Hedghog Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 Hi, We have just been gifted a Dell Dimension 4600 (3gig/512M)- useful as a test PC and I have just reloaded it with our software. It is sooooo slow that our 1gig/128M ram machines can beat it at almost anything. I have changed most of the removable bits but it remains as slow as ever. Has any one got any ideas on a utility(s) that could help me diagnose the problem. If I can't it appears that I will have a very large doorstop. Cheers
andy_nic Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) What processer? My old home desktop was a Dell Dimension 3100, upgraded everything on but it came down to a rubbish Intel Celeron. Which sealed its fate as scrap. Edited October 13, 2009 by andy_nic missed a bit out "Dell Dimension"
Hedghog Posted October 13, 2009 Author Posted October 13, 2009 It says it has a P4 3.02 Gig processor with a 800 FSB
sandeep2504 Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 have you had a look at task manager yet; what are the memory stats like? I would check for: which programs are running at startup check for non essential services and disable any which you dont need anti virus program is working properly and/or you dont have two running
andy_nic Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 Does it Support hyper threading? The Bios should tell you, also are you using the latest version of the bios?
riskyburden Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 Is the fan full of crap/working, because it might be overheating and clocking back to protect itself.
Hedghog Posted October 13, 2009 Author Posted October 13, 2009 Yes to all that and it has just been reloaded for the umpteenth time with fresh drivers etc - I really need a nice little utility which says where the bottle neck is, but I guess this may be a little too much to ask. Thanks for the relies so far
JJonas Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 You say reloaded it did that include the OS as well? if not it might be worth checking it for spyware and viruses
RinSewand Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 can always run the SiSoft Sandra suite of benchmarks - should give you a comparision to similarly performing componants... RwD
projector1 Posted October 14, 2009 Posted October 14, 2009 what processes are running and are they hogging the cpu/ram we had issues with svchost taking up 100% cpu time was linked to windows update client service have you tried running perfomance monitor?
freak Posted October 14, 2009 Posted October 14, 2009 I will repeat what my friend told me: "Make sure caching is enabled in the BIOS" Also, did you reload it with a Dell restore CD? Dell bundles tons of crapware with it's preloaded OS. Try a clean XP disc if so. Try a live boot cd as JJonas suggested, and check the performance when running live.
dhicks Posted October 14, 2009 Posted October 14, 2009 We have just been gifted a Dell Dimension 4600 (3gig/512M) Heck, our office staff and sixth form centre are still using 2400s - not the fastest of machines, but they pretty much keep on plodding away with few problems. We've had a couple of staff find them just a bit too slow for what they want to do. Sticking a bit more RAM in might help, 512MB is the bare minimum for Windows XP these days. They will run Adobe CS3 but will take a while to load the applications - there's just a lot of stuff to load off the harddrive. They take custom-sized powers upplies and motherboards, so it's probably not worth the bother of trying to fix it if it's conked out. -- David Hicks
ricki Posted October 14, 2009 Posted October 14, 2009 Hi Have you done a msconfig and removed non essential items from the startup. Also have you tested the hard drive with a boot cd the will see if its getting to the end of its days. You can download them from the hard drive manufacturer. Also check for spyware as well as viruses
Hedghog Posted October 16, 2009 Author Posted October 16, 2009 Hi, Thanks for all the replies - most of what had been suggested I have tried. I ran UBCD disk as suggested and the bench marking tool came back with a score similar (to those like me who remember them) to an IBM XT:eek: It cannot find the info on the graphics card plus some of of the other diagnostics just failed so I think the motherboard is just goosed. So as I suggested in my first post it just a large door stop:D
Jamo Posted October 16, 2009 Posted October 16, 2009 Thats weird, have you formatted it completely and reloaded Windows, or did you mean you just reload it with stuff? If all else fails grab an ubuntu CD and fire up the desktop cube spin it around and then turn if off and place it in the cupboard until you have a bad day.
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