adamfgt78
Diabloii.Net Member
What could be wrong with my computer?
I've been having problems with my computer for quite some time and I'm hoping some you may be able to give some advice. First off my machine, as it was purchased Summer 2001, to the best of my memory:
Dell 8100
1.5 Ghz P4
256 MB RAMBUS RAM
40 GB hard drive
latest nVidia video card at the time, GeForce2? 3?
CDR and DVD drives
Windows ME
I changed the OS to a pirated copy of XP Professional edition maybe 2 years ago. That didn't see to cause any performance problems. I've also recently added a 120 GB drive.
The problem is that my machine seems to run really slow. It feels like I'm running a Pentium 200 or something. I'm going to have to mention DII , since that is a program most everyone is familiar with and its an app that I've been using throughout the lifetime of the machine so I feel its a good benchmark. When I exit DII to the desktop, it takes about 5-10 seconds for my icons to load. I can see each go from the "unknown" icon to the actual icon. While playing the game, I get a lot of graphical lag. It didn't used to do this. I should be able to handle the game because it was made a number of years ago. DII is just one example; the slow performance is present in pretty much any use of the machine.
A couple months ago, I decided I wanted to try to do something about this since its really pissing me off. I figured it might be good to do a complete reinstall. Now, I lost in a move all the discs that came with the computer and I no longer have the XP Pro disc. So I went out and bought XP Home. I did a dual OS install, so now I can boot into Pro or Home. However, when I use Home, something seems weird with the internet connection. I'm connected, but whenever I make a request, it transfers data really slowly for several seconds and then speeds up. This is obviously unacceptable for an avid surfer and game player. And the general performance problem is still present.
After seeing the internet problem thing, I was hesitant to do a complete wipe of my system and reformat the drive and do a reinstall of the OS. I didn't have the XP Pro disc, so I'd be stuck with XP Home. Around the same time is when I added the 120 GB hard disk. The old one was REALLY full, so I thought it might help to free some space on it. I did this, but nothing changed. I also considered adding more memory. I went to Best Buy and was told that my memory was too fast/expensive for the market and never really caught on. I'd have to buy my memory online and it would cost a couple hundred dollars. I haven't done this yet since I'm not sure it would help.
I'd done basic PD and cannot find anything wrong. In the system info, there is no indication of any hardware failures. I've looked in the processes and I cannot find any memory hogs. I do have a really large number of files on my main hd, could this be causing slow hd performance? I have somewhat split them up between the hard disks though, to no avail. Is it possible for RAM to "break" and become much less effective, yet the system not know about it? Or any other hardware pieces?
Anyone have any ideas of what might be going on or offer any advice?
I've been having problems with my computer for quite some time and I'm hoping some you may be able to give some advice. First off my machine, as it was purchased Summer 2001, to the best of my memory:
Dell 8100
1.5 Ghz P4
256 MB RAMBUS RAM
40 GB hard drive
latest nVidia video card at the time, GeForce2? 3?
CDR and DVD drives
Windows ME
I changed the OS to a pirated copy of XP Professional edition maybe 2 years ago. That didn't see to cause any performance problems. I've also recently added a 120 GB drive.
The problem is that my machine seems to run really slow. It feels like I'm running a Pentium 200 or something. I'm going to have to mention DII , since that is a program most everyone is familiar with and its an app that I've been using throughout the lifetime of the machine so I feel its a good benchmark. When I exit DII to the desktop, it takes about 5-10 seconds for my icons to load. I can see each go from the "unknown" icon to the actual icon. While playing the game, I get a lot of graphical lag. It didn't used to do this. I should be able to handle the game because it was made a number of years ago. DII is just one example; the slow performance is present in pretty much any use of the machine.
A couple months ago, I decided I wanted to try to do something about this since its really pissing me off. I figured it might be good to do a complete reinstall. Now, I lost in a move all the discs that came with the computer and I no longer have the XP Pro disc. So I went out and bought XP Home. I did a dual OS install, so now I can boot into Pro or Home. However, when I use Home, something seems weird with the internet connection. I'm connected, but whenever I make a request, it transfers data really slowly for several seconds and then speeds up. This is obviously unacceptable for an avid surfer and game player. And the general performance problem is still present.
After seeing the internet problem thing, I was hesitant to do a complete wipe of my system and reformat the drive and do a reinstall of the OS. I didn't have the XP Pro disc, so I'd be stuck with XP Home. Around the same time is when I added the 120 GB hard disk. The old one was REALLY full, so I thought it might help to free some space on it. I did this, but nothing changed. I also considered adding more memory. I went to Best Buy and was told that my memory was too fast/expensive for the market and never really caught on. I'd have to buy my memory online and it would cost a couple hundred dollars. I haven't done this yet since I'm not sure it would help.
I'd done basic PD and cannot find anything wrong. In the system info, there is no indication of any hardware failures. I've looked in the processes and I cannot find any memory hogs. I do have a really large number of files on my main hd, could this be causing slow hd performance? I have somewhat split them up between the hard disks though, to no avail. Is it possible for RAM to "break" and become much less effective, yet the system not know about it? Or any other hardware pieces?
Anyone have any ideas of what might be going on or offer any advice?