Windows XP Home Edition - Hard drive thrashing badly

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gas Bag
  • Start date Start date
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Gas Bag

I've very recently installed Windows XP Home Edition on the C: Drive
of a partitioned hard drive with 128MB of RAM. The D: Drive is about
18GB, and the C: Drive is about 10GB, both fully defragged. I have
only installed Internet Explorer 8, along with "Process Explorer".
At the moment, I am experiencing the most HORRENDOUS problem of "hard
drive thrashing" I've ever come across, particularly when I open up an
IE8 webpage. Even if I open up just a single web page and it's
sitting idle, the hard drive thrashing is terrible. It gets so bad
that often my computer freezes (or very close to), and I have to
reboot.
I've already done the following:

Defragged both partitions, more than once.
Scan disk on both partitions (more than once) - no bad sectors found.
I don't have any Norton Programs installed on my system.
Turned off "Indexing" in System Properties in the Advanced Settings.
Turned off System Restore.
When I enter Task Manager > Performance tab, the PF (Page File) usage
is often around 300MB.

When checking the processes running using "Process Explorer", it only
seems to be IE8 that's doing the most processing.

If there's any advice anyone can offer, I'd like to hear it.
 
Gas said:
I've very recently installed Windows XP Home Edition on the C: Drive
of a partitioned hard drive with 128MB of RAM. The D: Drive is about
18GB, and the C: Drive is about 10GB, both fully defragged. I have
only installed Internet Explorer 8, along with "Process Explorer".
At the moment, I am experiencing the most HORRENDOUS problem of "hard
drive thrashing" I've ever come across, particularly when I open up an
IE8 webpage. Even if I open up just a single web page and it's
sitting idle, the hard drive thrashing is terrible. It gets so bad
that often my computer freezes (or very close to), and I have to
reboot.
I've already done the following:

Defragged both partitions, more than once.
Scan disk on both partitions (more than once) - no bad sectors found.
I don't have any Norton Programs installed on my system.
Turned off "Indexing" in System Properties in the Advanced Settings.
Turned off System Restore.
When I enter Task Manager > Performance tab, the PF (Page File) usage
is often around 300MB.

When checking the processes running using "Process Explorer", it only
seems to be IE8 that's doing the most processing.

If there's any advice anyone can offer, I'd like to hear it.
Click to expand...
Memory to small, disk to small.
I have used 512MB for years, the comp is sometimes a bit slow,
but usable.
The harddisk should be at least 32Gb, better is 80GB, your harddisk
is already almost full, and XP does not like that.
 
I've very recently installed Windows XP Home Edition on the C: Drive
of a partitioned hard drive with 128MB of RAM. The D: Drive is about
18GB, and the C: Drive is about 10GB, both fully defragged.  I have
only installed Internet Explorer 8, along with "Process Explorer".
At the moment, I am experiencing the most HORRENDOUS problem of "hard
drive thrashing" I've ever come across, particularly when I open up an
IE8 webpage.  Even if I open up just a single web page and it's
sitting idle, the hard drive thrashing is terrible.  It gets so bad
that often my computer freezes (or very close to), and I have to
reboot.
I've already done the following:

Defragged both partitions, more than once.
Scan disk on both partitions (more than once) - no bad sectors found.
I don't have any Norton Programs installed on my system.
Turned off "Indexing" in System Properties in the Advanced Settings.
Turned off System Restore.
When I enter Task Manager > Performance tab, the PF (Page File) usage
is often around 300MB.

When checking the processes running using "Process Explorer", it only
seems to be IE8 that's doing the most processing.

If there's any advice anyone can offer, I'd like to hear it.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert but 128 Ram does not get it done. This I do know
because mine came with that amount and it was VERY VERY slow. As soon
as a I added some RAM it was like night and day.I think at first I
added 512 ($20).
Check Task manager under performance tab and see how much RAM is
available.Bet it's double digits at best.
 
Gas said:
I've very recently installed Windows XP Home Edition on the C: Drive
of a partitioned hard drive with 128MB of RAM. The D: Drive is about
18GB, and the C: Drive is about 10GB, both fully defragged. I have
only installed Internet Explorer 8, along with "Process Explorer".
At the moment, I am experiencing the most HORRENDOUS problem of "hard
drive thrashing" I've ever come across, particularly when I open up an
IE8 webpage. Even if I open up just a single web page and it's
sitting idle, the hard drive thrashing is terrible. It gets so bad
that often my computer freezes (or very close to), and I have to
reboot.
I've already done the following:

Defragged both partitions, more than once.
Scan disk on both partitions (more than once) - no bad sectors found.
I don't have any Norton Programs installed on my system.
Turned off "Indexing" in System Properties in the Advanced Settings.
Turned off System Restore.
When I enter Task Manager > Performance tab, the PF (Page File) usage
is often around 300MB.

When checking the processes running using "Process Explorer", it only
seems to be IE8 that's doing the most processing.

If there's any advice anyone can offer, I'd like to hear it.
Click to expand...

What you hear there is Windows struggling swapping virtual memory pages
from the memory to your hard drive.

My advice would be to get yourself more memory, 1Gb minimum recommended.
Hard drives and memory are cheap now. I would go and get another hard
drive as well.
 
Thanks for all the responses so far. I reinstalled XP Home Edition on
the C: Drive, and that's made a big improvment.

One thing I've noticed though - when I attempt to restart the computer
via the Windows Start button, it powers off, but the green power light
on the tower stays on. I then need to turn off the power at the power
outlet before turning it on again. Then it reboots okay. Also, the
keyboard has a "power off" button which fully shuts down the computer
and shuts off all power. This works reliably, with no hitches.

Ran Windows ChkDsk after XP Home was installed - no errors were found.
Ran SeaToolsforWindowsSetup-1201 (as I have a Seagate HDD) and
selected one of the long, indepth scans. This did find problems on
the HDD, near the end of the scanning process.
Then ran SeaTools for DOS Version 2.17 (as recommended by Sea Tools
for Windows) in an attempt to fix any bad sectors on the HDD. When I
did this, it ran part way through the procedure, then the screen went
like "black and white static-snow", but in multi colours. When I
attempted to move the mouse, it did affect the display slightly.
Since SeaTools for DOS has hit a brick wall, what would be the next-
best HDD scanning and repair utility to use?

Apart from rebooting, this computer is actually working better than it
did previously, but it's too old to start forking out cash to replace
various bits of hardware. When I eventually start forking out cash,
I'll simply buy an entirely new system, not patch up an old one. For
the time being, I'd appreciate any further help.
 
? "Gas Bag said:
Thanks for all the responses so far. I reinstalled XP Home Edition on
the C: Drive, and that's made a big improvment.

One thing I've noticed though - when I attempt to restart the computer
via the Windows Start button, it powers off, but the green power light
on the tower stays on. I then need to turn off the power at the power
outlet before turning it on again. Then it reboots okay. Also, the
keyboard has a "power off" button which fully shuts down the computer
and shuts off all power. This works reliably, with no hitches.

Ran Windows ChkDsk after XP Home was installed - no errors were found.
Ran SeaToolsforWindowsSetup-1201 (as I have a Seagate HDD) and
selected one of the long, indepth scans. This did find problems on
the HDD, near the end of the scanning process.
Then ran SeaTools for DOS Version 2.17 (as recommended by Sea Tools
for Windows) in an attempt to fix any bad sectors on the HDD. When I
did this, it ran part way through the procedure, then the screen went
like "black and white static-snow", but in multi colours. When I
attempted to move the mouse, it did affect the display slightly.
Since SeaTools for DOS has hit a brick wall, what would be the next-
best HDD scanning and repair utility to use?

Apart from rebooting, this computer is actually working better than it
did previously, but it's too old to start forking out cash to replace
various bits of hardware. When I eventually start forking out cash,
I'll simply buy an entirely new system, not patch up an old one. For
the time being, I'd appreciate any further help.
Click to expand...
As other people have stated, your computer is seriously underpowered for XP.
You have, maybe, to start saving up for a new one. In the meanwhile, try to
be as conservative as possible, avoid running too demanding applications, no
multitasking etc. It wouldn't hurt too, running msconfig and getting rid of
unneccessary apps that run when windows start. You should also check the
"startup" folder (Start-> all programms) and make sure it's empty.
 
Colored Snow?
Not only are you trying to run XP on 128M,
You appear to be doing it on a system that shares that memory with the
Graphics chip.

Oh My!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

That's the way my Dell came from the factory. Just get a $20 memory
card and snap it in and problem solved. It's probably that simple and
that cheap. 128 is ludicrous. Get it?
 
  That's the way my Dell came from the factory. Just get a $20 memory
card and snap it in and problem solved. It's probably that simple and
that cheap. 128 is ludicrous. Get it?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

BTW,my XP Home ed. with nothing open except Task Manager is using
about 300K RAM. So how do you think it will work on 128 ? Right, Gawd-
awful Sloooooooow. Thank you.
 
  That's the way my Dell came from the factory. Just get a $20 memory
card and snap it in and problem solved. It's probably that simple and
that cheap. 128 is ludicrous. Get it?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...



Yes, I fully agree that my computer is old (and underpowered) to be
running XP Home, but it is getting by....for the time being. Reading
what I've read so far, I think the best option would be for me to get
some more RAM. But can anyone advise me what's the best freeware HDD
scanning and repairing utility available? That would be much
appreciated.
 
I've very recently installed Windows XP Home Edition on the C: Drive
of a partitioned hard drive with 128MB of RAM. The D: Drive is about
18GB, and the C: Drive is about 10GB, both fully defragged. I have
only installed Internet Explorer 8, along with "Process Explorer".
At the moment, I am experiencing the most HORRENDOUS problem of "hard
drive thrashing" I've ever come across, particularly when I open up an
IE8 webpage. Even if I open up just a single web page and it's
sitting idle, the hard drive thrashing is terrible. It gets so bad
that often my computer freezes (or very close to), and I have to
reboot.
I've already done the following:

Defragged both partitions, more than once.
Scan disk on both partitions (more than once) - no bad sectors found.
I don't have any Norton Programs installed on my system.
Turned off "Indexing" in System Properties in the Advanced Settings.
Turned off System Restore.
When I enter Task Manager> Performance tab, the PF (Page File) usage
is often around 300MB.

When checking the processes running using "Process Explorer", it only
seems to be IE8 that's doing the most processing.

If there's any advice anyone can offer, I'd like to hear it.
Click to expand...

I sort of fixed the problem by not allowing a swap drive at all. If it
can't fit in my 2.25GB RAM then I don't need to be running Windows all
the time. I also disabled the hibernate mode since it too takes the hard
drive and beats up on it. If you don't have at least 2GB or RAM then you
need to buy some.
Mine works OK with no Pagefile.sys or Hiberfile.
Give it a try.
Bill Baka
 
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