Computer Is Extremely Slow!

Hey everyone, I need help with my computer. It is about three years old I'd say, and it's a great computer it worked fine up until today. So today I was cleaning out my computer, I deleted my current PC accounts, and made a completely new one deleting almost all my files. I did this in hope my computer would speed up a bit, however it did the opposite. My computer now is running super slow, I installed Microsoft Security Essentials and have been scanning but haven't found anything. Both Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer run extremely slow it takes more than a minute to load.... Please Help!


Ans :  

Try this its free and works Great! - New!

Glary Utilities
http://download.cnet.com/Glary-Utilities/3000-2094_4-10508531.html

I set the BIOS on my good computer to default and now it is completely dead. What can I do to bring it back again?

Re : You can start by providing more info

In order to help you, we'll need to know the details of your hardware and operating system. Make & model of the computer, what is the boot order set to in the BIOS, what are you booting from, what happens when you power up, etc. Do you get any messages? If so what? Do you see at least the manufacturers logo when powering up? Have you tried booting from a CD or DVD? Have you tried booting to Safe Mode? You can see that you left out a lot of relevant info, and I'm afraid my dog broke my crystal ball. 


Myself : 
 Thanks for the reply.....

Before the breakdown I was running Win 98 on an old Pentium - 166 MHz I believe. It's a steady office word processor and it was running very well as not too long ago I set it up afresh from an original back up restore. The system tailors well with the computer and has always given good service.

I was trying to add a different HD on the second IDE connector through auto-detect configurations in the BIOS, but I just couldn't make the new HD show in Windows even with manually configurating the setup programme; I had never had this problem before. So after days of trying I decided to reset the BIOS to default settings to get a fresh start and now I have nothing!

With power on the main HD makes a few start up sounds for a few seconds and after that all is silent with a blank screen and no sign of any activity at all. The computer just sits there waiting with just the CPU fan humming away.

I didn't provide any detail about the computer because it didn't seem relevant as the fault seems so fundamental, however I would like to get the system back. So if you can help I would be very grateful.

Re : Do you get ANYTHING on the screen or any beeps?

Also look in the BIOS and see what the boot order is. While in the BIOS setup, check to see if it's recognizing both hard drives because if the BIOS doesn't recognize them, there's no way Windows is going to boot. Does the boot order match the hard drive with Windows on it? And are you sure you set the master/slave jumpers correctly? I usually use the cable select jumper settings, but you need to make SURE they're set correctly. Have you tried booting from a CD or DVD? If your motherboard and processor are OK, that should work.
Do you not get ANYTHING on your monitor screen, not even a logo when you boot? Do you get beeps? You're still pretty short on these details I'm afraid.

Myself : Nothing at all!

There is just a blank screen and no sounds from the speaker. Apart from the hum of a fan and the whirr of the HD on idle nothing happens. Though I'm not stating this as fact, it doesn't sound as if the CPU enacts the BIOS programme so the computer never gets to the Boot stage.

Before the problem occured the boot sequence was always: A-drive, CD-drive, HD-drive. The single HD that is now on the computer is set as a master, as it always has been. The problem with the secondary HD, which as I mentioned the computer never recognised anyway, is irrelevant now as I have removed it. The screen message for this event, which would follow (naturally!) all the system tests that the BIOS ran, was, 'Failure fixed disk 1, press F1 to resume, F2 to enter set-up'. I saw this message so many times last week that it's practically burned onto my retina.

I don't want to prejudice anyone's contributions, but if I was asked to give an opinion I would guess that the BIOS programme isn't present so the CPU has nothing to tell it what to do on start-up. This is just speculation, as I have no experience of fundamental faults like this.

Just to confirm the monitor works fine and everything else has the appearance of operating like it always did, with the obvious exceptions of course. What I did before the fault occurred implies it's probably the BIOS program that has changed profoundly.

Re : 

So you were having hard drive failures?

Have you tried booting from a CD or DVD? If your hard drive is the problem, booting from a CD or DVD should at least boot. I usually use Ubuntu which you can download from
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop and burn to a DVD-R. If you need a program to burn the disc, you can use the free Imgburn one.

myself : 

There was never a HD failure... as such

However for about a week I couldn't get the computer to accept an additional hard drive on IDE2 and so this system component was not recognised by Windows. Getting the BIOS to register it was the likely source of the problem.

I have just tried to boot up the computer from a Windows operating system / boot CD which I have. I hope this was in line with your suggesting. I had no sucess.

The problem seems to lie far beyond, or rather ahead of the computer booting an operating system. The CPU doesn't complete (or even undertake?) any of the POST procedures in advance of the boot stage, so not unsurprisingly it never reaches a point where it wants to boot an operating system.

Re : 

That means serious hardware problems

I'd say that narrows it down to power supply, mobo, CPU, or RAM. You could take it to a repair shop, but the expense would probably exceed the value of the computer. Maybe it's time to buy a new one?
If you have data on the hard drive you want to save, you could remove it, put it in an enclosure, and plug it into the USB port on another computer.
`
Good luck.

myself : 

=========

You're right about what you say..... - New!

The computer is of little monitory value so it's probably not worth paying to have it looked at by an expert. However it suited me so I would be sorry to see it go. Cost isn't everything.

You're also right to be cautious about the cause of the fault. It doesn't have to be the absence of a working BIOS program that's killed it off, but it seems a coincidence if it isn't after what I did. Do you believe that this is "unlikely" to be the problem?

I can find an alternative power supply, check the RAM, and even try an alternative CPU. If another one fits the original socket it's suitable isn't it? 

What's the "mobo"?

Thank you for your contributions and good luck to you to!

Re : 

Mobo is an abbreviation for motherboard - New!

I've never seen a BIOS go bad. I'm sure it's possible, but it has to be highly unlikely; and since it's integrated into the motherboard, it's not a replaceable part in any event.

Getting a new computer? Already have one?

Now that I have piqued your curiosity, I'll post this also into Grif's Tips thread......

Vendor-built Computers pitfalls

If you order a computer built by a vendor such as Dell or Gateway or HP (or if you purchase one off the shelf from Wal-Mart), you are getting pretty good systems for the money, and I don't fault you for getting your systems that way rather than custom home-built or custom built at a local shop where you can tell the vendor exactly what you want and expect to get.

However, there are pitfalls to those systems that you need to be aware of and protect yourself from. Here are a few of things you can expect and not be able to change.

1. Vendors will create their own installation disk called a Master/Restore/Recovery disk and it will include everything on one cd.......your Windows version, all drivers for the computer built, special programs as a 'bonus', propaganda advertising hidden as tours, tutorials, a lite versions of programs that are limited in function in the hopes that you will upgrade to full-featured programs for more money, spam/spyware that phone home behind your back when you're on the net that track your surfing, antivirus programs that are trial/demo versions only but unless you read this carefully you will be under the assumption that you don't ever have to upgrade/renew and that you got this 'bonus' as a freebie just because they like you, and more than likely you will have an extra partition created that holds restore/recovery information with a shortcut icon to it on your desktop so if you need to reinstall a file, you can use that shortcut to do so. The reason for this is that if you can use the shortcut to replace/restore a file or add a component, you won't have to use the Master/Restore/Recovery disk which normally will automatically format the drive and start you back all over to where the system was the day you got it (and wipe out all the stuff on the harddrive in the process causing you to lose all your files before you have backed them up).

2. Many vendor's disks are PROPRIETARY to the computer built at that time. If you replace ANY of the hardware (including getting a new harddrive or adding ram), the cd will NOT work to restore/format the drive to start over on a clean install because the hardware has changed from what the cd expects it to be. In that case, you are stuck in a dark and scary place knowing you have a system that has been formatted without any way to get it back up and running again. You have the option of saving your old hardware and temporarily putting it back in (or removing extra ram you installed), getting the system back up and running, then removing the old hardware again or adding your ram back in and going from there.......this is a huge pain in the butt and inconvenient and unfair as all get out. But it also means that you may panic and take the machine back to where it came from (ship to Dell/Gateway/local vendor but never Wal-Mart) and paying somebody else to 'fix' it for you when you shouldn't have to do this.

So what can you do to protect yourself? Here are a few ideas.

1. First and foremost.........as soon as you get your system home and set up, pop in a blank cd and burn two or three copies of the vendor cd immediately. If you should EVER lose that original, you will be S-O-L trying to get a new one from the vendor or you will have to wait a long time to get it or you will pay for it dearly, when you've already paid for it once. ALWAYS WRITE DOWN THE PRODUCT CODE KEY FOR THE WINDOWS INSTALLATION....TAPE IT TO YOUR COMPUTER, WRITE IT ON THE CD ITSELF, WRITE IT ON THE CD JEWEL CASE. Cover your butt because if you take it back to a shop somewhere and forget to bring your own cd and code key, they will use an OEM cd from the shop and the product code key will be THEIRS and not yours. You might not be able to activate XP if they use a temporary setup at their shop and it expires after 30 days.

2. Always assume that vendors and ISP providers are going to LIE to you. They figure if you don't know enough about computers that you brought the system to them to fix it in the first place, they can get away with telling you/selling you anything....and if your modem can't connect, it will ALWAYS be your fault and not a problem with their servers at their end. You must have messed with the settings or got hijacked is what you will be told, in addition to being told to 'bring it in and we'll set it back up for you'.......and it will cost you a minimum of $50 for that 'service'.

3. Insist when ordering your computer to be built that they give you SEPARATE installation disks for everything they are going to install. That means a Windows install disk, drivers disks for each piece of hardware, and install cd's for all programs they have installed. It costs them 20 cents for a cd and about two minutes to burn each one....tell them you will pay an extra $25 to get separate cd's. Most will do this for you.....but people don't realize they have the right to demand it so the subject never comes up.

4. Insist that they give you a MOTHERBOARD manual, not just a crappy user manual that gives you a tutorial about hooking up your speakers/monitor/keyboard/mouse to the case when you bring it home. A motherboard manual will tell you everything you need to know about that board and what it is capable of being upgraded to later on, and if you have on-board sound or graphics rather than separate cards inside the case. Also insist on getting the motherboard drivers cd so you will have them handy should you format the drive to start over.

5. Burn two or three copies of every cd you get and use the COPIES to do your installations with later on. Save the originals in a safe place so if the copy goes bad/gets scratched, you can burn more copies from the original.

6. If you have the extra money to spend while ordering your computer, and if the vendor says he can't give you separate disks for everything, tell him you want an OEM full or update install version of the Windows at the very least. This may cost you an extra hundred or so, but with it you will have the choice later on of downloading newest drivers for all of your hardware and burning it all to a cd including motherboard drivers, and then if you want to start from scratch without using the vendor specific cd, you can install everything separately yourself....and save money in the long run. The update cd has exactly the same information on it as the full version and will only ask you to prove via the installation that you have another version of windows that makes you eligible for the update. Inserting an old W98/ME cd into the drive when asked for it gives you that proof. The rule has always been that if you buy a piece of hardware from a vendor (and a system qualifies), you can get an OEM version of Windows......so get one....and make sure they give you the Product Code Key that goes with it.

7. Now that you have protected yourself and become more knowledgeable about your rights as a buyer, have a good time with the new toy.



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