PC suddenly started running slow

[marcomjl]

Hi, I have a E5200 cpu with 2gigs of ram, GS6800 video card, sound card computer. I have it running windows xp and has been like this running fine for a long time. I just recently 2 days ago started it up and windows loading screen takes sometime now, windows start up takes time, and basically anything loading takes sometime, once loaded though it runs ok, not fluid like before but manageable. If I play a game, every loading of a map takes forever and I usually miss 3-5 minutes of the game I'm joining already, running the game is a little laggy.


I've been running antivirus and malware programs and nothing has come up. I wonder if its a hardware problem? My CPU temps are normal.

 

[thomasd221]

Go into the bios and set it to default but turn off speedstep technology (If your CPU supports it.

Do a disk defrag by downloading defraggler, do a system cleanup by downloading ccleaner.

Delete programs/files that you don't need/use.

Click start, run, then type msconfig and disable programs like itunes, realtek/Soundmax, ati/nvidia control panels and other things, search google for what to disable.

Hope i helped!

P.S - If your motherboard is old it could have bulging capacitors, search google for images of them, if some are bad, order some more of the SAME specification, get a i.t engineer to fit them or do it yourself, you will need soldering equipment.

 

[Cazalan]

Time to do a disc check. Sounds like your hard drive is about to go.

Check logs for disc read errors.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Run a hard drive test in DOS...HIRENS CD etc, it sounds like a failing hard drive...

All the best Brett

 

[marcomjl]

Well its definitely some type of hardware issue. My HD red light on the tower stays constant during loading windows which takes like 4 minutes now. Anything I do on startup or normal running its on constantly. I have fully defraged, fixed registry errors, etc on my pc. I looked at all the motherboards capacitors and they are fine, no loose cables and everything seems fine. Ran on each stick of ram also that checks out. It's a maxtor HD so I currently passed all seagate tools hd program tests except the long generic test which takes hours. I hope it picks something up.

 

[Brett928S2]

Well its definitely some type of hardware issue. My HD red light on the tower stays constant during loading windows which takes like 4 minutes now. Anything I do on startup or normal running its on constantly. I have fully defraged, fixed registry errors, etc on my pc. I looked at all the motherboards capacitors and they are fine, no loose cables and everything seems fine. Ran on each stick of ram also that checks out. It's a maxtor HD so I currently passed all seagate tools hd program tests except the long generic test which takes hours. I hope it picks something up.

Hi

You NEED to run that FULL test...

All the best Brett

 

[diablo24life]

Hi, I have a E5200 cpu with 2gigs of ram, GS6800 video card, sound card computer. I have it running windows xp and has been like this running fine for a long time. I just recently 2 days ago started it up and windows loading screen takes sometime now, windows start up takes time, and basically anything loading takes sometime, once loaded though it runs ok, not fluid like before but manageable. If I play a game, every loading of a map takes forever and I usually miss 3-5 minutes of the game I'm joining already, running the game is a little laggy.


I've been running antivirus and malware programs and nothing has come up. I wonder if its a hardware problem? My CPU temps are normal.

the problem is because you have a slow HDD, u need an SSD for fast boot and to open programs up fast. HDDs suck for desktop responsiveness. this is your problem, and also have 4gb of ram

 

[cmi86]

Don't listen to the guy above me. You don't need an SSD for your computer to function properly. However I would 100% agree with above posters that your hard drive is most certainly on the way out. Still test it thoroughly as it could be something small like a cable but chances are it's the drive it's self.

 

[diablo24life]

Don't listen to the guy above me. You don't need an SSD for your computer to function properly. However I would 100% agree with above posters that your hard drive is most certainly on the way out. Still test it thoroughly as it could be something small like a cable but chances are it's the drive it's self.

hes pc is slowing down, his boot times are slow, his pc feels sluggish. HDDs are slow to read compared to ssds. if he wants to see speed improvements with load times an ssd will only increase that

 

[marcomjl]

I wasn't born yesterday when it comes to PCs. I'm planing on a new system later this year (i7-3700K, 8gb ram, newer vc) Although I'll probably get a SSD anyways since it'll be one less thing to buy in the future build. I know I can function on a standard HDD.

Start up used to be less than a minute, since it happened I can eat breakfast, put a load of wood in the stove, brush my teeth and get dressed and I finally at the desktop lol.

 

[Brett928S2]

I wasn't born yesterday when it comes to PCs. I'm planing on a new system later this year (i7-3700K, 8gb ram, newer vc) Although I'll probably get a SSD anyways since it'll be one less thing to buy in the future build. I know I can function on a standard HDD.

Start up used to be less than a minute, since it happened I can eat breakfast, put a load of wood in the stove, brush my teeth and get dressed and I finally at the desktop lol.

Hi

Run a hard drive test in DOS...HIRENS CD etc, it sounds like a failing hard drive...

All the best Brett

 

[diablo24life]

I wasn't born yesterday when it comes to PCs. I'm planing on a new system later this year (i7-3700K, 8gb ram, newer vc) Although I'll probably get a SSD anyways since it'll be one less thing to buy in the future build. I know I can function on a standard HDD.

Start up used to be less than a minute, since it happened I can eat breakfast, put a load of wood in the stove, brush my teeth and get dressed and I finally at the desktop lol.

yes hdds are fine, i have a slow boot and prgrams could open up faster for me. but i really dont care about it, i have a solid system as well. gaming video editing is as fast as it gets for me. but load times on the desktop are slow. why? because i have a WD blue. im not getting an ssd for the record.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

check ram for errors, check hard drive for errors, check temps with hw monitor, maybe something is overheating due to heatsinks clogged with dust, or thermal paste losing its properties.

 

[marcomjl]

Well the Long generic test failed so I'm unloading the drive to my backup and switching out an extra smaller drive I have as my main for now.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

SSD are not necessary, but they do make a difference in loading times. I can have the best cpu, motherboard, and 32 gigs of ram and have a standard 7,200 rpm hdd loading a huge program vs the same with a ssd and see a big difference.

 

[cmi86]

Well the Long generic test failed so I'm unloading the drive to my backup and switching out an extra smaller drive I have as my main for now.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

SSD are not necessary, but they do make a difference in loading times. I can have the best cpu, motherboard, and 32 gigs of ram and have a standard 7,200 rpm hdd loading a huge program vs the same with a ssd and see a big difference.

Yes the fact an SSD would make you system faster goes without saying. However this was never the point of this thread, the point was to express that you issues were the result of a failing mechanical drive. Not that your system is slow because you have a mechanical drive.

 

[marcomjl]

Yes, but the only reason I added that is from "diablo24life" not reading what I posted correctly.