Simplify your laptop buying
Miscellaneous laptop discussions : Laptop Slowing
Laptop Slowing
by GomerPyle - 8/10/06 9:39 PMMy IBM T41, XP, is slowing down. While I do the regular maintenance of defrag, getting rid of temp files etc., the machine seems to take forever to open files and programs either on it's HD or off the network drive. I am running AVG virus and Spysweeper with auto updates and sweeps.
There seems to be quite a few processes running at any given time. Is there anyway to figure what is not needed on startup and clean it out? or is it time to reformat and start fresh? Any ideas are great appreciated.
Stumped
Start fresh
by Diirewolf - 8/11/06 12:24 AM In reply to: Laptop Slowing by GomerPyleI would recommend backing up your files, format your HDD and reinstall XP fresh copy. Much easier than sorting through what is needed and what is not. I do a complete reinstall of XP about once every 3-4 months and it works like a charm. Sure it takes about one whole day to get all the updates, reinstall the programs and get all your files back but it is worth it in the end.
Save yourself the hassle
by samkh - 8/11/06 8:23 AM In reply to: Start fresh by DiirewolfNext time, after you have done a clean re-install with apps and everything else, before using it, backup the image to an external hard drive so that you can quickly re-image your laptop whenever you reach that decision point. Try Apricorn EZGig II. It's the easiest image backup and restore software I have ever used.
Do the XP DMA dance.
by R. Proffitt
- 8/11/06 7:13 AM
In reply to: Laptop Slowing by GomerPyle
Flip the IDE channels to PIO and back to DMA exactly as noted at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx
DO NOT JUST LOOK, BUT PERFORM THIS ACTION. Some look and miss out on a simple issue and fix. No reboot is required.
Other slowing items are full hard disks and pests. Try a scan with EWIDO and HOUSECALL. Eject all you find.
Bob
Thanks
by jppeel - 8/11/06 8:17 AM In reply to: Do the XP DMA dance. by R. Proffitt
I didn't know which channel to toggle (there were two), and there were two devices within each, so I did them all. We'll see what happens. My palms are sweaty. That's by far the deepest I have ever been into the control panel.
Thanks for your help.
changing ide etc
by dbajpai - 8/12/06 10:10 AM In reply to: Do the XP DMA dance. by R. Proffitt
Thanks Bob, I just did this, but what did I just do?
It may fix a small issue.
by R. Proffitt - 8/12/06 10:30 AM
In reply to: changing ide etc by dbajpai
XP may not report the DMA status correctly. It may actually be in some DMA MODE 2 when the hardware can do better. Flipping it as noted in the document (ignoring the step to look at it) sidesteps the issue and tells XP to use the highest DMA transfer rate.
Helps in some cases, easy to do and worth the effort.
Bob
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
