Installed XP SP2 and system slowed down

[johnson]

TP is the one in my sig.

Yesterday I got my Hitachi 7K60 and formatted my laptop and did a fresh install of XP Pro and no service packs. I installed all my programs and apps and boot time was about 35. I updated the OS and the time it takes to boot to the desktop shot up to 50 seconds and sometimes a minute or more . Since my old hdd was a 30gb 4200rpm drive, I was hoping to get the extra performance boost that everyone raves about but I didnt see any. The only startup items I have are the thinkpad stuff and norton sav 8. I know the RAM is the bottleneck now but shouldnt I notice a big increase from upgrading the drive? I still have my old hdd so ill get sisoft sandra to do some performance tests then compare the two.

[egibbs]

Defrag lately?

Installing SP2 scatters pieces of Windoze all over the disk. Tidy them up a bit and you should see some improvement.

Ed Gibbs

[RoadHazard]

SP2 alone should make your system a little faster. So I'm guessing the same thing that you need to defrag your HD. My recommendation for a defrag program is Perfectdisk. You should see some improvement. And BTW Symantec stuff can slow your boot time considerably too.

[ian]

I rather think you're a bit short of memory - remember that a 'basic' install will need a minimum of 256meg - you're right on the border there. Get another 256 and you'll notice a serious difference, particularly with the 7K60. My CWU came with the 80g but I bought a 7K60 and it just flies...this said, I've a fair bit of memory too...

Edit/ Just re-read your original post - If you think about what the drive does with your data, screen and otherwise, you'll realise that the memory is where it all happens - in both directions, to and from the hard disk, the bits go through memory. So, no matter how fast the drive is, if you're trying to force the stuff through a tiny hole, it just ain't gonna go any faster.

[johnson]

Yeah, im trying to get a stick of Crucial 521MB RAM right now then another stick of 512MB a month or so down the road if I can sell my current 256MB stick. Ill try the defrag and report back. Thanks for the responses.

[johnson]

OK, I defragged the drive but was having the same problem. Turns out the culprit was the cardbus wireless card that was causing the hangup. I dont remember what the startup time with the old install without the card being plugged in though...