XP running like a snail after SP2 Install 3

[roblay22]

Hi All, We have recently installed SP2 on 2 machines on a network. Both machines are running Win XP Pro, 1 has 700 odd MB RAM and runs fine. My Machine had 256MB RAM at install, following the install the PC has started running like a snail, I am now waiting up to 5 min for an Excel spreadsheet to load which used to take about 30sec! The RAM has been upgraded to 512MB, but this has made little if no difference. We haven't had any other problems. Has anyone else had similar problems?? Any suggestions would be really helpful.

Cheers
ROB

 

[smah]

Open task manager & check the processes tab. Re-sort the CPU to find what's using all your proccessing power.

 

[roblay22]

hi, Thanks for responding. I did check the processes tab, system idle process was taking up the most as normal. I've sorted the problem now, when installing SP2 the driver update on the processor can cause problems, I know of several other who have had the same problem, the solution is to roll back the driver on the processor - job done.

Cheers

 

[micker377]

Which processor?

 

[MilesW]

just a thought

have you disabled the firewall XP svc pack to enables the firewall by default and this will definetely slow excel

as i have found out with users installing their ownfirewalls on laptops

PS. I installed svc pack 2 and it killed the machine i think - still investigating

 

[roblay22]

Hi, Processor on my machine is an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ running at 2.00Ghz. I have heard that it affects some intel based Dell machines too though.
With regards to the firewall, we run Kerio Winroute on the gateway as a corporate firewall and are using the XP firewall now for the desktops - we haven't had any problems - Yet! Actually our testing on SP2 has been pretty clear, we expected a load of hassle but haven't suffered.
Miles, try rolling back the driver on on the processor, the other thing is your gonna need better than 256Mb ram for it to run smoothly.

 

[screach]

Are you opening these files from a network share or locally stored file?

Sounds to me more like a network problem than a hardware problem. System IDLE will almost always use the majority of the system resources....you can ignore that one.

Screach.....the sound of your world coming to an end at the sight of the dreaded BSOD!

 

[HelloMike]

I've had the same problem as roblay22, but with a Dell Inspiron 1150 running XP Home. But I'm a novice on system internals. So my question is ... how (step by step, in very simple terms) do I roll back the driver on the processor ?

Indeed, is there a way to determine if this is what's required ?

Other details ... Task Manager shows taskmgr.exe burning up about 25% or CPU, and if any other processes kick in, they just swamp the machine.

And one further unrelated niggle ... switching on full window drag never survives a reboot. This is a real PITA. Any suggestions ?

TIA

Cheers,
Mike.

True wisdom is knowing when to RTFM.

 

[ncwvpcman]

We have it on about 6 Dells and all seems to working Great so far

 

[linney]

HelloMike,

283657 - How To Use the Roll Back Driver Feature in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;283657&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Processor will be listed in Device Manager.

Removing adware & spyware
faq608-4650


See

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm,

Line 30, left column for the saving settings issue.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_save_settings.htm

 

[HelloMike]

Thanks linney. I'll work my way through this lot tonight.

Before I loaded SP2 I'd already removed large piles of crud, but while I was researching what to do I must have missed Bill Castner's splendid FAQ. I'll probably go round the loop again, but this time in the right order

Cheers,
Mike.

True wisdom is knowing when to RTFM.

 

[HelloMike]

Linney,

You're almost a star. IOU a virtual beer

Fixed the performance issue. Eventually gave up on full window drag issue. It's verrrrrry late. Gory details below (surfers of a nervous disposition press Back button now).



For those of you who are as clueless as yours truly about doing this, here's a log of me doing what linney says I should do ...

Control Panel -> switch to Classic view if you haven't already -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Processors -> Your Processor -> Driver tab -> Roll Back Driver -> make a cup of tea / get yourself a beer / large red wine ... -> Hardware installation alert box (WTF !!!)which says

The software you are installing for this hardware - Processor - has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP.

And this is for an Intel Celeron 2.4Ghz processor !!!

-> Continue Anyway -> Restart -> Yes

... and it seems to have worked. Hurrah

As for Doug Knox's registry tweak ... didn't work out of the box So there must be another problem somewhere ... which suggests that my cleanup prior to installing SP2 didn't quite catch everything ...

Working my way through bcastner's FAQ ...
1. System Restore was turned off when I got to it. Is this the default setting ? I ask because AFAIK no human has been here before (on this machine anyway). And should I turn it on once I'm happy with everything ?
2. Big virus scan (in my case it's McAfee) ... more tea/beer/wine ... found 1 Adware reference in the System Restore area of the registry. Deleted it.
3. Trend Micro online AV scan ... lots of messages from the new-fangled security stuff in SP2's IE before it let me download & install Trend's ActiveX ... found the swizzor.ag trojan downloader that McAfee missed - it was in C:\Program Files\C2Media\setup.exe. Been there since July (shudder). Deleted it, as well as the registry reference to it.
4. CWshredder came up clean.
5. Spybot found NV-Dialer and a few other dodgy things (mostly in the registry) ... spent ages trying to create a System Restore Point ... eventually found an alert box hiding under the current window ;~{ ... trashed everything Spybot didn't like.
6. Had a peek at the registry. Doug Knox's Save Settings entry was there. Switched full window drag back on in Control Panel -> Display -> Appearance -> Effects.
7. Rebooted. Still no full window drag.

Cheers,
Mike.

True wisdom is knowing when to RTFM.

 

[bcastner]

Some thoughts:

1. System Restore is a great feature of XP. Enable it. Be sure to use the Settings button (right-click My Computer, Properties, System Restore) to adjust the amount of disk space System Restore can use. It can get greedy.

2. For the drag issue, a guess: there is an issue with the registration of a needed DLL file. Many of these are installed with IE, oddly enough:

Open a new notepad session, to be called IE_fix.cmd, and copy/paste the below:

regsvr32 urlmon.dll
regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll
regsvr32 Msjava.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
regsvr32 Browseui.dll
regsvr32 Shell32.dll

Save the file, then double click IE_fix.cmd and answer the prompts. Ignore any error messages.

Reboot and test again.

 

[linney]

You can play with this suggestion from this link.

http://www.mydesktophelp.com/tips/win143.htm

"Open your registry and find the key below.

Create a new string value named 'DragFullWindows', or modify the existing value, to equal '1' for enabled, or '0' for disabled.

Close the registry and restart Windows."

Key:[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
Value Name: DragFullWindows
Data Type: REG_SZ
Data0=disable, 1=enable)

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q="+full+window+drag"+xp

http://groups.google.com/groups?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q="+full+window+drag"+xp

 

[HelloMike]

Thanks for the extra suggestions guys. It'll be Saturday before I get chance to try them out, but I'll post back my results.

Cheers,
Mike.

True wisdom is knowing when to RTFM.

 

[HelloMike]

OK folks, the problems are now resolved. But not in the way I'd expected. Here's what happened ...

Tried bcastner's dll registration tweak. Didn't fix the DragFullWindows problem. However, it cleared up something else that had been niggling me that I'd assumed was related ... In both IE and Windows Explorer, checking View -> Status Bar wasn't surviving reboot. Now it is. So something's improved, but we're not quite there yet.

Linney pointed me at the key registry entry. It was set to 1 (enabled). And it's probably always been set to 1, but it has no effect.

So now I'm puzzled enough to do my own Googling. Found the solution here. It's a known but apparently unacknowledged problem with a lot of Dell machines. The little-used Dell Media Experience software munges the display after booting, and the solution is to uninstall it. Now how's that for something out of left field ?

Thanks very much for all your help on this one, particularly bcastner and linney. All's well that ends well.

Except ... someone blabbed to my extended family, and I've now been declared "the expert" volunteered for lots of PC-cleaning duties

Cheers, Mike.

 

[bcastner]

Glad you got it sorted. You are now the extended family expert, some tips that might help:

. Be sure to download the utilities discussed in faq608-4650.
. Always set in Internet Options, Advanced, to Empty Temporary Internet Files when browser is closed.
. Have in your kit a good freeware junk file and temporary internet file cleaner utility such as:

http://www.thejackol.com/archives/000039.html

. Clean the registry: an excellent freeware

http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

. Install a registry backup and optomizer tool. I use this oldie but goodie freeware:

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/

. Check that all of the workstations are up-to-date at Windows Update


Best wishes,
Bill Castner

 

[HelloMike]

Thanks Bill.

I'm already in the process of building a CrudRemovers CD. I've got most of the stuff mentioned in FAQ608-4650 and I'll be adding the rest of your suggestions shortly.

Have a good weekend.

Cheers, Mike.

 

[bcastner]

Make yourself one of these:
Ultimate Boot CD Windows PE Edition:

http://www.windowsubcd.com/index.htm

 

[HelloMike]

Looks useful. That's going on my ToDo list as well.

Cheers, Mike.