[MichaelTrumpetPlayer]

Hello!

Just when I thought it was safe to play again I have a problem. Thanks to wonderfully generous folks on this site I learned a lot after my first problem.

My PC last week started shutting down frequently. In fact, it usually wouldn't complete the boot before it crashed. Heat, right? Well, the CPU fan was roaring like a B-52. I felt I had nothing to lose, so I carefully removed it to inspect. The cooling blades were really filled with lint and other stuff. I cleaned it off carefully but before I could re-install it I had to glue the original fan housing back together because it had cracked in a couple of places. I didn't know what the greyish gunk on the back side of the cooling block was so I wiped it clean before putting it back together. Surprisingly it ran alright.

I've been rebuilding drivers and other annoying stuff for the past several hours.

Today I went to the local micro center and bought a cheap replacement fan. My processor is a dual core Intel VIIV. The replacement fan is a "Thermaltake" P/N:CL-P0497. The original fan had a four prong connection and the new one only has three. It runs very quietly now, but...

This thing is so slow I can't stand it! It seems to be running nicely, SpeedFan tells me temperatures are all acceptable, I ran "PC Doctor" to evaluate the system, everything supposedly checks out just fine. But it sure runs slowly now.

Is there another diagnostic I might use to find the reason for this extreme slowdown in speed?

Thank you ever so much!

M.

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previous overheating may have damaged one or more of the ram modules, leaving insufficient healthy ram for decent performance. Check your ram with Memtest from here: http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

[phillipcorcoran]

previous overheating may have damaged one or more of the ram modules, leaving insufficient healthy ram for decent performance. Check your ram with Memtest from here: http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

[MichaelTrumpetPlayer]

Inconclusive. The application won't run on my PC.

"Your version of Windows limits the amount of contiguous RAM a single program can allocate. To test all your RAM, run more than one copy of MemTest simultaneously and set each copy to test a portion of available RAM. To start, run two copies of MemTest, and set each to test 601 MB of RAM. If you get this message again, try testing even smaller amounts of RAM. Running more than one copy of MemTest does not lower the quality of the test (and can even improve it if you have multiple CPU's)."

601MB? I have 2GB of RAM. My processor is a Intel Pentium 2.80GHz 2.80GHz dual.

Does this mean I'll need to run at least three MemTests at once?

[rshaffer61]

It sounds like you are trying to run the program from within windows.
Did you burn the ISO file to a cd and boot the system using the cd? If not here are the full instructions to do that. By booting to the cd you are not using windows at all.
If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[MichaelTrumpetPlayer]

Very interesting. The MemTest I downloaded doesn't look at all like the screens you provided in your response. All I get is a small box. I ran two at once and it took forever. I mean, it took about an hour to run the test. It claimed I passed. I ran PC Doctor memory test again too. It also said my RAM passed.

I am puzzled by the mention of using an ISO. That doesn't seem to be an option or a requirement in the MemTest I received.

Except for typing things like this response on the Internet the PC is very, very, very slow to respond to things involving the mouse - for example the calculator. I have to wait 5 to 10 seconds for each number to appear before trying to enter the next.

It's also extremely slow at opening folders and files. And booting up, I can go to lunch and it's still booting when I come back.

The PC since I ran a system restore over the weekend is still constantly updating things. HP updater is a pain in the neck. When that thing is running everything is slowed down. Every time I blink there is something new from Microsoft demanding an install and re-boot. Perhaps now you can see why I'm becoming frustrated.

It sure is nice to have the new extremely quiet fan running! At first I thought it might not be running because it is so quiet. SpeedFan indicates all is normal on the western front.

[rshaffer61]

Try using the link I provided in my instructions. It will take you to the correct link to download the ISO and how to burn the ISO so that it will be bootable.

[MichaelTrumpetPlayer]

Please forgive my delay in resonding.

I did a number of things as advised months ago for another problem and now the PC seems to be just about normal.

I think the culprit in this latest slowdown had to do with the RAM cards I added a few years ago. I removed them one by one and cleaned them off carefully with alcohol before putting them back in place.

This may have been only part of the solution.

I still have problems getting rid of HP Update which seems to run constantly and definately slows everything down. I keep deleting it but it returns.

After the many helper apps were re-installed things really got better.

Thank you kindly for your generous advice!

[rshaffer61]

I still have problems getting rid of HP Update which seems to run constantly and definitely slows everything down. I keep deleting it but it returns.

Try going into MsConfig Startups and see if it is listed there and checked. If so uncheck it and see if it starts the next time you reboot.
If you need instructions on how to do that let me know and i will supply them i my next post.