finally upgraded to XP, and having issues.

[achn2b]

real old computer, a Dell Dimension XPS 500. i added 256 megs of ram, so currently running 384. just upgraded to XP, and i'm having problems at startup and shutdown. other than a few conflicts with old hardware that i've got to get sorted out, my system does meet the requirements to run XP.

startup takes a while, and I don't get the log on window, it just begins, but i do get the log on window in safe mode. once running, i'm trying to access control panel to change some stuff, and i double click on the folders, and nothing happens. or i click on the IE or outlook express shortcut, and they don't open.

I thought it might have been conflicts with AVG or ZoneAlarm, so i booted in safe mode and uninstalled them. still slow.

finally, i did get IE to open, and was surfing the net, when suddenly, all these other folders i had clicked on started opening, and i'm having no problems at all right now.

also, when i go to sht down, it hangs, and i have to shut it down by the power button.

[bailey]

yes, I have found that on the older systems, they are just too slow in responses form the mouse clicks, the shut down is not adnormal on the old systems.
I have a old one here too that does that on the shut down, it just says the computer is ready to turn off.
you might want to consider running w2k on that system, it would be a bit faster for you.
xo just has so many applications running at the same time, it really slows things down a lot, on a old system.

[achn2b]

once it gets going though, i don't seem to have any problems. if i want to keep XP, is this something i'm just gonna have to live with, the slow boot up? would even more memory help, or is it strictly just a processor thing at this point?

[bailey]

more memeroy may help, xp runs best with at least 512 meg.
your cpu is still working its heart out.
go to alt,-control, delete all at the same time, and look at the cpu usage and see how much it is working.
that would give you a better idea of what all is going on with your system.

[achn2b]

Originally Posted by bailey more memeroy may help, xp runs best with at least 512 meg. your cpu is still working its heart out. go to alt,-control, delete all at the same time, and look at the cpu usage and see how much it is working. that would give you a better idea of what all is going on with your system.

during the brief time i was monitoring it, it ranged from a min of 1% to a max of 7%. so it doesn't appear that my CPU is really being over-worked. tried to look at my system resources being used, but can't seem to find it in XP. used to be under System in Control Panel, right?

[mikeL]

I wouldn't run XP with less than 512 mb's of ram as bailey said, I have a XPS 450 and the board will only take 384 mb's max, unless you turn off most of the "eye candy" extras, I think your going to have to get used to XP running slow.

Mike

[achn2b]

looked at the CPU usage some more, and there are times when it is running at 100%. it seems after Windows has been running for a bit, then it drops off, and the computer is responsive.

i am planning on adding another 256 megs of ram at some point in the future. but for now, it appears that my processor is the weak link.

[Panama Red]

If you haven't added SP2 and all the Windows Updates, you should do that. Many of the start up and shut down issues that occured with XP were corrected by updates. 512Mb of ram makes XP run best on older machines but you should be able to run fine with 384 for office apps and web surfing as long as you're not trying to do too many things at once. Another question for you - how big is the hard drive in that machine? Anything under 15Gb with XP is asking for trouble due to the amount of space XP takes up and the size of the Page File.

[clroberts]

I am running with 2 gigs of ram and my system still hogs up over 500 megs of ram just logging into the system. And of course don't even think about using Adobe photoshop unless you have a lot of ram. The photo program will just bring the system to a crawl if you open up all the pictures on a 1 gig Flash memory card. With the 2 gigs I currently have, I can get away with that just barely. I would also suggest that you go get FreeRAM XP Pro for your computer. That is a RAM optimizing program that will free up memory when you close programs.

[Marke522]

Try this out. I did this on an older system and it really helped out a lot.

Default Windows XP visual settings may look nice but they slow down system responsiveness. Here is how to keep the "look" of Windows XP while losing the sluggish feel.

Instructions - Go to "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "System",(you can also right click My Computer/Properties) "Advanced" tab in the "Performance" section select "Settings". Leave only the following checked:

√ Show shadows under menus
√ Show shadows under mouse pointer
√ Show translucent selection rectangle
√ Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
√ Use visual styles on windows and buttons

Then select "Apply" and "OK".

This was taken from Optimize XP at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

[glc]

Even better, turn them ALL off, optimize for performance.

[doubledragon5]

Here is a link posted on Majorgeek.com.. These are services that run in windows XP home and pro.. This was posted by a computer geek named blkviper who's site is no longer up and runing.. This can be very usefull and helpfull information as to what services should be runing and which are ok to to turn off.. I have used this many times in the past with good luck.. And my machine's. This should also help with the problem of slow start ups and shut downs...

http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12

Under Display name (before you decide) to disable that particular service put you cursor over it and then click.. It will bring up another page with the meaning of each service listed under the Display name heading...