Slow computer even after formatting and reinstalling xp

[kaburger]

I have an older HP notebook that I used for emails and music management. In the past it has slowed down a lot and I would just reformat the hard drive and start fresh. The first Time I did it, it worked great. The second time I put in another gig of RAM after reformatting, started it up and it ran faster, but still REALLY slow. I mean I cant even watch a low-res video. Its not even choppy, it plays for a few seconds and then freezes the picture and the sound keeps going.

Has anyone encountered this before? I figure I will have to get a new computer soon because it is so old. I just would like to know if there is a fix for this or if its just because its old or whatever. I never upgraded the OS or anything. Kept XP on it, and that was what was installed when I bought it.

Thanks for the help.

 

[iPwn]

Welcome to CF!

It's possible that the RAM you installed is not exactly perfect... but then again what is? Have you tried taking the RAM back out? Typically, electronics don't just slow down with age. They either work, or they don't work in my experience. XP is a great OS and should be plenty fast enough even on an old HP notebook to watch videos. Try taking that RAM back out and see if that helps... Ok nevermind, just reread the post. It could be a heat issue, as computers tend to slow a little when running too hot. When's the last time you cleaned out the laptop? Since it's fairly old and you've nothing to lose (assuming you've backed everything up), why not take it apart and give it a proper cleaning? Isopropyl Alcohol works great on electronics, just give it a good dusting and then rub it down with a Q-tip. If you're not wanting to do that... just get a can of air and blow out all the vents. Now... a computer shouldn't be that slow (from heat) to start if you leave it off for an extended period of time and then boot up. It could also just be a bad installation of Windows XP, and yes, that happens.

So, from my perspective, you have a few possible solutions. (My money is on 2)
1. Clean out the laptop, can of air or taking it apart, either works.
2. Reformat XP once more and see if that helps
3. I'm reluctant to say it's the RAM after rereading the post, but it's still possible. (I highly doubt it though)

 

[JCB1]

Your hard-disk could be slowing down the system, Check out this guide http://www.computerforums.org/compu...-life-your-ssd-drives-windows-7-a-104162.html as it will help you to improve your disk speed

 

[krone6]

Your hard-disk could be slowing down the system, Check out this guide http://www.computerforums.org/compu...-life-your-ssd-drives-windows-7-a-104162.html as it will help you to improve your disk speed

How do you know he uses an ssd? Could be an hdd too. In my opinion, he should get hdtune (free version) and run a full error scan. Will see if there are bad sectors and can also benchmark.

 

[Xtreme2damax]

What are the specifications of this system? It could just be slow because it's really old, I know this all too well when I tried to work on and fix my sisters old Compaq PC.

 

[J4mmy]

Is the problem still appearing after performing all solutions given above and do you still require further assistance with this?

~J4mmy

 

[masdeeper]

I may have the solution to this problem. I had the same symptom with video even if I had fast hardware for the task. (Intel Dual Core(2*1.5Ghz ans 2Gb of RAM).

Since Firefox 3.6.ish, PlugInContainer has been introduced. Now, Flash, SilverLight and QuickTime are run in a separate process from the browser, so if the plugin crash, it won't crash the whole broswer. Lot's of user have problems with this new feature, you just need to disable it to regain the speed.

1) going typing in about:config in the address bar 2) type in "dom.ipc" 3) disable the values that say true

Voilà!

 

[JCB1]

How do you know he uses an ssd? Could be an hdd too. In my opinion, he should get hdtune (free version) and run a full error scan. Will see if there are bad sectors and can also benchmark.

This guide can be run on all systems SSD or SATA drives

 

[rickythomas]

It depends on the configuration of your system that how fast it is running, may be you are using the older versions of the hardwares and they are not performing well, switch to the faster components which can perform well. try an upgrade of the processor.