Why so slow?

[1756GR2]

HP Ze2000 laptop, four years old. XP with all the service packs. It's taking about 30 seconds to power on and display the desktop but another eight to ten minutes to stop thinking and be useable.

I've run Avast, CCleaner, Defraggler, in regular and Safe Modes, checked the startup processes and everything seems to be good - not too much running (38 processes in Task Manager), no buglies. Little in the way of MS programs - I have OpenOffice, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX suite, Thunderbird, Chrome, and an e-commerce site builder on it. AMD 1.60 GHz, 224 MB of RAM. A little over half the 40G drive is free. It's been slow since before the last service pack went on, I haven't added programs in a long time. (Exception of Chrome, but it was slow before that, too.)

I'd like to add memory to see if that's the problem, but like the rest of the local world, I'm flat broke. It works fine without any extra, once it gets going. But it takes forever to get there, much longer than when it was new. Used to take maybe a minute or two tops.

Is this common/normal? Am I just expecting too much from a four-year-old laptop? Should I turn off the wireless till it's fully functional? Is there something else I should be looking at?

This bugs the heck out of me.

[Elevator]

You definitely need more memory. I'd search around newegg.com and see if they have any good deals. I got 2 gigs of ram for $60 and my pc is flying. Ccleaner is about the only useful one of those programs, I use it every week.

Go through your add/remove programs, try not to run instant messenging programs, cut down on your anti-viruses.

But depending on your financial situation, you may want to buy an external hard drive to keep the stress off of your pc's C: drive. Also defrag when you can. All those options would likely be a lot cheaper than buying a new laptop.

[Broomjockey]

It sounds like it's trying to do things on start-up. Try and stop as much as possible from running at start-up, and see if that helps. Then run the things you need as you need them. I'd also really look into getting another stick of RAM. It could be that your RAM's getting old and starting to fail or some such, causing the slow-down during the relatively-intensive start up period.

[1756GR2]

Heh - failing memory is something I'm familiar with at my age. I don't get started nearly so quickly as I used to, either.

I'll take another look at my startup. I thought it was pretty minimal, but I'll get a bit more brutal and see what happens. I've been working with that in mind since once it's going, it runs just fine. There's just...something...that's dragging it down at the beginning. I don't have to have Comodo and Avast running immediately.

Starting a pile of change, saving up for memory. Surely can't hurt, and can only help. I can find it cheaply enough, but right now funds are just not there for anything, period. I can wait.

[Mr. Rude]

RAM!!!


We need more captain!!!

Here's what you can get.

http://18004memory.com/result.asp?mo...52629&mfgID=43
http://18004memory.com/result.asp?mo...55056&mfgID=43
http://18004memory.com/result.asp?mo...55057&mfgID=43


Check which one you have.

Hopefully your laptop can run PC 3200. I know that the website says that it can only take 2700, but most of the time if it can run 2700, it can run 3200.

Best of luck.

[MrSmiley]

It sounds like it's trying to do things on start-up. Try and stop as much as possible from running at start-up, and see if that helps. Then run the things you need as you need them. I'd also really look into getting another stick of RAM. It could be that your RAM's getting old and starting to fail or some such, causing the slow-down during the relatively-intensive start up period.

Right... the short version is that anything loading before the desktop is drivers, system components and whatnot.... and everything loading once the desktop appears are things set by windows to startup. There are two main places that should be checked.

1. Click Start > Run and type "msconfig" , a dialog box shows up which includes various user settings and things that startup for your computer which you can look over
2. Windows Services in Start Menu > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services... most of these are what comes with windows and it's a little work to figure out what's safe to turn off (may have to google), however it's entirely possible for regular programs to be services too. Anything set to "Startup Automatically" will do just that when the desktop appears.

On the other hand, the bad news is the longer Windows has been installed... the slower it seems to get all on it's own. There are various reasons for that which include the service packs, new updated (and more bloated) versions of other applications and all kinds of user files/icons/fonts etc that people install which can drain things.

Remember that you can ALWAYS see what's running and using memory & cpu at any given time by accessing the Task Manager's Processes tab. (either rightclick the taskbar and choose task manager or press CTRL-ALT-DEL once and choose task manager) It might give you an idea of what's pulling memory down.

Edit: Whoops. I just re-read your post and realized you had already done most of these steps. Guess I won't be much help. Some people reinstall their windows on a regular basis just so they can enjoy the speed boost that comes from a fresh copy... regardless of what people do (and remembering that people do a lot of crazy things that I don't know about anyway) Windows seems to get slower on it's own.

[1756GR2]

Edit: Whoops. I just re-read your post and realized you had already done most of these steps. Guess I won't be much help.

No, no, no - don't think that! While I may have done several things already, there's always something I could've missed or not checked thoroughly enough. I've checked msconfig and Task Manager, but completely forgot about the other process list. And the reminder about Windows just slowing down of its own accord is worthwhile - we redid my desktop last year and it made a difference. I'm looking in that direction for my laptop but I'm nervous about doing that - I forget to do useful things like backing up the emails separately from the mass backup.

If I try 3200, what would tell me that it's not working? It won't work at all, or something else? (Never ventured there.) Will it scream loudly or just whimper and close its eyes forever?

[Mr. Rude]

If it doesn't like the RAM, it just won't boot. The machine will be just fine. If it likes it, great!!

Make sure you take the battery out before tossing in the new stuff

[1756GR2]

Not sure if this means anything, but I couldn't get into msconfig tonight. Got the hourglass for a second, but no utility box. Tried it a bunch of times with the same result. Ye olde three-fingered salute didn't work either, but everything else seemed to work normally. I rebooted and can get to it now. Strange. First time that's happened.

[MrSmiley]

If I try 3200, what would tell me that it's not working? It won't work at all, or something else? (Never ventured there.) Will it scream loudly or just whimper and close its eyes forever?

Generally RAM can result in a bunch of different issues depending on a lot of variables. Here are the RAM issues I'm familiar with:

1. It doesn't fit in the first place
2. It doesn't boot and/or beeps
3. It boots but gives a memory error on the screen and/or fails the bootup memory test.
4. It boots fine but slows the RAM to a lower speed as it isn't capable of handling the full speed it's capable of (this might also be a bios speed setting on some systems). Generally this isn't a problem just not as fast as it might be in another system.
5. The ram works. Windows boots. Only there's something broken with the memory and it tosses corrupt data at the system sometimes... this seldom has much to do with the TYPE of ram though... so much as merely faulty