Slow PC after Reformat

I Reformatted my PC because it was getting Clustered and Slow. I did a "Slow" Windows XP Formatting with 2 Partitions. After everything was done I Restarted the PC without doing anything to it. Then I used Disk Cleanup and De-fragmented. Did that every Time I Restarted the PC. I Restarted the PC every Time I Installed something. The things I Installed on the newly made PC in this Order was:

Firefox, Sandboxie, Windows Updates (To the latest), Drivers for the PC (Downloaded from the Manufacturer Page), Flash Player Adobe, Java, Direct X, VLC Player, Media Player Classic, Win Rar, MSN, MSN Plus and DeepFreeze on Drive D (Main Drive). Installed then DFO (Game) on C Drive.

The Problem I got is a Slow PC. It can Open Folders good within the Desktop. The Start Button is kinda Slow to Respond. The Game I am Unable to Play Properly (Very Laggy). Firefox is also Slow.

The Specs for the Game are:


OS: Minimum Spec Windows 2000 Recommended Spec Windows XP or Better
CPU: Minimum Spec Pentium 3 : 800 Mhz Recommended Spec Pentium 4 : 3.0 Ghz or Higher
RAM: Minimum Spec 128 MB Recommended Spec 512 MB or Higher
HDD: Minimum Spec Over 5 GB of Free Space Recommended Spec Over 10 GB of Free Space
VGA: Minimum Spec GeForce 4 MX 440 Recommended Spec GeForce FX Series with Support for Pixel Shader 1.4
Sound: Minimum Spec N/A Recommended Spec 16 Bit Sound Card
Network: Minimum Spec High Speed Internet Recommended Spec High Speed Internet

My System Specs are:

OS: Windows XP (With all Updates from Microsoft)
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3100+ 2.20 GHz (I had Problems with it before. It Automatically changed to 1100. But I changed it back to it's Default in the Bios)
Ram: 1.00 GB
HDD: Drive C 31.4GB Free out of 35GB. Drive D 104 GB Free out of 114 GB.
VGA: GeForce 6800 Ultra
Sound: C-Media AC97
Network: High Speed Internet 100.0 Mbps
Motherboard: AsRock K7S41GX

I was able to Play the Game (DFO) without Problems in the past with this PC. The PC was much faster overall than it's now (Slow and Laggy). I Payed someone to Build me that PC. The only Parts I bought myself was the VGA. The rest was Bought by the Guy I Payed and who Build it. The PC is over 5 Years Old.

Things I did to try and make the PC fast again were:
Installed the Latest Windows Updates.
Installed the Latest VGA Driver from Nvidia Page.
Installed the Latest Motherboard Driver from AsRock Page.
Installed the Latest CPU Driver from AMD Page.
Changed CPU from 1100 back to 3100+ in Bios.
Checked Bios Drivers, got the latest Apparently. (Didn't Install Bios Driver)
Did an Error Checking with the Windows Hard Drive Tool. No Errors found.
Installed Sound and some other Drivers.
Checked Task Manager. 99 CPU and 16K Mem Usage with System Idle Process. While in the Game CPU is at Constant 100% and over 300,000K Mem Usage.

Any Ideas what the Problem is? I can't seem to Figure it out. It doesn't make any Sense to me. I'd really Appreciate to get some Ideas and Help on this.

Thank you all.

 

For starters, choose "run" in the start menu at the bottom left and type in MSCONFIG.

Click on the startup menu tab and look at the list of what is automatically loading when the PC starts up.

• Anything dealing with your Antivirus program should be left enabled (check mark).
• Any drivers (Intel, NVIDIA, etc.) should be left enabled.
• Updates for Adobe and Java should be left enabled. If Adobe Reader is in the startup menu you can disable it.
• Anything you're unsure of what it is should be left enabled.
• Startup items related to media players should be disabled.
• If the restore was from a manufacturer OEM copy (HP, Dell, etc.), disable all items other than drivers digitally signed by the PC mfr. (Toolbars, updates, quick start items, etc.).
• Disable Windows Messenger and any other IM programs unless you use them on a constant basis.
• Disable any printer "helper" programs if a printer has been installed.

This will not uninstall the items; it will just keep them from loading automatically at startup and hogging system resources. If you have several unneeded programs automatically loading at startup it can dramatically slow down the PC. You can start the items unchecked in the startup menu manually as needed.

Hope this helps.

 

When trying to stop things loading at start up please do so from within the program first NOT through msconfig as this is a diagnostic utility... please see the following link for more info

Dealing with start up processes

 

In the Startup List I got Turned on:

jusched
PlusSerivce
IMJPMIG
IMEKRMIG
ImScInst
TINTSETP
TINTSETP (Yes, I got that 2 Times)
SiSUSBrg
RunDll32 cmicnfg
NvCpl
nwiz
SbieCtrl
msnmsgr
ctfmon

Things that I got Turned off are:

RunDll32 cmicnfg (I got this one Turned off and the other one on)
NvCpl
RunDLL32
nwiz
yylauncer (Chinese MSN)
Windows Search

At the begging of Setting up my PC I Changed some things (not many) in the Startup like NVidia Desktop Manager or something like that. I also Turned of the Spooler for Printing since I don't use that. And I changed the Indexer that I got with the Mircrosoft Updates to Reduce the Memory. But I put the Settings of that to Default again, since I thought it might be the cause.
I was about to Put all the Parts of the PC out, Clean them and put them back in again. So I won't be able to Check anything while doing that.

Thanks so far.

 

Although there are differing opinions on the subject, I have never had a problem using MSCONFIG on a PC that was free of viruses & malware (new install or a clean full scan with Malware Bytes). I do agree, however, MSCONFIG should not be used if viruses or malware are present or suspected.

If you don't want to use MSCONFIG, my advice is to download and install Advanced System Care from Major Geeks' download section.

In the "toolbox" section, there is a startup manager program similar to MSCONFIG. It will advise you on if a startup item is necessary or not. The "Deep Care" option shown at Advanced System Care startup is good for automatically checking and fixing registry errors, hard drive issues and other problems that may be slowing down your PC.

 

I Physically Cleaned up the PC by Removing the Parts and Cleaning them up. Put everything in again and Tested. The Loading Time for the Game is still long. But the in the Game it's much more Playable. The Lag is almost gone. Here and there a bit. I will Download the Program and Run it.

 

I Installed Advanced System Care Free 4.1.0 together with 3 other Programs that belong to it.
I Ran:
Quick Care (Found some things Wrong like Registry and such)
Deep Care (Found some things Wrong like System Optimization)
Privacy Sweep
Junk Files Clean (Found nothing)
Disk Cleaner
Smart Ram
Smart Defrag
Shortcut Fixer
Disc Doctor (No Errors Found)
Win Fix General (Only Internet Explorer at the Desktop needed)
Security Holes Scanner (Nothing found)
IObit Malware Fighter (Nothing found)

Restarted the PC
Ran Windows Tools (Disc Cleanup, Defragmenter)
Quick Care
Deep Care
Privacy Sweep
Junk Files Clean
Disk Cleaner
Smart Ram
Smart Defrag
Shortcut Fixer
Disc Doctor
Win Fix General
Security Holes Scanner
IObit Malware Fighter

Restarted the PC
Ran Windows Tools
Quick Care
Deep Care
Privacy Sweep
Junk Files Clean
Disk Cleaner
Smart Ram
Smart Defrag
Shortcut Fixer
Disc Doctor
Win Fix General
Security Holes Scanner
IObit Malware Fighter

The PC still goes slow. I Started the Game. It Loaded Slowly like before. In the Game it was Laggy and slow. Nothing changed. I Exited the Game and a few Seconds later my PC Automatically Restarted...

Then I Started the Game with the Game Booster. It still took long to Load. In the Game it still was Laggy and needed Time to Build up. But it seemed a bit better. Just not enough. Exited the Game and Restored the Game Booster.


Advanced System Care found no Drivers for me (I was up to Date), found no Hardware Problems.

Advanced System Care didn't do much for my PC other than filling it up more with Startup Programs and Background running Programs.

I got 17 Start up Programs:

Sandboxie (Need that)
Windows Live Messenger (Need that)
CTF Loader (Don't know it)
Advanced System Care 4 Tray
The Ram Monitor of Advance System Care
Java (Need that)
Messenger Plus 5 (Need that)
Microsoft IME (Don't know it)
Microsoft Korean IME (I think I need that?)
MSPY2002 (Don't know it, might be Part of the Korean IME?)
Some Korean Characters 2002a (I think I need that?)
Some Korean Characters 2002a (Same as above)
SiSUSBrg (Don't know it)
Cmaudo (Don't know it)
Nvidia Display Properties Extension (I guess I need that as a Startup)
nwiz (Don't know it)
IObit Malware Fighter

The Running Processes are:

wlcomm.exe
msnmsgr.exe MSN
explorer.exe
Sus11_ProcessManager.exe
IMF.exe
SmartDefrag.exe
ASC.exe
ToolBox.exe
ASCTray.exe
Frzstate2k.exe DeepFreez
SbieCtrl.exe Sandboxie
rundll32.exe
PMonitor.exe
rundll32.exe
winlogon.exe
PlusService.exe MSN Plus
csrss.exe
ctfmon.exe
jusched.exe Java
smss.exe
System
System Idle Process

The Running Services are:

svchost.exe
searchindexer.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
nvsvc32.exe
svchost.exe
alg.exe
services.exe
svchost.exe
SbieSvc.exe Sandboxie
IMFsrv.exe
jqs.exe
lsass.exe
ASCService.exe

On a Side Note. I had/have Problems with Flash. FB Games and such were really Laggy with my PC. I Assumed it's the Monitor. So I changed to an Different Monitor and the Problem with the Flash such as FB Games use was gone. Don't know if this is Relevant. It's an SyncMaster 2333HD from Samsung. I might try to change the Monitor and see if the PC Runs like it should. Will do that Tomorrow and let you know.

Sorry for all the Info I gave you guys. And the Trouble. It's just odd that I got a PC that "Works" when it comes to the Specs but can't Preform what it says. I know it can Preform, I saw it many Times before. I just don't know what the Problem here is. There shouldn't be one.

Thanks again for the Info, Ideas and Help so far.

 

If the CPU is struggling personally i would be looking at lower level config such as BIOS ect. After the BIOS has been thoroughly checked for settings you may want to do a fresh install again and load only critical drivers ect to allow you to run the game and do a test run with virtually nothing else to bloat it out.

I'm not sure its relevent as its been working before, but i just looked at the CPU support list and your processor is not supported.

What BIOS ver. you running? (ver 1.90 added support for a higher CPU which if your CPU is NOT supported MAY improve stability? I could be wrong though!)

Please be aware updating the BIOS can go wrong if not done properly and should not be taken lightly.

 

While Booting and in Bios the Version of the Bios is P2.80 (Latest). I Checked System Information on Advanced System Care it said my SMBios Version is P2.80 and the Bios Name Version 1.00.

The Bios Config I got is:

Floppy Drive A 1.44 MB 3 1/2
Floppy Drive B Not Installed
Floppy Drive Swap Disabled
Floppy Drive Seek Enabled

Primary IDE Master: WDC WD1600JB-00GVC

Type Auto
Cylinders
Heads
Write Precompensation
Sectors
Maximum Capacity 160.0 GB
LBA Mode On
Block Mode On
Fast Programmed I/O Mods 4
32 Bot Transfer Mode On
Ultra DMA Mode Auto

Primary IDE Slave: Not Installed

Type Auto
Cylinders
Heads
Write Precompensation
Sectors
Maximum Capacity 0 Mb
LBA Mode Off
Block Mode Off
Fast Programmed I/O Modes 0
32 Bit Transfer Mode On
Ultra DMA Mode Auto

Secondary IDE Master: HL-DT-ST- DVDRAM GS

Type Auto
Cylinders
Heads
Write Precompensation
Sectors
Maximum Capacity 0 Mb
LBA Mode On
Block Mode Off
Fast Programmed I/O Modes 4
32 Bit Transfer Mode On
Ultra DMA Mode Auto

Secondary IDE Slave: Toshiba DVD-ROM SD

Type Auto
Cylinders
Heads
Write Precompensation
Sectors
Maximum Capacity 0 Mb
LBA Mode On
Block Mode Off
Fast Programmed I/O Modes 4
32 Bit Transfer Mode On
Ultra DMA Mode Auto

PCI IDE BusMaster Disabled
S.M.A.R.T. for Hard Disks Disabled

BIOS Version K7S41GX BIOS P2.80
Processor Type AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3100+
Processor Speed 2200Mhz
L1 Cache Size 128KB
L2 Cache Size 256KB
Total Memory 1024MB
DDR 1 512MB/155MHz (DDR333)
DDR 2 512MB/155MHz (DDR333)

CPU Host Frequency Manual
Actual Frequency 200MHz
DRAM Frequency Auto
Flexibility Option Disabled
Spread Spectrum Auto

Chipset Config

Onboard VGA Share Memory Auto
AGP Aperture Size 64MB
USB Controller Enabled
USB 2.0 Controller Enabled
USB Device Legacy Support Disabled
DRAM CAS Latency Auto
Over Vcore Voltage Auto
VCCM Voltage 2.73V
IDE Driving Normal

Resource Config

PCI Latency Timer (PCI Clocks) 32
Primary Graphics Adapter PCI
AGP Data Rate Auto
AGP Fast Write Enabled

Peripheral Config

OnBoard FDC Auto
OnBoard Serial Port Auto
OnBoard Infrared Port Disabled
OnBoard Parallel Port Auto
Parallel Port Mode ECP+EPP
EPP Version 1.9
Parallel Port IRQ Auto
Parallel Port DMA Channel Auto
OnBoard Midi Port Disabled
Midi IRQ Select 5
OnBoard Game Port 200
OnBoard IDE Both
OnBoard LAN Enabled
OnBoard AC'97 Audio Auto
OnBoard MC'97 Modem Auto

System Hardware Monitor

CPU Temp 50 C/122 F
M/B Temp 35 C/95 F
CPU Fan Speed ~3333 RPM
Chassis Fan Speed ~2266 RPM
VCore ~1.657 V
+3.30V 3.323 V
+5.00V 4.946 V
+12.00V ~12.193 V

Supervisor Password Clear
User Password Clear

Password Check Setup

Suspend To RAM Disabled
Repost Video on STR Resume Disabled
Restore on AC/Power Loss Power Off
Ring-In Power On Disabled
PCI Devices Power On Disabled
PS/2 Keyboard Power On Disabled
RTC Alarm Power On Disabled

Quick Boot Mode Enabled
Boot Up Num-Lock On
Boot To OS/2 No
Boot From Network Disabled

Boot Device Priority

1st Floppy:1.44 MB 3 1/3
2nd IDE-0:WDC WD1600JB-00GVC0
3rd CD/DVD-0:HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4163B
4th Disabled

Try other Boot Devices Yes

 

I tried a Different Monitor, but same Results. I will wait with the Fresh Install of the OS till someone told me if the Bios Setup is ok.

Thanks for all the Help so far.

 

Have you tested the hard drive?

This type of program may be useful in diagnosing the drive. However, the older a drive becomes, the more fragile it can be.

This PC is at least 6 maybe 7 years old, right?


http://majorgeeks.com/HD_Tune_d4130.html

 

The PC is 5+ Years Old. Here are the Results of the Program and Tests. Hope it Works, my First Time with Attachments here.

 

If no one else has any Ideas or anything I will go with VoiD's Suggestion to do a Fresh Install and only Install Needed Drivers for the Game and Test it.

 

[EDIT] Sorry misread the main partition info.... my bad!

 

I keep looking at this and can't figure it out...It's annoying me! Lol Your not using the on-board VGA by mistake or something are you?? (it should be disabled/switched to AGP if your not using it)

 

Ehm, I have no Idea. How do I Check that and change it?

 

Firstly. Make sure your monitor is plugged into the correct VGA port... silly i know but it is an easy mistake.

Then In your BIOS under "Advanced" go down to "Resource Configuration" then switch "Primary Graphics Adapter" to AGP. Save settings and exit.

Both ports will still work but the PC will "prefer" the AGP card

Try this first it may make a difference... if not then we may need a format to rule out software since its a recent install anyway. I'm really struggling to see whats causing an issue here, unless some hardware is failing and causing the PC to run slow somehow?

 

Ok... So what I did was Check where the Monitor was Plugged in. It was in the Graphic Card. My Graphic Card got 2 Slots. I always used only 1 of those 2 in the Past. The Reason was I couldn't get the Plug into the other one due to the Metal from the Case. I Removed part of the Metal and Plugged the Monitor into the 2nd Slot of my Graphic Card. Restarted the PC. Couldn't see anything after the Boot with the Monitor. I had that problem before but know what to do about it.
Restarted into Safe Mode.
Uninstalled Graphic Card Driver.
Restarted PC.
Installed Graphic Card Driver.
Restarted PC.
And Tested the Game.
No change.
Went to Bios.
Changed to AGP there.
Booted up. (The Check from Advance System Care was now Dark Yellow, don't know if that's Normal after the Bios Change. But everything is how it should be)
Started the Game. It Loaded slow. In Game it was much better than before. Almost no Lag. Here and there a bit. But to make sure I Restarted PC. Started Game and it was Slow like I know it. Don't know if that means anything.

What I want to try now is Install a Beta Driver for my Graphic Card. Saw there is a new on that came out Today. Also want to Plug the Monitor into the Onboard Card just for the Heck of it and see if anything changes.

Gonna go Eat now.

 

Tried the latest beta driver for the graphic card and it still is slow. Also tried some different setting in the Nvidia Control Panel under 3D Settings. The first time when i set everything to High/On, it got worse and when i set everything to Low/Off it ran a bit smoother. But after restarting and setting everything to High/On and then Low/Off again, it made no difference. Seems like its completely random. The game is still lagging and slow. The PC restarted automatically again after exiting the game without my doing.

 

I have a feeling it's either an Faulty Reformat if that's even Possible or an Hardware Problem.
On an Side Note: It's the First Time I did an Partition with my Hard Drive. Don't know if that has anything to do with the Slowness. I also Accidental made Drive D the Main Drive, and not Drive C.

 

I think the best way forward now is to try eliminate a software issue with a reinstall.

I don't think the way you installed windows is causing issues but to keep it simple put it on C: as you intended to do before. Keep an eye on disk space if you keep your partitions the same size as it wont take long to fill 35gb with apps ect and will make windows sluggish.

Make sure you load only drivers and required programs to run the game you seem to be having issues in so we can keep potential issues to a minimum and try test the system. Use only released drivers ect as betas may still have bugs to be ironed out. Update windows with the latest Service packs and patches too.

Hopefully this will cure the issue and you can install the rest of your software but keep an eye on performance as you progress.

If you still have problems we need to try check the hardware more thoroughly. Or burn it :-D

 

Any Suggestions what I should Install and in what Order?

1)Graphic Driver
2)Mother Board Driver (Includes Sound and all that)
3)DirectX
4)Windows Updates
5)Game

 

Reformatted the PC.
Installed Latest Graphic Driver.
Installed Latest DirectX.
Installed the Game.
Started the Game.
Game is still Slow and Laggy.

Don't know if the PC in General is slow.

The only things I got Installed are Graphic Driver, DirectX and the Game.

 

did you install sound drivers and chipset drivers?

Looks like it could be a hardware fault somewhere.

 

I got the following things Installed now:

Nvidia Graphic Driver
DirectX
Game

Mother Board Drivers:

Audio Driver
SiS PCI Lan Driver
AMR Driver
SiS AGP Driver

Wasn't able to Install SiS VGA Driver for my Mother Board. Gave me an Error. "The system cannot detect the device, please confirm that the device is configured properly and then restart the setup program." But I got my Graphic Card Driver.

I looked for AMD Athlon XP 3100+ Drivers but wasn't able to find anything.

I can't Test the Game now, they got Maintenance.

 

Don't forget the windows updates, including the service packs.

It may not pick up the MoBo VGA as we have AGP set as default in the BIOS. That's not an issue though just one less device to worry about

I'm pretty sure it's hardware now, we just need to test the components to see what your bottleneck is and fix it. I'll be honest... I'm not the best at benchmarking components but I'll help as much as I can :major

 

I Updated and Installed almost all the Windows Update Stuff. With some Exceptions like Windows Search and they also had an Audio Driver and Graphic Card Driver, just not the latest ones.

I Tested the Game and it's still Slow and Laggy. Takes a while to Build up. I never had an Hardware Problem before so I have no Idea about those things.

Thanks for all the Help so far VoiD. This Problem wasn't an Easy one and it's still not over.