T41 very slow???

[SPIKE2k10]

got another T41 seemed ok at first but after a few internet problems I realised it was the laptop being extremely slow doing anything..... Any Ideas WHY??

[RealBlackStuff]

Probably full of junk.
Get CCleaner (free download) to clean up the mess.
Best results are had with a fresh install of Windows.

[GACrabill]

Your IDE hard drive may be running in PIO mode instead of UDMA-5 mode.

#5 and #6 in the following article will help you determine if that is the problem and what registry changes to make to fix the problem if the hard drive is running in PIO mode :
http://winhlp.com/node/10

[SPIKE2k10]

Probably full of junk.
Get CCleaner (free download) to clean up the mess.
Best results are had with a fresh install of Windows.

good suggestion but it is a new install so nothing has been installed except virus checker and updates.

[emeraldgirl08]

How much RAM do you have? What speed is your hard drive?

[RealBlackStuff]

If it's a new install, and you have slow internet, it may be installing all sorts of Service Packs and updates from M$...
Set "Automatic Updates" to OFF, and see if that improves things.
Is this the T41 in your signature? What 7-character model exactly (e.g. 2345-67U)?
What's the size/rpm-speed of your hard disk?

[pianowizard]

virus checker and updates.

What's the virus checker? It matters a lot for older machines. Just two weeks ago I compared the four most popular scanners (Avast, Avira, AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials) and found that Avast offered the best performance, by miles.

Another possibility is the hard drive is failing.

The Windows updates do slow you down a little, but they are essential and thus inevitable. But you can optimize the performance of Windows by tweaking it.

Oh, one more possibility. Since this is a new install, Windows may still be busy downloading updates in the background, which would slow you down big time.

[jdhurst]

Assuming it is Windows XP and assuming it now has SP3 on it, it needs at least 1Gb of memory to run. The base T41 came with 256Mb or 512Mb. Either way, that is not enough to run SP3 and 256Mb is not enough to run SP2. ... JDH

[SPIKE2k10]

T41 not in my signature.

It was running slow before i installed virus checker, and it started after updates.

It has a 256MB built in and a 256MB 2700 333mhz added.

Hard drive is a 40GB Hitachi TravelStar 4200RPM Decomber 03

Think it the hard drive as HD screw was missing, yet bought from a company I used a few times with no problems.

[emeraldgirl08]

That hard drive is too slow! Use at least a 5400 in your T41. You might want to bump that RAM up also. I've been down the road of inadequate hardware and know that a faster hard drive and an increase in RAM are godsends!

I would at least throw a 5400rpm hard drive in there and peek through the threads here regarding AV software. I use Avast. It's free and from experience it works fine. No virus in a long time!

*knock on wood*

It seems you have 512.... not enough. That's the minimum for XP and if you've got AV running not to mention other apps- your 512 might as well be 64 or 32mb! Your symptoms will include major page filing... on a slow 4200 rpm hard drive :facepalm:

More RAM will help

[SPIKE2k10]

Well think I know what I must do now, my mums T41 needs new bulb so what I might do is take her memory and hard drive and uk keyboard and swap them over to give her a fully working machine, then I can take my time fixing hers with a donar I bought, god I have alot now....

1. T41 Fully working - bought as spare for me
2. T41 The slow one - also bought as spare for mum
3. T41 Mums needs bulb
4. T41 Donar, non working GPU plus other damage
5. R31 Working, but dead battery
6. R31 Donar to fix above, now spare parts - Screen, and other parts.

Oh yeh and....

7. T43 - bought as a replacement for me but ended up selling to dad after sticking 2GB ram and 120GB HD in it...

[SPIKE2k10]

Just remembered I still have the 40GB HD from dads T43 which works great, and I have 2x 512MB rams spare.

[RealBlackStuff]

FYI:
Donar is an old Norse god, also known as Thor.
Donor is the person/item that offers the spare parts.

[emeraldgirl08]

Well think I know what I must do now, my mums T41 needs new bulb so what I might do is take her memory and hard drive and uk keyboard and swap them over to give her a fully working machine, then I can take my time fixing hers with a donar I bought, god I have alot now....

1. T41 Fully working - bought as spare for me
2. T41 The slow one - also bought as spare for mum
3. T41 Mums needs bulb
4. T41 Donar, non working GPU plus other damage
5. R31 Working, but dead battery
6. R31 Donar to fix above, now spare parts - Screen, and other parts.

Oh yeh and....

7. T43 - bought as a replacement for me but ended up selling to dad after sticking 2GB ram and 120GB HD in it...

There ya go!

Juggle it up and mix and match! This is a good experience for you!



You can leave me a tip on my Paypal account

jk

[SPIKE2k10]

FYI:
Donar is an old Norse god, also known as Thor.
Donor is the person/item that offers the spare parts.

OH!! thank u at least someone corrected me

[SPIKE2k10]

There ya go!

Juggle it up and mix and match! This is a good experience for you!



You can leave me a tip on my Paypal account

jk

Wish I could get some tips in my Paypal

[Mike Blake]

What's the virus checker? It matters a lot for older machines. Just two weeks ago I compared the four most popular scanners (Avast, Avira, AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials) and found that Avast offered the best performance, by miles.

Did you write the details of the comparision here or elsewhere? I'd be interested in reading the details of your experiments.

[Norway Pad]

Yes, this could be a subject for an entire new thread. Like mentioned above - on an older computer with limited resources to begin with, this can have a huge impact.

I have used AVG Free for years, but I noticed that especially the update to AVG 8.5 increased the bootup time 15-20 seconds. I didn't notice any major impact on performance during use, but I had no proper ways of measuring that. I just saw the increased bootup time as a sign that the newer software was harder to process. On my Lenovo netbook, I experimented with Avast!, but I didn't like the user interface, which reminded me of a bad audio player. I have now started using MSE, and that *seem* to be less resource demanding, at least in terms of how it affects boot up time. But again: I have no ways of measuring this properly, and any numbers would be welcome.

[goofyGAguy]

On my Lenovo netbook, I experimented with Avast!, but I didn't like the user interface, which reminded me of a bad audio player.

That ridiculous GUI disappeared several versions ago.

[Norway Pad]

That ridiculous GUI disappeared several versions ago.

Ok, I wasn't aware. I installed this in January 2010, I think. Apart from the user interface, Avast seemed to work fine. It's still installed on the Lenovo, so I'll probably give a newer version a try then.

However, it could still be nice to have others' experiences or even *documented* experiences with different kinds of AV software on a T4x, or even a T6x.

[poshgeordie]

FYI:
Donar is an old Norse god, also known as Thor.
Donor is the person/item that offers the spare parts.

In Rochester UK, Donar is a type of meat on a skewer you have in a bun after 8 pints of RBS - and before creating a pavement pizza !!

[RealBlackStuff]

Almost, but not quite..
Doner kebab is what you are talking about (sorry if I sound picky).