horribly slow laptop

[guydewdney]

lent an ibm thinkpad to a 'mate' - 570 P2 200mb ram 20gb HDD (IIRC) - stuffed back in cupboard when i got it back (several months ago)

was re-built clean install of win 2k before lending

went to boot it today - took 10 - MINS to load - and 5 mins to do anything.

so i thought id do another clean installl - 10 hours of watching a blue progess bar is V boring.

symptoms same with and without docking station (which has cd drive in) - cd spins normally, fan is spinning normally (and kicking out the right amount of hot air)

bios normal / unchanged.

ram unplugged and re-inserted - no change

everything works fine - just incredibly slowly - like the processor is running at 2 hz not 200 mhz

any ideas where to look (apart from the bin)

 

[Sp!ke]

Tried shoving in a new/different HDD? mebbe your current one is screwed.

Does it boot into the Bios fast enough?

 

[guydewdney]

boots into bios at normal speed.

no spare laptop hdd...

 

[Tigger]

Check in the BIOS for a setting relating to CPU speed. Have a glance through the other settings while you are at it. Someone set this to low on an old Toshiba and I didn't realise until several reinstalls later.

You might also want to think about installing XP as it seems to run a lot more efficiently. On an old Toshiba Tecra 520CDT (Old Pentium 266MMX, 96MB RAM) it runs faster than 95, 98, ME, 2K.

 

[WLeg]

Red Hat it.

 

[andy_k]

200 mhz processor + win2K = horribly slow machine

we tried it on a 900 mhz PIII and performance was less than adequate - same symptoms, ages to load and get going.

Have you tried running it with Windoze 98?

Andy

 

[123X2]

Could be a virus problem - try and get a virus scan done on the drive with the latest virus signatures (if you make the thing give you a connection try www.avg.com for a free download AV client or http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ for an on-line scan).
Is the drive full?
Can you check the W2K Event Viewer? ("Programmes"/"Administrative Tools"/"Event Viewer") - you might be able to pin down a process that is failing to start etc.

Otherwise do consider a Linux distro - RedHat 9 is pretty good and you can order the CD's of a vanilla version for a couple of quid.

 

[guydewdney]

i lied...

now takes about 5 mins to boot into bios setting screen..

hdd was wiped / formatted - so its not that...

used to fun fine...

 

[Sp!ke]

Sounds very much like its fecked mate

You could try flashing the Bios with a later revision if you can get that far. Is the Bios chip removable or is it soldered on the Mobo?

If it looks like the one below you're in with a chance.

 

[guydewdney]

what im confused about is that it was fine when i lent it to him, and he didnt mention the slowness... so somthing happened when i chucked it into the cupboard...

Guy

 

[gary350]

I have a slow laptop as well ,could be something to do with the 10 firewalls and 20 anti virus & trojan seekers I have on it, yes I got hit with a couple of nasty worms a couple of months ago

 

[guydewdney]

gave up - sold to a mate for spares.

bought another off wleg - for a stonking price :bannana: