Vista is very slow on my computer

[Leibniz]

I've installed recently windows vista on my computer and it is very slow, here is the decription of the system that i'm using:

Compaq sr1850nx
2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 3700+ processor
1MB L2 cache
2000MHz system bus
2GB PC 3200 DDR SDRAM
Integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Graphics Card with 256MB shared video
hard drive: 250 GB

is there anything that i can do make windows vista run properly with my computer system?

 

[smah]

Is it still slow in safe mode? Resolving this issue will take trial and error - what have you already tried? If this is an upgrade, perhaps something that was already installed is the problem. Are there any errors showing in Device Manager?

 

[HughLerwill]

Have you tried Control Panel\Performance Information and Tools?

What Windows Experience Index are you getting? May be that analysis will point to the cause of your grief...

 

[linney]

How recent is the install? Is there a lot of drive activity? Does Task Manager indicate what is using all the CPU?

Will it Start and run correctly in Safe Mode. Can you check out how it runs if you login as any other user in Normal Mode?

To get further information about any errors look in your Event viewer.

Look in the System or Application folder. You can get to the Event Viewer via right click My Computer icon and select Manage.

Any errors logged in the Event Viewer can be expanded by double clicking on the error line.

Take any event error I.D. number and search for it on this site.

http://www.eventid.net/events.asp

If the problem occurred after installing a device driver or application, try removing the driver or program.

Any errors in Device Manager?

To check conflicting software, most of these apply equally to Vista.

310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Removing adware & spyware
faq608-4650
Will check your computer for spyware and adware.


See if you have any services that are flagging as "Starting" but not actually running.


Some general things to try.

See if System Restore will get you back to a restore point before your problem with Windows.

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right-click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking. Select both boxes.

Run the System File Checker program from an elevated (Administrator) command prompt by typing.....Sfc /Scannow in it.

Windows Help and How-to

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/maintenance.mspx

 

[Leibniz]

Well,thanks for the replies, i have tried some of the recommendations but i'm still having high cpu usage more than 90% cpu usage when i take time to look in task manager. Yes, vista was a little quicker when runing in safe mode. But even when i've tried to disable all the services that are launched at startup i'm still geting cpu usage ranging from 71% to 59%, what is causing that? Is it because my computer is simply not compatible with vista (i have runed the compatibility test and it said that my computer is compatible with vista).
Is it because of my graphic card which is integrated in the motherboard?

Any hints will be very welcome!

 

[linney]

Has you computer ever run Vista satisfactorily?

Which Process is using the CPU excessively? Look in Task Manager, and select "Show processes from all users

 

[Leibniz]

Well, since the begining it never did run properly (windows xp seems to be far better when it comes to performance)

And the process that is using a lot of cpu ressources is: the "System Idle Process" which can use 97% or more cpu ressources

 

[HughLerwill]

> the "System Idle Process"

runs when nothing else is; that is quite normal for an idle computer.

Did you ever investigate your Windows Experience Index as previously suggested?

 

[Leibniz]

what is experience index? I have no idea of what this is but anyway i have manage to disable the autoindexing feauture that windows vista use for making file searching quicker. This in turn has improve a littlebit more the overall performance of the computer.

the system idle process runs when nothing else is; that is quite normal for an idle computer

i have read this on many other places on the internet and i think that i understand this part. But why when using windows xp pro i still have that same process running and it never shows that i`m using 99% or 100% cpu ressources as i have in vista. With windows xp pro, when i`m not doing anything on the computer, i only have 0% or 1% cpu usage only. There's got to be something wrong somewhere.

 

[linney]

System Idle Process" which can use 97% or more cpu ressources", the higher the better with that process. It is hard to correlate that reading with this, "still geting cpu usage ranging from 71% to 59%". Are you saying when the CPU usage is high, the System Idle Process is high (normal) too?

Is there any easily detachable hardware that you can remove from the machine, things like USB devices, Card Readers, etc?

Are there any errors in Device Manager, or mention of Problem Devices in MsInfo32?

 

[Leibniz]

No i don't have any usb device attached to the computer.

71% to 59%: that was only when i have disable all the services that runs at startup (at list most of them).

System Idle Process" which can use 97% or more cpu ressources", the higher the better with that process.

Ok,but why in windows xp pro i always that same process running but it never shows 100% usage or whatever similar on the task manager?

Could it be because of my graphic card, i know that windows vista is very high demanding in graphic ressources. I'm saying this because i have notice that the image on the screen seems to be floting when i use the scollbar when moving a window (the image is not truely stable).

I have downloaded updated drivers (vista driver) for the graphic card and it doesn't seems to solve that problem.

 

[smah]

When the system idle process is high, it means that your system is mostly idle. If your XP system had a lower idle percentage, that means it had more system processes being used. If you have delay/slow issues with your computer, it's not becuase the system idle process is high.

 

[Leibniz]

It's not that win xp pro has a lower idle percentage but it is really that the overall cpu usage shown in the bottom of task manager when i`m not doing anything is between 0 and 1%
but with windows vista, i always get 100% of cpu usage most of the time. I most agree that it might not be the 'System Idle Process' at all that is causing the problem. But what is it that is taking all of that cpu ressources? I'm saying this because right now i haven't install any software at all on the windows vista section of the computer (only the drivers for the graphic card and the sound card ...)

 

[BadBigBen]

I would suggest you either install a seperate GFX card, or switch VISTA into CLASSIC mode, ergo no fancy AERO...

the integrated GFX-card that you have is really not up to par with the AERO style GUI of VISTA, and to boot it takes 256 mb from your 2gig away...

by switching into classic mode, you disable the AERO GUI and thus free the system thus speeding it up... I did this on my laptop and boy does it fly...



Ben

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

 

[smah]

If your task manager shows 100% CPU usage, you need to tell us why. No one involved in this thread can tell for certain from whereever we are on the internet - that's why we've been offering suggestions about how to find out. Perhaps you should try some of the earlier suggestions. You can also sort the task manager by CPU usage by clicking on the CPU column heading. If there is something using 100% of your CPU usage, you'll need to figure out what it is (and system idle process does not count so don't blame that).

 

[Leibniz]

Thanks to everyone, the problem that i have had with windows vista is now solved! It was just a wrong setting on the bios that needed to be corrected. The graphic card was set on "pci" instead of "onboard". Now windows vista runs at the speed of light!! (the current speed of the computer with vista is really impressive) It looks to be even quicker than the other partition on the computer that has windows xp pro Sp2.

 

[linney]

Great that you have sorted out your problem, thank you for the feedback.