Computer needs an XS overhaul..

[motoman]

Computer has some corrupt files.....so if it takes a "dump"anytime soon, won't be here short of down time.........we'll see how long she goes before that happens.(bet it won't outlast the XS). Just pentium2 runnin hooked to DSL high speed(now there's a mis-match) kinda like a Harley gearhead trying to out muscle an XS!

[Jerry]

You didn't mention operating system, but one thing to try is running scandisk or chkdisk in full repair mode. You can run chkdsk from a DOS prompt:

chkdsk /f

Scan disk is an older command that can be run through menus. Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scan Disk. If you get an option of scanning both system and data areas, check Both, which is normally the default. Plan to let your computer run for several hours, depending on the size of the drive, speed of the processor, and other factors. I recently had to do this to a 40gb unit running Millenium Edition (not my choice!) on a pentium 2 Gateway...took about 6 hours to run.

Or, for XP and Win 2K, double-click on My Computer to open it and show the disk icons. Right-Click on the C: drive and go to Properties, then Tools, then Check Now. Click on the Automtically Fix System Errors and Start. You may get a message that says the disk is in use, do you want to schedule a checK when the computer restarts? Click yes, then restart your PC. You can also check the 2nd box that will check for bad clusters and automatically fix them. Plan to let the computer run for several hours if you are checking the clusters.

There are other tools for checking for disk errors, but since these are built-in diagnostics it doesn't hurt to run them first.

Before running these I would do a search for and delete any .dmp and .tmp files. Then I would delete any files found in the content.ie5 folder (hidden, when you search you have to make sure you are searching hidden as well as visable folders) and then run a defragmentation routine.

With some work you can usually get some extra life out of a hard drive as long as it does not have physical damage.

[motoman]

computer problems.....mostly

Thanks Jerry for all the computer info. I'll give it a try. Sent a reply off notice in e-mail, but got kicked back, so doing it here. Between advice and encouragement on the tranny fix and my computer problems, may talk you into coming here in Clifton yet. Uf it's of any help, it's a 516MB PC 133 RAM,13MB Hard Drive,with programs loaded there's 10MD Free. 40X CD Rom,10X20 write and Rewrite CD Rom, Floppy Drive, AGP Video Card with 32MB on board Ram. US Robotics 56K PCI Modem, 4USB 2.0 Ports, Soundblaster Sound Card. What we got is an AMD K^ 400, runs bout the same as Pentium II Celeron. That all is from my brother in Phoenix who built it for me bout 2 yrs. ago. Year ago had Bresnan cable to it and picked up a Trojen horse virus. As a result of poor sevice and no call backs with my problem, ****-canned them and went back to Grand Valley Telecommunications, as I was previously one of there first customers when they started in business bout 7-8 yrs. ago. Being one of there first customers, and wanting me back as one, they pretty well "fixed" the thing, and have DSL high speed with them.(although you'd never know I have DSL because of computer speed, normally bout 11 seconds lag time using e-bay bidding.) They are putting a Pent.4 together for me using all Intel components(they aren't in the computer building business, but want me to stay as a customer) and doing it for a little under $500. It will have CD, CD burner, DVD burner, floppy, ports in front to download music on my MP3. Should work good for me using the DSL. Anyway, haven't got it yet, have to use this thing for now. Between looking at that 78 XS, throwing i some advice on my gear fix, and the poor computer, if you would be open to coming down here to Clifton sometime this week-end, sure could use the help at least steering this computer in the right direction. Would have some good food, conversation, and maybe ride an ole' 78E, from what I understand is in really nice cond. Least let him know what the value is as far as him selling it. Could'nt be too bad, one owner, garage kept, low miles and all. Give me a call either way Jerry, cell#970-640-7221, as out riding alot, not at home alot during day, being retired.............Thanks...........Brant

[Bud Manley]

Hang on to your monter and BUY THIS
eMachines Quality - Super Low Price!
512MB DDR, 120GB HDD, DVD±RW Burner!

I can't attest to the quality of Emachines but that doesn't really matter as its the componants that make a PC.
Thoguth this was a pretty good price for what you get. Also Pentiums are for chumps. AMD beats them in every catagory.
512 megs of ram is actually pretty good for the price of the system too. Usually your llooking at 256 in the price range.

[Bud Manley]

Ooh I like this one better.
AMD Athlon 64bit processor. Its future upgradeable to the 64 bit operating system when they come out.

[CWilliamson]

uh oh...here we go with the CPU wars...(I run dual xeon 2.8 ghz 64 bit processors in a workstation at home for 3d animation work). I personally hate emachines because they have limited upgradeability but if the machine is just for email, word processing etc... they are fine. I was offered a cheap upgrade to xp-64 for my workstation from the vendor but it would have required wiping the drives so I declined.

If you need any help PM me. I've been in the computer industry since the x88 (and mainframes before that).

Clark

[motoman]

Hey, Thanks Clark. Wish these "things" were as easy for me to figure as the XS is. O-well computures not my forte.....neither is my spelling...!? I had some downloads on here the other day, some anti-virus and Norton downloads. That's when real problems began....once I thought about it . I already have a Noton program in here that my brother put in. He pays for it, and it's shared so to speak on my computer. So thought that the two were interfering, so went in control panel and deleted the downloaded one, and also deleted a downloaded pop-up blocker program..........wa-la, it seems to be runnin like it was before all that......still slow for DSL, but maybe not bad for a PentiumII, considering. Before, when I tried to run Scan Disk, DEfragger, and whatever the othe rtwo are, most of the time they would run for a bit, then it would freeze up, so would have to just shut it off.....know that's not the way to do it....but worked. Maybe with AMD componets is why it's survived my abuse this long. It has some corrupt files and one trojen Horse virus in quarentine, but don't know how to get rid of them. Guess in quarentine is better than on the loose tho. (sounds just like a mechanic,huh?) If you could give me some SIMPLE prcedures, and what order to run those checks on this thing, I'm sure it would help the lag time, which is bout 7-11 seconds depending on site, graphics, and information. Would like to free it up some for a little more speed to better react to the E-Bay gods.........Thanks all .....appreciate the help and input........so far it's been all good, and brings to my attention that some of the problem is self-inflicted......Hmm-mm.....see that here often enough on XS's......

[CWilliamson]

No problem...Has the PC been getting slower and slower? Do you you run spybot or adaware? Do you have any sort of firewall (software like the norton firewall or a physical one like a linksys router) between you and your DSL modem?

I had a buddy who didn't set one up and his pc slowed to a crawl and could barely boot. He had about 2500 spyware hooks into his system and some bots that were sending spam from his PC. Took me a case of beer and 8 hours time to clean it up but we eventually got it working again.

I noticed this seems to be a Colorado based thread. I'm in Colorado Springs. If I was closer I'd head out your way to fix that thing up (always got spare pc parts lying around to help a friend with).

Clark

[DiverRay]

You may want to check and see how much RAM he has on it. If you boost the RAM, the Pc will usually speed up. It is MUCH faster for the machine to get information from RAM than the hard drive. With only 128MB of RAM, you may be "page faulting", or writing too the disk instead of the memory. This can slow the machine down a lot!
Ray

[CWilliamson]

true...more memory will help speed things up. It will also help with the chkdsk.

Motoman, you wouldn't happen to know what speed memory you have in there would you? PC100, PC133?

I think I have some old stuff lying around from my old PII-300 linux box I could ship you...

[mro]

motoman


a little late and those guys seem to know computers, but if your machine still is having the same problem.

boot into dos mode
choose minimal drivers
run scan disk as suggested above
for older machines running your disk-defrag in dos mode can help too.

do it right before you go to bed and just let it run till done.

also you can check to see what programs are auto started when you boot up by using the "run" command and type "msconfig"

too many in there will slow down a slow machine.
(careful not to disable programs you need)



mro

[motoman]

Well...haven't been here cause I managed to do fine runnin scan disk, and the other fix-it's.........was runnin good.......could,'t leave well enough alone......managed to crash windows........like go-bye. That did it..had one built...got it today........penium4..all the good stuff.......players, burners, and tons of space left in housing for whatever. Just gotta get Norton's antivirus and install it first of month. They did internet download of AVG for now, but that tis just temp., won't catch all the bad stuff, so have to be careful ehat I open, and have DSL off when not using it for now to minimize the odds. oher than that this thing just jumps from screen to screen as fast as you click it...........kinna nice for a change.........will be back here soon as I go thru all my mail that came on while miy other computer was dead this past week and a half...........back here later guys........and thanks for the onfo...should help in the future, specially when I get other one runnind a gain just for grins.......practice on it(lol)

[81xsproject]

As far as the cpu wars go, lets just say that the AMD's are the XS11s of cpu's and the Intels are the bikes that cost 2-3 times the price and still can't keep up
As for buying a new computer, wait. Microsoft will be releasing the Vista OS in the very near future. From what I've read, and I stay fairly on the up-and-up, it will be worth the wait. Basically they FINALLY pulled their heads out of their @$$'s and left out all the Win95 relic code and made some major, long overdue changes.

[Bud Manley]

Is Vista the 64 bit version of XP?

I missed out on the free 64 bit upgrade offer they had.

AMD the XS1100 of the computer world. I like it.

[81xsproject]

Vista is not the 64 version of xp. It is its own OS. The 64 xp upgrade offer is not gone. You just have to have a ligit, actual copy of xp, not an OEM edition. I had every intention of going to the 64 xp OS, then I read the reviews on Vista in Maximum PC. Reformatting is a lot of work, so I decided to hold off for Vista. I am not sure if Vista will be 64-bit. But, they will probably offer a 64 vista as a free upgrade along with an upgrade to the new WinFS file system (google technology). As soon as it is released all the major PC sellers will be loading it on their new systems.