hello everyone,

i'm running xp pro sp3 on a dell inspiron b130 laptop. it's a bit of an older model, but i'm having slowness issues with it. it's not spywared / malwared at all. one thing i noticed is the sound skips around really bad when i listen to music. i have defragged the drive, configured the boot to use minimal programs on startup (therefore less memory) by way of start - > run -> msconfig. i have used check disk utility, but still my computer runs slower. what else could be slowing down my computer? i would really appreciate the help. i need this computer running faster, so i can use it for my work. it's too slow.

-etidd

I don't know about what you've asked about, but what your describing sounds like the drive is getting full, obviously this will be a gradual process over time, click on Start - My Computer and you will see the drive, right click on the drive and select properties, this will show you how full it is and how much free space you have, let us know what that shows, my bet is it's pretty full.

Get and run the following file cleaners, they will remove the junk files and empty your bin, so be aware if you binned something by accident and run these it will be gone, but it will not touch any of your files.
Disk Cleaner, CCleaner and CleanUp.

Also click on Start - Control Panel - System, click on the System Restore tab and drag the slider down to 3% then run the cleaners, this should free up a fair bit, see how that helps.

free space: 46.4 GB
total size: 74.5 GB

not full at all.

Not what I expected, the symptoms fitted it perfectly, OK lets see whats running in the background, it may be a case of the system is so busy it's trying to catch up all the time, hence the delays, give it the 3 finger salute (press ctrl + alt + del at the same time), then look at the bottom bar of the task manager window, it will show a %age of the systems use the higher that is the more it's playing catch up.
If it is showing high enough to wonder click on the processes tab, underneath it will list them all, take note of the %age column, click on the head where it say %age and it will list them in order of use, you may need to click it a 2nd time to get them listed from the top down, 1st click may list them the other way up, see what this shows.

right now, the computer is showing an avg. of 25% cpu usage with only the internet and winamp running. that's bad! only 37 total processes. 428 mb page file usage.. the cpu usage jumps to almost 100% at times. is that all you needed to know?

It seems to confirm my suspicion of your system playing catch up, when it hit's 100% that means it's maxed out, and the more you try to do the slower it will do it.
Have you clicked on the Processes tab and taken note of the processes that are showing their %age usage ?
when the system is running clicking on the head of the tab as I explained above means they will jump about in order of most activity, so you can see what is running at the highest rate, then it may give a clue, but as well as that all I can suggest ATM is to run a scan at the Pit, then post the link for the results back here and maybe we can advise on what may help, it will also allow us to see your system spec to get an idea of what you have.
You will need to sign up so the test can be save and the link posted back here so we can view it, but it's free and safe, so do these things and we can try and suggest things to try.

well, i ran the tests now, but i don't see a unique link to the results. hmm.....

thanks for help.

The actual url is the link now, they used to have a specific link, but not anymore, so log into your account and go to your test you've already run, then just copy that url (address) back here then people can view the results, hope that makes sense lol.

http://pcpitstop.com/neptune.asp

if you want my login info. i don't care, i'll pm it to you.

Hello etidd

The link that you have supplied is actually a link to the log in page if you use a Mozilla Firefox or Opera browser,
these browsers can be used to run the pitstop test,
Though it may be wise to use Internet Explorer 7, (or higher) to run the pitstop test, then copy/paste the URL into your next reply,
it should look something like this~ http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?conid=22109668

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,
Jkc73

http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?c...;report=Summary

there it is.

Hi etidd

After looking at your PCPitstop Report, I believe this following link will assist in removing some of the clutter on your machine.

After you have completed the directions on the forum page listed in the link above, please post back how your machine is running.

Best Regards,
Jkc73

hmm, maybe it's not running as slow as i say it is (well, it is slower), but i can't listen to any audio on the computer without the sound skipping/cutting out. maybe a reinstall of the sound drivers will make that better?

Well, I typed this once, and lost my post.. I love it when that happens.

I want to point out, according to your PCPitStop tests, you have an 80GB internal hard drive in your laptop and a 250Gb external hard drive hooked up via USB presumably. I want to point out that your external hard drive is getting 15MB/s speed, and your internal hard drive is getting a lousy, measly 1MB/s. There is a significant speed problem with your hard drive, and likely the reason why your sound and everything else is skipping.

Please read here at PCPitStop under "Make sure DMA is enabled.": http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/tips/DskS...?conid=22223576

If DMA has been turned off and switched to PIO mode then this could be a sign of hard drive read errors caused by a failing hard drive. Laptops are prone to hard drive failure because they are banged around so much. Further hard drive diagnostics should be done.

Yeah that is a major pain, and it usually happens when you have the least time and have included lots of links etc that took ages to gather lol.

Anyway sorry for a slow reply, been at a wedding all day, I was the photographer lol, glad to see you've gotten this far, and yeah the test does look quite poor on the surface, but you need to bare in mind it is not the fastest of processors even when it was new, but it was no doubt more than capable of your needs which is all that matters, still looking at the test apart from the above, there is an area of concern I have, and thats the protection your running.

There are a few entry's showing, and I'm not sure how they are being seen, so if you could explain what is running in real time we can see if your breaking the one at a time rule, so let us know if Ad-Awareand Spybot (specifically the TeaTimer component) are running in real time, if they are your breaking the rule.
But check the above advice and let us know about this as well then we can advise more.

hmm, i'm running into an error when changing from "pio mode" to "dma if available". it won't change. it's stubborn. what do i do now?

This is typical of a problem I saw recently on a laptop that had a failing hard drive.

This is the solution (although, possibly temporary) to fix the problem. Go into control panel -> system -> hardware tab -> device manager again. Delete all the primary and secondary IDE drives as well as the controller. Reboot the computer, let Windows re-detect those devices, probably requiring a second reboot. Then, verify or change your DMA/PIO modes.

I have a bad feeling this mode is locked because your drive is reporting failure or read errors.

Please upload a copy of your system event log for me. Open event viewer (click start -> run -> type 'eventvwr' and press ENTER), right-click the system log, and click "Save log file as..." Save the log file as system.evt on your desktop. Right-click that file, click send to -> compressed zip folder and a new system.zip file will be created on your desktop. Please upload the file as an attachment in your next reply.

avg is the only protection i have running.

here's a system event log.

"Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file"

just got that error, and i can't view the .evt file in notepad.

Please zip the .evt file into a .zip and upload the .zip file.

Update us on the deletion on the ide controllers and their DMA mode.

wow, that dma fix seemed to do the trick! i uninstalled / reinstalled it. no more audio chopping, and the computer boots quicker/ runs faster. i learned something here. i'll donate some money when i get my next paycheck (starving college student here).

etidd.. I'm glad that your computer is running normally. And, I'm sure those involved are glad that you are willing to support the forum.. THank you.

However, I really need that system log uploaded to me. We are not done here. The problem you are experiencing is highly likely caused by a failing hard drive. You need to know, before it is too late.

As long as the TeaTimer component isn't running then that should be fine, just remember to pause\disable real time cover when running 3rd party scans and you should be fine, a reboot will load them again after.

Glad to see appleoddity has found something, I wouldn't of found that as I've never had that situation, not sure if appleoddity feels a diagnostic scan from Seagate would help identify anything here ?

k, here's a system log file. i think my hard drive will experience a failure soon.

The hard drive's SMART system is reporting imminent failure on the hard drive. This is exactly what I expected to find. You need to back up your data immediately. The hard drive will need to be replaced. At this point, you probably can still clone the contents of the current drive to a new drive and continue to operate normally without having to reinstall everything.

At this point, it may be time to seek the assistance of a qualified computer repair facility. Special tools and software will be needed beyond this point. Although replacing a hard drive is fairly simple, replacing or transferring the software will take some skill. You need to decide at this point if you think you should tackle the problem yourself or let a qualified repair facility handle it.

can i just use the windows xp backup utility?

Yes, as long as you manually locate and include your important data in the backup.

It cannot be used to clone your hard drive to a new drive.

hmm, if i'm a computer science student that knows computers very well, could you help me clone it now?

Since you are a computer science major who knows his way around computers very well, you will be accustomed to patiently following long, multi-part and tedious instructions. So sure, you can do this yourself.

But in your first post, you communicated a certain amount of urgency that you need the machine to run briskly to engage in school related activities that may currently be in progress.

Tedious and Urgent are not a good combination.
________________________________________________

So let's have a look at the task.....

If you have your XP installation media and all of your valued application installation media, and you have saved a backup copy of your machine's drivers....
Then you can simply backup your important documents, media, favorites, email and other specific stuff that you want to keep.
Back up to external HD or burn to CD/DVD.
(probably backup to USB external HD would be better than putting your machine through the stress of composing and burning CD/DVDs --- remembering that you are "under the gun" of the warning that your HD may fail soon)

With your stuff backed up, you can simply pop in a new HD, Format and install your OS, drivers, and software.
Then access your data via USB external HD. Done.
________________________

If you don't have your OS installation Media you may be able to obtain a Restore CD from your machine's manufacturer for a modest price.... usually between $20 and $30... to put the machine back to factory new configuration on a new HD, then add your application software and data. Done.
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Failing the above, and needing to "clone" your HD in order to retain your OS and software, you should consider one of the two top commercially available cloning softwares - Acronis or Norton Ghost

As a computer science major, you can follow the instructions of either of those softwares without need to duplicate instructions here.

I seriously would not recommend trying to use any of the several free cloning utilities or even the older versions of Acronis or Ghost which can sometimes be had via Computer Magazines as a freebie.

There just is no favorable comparison, since the current versions of Acronis and Ghost are so much easier to use and more reliable. This is not an academic project, you really need the Clone to function validly and with as little pain as possible.

If you do decide to work with a freebie, again, you can read and follow the instructions provided.

You may have an additional advantage that most of us don't have, since you are a student, your school may have a library of current cloning utilities, or one of your instructors may have a demonstration/promotion copy that they'd be willing to let you have.

Check around to see what resources may be available to you.

Best Regards

I haven't done this before, so not sure how likely it is to work, but it's no harm in trying this because if it works then job done, if it doesn't then move onto the next option.
But what I'm thinking is use the makers utility, of the hard drive that is, I have seen cloning options for their drives in these utility's (one maker even uses Acronis), so as these are free I'd try that first, but to be really safe back up the files you can't afford to lose first, then worst case you wont lose anything, hope you get it sorted.

Most new hard drives come with a bootable CD and instructions on how to use it to clone your existing drive to the new drive.

If the new drive you buy does not come with this CD, you can use one of many free tools to clone your existing HD to the new HD.

HDClone
Driveimage XML

I've use both of these successfully so I know they are capable of doing what you need.

There are many others as well, see here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=f...amp;btnG=Search

okay, i think i have a pretty good shot at doing this on my own. i'll let you know of the progress.