Added RAM but PC still runs like a dog

aliEnRIK

Someone had a simlar problem a while back. It needed a driver uninstalling and reinstalling. Try putting your main DRIVERS disc in and reinstalling them. (And the graphics card)

roadster1

Plenty of space on the hard drive and it has been checked. Virtual memory settings are correct. I have just turned down the System Restore available space and the recycle bin.

The new memory is 2 x 512mb which is the max that the motherboard will support. I forget what the speed rating is but is above the speed of the board , but will only run at the clock speed of course. Yes, it is being detected correctly.

Drivers..............now theres a thought.........I'll download the motherboard driver set and re-apply them. I sort of get the feeling that the slowness is due to disk access.

Is there a program that will test the disk access speed? Or in fact test the disk IO system?

GunJack

dunno 'bout that, but drivermax will help you check for updated drivers..tried it myself yesterday. Not the most user-friendly, but I collected updates for most of my system through it.

aliEnRIK

I went round to see a mate as he was having problems with his comp.
I couldnt for the life of me figure out why his hard drive was so slow (And I spent hours trying things)
I ended up buying a new drive and starting from scratch

roadster1

aliEnRIK wrote: »

I went round to see a mate as he was having problems with his comp.
I couldnt for the life of me figure out why his hard drive was so slow (And I spent hours trying things)
I ended up buying a new drive and starting from scratch

Well............it looks like I will have to do the same. I updated all the drivers etc. but still no luck. As I said a while ago I had a sneaking feeling that all is not well with the hard drive..........so.......I found a progam that test your hard drive speed (read only) and guess what? an amazing 39.6 Mb a second. On my other drive 430Mb sec.

I'm not missing anything obvious am I ? It passes all the tests, SMART, self test etc. just does everything very slowly.

aliEnRIK

Tuneup utilities could easily be slowing it down

roadster1

I'll run the test in safe mode and see if that makes any difference.

johncolescarr

No one has suggested it, so I'll be the first one! Linux offers a new life to what windows classes as obsolete hardware. Your machine has plenty enough oomph to run a decent distro of linux. Sounds like your an expert windows user, so you'll find a conversion to linux easy. If your not convinced try a live CD or a popular distro. My personal recommendation is Ubuntu. Ubuntu has an install called wubi. Wubi runs on windows like any other .exe app. After installing, you can choose to boot into windows or a full install of ubuntu. If its not for you, simply uninstall like any other windows app in add/remove programs.

You'll find remote access, networking, file sharing, plus much much more so much better than windows! Plus its inherently more secure and so much faster

vyseyboy

Check jumpers on hard disk and optical drives are set properly, and make sure that the IDE cable (assuming IDE drives) are properly aligned (and not shifted 1 row out of place all the way along.) look for bent or missing pins (other than the one or two that are meant to be missing,) and finally check that everything has been auto detected properly in the BIOS settings.

IDE bus can produce very odd behaviour if something is not quite right...

maxsquared

^agreed, and PCs from Althon time most likely is the case, you will be surprised what a new hhd can do.

http://maxsquared.com/blog/?p=90