connectors try the second. It could
actually e that you're using a drive set as CS on a non CS ribbon
cable.


--
________________________
Conor Turton
(e-mail address removed)
ICQ:31909763
________________________
 
From: "Bill Eversole" (e-mail address removed)
Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Click to expand...
The jumper on the hard drive that I am trying now is set for "cable
select." CMOS wouldn't pick it up jumpered as master. The original hard
drive was jumpered as "master"--same problems. Have not tried a different
cable.

Bill
Click to expand...

If you are running it as Primary Master, remove the jumper, and see if it
works.


Gerry Nance
www.fossilfishcomputers.com
Southern California
 
If you are running it as Primary Master, remove the jumper, and see if it
works.


Gerry Nance
www.fossilfishcomputers.com
Southern California
Click to expand...

I put the old hard drive back in. It passed all the dell onboard
diagnostics. Still slow as ever. No idea why...giving it back to
customer tomorrow...i warned him about the slowness...he only intends
to play Solitare and practice keyboarding...guess it will be
OK...Thanks for all the suggestions.

Bill
 
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