I am working on Dell 'puter, 2.8ghz, 512mb, 40- gig, xp pro. It had some freeze ups and got slower and slower, like an hour to boot up; no errors just slow, when trying run an application it will generally freeze up. Dell support declared it was software related. Tried to upgrade the HD using seagate disc utility but it froze up trying to install it so just replaced the drive and set up XP on the new drive. It took 10 hours to get it installed, every step was too slow, format, copy files, etc. So obviously it is not the drive causing the problem. Could it be the cpu, ram, mobo,? any ideas out there??
very slow computer
- Thread starter dmben
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First of all try booting into safe mode and see how the system responds then with just the minimal drivers installed to start.
Usually F8 whilst booting
Some one else will follow up i'm sure but until then try that and get back to us
Usually F8 whilst booting
Some one else will follow up i'm sure but until then try that and get back to us
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That sounds like a faulty/dead CPU cache.
Go into the BIOS and see if you can turn off/on the CPU cache, let me know if there is any difference.
Faulty memory would give you constant read/write errors, so to would a faulty HD.
Yes, a nastie will/can/would slow a PC down, but you re-installed XP ...yes ?
Most P4s have built-in thermal sensor that will allow the CPU to work, but at a reduced speed, so as not to burn-out the CPU ... the HSF is fitted correctly ?
Go into the BIOS and see if you can turn off/on the CPU cache, let me know if there is any difference.
Faulty memory would give you constant read/write errors, so to would a faulty HD.
Yes, a nastie will/can/would slow a PC down, but you re-installed XP ...yes ?
Most P4s have built-in thermal sensor that will allow the CPU to work, but at a reduced speed, so as not to burn-out the CPU ... the HSF is fitted correctly ?
Thanks!
Thanks, that was it. There were few choices in setup and none to turn the cpu cache on and off, there was one option for cpu type (i think) with 2 choices, "compatable" and "normal", compatable was selected- change that to normal and booted up and the computer worked normally. Thanks for your help and to others who responded. dave
Thanks, that was it. There were few choices in setup and none to turn the cpu cache on and off, there was one option for cpu type (i think) with 2 choices, "compatable" and "normal", compatable was selected- change that to normal and booted up and the computer worked normally. Thanks for your help and to others who responded. dave
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Thanks for the feedback ... Glad it was nothing serious ... 