Computer Not Running Right...

[ReC0iL]

Hey guys I just came to ask about my computer it's like out of the blue not running right.

Ok well here's the thing... I just come on my comp like any other day and everything is slow... all the games I play are all choppy, the games that ran fine in the past, and it takes like 10 minutes for my computer to come back if my screen saver comes on. Some programs won't run at all then run when I try it again a few hours later... I know this isn't right I just did a defrag a few days ago and I don't want to completely reformat my computer AGAIN. I just don't know what to do to make it run normally, can anyone help me?

 

[Erbmaster]

Check to make sure your CPU fan is working OK.
Pentium 3 chips don't fry when the fan fails but the machine gradually grinds to a halt.

 

[PlagueWielder]

Get more ram since XP needs at least 128 to run, maybe another 512 MB.

What video card do you have?

Edit: make sure u have the latest drivers for everything (gfx card, sound card...).

 

[daddyo]

Your RAM looks a bit light for Windows XP, but assuming that everything was faster, you might check to see if anything is running in the background.

Get the free version of spybot and adaware and run it to see if there are any "uninvited guests" that have taken up residence on your HD. Also, if you run MSCONFIG you can see if anything is starting up that shouldn't. You can uncheck whatever it is that doesn't have to run, reboot and thereby speed up your computer.

Also, you absolutely must run BOOTVIS from Intel. It will speed up the computer amazingly.

If you installed Norton Systemworks, make sure System Doctor isn't running in the background. It's a resource hog and is unnecessary.

Anyway, you get the idea. Hope this helps.

 

[Eck]

Do a virus scan..

 

[muzikool]

If you're running XP with 128MB, then your PC has to write more to the pagefile the more stuff you run, and this will decrease your performance. Check task manager and see how many processes are running, and how much memory is available. Also be sure that your processor isn't being hogged by something. You could also boot into safe mode and see if the problem still occurs there. Disabling unnecessary startup items will give your RAM a rest as well.

 

[daddyo]

Oh yeah, one more thing you can do is make sure your hard drive has enough room on it and that there isn't alot of junk. Also, if you delete all the Restore Points...that helps also.

 

[ReC0iL]

mmmm I dunno it always seems to eventually do this... and then I gotta reformat... I just wanna make sure this doesn't happen again...

 

[muzikool]

Originally posted by ReC0iL
mmmm I dunno it always seems to eventually do this... and then I gotta reformat... I just wanna make sure this doesn't happen again...

Well if it always does this eventually, then that means you have a problem that is only temporarily being fixed by a reformat. My guess is (and I'm sure many others would agree) that as you install, download, and use your computer more after the reformat, your system is taxed by the amount of resources you are requiring of it. 128MB of RAM is the minimum recommended amount for XP. I would highly recommend at least another stick of 128MB in your system. That shouldn't cost you more than $20 if you look for a deal. I've got a system very similar to yours (PIII 800, XP Pro), and I've got 384MB in it. Over half of that is taken up during normal use.

We need more information from you in order to help out. How about taking some screenshots of your task manager, both the processes tab and the performance tab. Also let us know if you are doing maintenance such as defragmenting and running disk cleanup. The more info we get, the better help we can provide!

 

[Geffy]

do you have anything plugged into like FireWire ports or things like that. I left my Zen plugged into my FireWire port which screwed up the working of Vice City