Very slow startup with XP, slow performance

[ravisunny2]

@Steven Pilgrim

Sure. That point has been flogged to death, before.

Safe surfing, mail checking etc. are of course desirable.

Some people even claim not to use any anti-virus at all.

 

[ravisunny2]

@bazz2004

Sound advice.

Understand what you plan to do, before doing it.

 

[beckyjc]

OKay, i now have the ATI HD 5670 512mb.

Easily better specs than my old card.

Checked the card was working and installed it, wasnt really noticing a big improvement.

So i formatted the C drive and reinstalled windows.

Got everything back running, and noticed my graphics are being a bit laggy, where they were fine on the other install.

By laggy i mean when i switch through windows, reminants of the old window still remain on screen, like form fields and the title bar/minimize/maximize/close buttons they hang there for a few seconds then disapear when the window loads fully.

http://img191.imageshack.us/i/graphicscard.jpg/
Heres a pic of what i mean, im guessing this is something to do with the drivers? First time around I just let windows install the drivers with the found new hardware thingy. This time i did it from the CD, then i tried updating to the latest drivers, then i tried uninstalling them and doing it the first way. I'm still getting issues.

My coursework is always on memory stick, im not worried about that, its everything else that wont fit onto memory stick/CD i worry about.

Currently, i havent fully tested the card to see if its improving my CPU usage problems, once i get it working properly i'll let you all know.

Would adding another gig of RAM improve the CPU power? Or are they two seperate things?

 

[bazz2004]

Your 2Gb ram should be enough. You're not having much luck. I'd have another go at installing the graphics drivers and not spend any more money for the moment. It's not likely but you could try it with a different monitor and cable if they're to hand. What have you settled for in terms of security because you have run the computer without AV enabled according to your earlier posts? One good AV program and a firewall is plenty. More than one AV program running is a bad idea.

 

[gbhall]

Tell me what resolution and refresh rate is your monitor working at ? e.g. 1280x1024 pixels, 32-bit colour, 96dpi, monitor 60Hz.

Are you running active desktop ?

Tell me what happens when you just have nothing running other than anti-virus and firewall, you have just the desktop visible, you grab your mouse and twirl it round the screen in circles as quickly as you can. You see a number of little arrow-heads like breadcrumbs left behind for a split-second? How many can you see at a time? Is it about 10-12 or more? This is a test of how quickly your screen re-draws.

 

[beckyjc]

I dont know, for audio production the more plug-ins and so on used the more heavy it gets on the computer, I think the "headroom" would be usefull

Im current using the VGA port if that makes any difference, ill have a look around for a DVI cable.

Running malware bytes, and avast atm, avast seems to be working good for me.

Is windiws firewall not enough?

1280x1024, 32 bit, 120dpi (im kinda blind), 60hz refresh rate

I see around 10 arrows.

Active desktop is disabled.

 

[bazz2004]

The free version of malwareytes won't conflict with Avast AV but there are people saying that the paid for version which continuously monitors computer activity does.

 

[gbhall]

Is windiws firewall not enough?

1280x1024, 32 bit, 120dpi (im kinda blind), 60hz refresh rate

I see around 10 arrows.

That leaves me at a loss, refresh seems fine. I can only suggest you try the desktop at 96dpi as an experiment, see if it still hangs onto parts of the display too long. Dont believe vga /dvi would make the slightest difference.

ref: windows firewall. I dont use it as it only works one way, and does not alert you to some application trying to access the internet without permission. ZoneAlarm free version does that just fine, you can give permission on a once-off basis or continually. On the otherhand, I am still using 9.2.057 which is probably way out-of-date. It may be heavier on CPU now.

There are numerous settings in the system properties of the system panel. Try the advanced tab, and the button for the performance tab. Cut things down in the visual effect. No fading, no sliding, shadows only where you really want them like this http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/175303/improve_the_performance_and_response_pg2.html?cat=19

and look at the menu speed controls. This is just one http://www.theeldergeek.com/faster_start_menu.htm I think I set something else that worked very well, but finding it again is a problem. I'll see what I can do.

Final note. Why not put a shortcut on your desktop called 'sleep' ??? The properties are
target : %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Standby
startin: %windir%

double click appears to shut your PC down, but it doesn't quite. Uses next to no electicity though, and makes no noise. Press any key and you are ready to work in about 8-10 seconds......http://www.timeatlas.com/term_to_le...ng_differences_between_hibernate_and_stand_by

PS another thought. It is unlikely, but possible, that the drivers for your original card are still present and connected. That would explain your weird 'lagging' problem. Obviously, get rid.

 

[beckyjc]

96dpi didnt help. I think ill make a new thread on this.

I dled ZoneAlarm, thanks for the reccomendation.

As for disabling visual effects, way ahead of you, everything is off, though I keep my theme on, disabling it doesnt make a big difference.

Menu delay is at 0.

I dont really like the idea of sleeping my PC, i've heard that it can gradually damage the hard drive. Not that its needed since my PC is booting fine now.

I had a look through my BIOS settings and decided to use the jumperfree to OC my CPU by 10%, its been running smooth since i did this, and i'm getting 10% more headroom to work with in Pro Tools, which is great. In the long run, i think i should look into getting a new Mobo + 4gb ram + Intel i3 3.20ghz dual core processor, i think my problem with CPU getting maxed out is just down to my computer not being anywhere near top of the line anymore. I figured itd be cheaper than upgrading everything individually, since im still using DDR ram and a 939 socket for the CPU, im not too happy with overpaying for outdated hardware that wont be much better than what i have.

Any thoughts on this set up?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Dual-...1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1303152203&sr=1-2
(Price for all 3 deal.)

I actually had a look with driver sweeper, I see

Nvidia - Display, Chipset, PhysX

I tried to remove the Nvidia display driver ofc, but it keeps popping back up when i reboot, do i need to do it in safe mode?

 

[gbhall]

Menu delay 400 works best for me.

Damage the HDD ? That's old talk, from the days when many motherboards were not properly ACPI compliant. You could put a laptop into standby, but the HDD would continue to run, resulting in disc damage if the laptop was moved.

You could check that standby actually does stop the drive. If it does, no problem. The other mistake is setting standby to occur every 10 minutes, when you would be continually starting and stopping the HDD.

The only things to beware of are :
Is the PC ACPI compliant and stops the HDD on standby?
Standby only when you would have previously switched off.
Dont leave any applications running, as the system state all remains in memory, which is lost if the power is cut.
Dont change the PC hardware when in standby, like disconnecting a printer.
You won't confuse standby and hybernate, since hybernate is no better than power-down, essentially.

Ref the remaining Nvidia driver - is this seen in device manager (probably with a yellow peril mark). If so, uninstall it in the normal way, using add/remove programs. If it wont go doing this, you may have found a reason for your troubles.

 

[bazz2004]

"I'm a student, on a student budget. The only money i have goes towards transport costs for getting me to college."

Don't get too carried away. It's more likely that there's a problem rather than that your computer's not up to the job. Pinning it down is another matter though. Best of luck..

 

[beckyjc]

Ahh well fair enough, i'm not really too fussed on using standby, since i tend to have it running all day then switch it off when I stay out. I dont really need to be back up and running with my PC in seconds.

I had a look in device manager, no other drivers for graphics are listed, nor in add/remove programs. I did realise i forgot to install my chipset though because i had so many drivers that werent working, installing that didnt seem to help with my graphics problem.

I still have 4 drivers that didnt install with the chipset if anyone has a clue?
Erthenet Controller
PCI Device
Raid Controller
Unkown Device (I guess ill just disable this one)

I'm not talking about an overhaul any time soon, in the future id like to be running a home studio and a better computer is probably going to have to happen.

Some of the plug-ins i was using are pretty CPU intensive, since its all live processing and running 3/4 plug-ins a track on average with 20 tracks. I need a computer that can handle that.

 

[bazz2004]

You haven't given any information about how the computer copes with the run of the mill computing tasks like surfing or office applications. Presumably it does other things besides audio processing. If it runs well with more mundane tasks that suggests it isn't up to the loads you are putting on it.

A specialist in audio processing is the person you could do with advice from. How about requesting support from your course tutors? They are paid to help you and should know the answers. It's a waste of time worrying about viruses, AV software conflicts, drivers, video cards etc if the kit is substandard.

 

[beckyjc]

Other stuff i use the computer for like general surfing, word processing, powerpoint, publisher adobe fireworks, mediamonkey, adobe dreamweaver works the majority of the time without a hitch, id usually have a few applications running when im just generally using it; My email client (thunderbird), firefox, mediamonkey, word 07 and fireworks for example, and it'd run fine. Not tried any games yet but I dont imagine there being a problem.

My tutors reccomend I take the mac route, id be more than happy to oblige (I do love OS X.) if it didnt cost £1k to get a mac with an equivilant to the hardware in the machine im allready running. I was planning on a hackintosh setup when I get a computer that will work with it, but thats not really relevant.

I've finished college till september now anyway.

AV software doesnt matter since i disable it when using my DAW, but I was concerned with secuirity, conflicts and video cards for general usage not strictly just for audio processing. I'll probably check out some tech forums see if they have any reccomendations.

I believe i also figured out what was wrong with my graphics. I was running ViGlance, disabled that, no problems.

 

[gbhall]

I still have 4 drivers that didnt install with the chipset if anyone has a clue?
Erthenet Controller
PCI Device
Raid Controller
Unkown Device (I guess ill just disable this one)

Ethernet controller almost always on the motherboard, so needs a motherboard driver. PCI device is for your PCI channels, one of which is your video card, but the board supports two so you have one unused. Raid controller is for the SATA channel.

The way to go is start device manager click network adapters and double-click the ethernet adapter. 4 to 6 tabs show everything you need to know, including the driver files. Be interested to know if that is using motherboard chip driver or a generic XP one. Doesn't matter too much if it works ok anyway.

So far as I can tell, you can now boot in a good time, and have got rid of the video artefacts, so you are probably as well set as you will ever be on that kit. Try to resist the urge to fiddle any more !!

 

[bazz2004]

The advice from gbhall boils down to "if it aint broke don't fix it" and is good. Extra ram is a worthwhile upgrade but only if you are happy that the computer is running properly. The proviso is ensuring that you get exactly the right type to match your set up. It's an upgrade you can do in minutes.

 

[Mark56]

A point that was mentioned back in post 8 Re: Sata drivers and running the hard drive is IDE mode.

Sata drivers need to be integrated into the OS disc or installed with a floppy disc during the XP installation using the F6 key very early in the installation process.

Having your SATA hard drive running as it should would without doubt speed up your system.

 

[bazz2004]

I reckon that Mark56 has spotted the underlying problem.

 

[beckyjc]

The video card is on a PCI-E channel, the drivers are listed for that in device manager, would I need the regular PCI drivers too?

There is no information on the erthenet adapter in device manager at all.

Yeah i think ive done just about everything with this computer now anyway. :

Its deffinately DDR-1 (PC3200) ram my computer needs, im not sure its worth the upgrade, since im not sure if extra RAM will effect the computers peformance with audio production software, it takes very little RAM and a load of CPU. ANd its about £30 a gig stick.

Is that what the RAID controller driver is for? Theres no option in the BIOS to change it to and from SATA/IDE mode so i wasnt aware.

My dad built the computer a while ago, i dont have any of the original disks or what not for it.

 

[bazz2004]

It's a bit hard to explain, but if you try to install XP on a more recent computer with a SATA hard drive, which is what you replaced the original with, the OS won't install. It stops when it can't find the necessary SATA drivers on the XP installation disk. There's three options:

1 Download and install the missing drivers on a floppy disk and the XP installation will proceed..
2 Make a new Windows XP disk by "streaming" or including the missing drivers.
3 Use a virtual OS set up like VMware Player which runs XP inside a later operating system.

I do realise that you have no Windows XP disk though. You've got round the lack of SATA drivers by running the hard drive in emulation mode but now need to install the correct drivers to get your system up to speed. That shouldn't be too difficult. Hopefully, this is a useful summary of the position. You know as much about computers as most of us beckyjc so I hope that my comments don't come across in the wrong way.

 

[Mark56]

You don't need a RAID controller, this is for a RAID set up normally used on servers with multiple drives.

Where have you looked in the Bios for the SATA set up. You should find the settings under "Integrated Peripherals" and then look under "IDE function set up". You should have "Serial-ATA controller" in the list which will be disabled. Bios layout varies so yours may be slightly different.

From this link you can get the SATA-RAID driver for your motherboard. It is listed under IDE. The RAID element in the name is misleading but this is the correct driver to enable your drive in SATA mode. In the link select WinXP from the drop down list.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_Socket_939/A8NSLI_Deluxe/#download

You need to download the driver to your desktop and then extract the contents.

In Device Manager you will see Storage Controller, Expand it and find SATA controller, right click and then select Update. Go through the screens, do not allow windows to search and choose have disc and select to find from a specific location. Point it to the extracted file and install it. Then reboot into the Bios, Integrated Peripherals, IDE Function Set Up, Serial-ATA Controller and enable it. Reboot and that's it.

If you have any doubts during this process, abort it, as getting the installation wrong may stop your PC booting.