Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

What Could Be Wrong With My Computer?

Oct 5, 2015 4:51PM PDT

Hi there!
So my computer used to run like a beauty, but as of late it's slow, laggy, keeps cutting off from internet, sometimes can barely run internet (slow, laggy), the time & date keep reverting to 2007 every time it's started, usb ports sometimes disconnect & once or twice it's frozen & I've had to restart.. I've tried wiping it clean & reinstalling all software but this doesn't seem to help. Not sure if my system itself is just bust or if this can be sorted. I haven't installed/downloaded anything new that could be causing it, it just started randomly happening. Also, I know it seriously needs an upgrade but I'm keeping it as is as I'm currently building a second computer with better specs & keeping this one for older games.

Not sure which specs you'll need to help me figure this out but I've listed the ones I know off hand below.
Specs:
MB - Gigabyte M61PM-S2
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 2200MHz
GFX - Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT
HD - Seagate ST380811 0AS SCSI & Maxtor STM380215A
OS - Windows XP/7 (Dual Boot)

Thanks in advance!

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
While it looks like an older PC did you
Oct 5, 2015 4:57PM PDT

Replace the CMOS battery? That's what keeps time.

That STM380215A is very old. You can get an 120GB SSD for cheap and it would help the overall speed. https://www.google.com/#q=fry%27s+120gb+ssd

I don't see anything wrong with old PCs except folk tend to think they are slow.

- Collapse -
Didn't Think of That
Oct 5, 2015 5:42PM PDT

Ah, did not know that, thanks! Yeah she's an old one alright lol, I did think of replacing but wasn't sure if its just its prolonged use that's the problem or not. Like i said, was running like a beauty before.

- Collapse -
Before what?
Oct 5, 2015 6:09PM PDT

There are many infections today that sneak by. The 80GB HDD is usually a big bottleneck.

- Collapse -
Before the Problems Started
Oct 5, 2015 6:26PM PDT

I've already done a full wipe, wouldn't of thought anything could linger after that. What do you mean it's a bottleneck?

- Collapse -
(NT) 80GB drives of that era are pretty slow.
Oct 5, 2015 7:02PM PDT