Computer Speed: Issue Unknown

[P11]

Hey guys, its been a while since ive been on the forum but i ran into a little problem lately with my friends PC. Hes running a eMachine 1.70 ghz celeron 40gb hard drive 128mb of ram and its been running very slowly. So, normally, I suggested that he buy some ram; I went and got a 1GB PNY DDR stick and poped it in.... apparantly that wasnt the problem because its still EXTREMELY slow.

1. Loading slow, program loading slow, start bar loading slow, etc.
2. The 1 GB of ram registers in the system properties section so it cant be a comptability issue.
3. I deleted all anti-virus software and did a virus/spyware scan and nothing can be found.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Antiodontalgic]

Try to do a system clean up and a defrag.

 

[porterjw]

^ Ditto.

Also open up the case and blow out any dust that's accumulated inside, paying special attention to any clogged fans or heatsinks.

How is the system used? Is it on constantly? How long has the current install of Windows been on there?

 

[P11]

no offence guys but I'm not a novice. Those things were the first things I tried, defrag, disk cleanup, ad-aware removal, delete internet history etc. Also the case had no dust when installing the ram so it was uneccesary to vaccum the case. Put it this way, every single normal procdure to speed up the PC: IVE DONE.

 

[Antiodontalgic]

no offence guys but I'm not a novice. Those things were the first things I tried, defrag, disk cleanup, ad-aware removal, delete internet history etc. Also the case had no dust when installing the ram so it was uneccesary to vaccum the case. Put it this way, every single normal procdure to speed up the PC: IVE DONE.

Well then buddy, The hard drive might be going out or just worn out depending on the age and use of the computer.
Does the harddrive sound like a machine gun?

 

[P11]

No, the computer sounds fine. This is a computer that stays on for most of the day but I cant find any apparnt issues that could arise from the time its running. In most cases, I would just re-format and be done with it but my friends business runs of this PC and he cant afford to lose any information/settings.

 

[Trizoy]

Think of the OS as cancer, and the more programs you add to it, the faster it grows.. Every now and then you need to clean it out. Reinstall the OS. It seriously takes 30-35 min. Yo u can save that amount of time in 1 week of it running slowly..

 

[StrangleHold]

Have you looked at the Task Manager in Applications or Processes to see if something is eating up CPU time or running in the back ground, being a Celeron 1.7 and just 128mbs it would not take that much to slow it down.

 

[P11]

Think of the OS as cancer, and the more programs you add to it, the faster it grows.. Every now and then you need to clean it out. Reinstall the OS. It seriously takes 30-35 min. Yo u can save that amount of time in 1 week of it running slowly..

I honestly wish I could, but I cant for the reasons mentioned above. When I played pc games I would re-format once a month so I know the benefits are immediate after a fresh install.

 

[P11]

Have you looked at the Task Manager in Applications or Processes to see if something is eating up CPU time or running in the back ground, being a Celeron 1.7 and just 128mbs it would not take that much to slow it down.

I just upgraded the ram from 128mb to 1 GB. Issue is still apparant.

 

[P11]

Task Manager Indicates that the System Idle Process is 88-97 of my CPU quota and my CPU usage is 2-20%. Any idea why this is happening when nothing is really taking place from the users end?

 

[StrangleHold]

Missed that about upgrading the Ram, Does the CPU usage spike up and down to 20% or just stay at 20% and when it does look in processes or applications to see what using it. As far as the System Idle process mine stays around 97-99% if nothing is running in the background.

 

[ryby2]

i don't know much but it sounds like the CPU needs to be upgraded....... and im not sure if thats possible....sry can't help much

 

[porterjw]

He can make backups of all the data he has on there for his business, correct?

Yes, Celerons aren't *great*, but for some applications (such as what this is used for) they should do the job without any major concerns. You mentioned you're not a novice, so I trust you know how to perform a backup procedure for his files. You should also know that Windows (by design) will run slower after time...this might be this system's 'time'. Why don't you start with that, reformat, and try again.

 

[ZER0X]

Low HD space resulting in low Virtual Memory, registry needs cleaning or could be CPU overheating.

I recomend this program mate, its a trial yes but for 30 days or something you can use it.