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Slow Systems

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Hey im working at a computer place in malaga and doing Information technology and i currently am constructing system for end users and clients and with all the new software and hardware realeased at the moment all the computers have been using quality products hardware and software and they all have been running like a 486, why is this, i am using kingston ram which is a life time warranty product and i am using intel approved systems hardware such as gigabyte and asus for the motherboards sometimes i have been using mercury and ecs motherboard and they have been running really slow???

why is this

i contact microsoft (r) and asked them whats going on here and they said to contact the hardware manufacture or supplier of the hardware, i did this and no luck they informed me to download a bios update and i did which resulted in worst matter nor better.

i would like someone to inform me why brand new systems running kingston 400 ram with 2.2 intel celeron cpu's are running like 486's please get back to me asap because customer are complaining that a pentium 1 - is running much better then them, i have been working for a long time in the information technology industry and have built many system which have run sooooooo smooth its just the last few months they have been running slow as, could this be a software exploit, a virus or something anyone is aware of???

23 replies

by dmiles

When diagnosing system slowness you must first isolate if the fault lies with the application or the hardware that the system is running on.

REAL/32 provides a utility called PROFILE to find out what process is using what percentage of CPU and disk time.

To find out if you have a hardware problem which is causing the operating system to use a large amount of CPU time type :

C:\> profile -s -t

This will display a textual display of what processes are using the CPU.

Providing no application programs are in use you would expect that 98-100% of the processor time will be idle. If the processor is running on idle most of the time then the problem is likely to be idle detection.

by ugher1219

have you tried defragging the system yet? even on a freshly installed system defrag will speed up the windows processes.

also go into msconfig via start > run > msconfig and check the start up tab, disable anything non system and see if it runs better. then slowly re enable your programs untill you find out whats slowing down your machines.

other things to consider, your should be running atleast 256 mbs of ram or more depending on what type and how intensive your programs are that you'll be running, this also ties into the type of processor your using as well. if its just very basic desktop processing then a celeron will work well but if its anything intensive or just more then very basic desktop publishing you might want to consider upgrading your processors to something higher.

by dualinlinememorymodule

Yeah the basic systems are celeron cause they only got a slow cache @ 128 and a 400 bus where as when we are doing nice systems we use P4 @ 512 cache l2 but running a 533bus N/W
and when we getting serious that comes to a 3.06Ghz -3.2 P4 On A HT Chain @ 512 cache over l2 @ 800 bus but celeron is good for basic stuff home use and that @ cheap affordable costs but i have tryed all these things and no luck man i tryed heaps and they running SLOW SLOW SLOW!!! just waiting for the right person to say it and it will hit me and da da

THANX FOR YA HELP MATEY But already dun that!

by dualinlinememorymodule

Yeah the basic systems are celeron cause they only got a slow cache @ 128 and a 400 bus where as when we are doing nice systems we use P4 @ 512 cache l2 but running a 533bus N/W
and when we getting serious that comes to a 3.06Ghz -3.2 P4 On A HT Chain @ 512 cache over l2 @ 800 bus but celeron is good for basic stuff home use and that @ cheap affordable costs but i have tryed all these things and no luck man i tryed heaps and they running SLOW SLOW SLOW!!! just waiting for the right person to say it and it will hit me and da da

THANX FOR YA HELP MATEY But already dun that!

by dualinlinememorymodule

Yeah the basic systems are celeron cause they only got a slow cache @ 128 and a 400 bus where as when we are doing nice systems we use P4 @ 512 cache l2 but running a 533bus N/W
and when we getting serious that comes to a 3.06Ghz -3.2 P4 On A HT Chain @ 512 cache over l2 @ 800 bus but celeron is good for basic stuff home use and that @ cheap affordable costs but i have tryed all these things and no luck man i tryed heaps and they running SLOW SLOW SLOW!!! just waiting for the right person to say it and it will hit me and da da

THANX FOR YA HELP MATEY But already dun that!

by onlyforikram

The problem may be due to low system performance.
Assuming that the operating system is Windows XP, I am providing the troubleshooting steps.

* Empty the Recycle Bin, using the following steps:

1. Double-click the Recycle Bin on the Desktop.
NOTE: To restore any items deleted by
mistake, right-click the selected file
and click Restore.

2. Click the Empty Recycle Bin button.
3. Click Yes to confirm the request. Windows
will remove the contents of the Recycle Bin
from the hard disk.
4. Close the Recycle Bin.

* Delete temporary files and directories:

Deleting temporary files will increase hard disk space and reduce the time Windows takes to access the hard drive. It can also fix problems
associated with spooling print jobs. Windows uses the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory to store files temporarily. Sometimes, these files accumulate and have to be deleted.
* Run Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP:

To run Scandisk in Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. Click Start and select My Computer.
2. Right-click the hard drive icon. For example, drive C:\ .
3. Click Properties and select the Tools tab.
4. Click the Check Now button.
5. In the Check disk window, select all the checkboxes.
6. Click OK. Click Yes to start a full disk scan when the computer is restarted.
7. Restart the computer.

To run Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. Close all running programs including background programs such as scanners.
2. Click Start and select All Programs.
3. Click Accessories and select System Tools.
4. Click Disk Defragmenter.

Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process.

NOTE: The Disk Defragmenter may restart continuously if a background program is still accessing the hard drive.

by onlyforikram

The problem may be due to low system performance.
Assuming that the operating system is Windows XP, I am providing the troubleshooting steps.

* Empty the Recycle Bin, using the following steps:

1. Double-click the Recycle Bin on the Desktop.
NOTE: To restore any items deleted by
mistake, right-click the selected file
and click Restore.

2. Click the Empty Recycle Bin button.
3. Click Yes to confirm the request. Windows
will remove the contents of the Recycle Bin
from the hard disk.
4. Close the Recycle Bin.

* Delete temporary files and directories:

Deleting temporary files will increase hard disk space and reduce the time Windows takes to access the hard drive. It can also fix problems
associated with spooling print jobs. Windows uses the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory to store files temporarily. Sometimes, these files accumulate and have to be deleted.
* Run Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP:

To run Scandisk in Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. Click Start and select My Computer.
2. Right-click the hard drive icon. For example, drive C:\ .
3. Click Properties and select the Tools tab.
4. Click the Check Now button.
5. In the Check disk window, select all the checkboxes.
6. Click OK. Click Yes to start a full disk scan when the computer is restarted.
7. Restart the computer.

To run Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP, follow these steps:

1. Close all running programs including background programs such as scanners.
2. Click Start and select All Programs.
3. Click Accessories and select System Tools.
4. Click Disk Defragmenter.

Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process.

NOTE: The Disk Defragmenter may restart continuously if a background program is still accessing the hard drive.

The above steps should improve the system performance.

by donmars

You did not mention what the operating system is. There are a few things to consider. Is the hard drive ATA 100 compatible and if so is it set up in bios to do that? ATA ultra DMA 100 compatibility will require the correct 80 wire hard drive cable as opposed to the 40 wire one. If you are running an INTEL chipset such as 845, 865, 875 then go to the intel site and download and install the Intel Application Accelerator which works with Ultra DMA 100 drives. This will really make your machine zing! Have you tried tweaking the parameters in BIOS setup? One parameter to look at is the CPU Multiplier Ratio which is set up usually from the bios. There are a bunch of tweaks to the OS such as disabling certain services and stopping un-needed startups. Research these things and write up a procedure to use everytime.

by w2ktechman

Go to the task manager and see what programs are taking up the cpu time the most. The problem probably lies in one or more applications running, that dont get along with each other.

Another thing to check would be to see how many things run on bootup. Try to minimize these applications. Many startup apps do not need to be running right from the get go. This can also aid in finding which programs are causing the problem.
Also, make sure that the network is not the problem here. Once windows detects a slow network, the whole system seems to run slow. Try unplugging the lan cable and then log off and on again.
If it is not an application problem, then it is most likely a bad driver or hardware incompatibility. Try disbling different drivers to see which may effect the problem. Often it may even be something that is not used. Also, not just the bios (as you stated that you tried) try loading the drivers for the MB (chipset drivers) and see if this helps.

by dualinlinememorymodule

Tryed That Too Bro Task Manager Tasks Taking Up The CPU Is Norton Antivirus Mostly But Mai Clients Need That Or The Viruses Will Be Running Higher CPU Tasks :P Yeah Taken Out Msconfig Settings NO LUCK EITHER
Tryed All Backdoors Not Sure Tho I Think The Lucent Modems Are Making Em RUn Slow Cause You Take That Out And Its Heaps Faster But Still SLOW Like 486 All Drivers Companied

by thechas

What OS, and how much RAM are installed?

For W98 and Me, you don't want more than 511MB of RAM.
I have seen W98 systems slow WAY down when 512MB of RAM is installed.
Dropping back to 256MB or 384MB speeds things back up.
From some benchmark test, W98 has the fastest operation with 196MB of RAM.

For W2K or XP, you want at least 256MB of RAM.
Otherwise, the system spends way too much time transferring data from RAM to the page file.

From your post, I assume you are using DDR RAM.
For any Intel chip-set motherboard with P4 or related CPUs, I recommend installing RAM in matched pairs of DIMMs.

Next, what are you using for video?
After RAM, video has the greatest impact on system performance.

As a side note, the P4 CPUs are at least 10 percent slower than the same speed P3 for the same task. Except for digital video.
The command extensions added to the P4 for digital video cause a noticeable slow down for 'normal' applications.

Chas

by w2ktechman

You stated that Norton was taking up cpu time mostly, what version is running. WinXP likes ver.8.1.0.825

try disabling Norton on a system and see if it works better.

by mden1

I had a couple of systems doing the same thing, this is what helped us..under folder options Check offline Files and uncheck enable offline files. Also check Add/Remove programs Windows Setup and see if the indexing service is selected (if so unselect), are IIS services selected (unless they need them unselect). I have also found that if using Microsoft office there is a program called CTFMON disable ctfmon according to MS Knowledge base article 282599 -Hope it helps

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