Compaq SR-1200NX with Windows XP Pro Locks Up!

Hello,
Wondering if anyone can give me a suggestion as I've exhausted all my
own ideas:

Compaq 1200 with 256MB of RAM, 40GB hard drive. System is extremely
slow in all operations...not just Windows. Even slow getting into
CMOS sometimes. Slow lag response within CMOS also.

Most of the time, I can't even shut the machine down once Windows
starts. I shut the power to the computer off in order to do a
restart, and turn that power back on. WHen I go to restart the
machine, it will not start (no power at all). After about 1 minute,
it will start.

When I can get the system to actually start up, before it locks up, I can open the task manager to check the CPU usage for each process. I'm showing 0% for all processes, including System Idle, and to be honest, I'm showing 0% CPU usage overall in the graph. Through all of this, I can continue to select items in the Task Manager window, but if I try to close that, the system freezes entirely and I can do nothing but force restart.

I've run tests on RAM, which come out all OK. ALso run tests on
processor, which turn out OK. Re-installed OS, re-formatted HDD, re-
installed OS again. Unsuccessful. Anyone have a clue? And before someone yells at me, I tried posting this in the hardware forum, but the site wouldn't let me do that, so here it is.

Mike

 

This system will NOT ALLOW me to shut down in any way, other than terminating power. Power button is not an option anyway, as it dosen't work! I know the deal...generally 5 seconds holding in the power button will do it if the system won't shut down through the OS. But that does nothing!

I can't even click start, much less shut the machine down through the OS.

To turn this computer off, I actually have to TURN OFF THE SURGE PROTECTOR that the power is connected to. I know, not a good idea. But I once let this machine sit for 3 days, and it did absolutely nothing. Anyone have a better way to get it to shut off when there are no other options?

 

Sounds like a BIOS problem as you did reformat and reinstall, twice. Imagine you did not install WIndows multiple times to the same partition as you said reformat. You probably could check the HDD in BIOS. I wouldn't take tests of RAM and processor as gospel on a system behaving like that, or even one that wasn't. Did you try a Disk Check?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
It may just be having a senior moment?
The Compaq Presario 1200 Series was a line of notebook computers produced between 1998 and 2000 by Compaq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Presario_1200
Thats an oldie...especially for a laptop
Bug

 

Sorry about that...I was indicating the Compaq SR-1200NX, which is a multimedia desktop machine produced a few years back. My mistake for placing only 1200 in the original message, as at the time I didn't know the exact model...

Anyway, yes I'll check BIOS settings. Do you think perhaps a firmware BIOS re-flash would help things out? I was already thinking of that...

On a side note, this is a machine I'm working on for a client...it's been an ongoing issue for about 2 years now.

Thanks guys!