HELP! SLOW OLD MACHINE

[BURKEPHOTOS]

Have a five year old Dell Precision 650 Xeon. Opperations like opening another window can take five minutes. Also, getting the external flash card reader to show up is sometimes impossible until the machine has been on for a couple of hours. Seems things are erratic or nonoperational then will start working. Shutdown is slow or just hangs with "Windows is shutting down".

I'm replacing this machine (thanks for the advice given here for that new machine) but would like to get it back functioning normally.

Thanks for any help,

Burke

 

[vacunita]

I would suggest backing up any and all important data from it, and just formatting and reinstalling windows from Scratch.

A 5 year old machine can gather lots of stuff running that only bogs it down.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[BURKEPHOTOS]

Actually, I've done that......twice. Just thought someone might have had experience with this type of intermittent performance.

Not computers, but I've seen electrical contacts become oxidized over time and give intermittent connections, some times heat after being on for some time will cause a board to expand and make better contact. Not sure if this happens with computers.

Thanks,

Burke

 

[vacunita]

In computers if you have heat issues, they'll turn off, Not slow down. If you have dust build u that prevents contact, usually the device or PC will not even start.

Bulging capacitors would probably cause the Pc to not boot at all.

Slowness usually indicates either insufficient memory, or too many processes running at the same time that consume resources.

How much RAM is in the machine?

Check task manager and see what's running. You should have about 30 or 40 processes running normally.


More than that and you should look into disabling some of them.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[xit]

first, what version of windows are you running & is it updated? Second, how much hard drive space do you have % wise. Next thing I would do is to download the hard drive builders utilities to see if your drive is up to snuff, could be a drive issue.
Next I would replace the drive cables with new ones to eliminate those as a cause.
Unplug your cd-dvd drives before start up.

let us know
xit

 

[BURKEPHOTOS]

Running Win XP sp3 reinstalled twice. "C" drive is 80% free. 2GB RAM.

I'll see what the HD site has to offer for utilities. What's the HD ribbon cable failure rate?

Thanks,
Burke

 

[xwb]

From a dos prompt, it is fast if you just type explorer. How about when you type dir. Does it take as long to respond?

If dir is fast and explorer is slow then it suggests something is wrong with windows (possibly a virus on open). If the speed is the same, then it suggests a hardware problem.

Ribbon failure rate is low unless the ribbon is flattened. Also, is it in completely? Another common problem is if there are two drives and they both want to be master.

 

[wahnula]

Make your IDE is running in DMA (and not PIO) mode in Device Manager. Chack your capacitors for bulging lids as in

http://www.badcaps.net

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[G0AOZ]

Given reasonable useage, a hard drive of this age may well be "slowing down". That is to say, data blocks take longer and longer to read and write. Try running something like MHDD on the drive. This will show you block read times in milliseconds, and any problem or unreadable blocks. Suspect a drive problem if you see any blocks in the <50mS or above categories.

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[BadBigBen]

Also a cause for SLOWNESS, if you have (had) network drives attached and the system is looking for them while opening explorer and during shut-down...

as mentioned, HDD & cables can go bad...

also look at the PSU, especially the voltage levels, they can die slowly...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[BURKEPHOTOS]

I've done some of the test suggested. No luck so far. This was a well maintained machine, cleaned inside and out regularly, all updates, defragged regularly, not abused or even moved.

It will be about two weeks or so before I have the new build ready to replace this machine. It's still limping along and I will continue to use it until the replacement is ready. Then I can pull it apart and examine it more closely.

Just looking for direction as to what might be the problem.

Thanks so far everyone,
Burke

 

[paparazi]

As with all diagnosis....try and minimize the elements involved...disconnect all external interference ie; networks, plug in devices etc replace the keyboard and mouse with a basic PS2 set.
Next stage is to take it back even further, to a basic configuration of one hard drive, one stick of ram, CPU/fan, PSU, Unplug any additional cards.
Test,test, test.....when does the fault occur, when does the fault disappear? under what conditions? with which programs? etc etc. it will take time.
What did you decide on in the end for your new setup?
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep

 

[BURKEPHOTOS]

NEW PHOTOSHOP MACHINE

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KSRTL 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Retail
Item #: N82E16822136039
Creative Inspire 245 4 Watts 2.0 Speaker - Retail
Item #: N82E16836116030
(2) Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822135106
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 English for System Builders 1 Pack CD - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116515
ASUS Arctic Square 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail
Item #: N82E16835101010
Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA - Retail
Item #: N82E16817153071
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115041
(2) LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827136152
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR10664GK - Retail
Item #: N82E16820227289

Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136313
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 B2L-00047 Black USB Ergonomics Keyboard and Mouse - OEM
Item #: N82E16823109156
ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131297
Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811129025
CABLES UNLIMITED USB-1610B All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader - Retail
Item #: N82E16820339001
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817703009

Made a few changes to info suggested here.

Burke

 

[paparazi]

Looking gooood!
Are the 2 X 80's WD's for a raid and your operating system?

Just the job..
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep