Laptop on a go-slow.

[ninja]

My laptop, (30 GHz / 256 RAM) running windows xp, just seems to be soooooo slow at doing anything. I have reinstalled the operating software from scratch, as I thought this might help speed things up but it hasn't. Anyone got any ideas what I can try next? I know I could up the amount of RAM, would this help great deal?

[Space]

30 GHz? I suppose you mean 3 ...

Basically 256M RAM is not enough. You need at least twice that amount.
Find out what kind of RAM modules your laptop takes,
Find out whether it has a RAM slot available to plug an extra module,
If it does, buy a 256 or 512 M module and plug it in ( when it is turned off of course )
It should make a big difference.

[wideboy]

Did it used to be OK? If so, what was the last thing you did before it went slow. Do you use anti-spyware. Do you defragment your hard disc (especially before reinstalling the OS)?

[ninja]

It was always slow, so I was advised to reinstall the operating system. I run Mcafee anti-virus & anti-spyware regularly. I currently have SP1 installed - would upgrading to SP2 improve anything?

[joko]

run scandisk and defrag it (in accessories) also a disk cleanup, (try 'help') and try to delete some files and programs that you don't use. probably won't make a huge amount of difference, unless something specific is causing the problem, but should all help

[fo3nix]

if it's slow, it'll be your ram.

you haven't said what type of applications you run. if you run any sort of memory-intensive apps, such as photoshop, then it's definitely your ram.

why it's your ram: your computer stores temporary things in the very fast ram memory. if it runs out of this, which it can when running apps that need a lot of memory, then it starts using your hard disk (swap/scratch disc). the hard disc is a lot slower and accessing and writing than ram though, so it really slows your computer down.

[wideboy]

Still don't think the lack of RAM is the problem (unless it is faulty - Microsoft have a memory test facility now, do a search!). Reason I say this is that I have used two laptops with 256Mb and they were Ok. I only upgraded to 512Mb because I wanted to do more video work. Obviously, the more memory, the better (especially at present prices), but I would never say that the laptops were SLOW (and they were only 1.7GHz CPUs - Centrino Mobile though). Is your laptop truly a 3.0GHz?

[Buenchico]

There are loads of things which could result in a computer running slowly. Just one of these - and one which I've experienced - is the BIOS settings becoming corrupted (or not set up properly in the first place). The first thing to check is the information which flashes up on the screen when you first boot the system. Have a look to see if your system recognises the processor speed as 3000Mhz. (It's quite likely to show up as something 1800MHz, or even less, if your BIOS isn't set up correctly ).

After this you really ought to take a look at your BIOS settings but don't fiddle with anything you're not too sure about. (Read the handbook, if you've got one). [If your processor speed isn't showing up correctly, it's simply a matter of changing your bus speed - anything else might get complicated!].

As I've said, there are loads of things which could be causing your problem but, if your BIOS isn't set up correctly, you can add memory, re-install software, etc as many times as you like and your PC still won't run properly.

Chris

[Space]

Has anyone run windows XP and McAffee on a 256M laptop
and be able to run any program at a decent speed ??
I don't really see that happening.
I had the same problem on girfriend's laptop, the extra RAM sorted the problem quickly and for about �30.
No need to spend loads of time with nonsense such as reinstalling or messing around with the BIOS

[ninja]

I have ordered another 256mb of RAM which I shall stick in & see if there are any improvements.