Serious performance problems

[deekay64]

I'm having really bad problems with my 7yr old PC and wonder if it's time to replace or if anything can be done

 

It's on Windows XP, I have a 10mb Virgin Media broadband connection, use Firefox for the internet & following advice from your forums I now use Avast and SuperAntispyware

 

Basically I have problems with start-up (if there is an Avast update then the PC has to be shutdown and restarted or it hangs - I have a workaround that I leave the PC on late every night so the Avast update goes through then - but if it's been turned off a couple of days & theres and update due then it will not respond after the update)

 

Same situation when shutting it down, everything hangs, task manager won't come up for 'ending now' and eventually I have no choice but to just turn the base unit off.

 

When in use the longer the PC is on, the slower it gets - we have to shut down in the afternoon, let it rest and turn it back on - it's particularly bad on the internet using Ebay and Facebook - the only connection I can make between the two sites are the photographs and adverts which they both have in abundance. Unfortunately being a family PC both are in use quite a lot.

 

There is also the 'virtual memory is too low' pop-up all the time - sometimes when I first start up and only XP and Avast are running. I've been into the settings and changed the paging size to automatic (which I picked up from one of your previous threads) and it made a difference for a while but it's now back again.

 

It also gives up completely if more than one thing is being asked of it at a time - i.e I'm on the net and an email comes though - the processor starts running really noisy and everything just freeezes until the email is in

 

Do you think it can be saved? And is it worth paying the £25 to PC World (or my local independant) to do one of their performance checks on it... I want to know if there's anything you cna recommend or if I'd be better just replacing the PC.

 

I don't think it's the internet connection thats the problem as we have a router and my daughters laptop is absolutely fine

 

Any help much appreciated

[maynardvdm]

Hi

 

First of all make sure the pc is clean and that there is no dust build up on the inside. If the pc gets too hot it can cause freezing and slow downs.

 

What is the specs of your pc or the make and model no.

[deekay64]

Hi - it's never been cleaned inside - I wouldn't know how to go about that so maybe the £25 offer would be useful there.

 

I HOPE the info you need spec-wise is this - Colossus Computers AMD Athlon XP2200+ 1.80 GHz 224MB of RAM - if you need anything else can you tell me where to find the info please

[maynardvdm]

I would say first clean it inside. It is not that difficult, a can of compressed air should do the trick, just be careful.

 

Yes that is the specs. That should be fine for internet and general use.

[Jelly Bean]

Make sure you power off the computer and disconnect from power outlet before opening.

 

It is just gently clean all fans etc internaly.

 

I see you say it is an old computer.Is it possibly that your hard drive is rather full and you need to do a cleanup of old files and make more space on the hard drive?

 

How much free space does your hard drive have left and how large of hard drive do you have?

[Plastic Nev]

I will also add, can you tell us how much RAM the machine has, an upgrade to more won't break the bank and is easy to fit, we can advise on that, as I am thinking of your comment about virtual memory being low.

Nev.

[samuria]

Apart from anything else the main problem is 224MB of RAM that is why its so slow and your get the error of low virtual memory as its swoping out to disk all the time. You need ideally 2 gig of ram. I have an old pc with the same specs and has 1 gig of ram is nippy. There may be other issues like what runs at startup but more ram is you first thing to get and its not dear now

[deekay64]

Guys, thanks so much for your help - I have been out all day so apologies for delay in replying to your questions:

 

Jelly Bean - I think the hard-drive info you requested is 35.6GB total size with 9.71GB free space

 

Nev - the RAM is 224MB

 

I will look into the increase in RAM but I have no documentation with the PC so I don't know what type of RAM it is or how many sockets this PC has (or if any are spare). Is there anyway I can find that out from the PC itself?

 

Thanks again

[Jelly Bean]

Hey there your free space appears fine.Although a good cleanup of old files and programs no longer needed would help.

 

Click start/all programs/accesories/system tools/disk cleanup and check all boxes and do a cleanup.

 

Defrag your hard drive.

 

Also can you open command prompt and type in chkdsk /r and hit enter you will proberly get a message cannot run at this time would you like to schedule.Type Y hit enter and restart your computer and let chkdsk /r run.

 

Scan your computer using this online scanner it will tell you what RAM to buy and how much your PC can have installed:

 

Memory upgrades from Crucial.com - About Crucial:Media Toolbox

 

Download this and post results of SpeedFan please a screen shot would be good:

 

SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

Edited August 8, 2009 by Jelly Bean