R60 problem

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dtwalters · #1 Post by **dtwalters** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:21 am

I recently bought a "like new" Thinkpad R60 from a eBay vendor. I bought it to use for audio recording. The specs are as follows:

Operating System
Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
CPU
Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.00GHz 44 °C
Merom 65nm Technology
RAM
3.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 332MHz (5-5-5-15)
Motherboard
LENOVO 9456EYU (None) 46 °C
Graphics
ThinkPad Display 1400x1050 (1400x1050@60Hz)
Intel Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family (Lenovo)
Hard Drives
298GB Seagate ST9320423AS (SATA) 32 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4244N
Audio
SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio

The computer works beautifully in most ways. The problem, however is with internet access. Some web pages load VERY slowly. One of the pages I want to access is "http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tu ... ndows.html" (All of the Audacity tutorials load slowly on this computer.) This page takes several minutes to load. I have found some other sites that load very slowly, too. They, however, load very quickly on all of the (several) other computers in my house including an older Dell XP laptop I have been working on for my mother. The problem is reproducible and exists whether using wired ethernet or my home wifi. The problem exists with both IE8 and Firefox 25.0.1. Most web pages load just fine. Selective ones do not. Does anyone have any idea what is causing this problem and how to fix it? I think I have the most recent Thinkpad updates and know I have all the Windows XP updates. Turning off AVG antivirus and Windows Firewall also did not resolve the issue. Thanks for your help! Dan

#2 Post by **ZaZ** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:48 am

If you're using AccessConnections or Norton, I'd consider disabling those as well. I think it's unlikely to be a hardware issue. There's some setting somewhere, sorry I'm not a network guru, that's off and causing this problem. I would suggest as a place to start booting to a Linux Live CD and seeing if it works. That should tell if it's a hardware or software issue.

dtwalters · #3 Post by **dtwalters** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:02 am

Thanks for your suggestions, ZaZ. I don't have anything Norton on the system. I didn't have Access Connections either, but I installed it and continued to have the same problem, so I deleted it. I finally found a Linux distribution which would fit on a CD (I didn't have any DVD's in the house) and booted it up. All of the web pages that I tried loaded perfectly! I guess that means it's a software issue. Now the question is how to troubleshoot it? I don't really want to reinstall Windows, but I will if I have to.

#4 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 6:26 am

Check whatever Add-ons and Toolbars you have for the browsers.
These quite often create havoc.
Download/install/update/run Antimalwarebytes.
How much history is 'loaded' on that machine?
Did the seller install the OS?
If so, absolutely delete it and start from scratch.

dtwalters · #5 Post by **dtwalters** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:55 am

I downloaded and ran Malwarebytes as RealBlackStuff suggested. No problem was found. I also ran FireFox in safe mode resulting in no change in the problem. I wish I could find some network setting that is causing this problem, however, I just ordered recovery media from IBM (no recovery partition is on the hard drive) and will reinstall if I cannot find another solution. Any other suggestions?

dtwalters · #6 Post by **dtwalters** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:25 am

I ordered the R60 recovery CD's from IBM on Wednesday morning ($52.47 including sales tax & shipping). They were on my front porch at 0900 on Thursday morning (and I did not request next day delivery)! I did a complete system restore on Friday including all Windows and Thinkpad updates. There is no change in the slow web page loading problem I first described. I have Google searched and tried alternatives with no solution. The thing that really frustrates me is that when I used the Linux live cd, the slow loading problem was nonexistent. I know that I could just install Ubuntu or some other Linux distribution, but I don't want to have to learn a new operating system right now. It would be interesting to know if installing Windows 7 would solve the problem. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

dtwalters · #7 Post by **dtwalters** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:33 pm

Surely somebody has had this problem and fixed it......?

dtwalters · #8 Post by **dtwalters** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 9:22 pm

Bump....

Saucey · #9 Post by **Saucey** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:06 pm

Firefox seemed to be buggy lately on my T60p...
It use to work fine, I know it updates itself automatically, but it has been loading some pages oddly, it feezes at startup as well.
That unit has Win7 32-bit installed.
I gave internet explorer a try once before on a fresh install on an XP equipped machine.
I went looking for TP Fan Control, IE wouldn't even load the page!! Downloaded Chrome and never used IE since.
I personally don't have a working R60 machine to help you with.
I had an A31 that has a problem w/ the CPU running at 99% on svchost.exe, loaded everything slow, had to end the process.
I normally use Chrome as my internet browser, mainly because of its ability to see history on my phone and other laptops equipped with it.
I understand if you wish to not use that program, but I haven't had problems with it.

emeraldgirl08 · #10 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:20 pm

@dtwalters. Might be very obvious but have you tried setting your BIOS to default (press F9), saving the setting so it sticks (pressing F10), and then rebooting?

#11 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 6:46 am

Next question:
are you using an ethernet cable or wifi to go on the web?
And exactly which wifi card is in your machine? Probably a bad Intel 3965...
(check in Device Manager under "Network adapters").

dtwalters · #12 Post by **dtwalters** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 12:54 am

Saucey wrote:I gave internet explorer a try once before on a fresh install on an XP equipped machine.
I went looking for TP Fan Control, IE wouldn't even load the page!! Downloaded Chrome and never used IE since.
I normally use Chrome as my internet browser, mainly because of its ability to see history on my phone and other laptops equipped with it.
I understand if you wish to not use that program, but I haven't had problems with it.

Unfortunately, browsing with Chrome did not fix the problem either.

ajkula66 · #13 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:07 am

dtwalters wrote: It would be interesting to know if installing Windows 7 would solve the problem. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

It's been a long time since I've ran XP on any of *60 series machines since they play with W7 so well it's not even funny.

My suggestion would be to move in that direction. Too bad you had to spend $50 on media that hasn't resolved your problem.

Good luck.

dtwalters · #14 Post by **dtwalters** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:12 am

RealBlackStuff wrote:Next question:are you using an ethernet cable or wifi to go on the web?

The problem is the same whether using wired ethernet or wifi. The interesting thing is that when I tried a live linux disc, the problem disappeared. I guess that means it is a software, not a hardware problem. I even tried flashing my router with dd-wrt which also did not help. I wonder if installing Windows 7 would solve the problem?

dtwalters · #15 Post by **dtwalters** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:22 am

ajkula66 wrote:It's been a long time since I've ran XP on any of *60 series machines since they play with W7 so well it's not even funny.

I understand that I could use either the 64 bit or the 32bit Windows 7. Which do you think would be best? I also understand that I can install 4GB of RAM. I currently have only 3GB of RAM in the machine. Is there any reason to replace the 1GB chip with a 2GB one? It has the Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7200 processor.

ajkula66 · #16 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:32 am

dtwalters wrote: I understand that I could use either the 64 bit or the 32bit Windows 7. Which do you think would be best? I also understand that I can install 4GB of RAM. I currently have only 3GB of RAM in the machine. Is there any reason to replace the 1GB chip with a 2GB one? It has the Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7200 processor.

You'd be much better off with 32-bit version, since the chipset limitation on these machines is 3GB RAM regardless of OS.

Pick up a nice SSD and call it a day. It will feel like a new laptop altogether.

dtwalters · #17 Post by **dtwalters** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:48 am

ajkula66 wrote:You'd be much better off with 32-bit version, since the chipset limitation on these machines is 3GB RAM regardless of OS. Pick up a nice SSD and call it a day. It will feel like a new laptop altogether.

Why would the 32 bit be better? Also, are there issues I should be aware of concerning the installation of a SSD?

ajkula66 · #18 Post by **ajkula66** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 1:51 am

32-bit is less memory-hungry. Given that you only have 3GB to play with that's a very important aspect of the story.

Installing W7 on SSD is simple, just make sure that the SATA controller in BIOS is set to AHCI.

Happy upgrading.

Shredder11 · #19 Post by **Shredder11** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:13 am

I did this with one of my Z61p and now Win 7 is snappy and quick, although Win XP is still way faster but that lacks TRIM support. I also did this with my mum's X61s and that runs lovely now with Win 7, however it is a shame I cannot upgrade the CPU on that one (soldered to the mainboard?).

dtwalters · #20 Post by **dtwalters** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:30 am

RealBlackStuff wrote:And exactly which wifi card is in your machine? Probably a bad Intel 3965...

It's an Atheros 11a/b/g/n/ Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter. The problem also exists when I use a Netgear WN511B Rangemax Wireless Notebook Adapter.

#21 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:56 pm

I'd say it's XP causing the problem.
Wrong drivers installed, and/or no Intel-chip-drivers...

dtwalters · #22 Post by **dtwalters** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:23 am

Well, I installed Windows 7 Professional SP1 on this R60 this morning. It sucked up Windows 7 like it was thirsty for it. I immediately tried out the web site that I was having trouble with slow loading. The site loaded like lightning! I am currently in the process of installing the slightly less than 200 Windows 7 updates that are available. Then I wil go to Lenovo and install the updates available there. Thanks for all of the suggestions you all have given.

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