slow laptop

First thing is to increase the memory to at least 128 if not 256.
Also check to see what is running in the background by going to system information under system tools in the menu. Under tools, system configuration utility, click startup tab, checkwhat is loaded on startup and turn off anything that is not needed. I recommend doing that one item at a time if you are a novice so you do not disable something important without knowing what it was.

Yes, it is possible for the laptop to be slower than a desktop.

Compaq Armada 300 series have a modem/nic combo card and they tend to operate a bit slower (it may be the same with your laptop).

RAM on your laptop is 64MB lower then the desktop and that will impact speed.

What I recommend that you do is delete all ~*.*, *.tmp, everything in Temporary Internet Files including cookies, and then run through a scandisk and a defrag. After doing all of this, your system should operate faster.

Another thing you might want to look at is that 4 GB HDD on the laptop. How much free space do you have available on it? Is it 7200 RMP or 5400?

I have tried all your answers but it didnt seem to make any difference.
I have tried connecting an external modem to one of the serial ports but the best baud I can get is 2400. Is this conflicting with the other modem, if so how do I disconnect it?
Could there be something wrong with the port? (I have a serial port tester, (small plastic piece that fits onto the port) but have no idea how to use it!
Please help!!

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I am not so sure it is a laptop/desktop performance issue although it could be. A memory upgrade could possibly speed things up.

Have a look and note the com port speed in the Device Manager for your laptop modem. If it set up to 115200 try setting it down to 19200 and try things out. If things stable out then move up to 38400, test again then try 57600.

I would also have a look to see what com port your modem is using on your laptop as I have seen pc card modems set up using com port 3, irq 4 and if your mouse/pointing device is on com port 1, irq 4 then you could have an irq conflict causing the computer to lock up. If this is the case then try setting the modem to com port 2, irq 3. I have also seen pc card and software basedmodems that assign themselves non standard com port addesses and irqs this can as well could be the cause.

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