XP SP3 slow

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megabomination

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Why does XP sp3 make my pc REALLY slow/freeze? I have pent 4 3ghz, 1gb ram? Also ive been told that having anything more than 2 gig ram for xp is overkill regardless of what your doing or wheather using ddr or ddr2 ??
 
IT shouldn't, but having more information would help:

1. Right click on the Taskbar> Task Managers> how many processes are running? (lower left corner)
2. Start> Run> msconfig> enter> Selective Startup> Startup menu> how many processes are checked here?
3. What kind of processor do you have? Is it from Intel or AMD?

We'll go from this information.
 
Thanks . 34 processes are running,CPU usage is 1-4% with 346M PF usage, all startup processes are unchecked and the CPU is intel pentium 4 3.06Ghz. Any help appreciated.
 
Also need to know what protection you are using (anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware). What percentage of your hard drive is used (My computer, right-click on the drive icon, click properties tab).

Main causes of PC software slow-down here https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic58483.html

What you describe sounds more like a hardware problem to me though. I would check the hard drive (chkdsk /f), and drive manufacturers test software (download). Then when (and only when) the drive checks out 100%, do a defragment (can take hours). Test memory (memtest86) for four hours or more. Make some basic tests for spyware and malware (at least Malwarebytes, which can take hours, but first a 'quick test' with it - after updating it of course).
 
I just wanted a 'ball park' number from the Task Manager and the number of processes is very reasonable.

megabomination , we can try to pinpoint cause of freeze by looking for Error in the Event Viewer that corresponds to the time of the freeze:

Start> Run> type in eventvwr
Do this on each the System and the Applications logs:
1. Click to open the log>
2. Look for the Error>
3 .Right click on the Error> Properties>
4. Click on Copy button, top right, below the down arrow
5. Paste here (Ctrl V)
NOTE: Please ignore Warnings and Information Events. You do not need to include the lines of code-if any-in the box below the Description.And please do not paste the entire log.
 
When was the last time you defragged your Hard Drive?
Also run ccleaner, in order to remove any junk that might slow down your system.
slow downs might also be caused by an infection. Run a scan with your anti-virus, and anti-spyware program, then delete whatever is found.
 
Thanks all, ill try to answer some questions and then have to try to run some diagnostics. Im using AVG free, spybot S&D,ad aware 2007, 77GB of my cdrive is being used(out of 160GB) with 22GB free space left(NTFS). It way be a hardware issue as my hard drive became very noisey some time ago and im sure it slowed down? Yes i defrag regulary and use ccleaner daily if not weekly both the cleaning and the registery issuse checker.I dont run virus scanners as much as i should so ill do that and download the diag programmes mentioned thanks all..
 
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7
Date: 12/12/2008
Time: 10:24:00 AM
User: N/A
Computer: BITSASAURAS
Description:
The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...¶.
0008: 00 00 00 00 07 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 00 01 00 00 9c 00 00 c0 ....œ..À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 46 7a ec 07 00 00 00 .Fzì....
0028: bb 47 00 00 00 00 00 00 »G......
0030: ff ff ff ff 01 00 00 00 ÿÿÿÿ....
0038: 40 00 00 84 02 00 00 00 @..„....
0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40 . ..@. @
0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 90 fa 49 86 ....úI†
0058: 00 00 00 00 20 82 6d 86 .... ‚m†
0060: 02 00 00 00 23 3d f6 03 ....#=ö.
0068: 28 00 03 f6 3d 23 00 00 (..ö=#..
0070: 38 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 8.......
0078: f0 00 03 00 00 00 00 0b ð.......
0080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
 
The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block.
Your hard drive is failing. Backup, backup, backup!

You can try running the Error check:
Right click on My Computer> Local Drive> Tools tab> Error Check> check BOTH boxes on screen that comes up> OK> Close message and reboot.

Let the Error Checking complete. Computer will reboot when through. Don't count on this for major help- it will only be a minor assist.
 
Thanks.I got a new HDD , a samsung 500GB 7200 16MB. I seem to be having trouble installing windows on it ie when i use the recovery cds i have(my pc was an ACER SA80) the first disc works and lets me select a language and says to insert 2nd disc but hte second disc doesnt seem to do any thing? I have reinstalled windows before using the discs and know from that,they do work however u cant change partitions/format or any thing like that(not that ide really know what im doing there anyway!) so im thinking as they are acer recovery discs and not dedicated ms xp software there is a problem with the HDD being bigger(was 160gb) or different make or could it take much longer to install as HDD is bigger?? ANY HELP VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
 
Thanks.I got a new HDD , a samsung 500GB 7200 16MB. I seem to be having trouble installing windows on it ie when i use the recovery cds i have(my pc was an ACER SA80) the first disc works and lets me select a language and says to insert 2nd disc but hte second disc doesnt seem to do any thing? I have reinstalled windows before using the discs and know from that,they do work however u cant change partitions/format or any thing like that(not that ide really know what im doing there anyway!) so im thinking as they are acer recovery discs and not dedicated ms xp software there is a problem with the HDD being bigger(was 160gb) or different make or could it take much longer to install as HDD is bigger?? ANY HELP VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

Some clarifications please
1. You "got a new HDD"? and/or a new pc ("my pc was an ACER...")Vendor recovery disks look if same vendor PC - if only an HDD change should be OK

2. Vendor recovery cds don't necessarily equate to being full installation CDs which i think you are doing?

3. Have you simply tried a disc cleaner and wiping horizontally to clean the CD?

4. Is the old drive sill working (even if on the verge of pending failure) as you hope it lasts long enough so you can clone its image, transfer to another HDD, hope bad blocks aren't in a system critical file that can't be then recovered by your CDs. !
 
thanks for your reply.
1.The HDD is new, the PC was an acer but the only remaining parts know are the mouse,failing HDD and the software.
2.I thought the recovery discs were the full XP software installation with acer features but am not 100% sure. I have used them once before and they seemed to install windows again but that may have been because it was the origional HDD?
3.The discs are perfectly clean and scratch free.
4.Yes the old drive is still working.What would be the best way to transfer the data from old HDD to new.With a 2nd sata cable into the motherboard??
 
Yes, if you can still boot into windows on the original drive, then temporarily add the second (new drive) on a separate cable, then use drive cloning software, choice here

Norton Ghost (pay for)
Acronis True Image (most users prefer this one, pay for)
Acronis Migrate Easy (limited, pay for)
Drive Image (pay for)
DriveImage XML (This one is free)
MaxBlast (free)
pc-disk-clone(Home Edition: pay for)
Active@disk image (pay for - can clone every sector, useful for failed drive recovery)

Imaging: Backs up your entire system, including Windows and data, plus your partition as well. The image can be stored on removable media, or another HDD. Usually takes under an hour (depending on size of image) to fully recover to a blank HardDrive.

You create an identical copy on the new drive.

Your re-install will not work if it is only 'recovery disks' or 'recovery partition' and the motherboard has changed.
 
No a full install. Ive just rebooted pc after doing the error check,a good cleaning,defrag,installing 2Gb of ram and installing XP SP3 and it seems to be ok.Last night when pc rebooted itself after installing sp3 it took over an hour to start up and then was VERY VERY slow so i just shutdown and was going to restore it back this morning but its working ok for now?? Event viewer shows over 200 errors for the HDD this morning alone? I cant buy a cable until tomorrow! Bummer!
 
what worked for me

almost the same incident occurred to a friend's friend recently, with the BSOD, rebooting and bad block remarks in the system viewer.

took the drive out, encased it and made it to an external drive. defrag it on another system using usb. the objective was to move the system file away from the bad sectors.

put the drive back in and booted up. it worked. flawlessly. 4 months and going....
 
I have heard you dont really need SP3 and if things are working,why install it?

I prevented it on our XP upstairs because i didnt want issues on that computer.....
noobs - don't piggy back questions unless it is relavent to the current topic. Post a new question instead.
 
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