Literally as Slow as Molasses

[Goldie]

Two years ago, I purchased a used Toshiba 1800 laptop with 450 megabytes of RAM and a 30 gigabyte hard drive. It was certainly not the most power computer in the world, but it was sufficient until I acquired a brand new laptop a year later. I no longer had any use for this laptop, so I decided to pass it on to my uncle who was in need of an operational laptop. He was pleased by this, and everything was all hunky-dory for the following two weeks, until he one day informed me of a strange problem he was experiencing with it. He explained to me that the computer had suddenly crashed during a normal session of use, and was now unable to boot up at all. The blue screen of death would briefly flash across the screen before the system would restart, establishing a never-ending cycle of BSODs and restarts. He returned the computer to me for inspection, and my first course of action was to wipe the hard drive, assuming that a stubborn virus had infiltrated the system. I had formatted many hard drives in the past, and was entirely familiar with this process. However, something unexpected occurred during what I forecasted to be a smooth and dull process. The formatting utility, provided with my Windows XP installation disc, was, literally, as slow as molasses. I recall it halting at 6% after two hours. I had nothing to lose, so I allowed the computer to sit throughout the night. The next morning, the percentage had crept up to about 30%. I now suspected there to have been a problem with the hard drive itself. After waiting a few days for the formatting process to complete, XP's installation trudged along for about two hours before completing successfully. However, when I attempted to boot the computer afterwards, I encountered the same BSOD-restart loop that had previously been affecting the computer. I next dared to install Windows 95. The format process took an additional three days to complete, but I installed and entered the operating system environment with much success. I was even able to play a quick game of solitaire before I attempted to install XP again with an alternate disc.

I have at last succeeded in installing XP and getting onto the desktop. However, the computer is ridiculously slow, to the point of hardly functional. This cannot be a case of complete hard drive failure, for the system still powers on and delivers you to the desktop. Is this the prelude to a complete failure? The system still identifies all 450 megabytes of RAM, so it cannot be a case of damaged RAM. Could anybody provide their diagnoses and perhaps what I can do/purchase to rectify this problem?

 

[Mr. X]

Sounds like it might be a heating problem.

Try disassembling the computer and cleaning any dust/dirt/whatever off of the CPU heatsink. Might try resetting the ram as well (Remove it and put it back in) in case it might have gotten knocked slightly loose and cleaning the contacts, but im not sure if its related to slow downs (It is usually a cause for a BSOD)

That said, the windows formatter is slow. Download a copy of Herins boot disk and use Acronis partition manager for formatting.

But, the speed issue isn't related to the hdd.

 

[Sara Yamamoto]

If you pay attention to the BSOD, its telling you that your computer is about to enter to the process of failing completely. Also, if its not the hard drive, then it might be a faulty component inside the computer that could cause the BSOD.

 

[twocows]

As per the section rules, don't revive nearly expired threads unless there's a pertinent reason to do so or you are the thread creator.