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always slow Gateway E2600

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by fonzaso

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I work at an elementary school; 51 of our 200 computers are Gateway E2600 desktops. They are really slow in comparison to all my other computers: IBM, Acer, Toshibas, etc.
I'm hoping to get some advice here.
We've done this: doubled the RAM from the 512 to 1GB after we saw that 128MB was dedicated to the onboard video -- no speed increase at all; I increased the virtual RAM from 576 to 1152 -- that didn't help either.
I've shutdown programs in msconfig, defragged the hard drive and done some other things that you might do at home.
We have Novell Netware 7 for our network, and some of that is running in the background of course, but this is not an issue with our other computers, some of which have only 512 RAM, slower processors and no changes to the virtual memory, and have their own onboard video cards.
I have considered installing a separate video card with its own memory, however the E2600 is a slim box and I'd need a low-profile card to cram it in there. It's budget season and I could ask the school board to fund one such purchase as a test; naturally, they expected this problem to be resolved when we doubled the RAM ... as I did of course.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Jim

11 replies

by older mycroft

What exactly are these slow computers being used for?

Are they being utilised for exactly the same programs as the 'faster' machines?

What operating system are these systems running on?

by fonzaso

They are all for classroom use. Some are monopolized by teachers in their own classroom, others are in public areas like the library. Very few power users in the bunch. For email we have Groupwise running on the network
All our computers are running Windows XP, with the latest service packs and updates. Yes, they all pretty much have the same software, all on the network. By far, the most utilized program the Microsoft Office suite -- primarily Word and Powerpoint. We have 60 laptops on mobile carts that connect wirelessly to the network. No speed issues with these. The slow Gateways are all wired.
We have some new Acers with 1.5GB of RAM, but other than the Gateways everything else has 512MB RAM. The IBMs are 4-7 years old and run way faster that the Gateways and have the same version of Netware installed.
Thanks for your help.
Jim

by fonzaso

Thanks Old Mycroft,
As Cnet's Ackerman said "good luck upgrading that video card." We decided last summer to ugrade the RAM instead when we realized that the onboard video was taking up 128MB. It didn't help. I dare not go to the school board and ask to upgrade the video card or the processor.
We bought the 5-year warranty, though I'm not sure which version of it until I get back to work and check the paperwork. I recall a total cost of $950-1,000, which included MS Office and the warranty. 5 years is a long time, and I seem to recall recommending the other bid, I think it was for Acers, with only 3-year warranties. But they all thought the 5-year was a no-brainer, so that's what we bought.
Jim

by seanferd

What E2600 is this? They have an S, D, or N after that designation. More importantly, what is the 7 digit part number, which may also have an R at the end? I want to get a grip on what processor, etc. is involved.

What is slow about these systems? Program loading, video or game type responsiveness, network speed, or just general file-access time (sluggish Explorer)?

Do these systems share something else in common? Do they run more stuff over the network than faster machines, share a switch/hub that other machines don't, have older processors than the other machines, etc?

I would let the OS manage the paging file.

by fonzaso

Seanferd,
They are the E2600S; it's Saturday and I'm home or I'd have more info. No remote access, except email but maybe I'll find something there.
Holiday monday, too. I'll check back in Tuesday with more.
Meantime: We have two buildings, 6-8th graders are a couple hundred yards away in the "lower building" and there is fiber underground to connect to the main servers, which are in the computer lab. Main switches up there too. We have one server in the lower building, mainly to help with logins. 40 of the laptops connecting wirelessly are in the lower building and they log-in and access files way faster than the Gateways.
Doesn't seem to matter in which building the Gateway lives or what it's used for, it's slow, slow, slow in comparison to the wired IBMs and Acers.
We Ghost all the Gateways from the same master computer. Subsequent changes are tied to shared printers, scanners and that sort of thing.
These Gateways also: occasionally fail to recognize the keyboard -- necessitating a reboot; during 06/07 school year (this is their second year on board) they would not recognize flash drives and wanted to install software to run the flash drives -- this also happened with FDD, cameras, etc. Over last summer we started from scratch and licked the problem with flash drives. That was when we doubled the RAM. We bought half as many 1GB sticks as we had computers, combined two 512MB in half the machines, and put the new 1GBs in the others. Doesn't seem to matter, speedwise, which configuration of RAM is installed.
Many users don't complain about speed, but that because they are not keen on using computers anyway or have slower computers at home. When I sit at their computer for some other purpose than measuring speed, I sure notice. Especially if they have an E2600s next to an IBM Thinkcentre and I have to do the same chore (upgrade a program, install new printer, put a shortcut on the desktop, etc.).
As for what is slow: No games and few videos are run, except off the internet and that's no problem. Slowness is on boot, log-in, launching programs, accessing files off the network. All other computers are much snappier at any of this.
Thanks,
Jim

by mrniqster

Hi I use the same Gateways in our school in Southern California. I havent noticed the slowness you reported but the Keyboard issue (not working necessating a reboot) is a known bios issue according to Gateway. They say update BIOS.

How do you stop kids from booting to Linux and or going to https:kproxy.com
to get aroung your filters?

thanks
nick

by fonzaso

The lack of slowness is interesting. Do you have a separate video card? We are contemplating this, but I may not get much support from the purse strings since we've already upped the RAM to 1GB.
I haven't checked, but perhaps kproxy.com is blocked. Our blocking service is pretty good, and so are our kids. This is K-8, small school, well monitored.
thanks,
Jim

by vgarriso

Did you ever figure out why the computers are so slow? We have the same computer and it is also very slow. I just ordered an additional 512mb of ram, but it sounds as if there is something else going on. This particular computer is also very noisy. Are yours?

by fonzaso

We doubled the RAM and it didn't help with the slowness. More RAM of course is a good idea in general, since 128MB are borrowed for the onboard video card. Didn't speed them up for us however.
I just ordered two low-profile video cards as a test -- you may have read that we've got 51 of these E2600s -- to see if getting the video card totally off the motherboard will speed things up.
They are not unusually noisy. Do you mean the fan sound on startup? Some of my 51 had fans racing early on (we've had them nearly 2 years), but I fixed that by reseating the RAM.
Check back and I'll submit an update after I've thoroughly tested the video cards.
Jim

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