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

Resolved Question

What kind of hardware issues lead to computer slowdown

by Feb 12, 2012 4:18PM PST

Hello everyone,

I am running a Win XP professional (SP3) system with Intel core 2 duo 2.53 Ghz and 1 GB RAM. My PC is 3 yrs old and it has performed quite well during the period.
But since last week it has slowed down substantially to the point that even saving a document takes upto 5 minutes of time! I have tried everything in my knowledge- Ran Ccleaner, defragmented all my drives, Ran a full system scan on my antivirus (nothing here) and uninstalled every unimportant program. I've checked task manager and the memory usage also remains low (0-10%) and their are no heavy processes as well......So, the only thing I can think of now is that I may be having a hardware problem of which I know very little. Can someone help?

Discussion is locked

vinay93 has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
12 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details

Best Answer

- Collapse -
If it were a hardware issue
by Feb 12, 2012 10:12PM PST

If it were a hardware issue, then the most likely cause would be the HDD is failing. Decreased performance is usually a pretty good sign. Most HDD manufacturer's have their own diagnostic programs to check the status of the drive, so that may be worth investigating. But the main thing is you want to find a number of HDD intensive tasks, and if all of those seem very slow, it definitely points the finger at the HDD.

- Collapse -
HDD diagnostics
by vinay93 Feb 13, 2012 8:46PM PST

Can you suggest some good and free HDD diagnostic tool?

thanx in advance

- Collapse -
HD diagnostics
by Steven Haninger Feb 13, 2012 9:12PM PST

The hard drive manufacturer's diagnostics utility is what you want unless your drive is a Toshiba. WD is "Data Life Guard", Seagate is "Seatools", and Hitachi is "Drive Fitness Test". Samsung I can't help you with but the others you get these from their respective web sites. The can do either destructive or non-destructive testing and, in some cases, do minor repairs using "S.M.A.R.T." technology. All this really does, however, is remap to spare data locations if bad ones are found. Any repair noted during these diagnostics is not to be considered as a fix but as one of purely buying time until you can back up data and replace the drive.

- Collapse -
Got mine
by vinay93 Feb 15, 2012 3:22AM PST

I've got seagate, so I used seatools....but my HDD passed all the tests, looks like the problem is somewhere else. Thanx anyway Happy

- Collapse -
Ok, now check to make sure
by Steven Haninger Feb 15, 2012 8:35AM PST

it's running in DMA and not PIO mode if you're still wanting to rule out hardware problems.

- Collapse -
checked it
by vinay93 Feb 16, 2012 6:50PM PST

yep, its DMA alright

- Collapse -
Well...do you still think it's a hardware issue?
by Steven Haninger Feb 16, 2012 7:09PM PST

If not, I can think of one extreme method to test for OS or software issues. That is to make a complete image of your drive to preserve it as is and do a scratch re-installation. You could even do so by removing the existing HD, installing a new one and starting anew. You'd lose nothing if you did this properly. It's not unusual for a system to slow after many years of use and pinpointing the reason isn't easy or even possible. I just performed a factory rebuild on a 3 year old Lenovo Thinkpad (laptop) which had become quite like an old dog. It runs like a frisky puppy again.

- Collapse -
OK I think the problem was not with the hardware afterall...
by vinay93 Feb 17, 2012 8:41PM PST

It was a pain to do but I reformated my HD and installed windows again...and its running smoother than ever Laugh ...I guess windows just gets rusty with use over time. Thanks for your help!

- Collapse -
Remember that XP can LIE about DMA
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 16, 2012 11:26PM PST

This is why I never check it. I set it to PIO, OK my way out, go back in and set it to DMA.

This is a very old issue and the only new wrinkle I'm encountering is that folk today think all the bugs like this were fixed by now.
Bob

- Collapse -
What is PIO and DMA?
by DouginSC Feb 17, 2012 11:35AM PST

I am ignorant about what you mean by DMA Vs PIO. What is that and how do I see and change it? (running XP-Pro SP3 fully updated) THANKS!!!!

- Collapse -
I think this may help you...
by vinay93 Feb 17, 2012 8:46PM PST
- Collapse -
Answer
Only two things I can think of
by Feb 12, 2012 5:52PM PST

It's possible your hard drive has decided to enter PIO mode. It could be your processor is overheating and slowing to compensate. To rule out most software issues, you try running what you can in safe mode to see if the problem still exists there.

Back to Computer Help forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info