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SLOW XP,TOO MUCH RAM

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I installed XP last year and later upgraded my PC to 256Mbytes RAM. My system is dead SLOW! Starting up is max 20 mins. Recently the my applications are non responsive and respond after a while. I have about 3GBytes free space and running on a network. I have thought of downgrading the systems to WIN2K Pro, how to I do it. How do I downgrade

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SLOW XP,TOO MUCH RAM

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To answer your question you cannot downgrade to W2k. You must start over.

However I am curious about your config. I have XP installed on my system and I will admit it does take more resources than previous OS’s. I also have installed it on a 400mhz PC with 384mb of ram and it runs okay. Try installing more RAM if you are below 256mb. I recommend at least 512mb. Check out what is being loaded at startup. Most PC makers load so much to startup with Windows that it seems you did not even purchase a new PC. You can view what is being loaded by typing msconfig in run off the start menu. Also you can check the event viewer to see any errors might be causing the problem. The event viewer can be found in the control panel under Performanceand Maintenance.

Make sure programs and drivers are up to date and designed for XP.

Start there and report back if it resolves the issue or not.

SLOW XP,TOO MUCH RAM

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I don’t see 256Mb of ram being an issue at all. That should be plenty to run XP. If you’ve mixed the ram then there may be a problem with the new and old ram being in the system together. Even though it’s done all the time and isn’t usually a problem I don’t mix ram. There’s voltage speed and other considerations. Try removing either the new or old ram to troubleshoot.
Have you checked your BIOS settings to make sure internal and external cahcing hasn’t been disabled.

The time it takes to boot may be from virus scanning durring the boot process. If you upgraded to XP virus software should have been uninstalled first then if compatible reinstalled after.

A virus may be the problem make sure to get the lastest dat files, scan the PC.Also you may want to create a bootable virus disk to check for boot sector viruses.

SLOW XP,TOO MUCH RAM

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Agree with answer #2 you may have virus in you system. Make sure AV s/w is up to date and scan the system for virus.

SLOW XP,TOO MUCH RAM

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I have 2 suggestions to get your system back up to speed without switching to W2K.

1. verify that your new RAM is compatible with your existing RAM, or motherboard.
Not ALL SDRAM DIMMs work together, or in ALL motherboards.
a. Go back to justyour old RAM, and see if the system boots up faster.
b. Try again with just the new RAM.
c. 3rd try with the old and new RAM swapped in the sockets.
Some motherboards are a bit picky as to which RAM is in the first DIMM slot.

2. Try a new NIC.
Many a PC slowdown has been tracked to a bad NIC.

Chas

SLOW XP,TOO MUCH RAM

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Have you ever defragged your machine? IF you havent i would suggest doing that so as to get all your data back in order. that is a good way to speed up your computer.

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Also if you do try this it is suggested to run Scandisk first.

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There are some great answers here. If the AV issue does not solve your problem contact me directly. I have written a couple of papers “Speed Up Your Boot Up” and some others that I will email you. They go step through step to walk you through what to check up and out.

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I must agree with the earlier suggestions made on this topic. Your RAM shouldn’t be the problem even if your system is under 256, my XP Pro machine’s perfectly running with only 196.. You’d know if there’s something wrong with your old and new RAMs mixed together even before XP starts, just note closely how much RAM is detected from the CMOS.. You should also check what other application(s) is/are running on the background that could’ve been causing the extreme slowdown.. If non of these works for you, then try considering re-installing your XP system. but before you do so, make sure you’ve already created an cloned image or a complete system backup of the partition where your XP is running.. after you format or erase that partition, make sure you do an FDISK /MBR command to clear everything before you start installing your XP from scratch. If still all else fail, just restore your image/backup to where you first installed it..

SLOW XP,TOO MUCH RAM

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First I would check for any virus. With that being said and knowing your system is virus free on thing you can do to speed up your system is to turn off the stuff you don’t want running in the back ground.

Go to run command and type in msconfig and press enter.

Go to the start up tab and uncheck all the stuff you don’t want running. If you don’t know what something is then I would leave it.

I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as too much ram. I went from 256 to 1024 ram andnoticed a big difference in performance.

Also I might suggest is doing a system defrag and scan disk and have it check the hard drive for bad sectors. Also check with the maker of your HDD drive for a disk diagnostic utility, if the cache is going out on your HDD that would explain why your system is running really slow.

And for the answer to your question, you can’t once you’ve upgraded to XP there is no going back without a complete install of W2K

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I too had this problem.
Solution: (BIOS Setting)
BIOS Feature Setup -> Video BIOS Shadow : Disabled

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check to make sure that you put your stick of 256 in bank0 on the mother board. You should also check to make sure that both sticks are running at the same speed because if they are not that could cause problems to

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