Dell Dimension 8250 Memory - Slow System

[mrteacher]

I have Dell P4 2.4
Tried to put in another 512 of RAM - Newest Bios v4 not recognizing it. OS is XP Pro SP2. Just installed new 250GB HD and the OS and Win XP Office. System either on internet or off runs very slow... like watching paint dry and grass grow. Wait,,, wait,, wait.
If I take out new ram system beeps at me, if I switch ram system beeps at me, if just new ram system beeps, no ram it beeps - then nothing happens. If RAM is filled then goes through a very slow boot up to windows - sometimes windows hanges on bootup too.
I know windows isn't the best flavor of the month - but once upon a time the PC did run faster - thought adding more RAM and then original HD crashed so new HD was needed.
Please help --
Running out of thoughts.
Steve

 

[JFRobishow]

Try running memtest on your sticks

http://www.memtest86.com/

Also when you say it beep at you, perhaps telling us how many beeps in a row would help.

 

[mrteacher]

Thank you - will check this - might be very viable possibility. Never thought the memory might be bad.

Steve

 

[mrteacher]

Memory test came back fine. no problems.
What would be the next step?
I removed and re-installed Win XP Pro... Still nothing????

Steve

 

[temporello]

No surprises really...
Bad memory wouldn't slow down your system,it would make it collapse at random.

Anyway check the running processes with task manager (ctrl shift esc) to see if something takes hold of your resources!

 

[tf1]

And please tell up about the beeps. The sequence/number of beeps has a significance.


Regards: tf1

 

[mrteacher]

the beeps issue is fine if I have the memory in and the cards override cards in for the ram - this is rambis ram so harder and more expensive to buy too.

 

[mrteacher]

What has me very worried was that during install of Win XP Pro - it took ALL night for the process to install on the 250GB Western Digital Drive (7200 rpm). I had to install new on my 100GB laptop which only took a few hrs.

It should not take that long with XP is the only on the drive at the time being put on!

 

[tf1]

Have you looked in Device Manager to see if there are any driver conflicts or other problems reported?

If Device Manager shows no errors or missing drivers, then try installing SiSoft Sandra and let it test the whole system. Something is dragging it down and you have changed so many items, it is difficult to diagnose. It may be something really simple like your processor has been clocked down or it may be a missing or wrong IDE driver.

Get into BIOS and check all the settings, especially processor multiplier and bus speed settings.


Regards: tf1

 

[mrteacher]

Hi everyone...

Ok - I ran SiS Sandra...

The following are some of the results:
Notice 224: System bios: SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate.
Tip 212: Sys Bios: BIOS can be shadowed so check whether it is (I do not understand that).
APM & ACPI - again Notice 224 as above.
Windows Memory Info:
Tip 2004: Page fike is too large. The page file should be max 2.5 times sys memory.
Process Info -
Tip 1601: MCI command handling window : Program consumes a large amount of memory. WARNING: wuauclt: Process no longer exists -(do not follow this??????)

So this is what came out of the report for running the Performance Tune-Up. Is there another program in there I should run?

It took forever for this small program to run - a couple of hours!!!! It ran in 10 minutes on my Hp Pavilon laptop.

Steve

 

[garebo]

Did you check and see if the correct cpu speed is being recognized by windows?
It shouldnt take more than about an hour to install win xp.
I never sit and watch it so i am guessing about the time but i cant be too far off.
I would suggest you check the hard drive also. Go to the hard drive mfgr website and download their diagnostic program and run it. You could even run the "zero fill" or "zero write program". This sometimes fixes hard drives.
Beware, of course, that you would have to re-install windows and the hard drive would be reformatted.
There is a test on sisoft sandra for just the cpu, i believe. And there is another test to compare your pc to the speed of another. Perhaps you could report what that test says.
Also, there could be a problem with something you installed from your motherboard cdrom. You could try re-installing. Is there any ide drivers on your motherboard cdrom? It seems to be either a problem with the hard drive or the way the system is recognizing the cpu, but i think its got to do with the hard drive to be that slow.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[mrteacher]

will give it a shot - thanks

 

[temporello]

MCI command handling window : Program consumes a large amount of memory. "

Most likely that's the cause of your problem.

 

[mrteacher]

If this is the problem - the MCI Command handling Window - which I have not had opportunity to look into yet - how would I alleviate the problem?