I'm running a Compaq PII 350 model 5137 computer at home. I'm not sure exact time but over the course of about 6 months my computer has suffered drastic speed loss. It takes longer to open folders and applications, it wont burn cd's any more, software lags etc. I've tried reformatting and reinstalling windows 98,ME and xp now and nothing seems to be solving the problem. Is my computer just slowing down because of it's age or is there a setting or something to get it back running up to par. thanks
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Drastic loss of speed
- Thread starter fletcha
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I know that the SirCam virus has those qualities. When computers here at work were infected with Sircam the drastic speed loss was the first obvious sign. You can go to Symantec's website and download a fix tool specifically designed for Sircam.
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- #4
Something i forgot to mention, whenever i got find out how much space i have left on my hard drive, and then highlight all the files in the drive and see how much space they take up and it's always a gig less. I did a virus scan with norton anti virus (just the trial) with all the updates and such and it didn't find the sircam virus. besides wouldn't a format cure a virus problem?
Generally, yes, a reformat will do away with a virus, though some more pernicious types may require you to delete the partitions with fdisk and REALLY start from scratch.
Regarding free space on the drive- that there is a discrepancy between what the drive properties say and what the highlited files show can be due to numerous factors including slack space (unused space in clusters already containing part of a file), hidden files, etc.
Now, to the real problem: did this speed loss come about suddenly, or was it gradual? Have you checked your BIOS settings and verified that both the internal cpu cache and the L2 (external) cache are enabled? I'm leaning towards some sort of BIOS/hardware problem since you say you reinstalled with a few different flavors of Windows and still have the problem.
Next step would be to look in to other devices- Try stripping out devices one at a time (sound card, modem, network card, USB devices, etc) because some faulty device could be chattering away at your bus, tying up the CPU with a flood of spurious interrupts. If you have extra RAM, try swapping it out. Ditto for an extra video card.
Finally, search the web for a hardware checking package, something that will test your CPU and assorted subsystems. I'd reccommend something, but quite frankly I've never used the same one twice. I suspect a search of zdnet.com or download.com will cough up a few choices.
Hope this helps,
John
Regarding free space on the drive- that there is a discrepancy between what the drive properties say and what the highlited files show can be due to numerous factors including slack space (unused space in clusters already containing part of a file), hidden files, etc.
Now, to the real problem: did this speed loss come about suddenly, or was it gradual? Have you checked your BIOS settings and verified that both the internal cpu cache and the L2 (external) cache are enabled? I'm leaning towards some sort of BIOS/hardware problem since you say you reinstalled with a few different flavors of Windows and still have the problem.
Next step would be to look in to other devices- Try stripping out devices one at a time (sound card, modem, network card, USB devices, etc) because some faulty device could be chattering away at your bus, tying up the CPU with a flood of spurious interrupts. If you have extra RAM, try swapping it out. Ditto for an extra video card.
Finally, search the web for a hardware checking package, something that will test your CPU and assorted subsystems. I'd reccommend something, but quite frankly I've never used the same one twice. I suspect a search of zdnet.com or download.com will cough up a few choices.
Hope this helps,
John
I aam inclined to agree with the above suggestions, but just thought you might try these things.....
1. Are all your system fans working properly - hot chips (or burnt ones) can obviously affect speed.
2. HDD that are over 85% full also slow the system massively!
3. How much ram do you have ? consider 64 as a bare minimum these days.... T3/\/\p()
tek-tips regular.
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1. Are all your system fans working properly - hot chips (or burnt ones) can obviously affect speed.
2. HDD that are over 85% full also slow the system massively!
3. How much ram do you have ? consider 64 as a bare minimum these days.... T3/\/\p()
tek-tips regular.
_________________
- Thread starter
- #7
Compaq's bios is really limited, not a lot of things can be changed in there but i did go and get a hardware test program. this is what it said: internal clock 347.8 mhz
system bus 99.3 mhz
L1 I-cache 16k
L1 D-cache 16k
L2 cache 512k, half, 171 mhz
my sound card and video card are onboard so i can't try switching them out and just yesterday i took out 256mb stick of ram, i did have 2 sticks in there but the board maxed out at 384 and i was told that having a stick of ram running at a different speed it's suppose to might slow it down. When i took the ram out, i also cleaned up alot of the dust to help with air circulation. is there a program that checks the temperature of your chip or how do i know if it's getting too hot? also dealing with the gig of lost space, a gig seems alot of space for hidden and part files, atleast to me, is there a way to recude that amount?
Guest_imported
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- Jan 1, 1970
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The swap file, it can range is size,but iont think it would be a gig, but around 500mb,then the rest is probably hidden files, and stuff. As for the speed issue how big is your hdd, how much is free? if you have another one, try it, but id just f-Disk and reformat, but id add a 1gb partition for the swap file, then you dont have to worry about it 
Hit Start > Find > Files or Folders & in the Named box , type ( or copy & paste ) the following exactly as it appears (but it is not case-sensitive), and without any spaces:
*.tmp,~*.*,*.chk
Make sure the Look-In box contains the hard drive from which your applications run, usually (C. Make sure the Include Subfolders checkbox is checked . Hit Find Now .
When the little magnifying glass stops, searching has completed and you can see how many files were found at the bottom of the dialog box.
On your keyboard, hold your Ctrl key down and hit the letter "a"; this selects all the files that were found. Hit your delete key and say Yes when asked if you want to send all the files to the recycle bin.
If you are asked if you are sure you want to delete a file because it is a program that you will not be able to run again, or because it is a read-only file, say Yes. Program files do not start with a squiggly line (~ it's called a tilde - till-duh), nor do they end with "tmp."
If you are unable to delete some of the files, hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete and End Task on everything in the list EXCEPT Explorer and Systray.
(It is okay to End Task on your antivirus software because you will be rebooting your PC, which should restart your antivirus software again.)
Once you have ended all of the tasks (except Explorer and Systray), try selecting (ctrl-a) and deleting the files again. It is usually okay to leave several files in there if you are unable to delete them.
Run Scandisk Thorough then Defrag .
*.tmp,~*.*,*.chk
Make sure the Look-In box contains the hard drive from which your applications run, usually (C
. Make sure the Include Subfolders checkbox is checked . Hit Find Now . When the little magnifying glass stops, searching has completed and you can see how many files were found at the bottom of the dialog box.
On your keyboard, hold your Ctrl key down and hit the letter "a"; this selects all the files that were found. Hit your delete key and say Yes when asked if you want to send all the files to the recycle bin.
If you are asked if you are sure you want to delete a file because it is a program that you will not be able to run again, or because it is a read-only file, say Yes. Program files do not start with a squiggly line (~ it's called a tilde - till-duh), nor do they end with "tmp."
If you are unable to delete some of the files, hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete and End Task on everything in the list EXCEPT Explorer and Systray.
(It is okay to End Task on your antivirus software because you will be rebooting your PC, which should restart your antivirus software again.)
Once you have ended all of the tasks (except Explorer and Systray), try selecting (ctrl-a) and deleting the files again. It is usually okay to leave several files in there if you are unable to delete them.
Run Scandisk Thorough then Defrag .
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