[Sandamon]

Thought I would Post in - I am having a very similar problem to Matt - with one exception - my entire system failed to work after it got slower and slower. My Father mailed me the "ultimate boot cd" for windows. I was able to goof around - restet the administrator password back to nothing and get into the computer - finally i was able to get online again - I ran several computer programs to find a virus with some success - finally trendmicro.com had something called housecall or somesuch - I ran that and it found joke.32 and Joke Geshenk.A on the comoputer and removed them. Incidently I also removed somehting called powerreg as instructed by another program. Anyways - now my system is running like Matt's - VERY slow - takes like 30 minutes to boot up and freezes alot. All spyware is gone but i fear some key setting has been altered. Another interesting tidbit, a program called EZPCFix showed that several desktop.ini files are supposed to load by the registry, but it would not delete those commands. Other registry programs don't tell me that it is a problem so I have no idea if that is related. This sounds similar to Matt's problem so I post it here. Matt check if you have several desktop ini files loading with EZPCFix and try the housecall program from Trendmicro - probly a waste of time but it seems you are at wits end anyway ...

[Advertisements]

I found what the problem was for my system - a file called Sens.dll was corrupted. Apparently it is important. Matt see if that dll is ok for you - else I am out of ideas. Seems no one is posting so good luck

[Sandamon]

I found what the problem was for my system - a file called Sens.dll was corrupted. Apparently it is important. Matt see if that dll is ok for you - else I am out of ideas. Seems no one is posting so good luck

[Matt_T]

Thanks for the ideas ... have investigated them but I think my problem is a different one as far as I can tell.

Very grateful for your taking time to suggest things to try though.

:-)

[wannabe1]

Let's clear all the errors from the Event Viewer and have a look at the new ones that get generated.

Go to Event Viewer, right click on "Applications" and choose "Clear All Events"...do the same for "System". Run the machine for a bit and then look in Event Viewer...if there are any new errors listed, post them here for us.

[Matt_T]

Great minds think alike .... I just sent you a msg about 3 mins ago, wannabe1.

Good to be in touch again.

I've cleared errors, will eave machine to run whilst I go out for a little while, and will re-post with results later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for your help and best wishes.
Hope you had a good 4th July btw.

Will post again soon, Matt :-)

[Matt_T]

Ok, here are the System and Application logs from a few hours of computer run-time.

Attached as jpeg screenshots compressed with Zip.

Thoughts welcomed!

Matt

Attached Files

•  ScreenShot001.zip   350.94KB   86 downloads

[JacobAtDell]

Hi Matt

This is Jacob , Please Let Me Know the Date of Purchase of your system , I would like to inform that the OS Cd which you have is Complete Cd , and it does Support Repair Reinstallation , For Booting the system with CDROM you can Manually Set the First Boot Device To be CDROM
1) At Post , Hit F2, Select BOOT SEQUENCE, highlight IDE CDROM DEVICE , USING THE ( - /+ ) Key take IDE CDROM DEVICE AT THE TOP , NOW MAKE Sure THERE IS CHECK MARK BEFORE Number 1
HIT ENTER , HIT ESC , Hit ENTER On SAVE CHANGES AND EXIT

2) Hit F12 3 or 4 time on dell logo , Select IDE CDROM DEVICE Hit ENTER.


DO NOT USE OS CD IF YOU HAVE UPGRADED TO Sp2, You can REQUEST the DELL HARDWARE TECH SUPPORT to send you the lastest XP SP2 CD. THEY DONT CHARGE ANYTHING TO US CUSTOMER.

further If you have Not Manually Formatted the System , then You Have Whole Array Of Diagnostics Test In your System , Just Press F12 On Dell Logo 3 or 4 times, Boot to Utility Partition , Run the 32 Bit Dell Diagnostics , Select Custom, there You will Find All the Devices Listed , It Can Run Diags on Each and Every Component Of Your System

If you want to Run Simple Diagnostic on HDD , F12 on dell logo, select IDE Drive Diagnostics

[IMPORTANT]
If you have Not Manually Formatted the System & your System Was purchased after July 04 , then you have DELL PC RESTORE installed , Backup Your Data , Restore the System to the original factory default settings. ( THIS IS THE LAST OPTION )

PC RESTORE > On the dell Logo , When The Num Lock Becomes Solid Green , HOLD CTRL and Tap the F11 key 3 or 4 time or Untill You See "Loading PBR ........................"
Follow the On Screen Instructions.



Let me Know if This Information Helps, Also Check If You have Upgraded the audio drivers by windows update , Uninstall the audio driver , download the audio drivers from support.dell.com and reinstall it,

[Matt_T]

Hi Jacob

Thanks for posting in.

My Dell Dimension 2400 is from about June 2003 and has Windows XP Home Edition with SP2 installed.

I had already tried altering the boot sequence to boot from CD Drive first but the PC takes no notice of these settings and still boots from the HD.

I followed your suggestion of contacting Dell Hardware Support for an XP2 CD to allow me to repair/reinstall Windows XP and got the following answer from a person at Dell who obviously does not understand English very well because he took no notice of the actual request I made and said:

-------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Matt,

Thank you for contacting Dell Hardware E-Support.

I will be assisting you with your Dimension 2400, Service Tag CCDRS0J, running Windows XP operating system.

From your e-mail, I understand that your system is slow and you have reinstall the Operating system.

Step 1 : You can try Msconfig.

Click on Start
Click on Run.
On the Command Line in the Run window that appears, type MSCONFIG and click OK.
After a few seconds the System Configuration Utility will appear.
On the General tab, choose Selective Start-up.
Remove the check mark from load start up items.
Click on OK.
Click on Apply.
When prompted, select yes for the dialogue asking if you wish to restart Windows. This will make your system performance faster.

Since you have got the CDs at the time of purchase of the system we can not send you the CD's.

We trust the above information resolves your issue and if you have any further questions or concerns, please reply to this e-mail and I will be glad to assist you.

Should you need to contact Dell Technical phone support on 0870 9080 800 / E-mail support, please use Case Number 515301159 for future correspondence.

You may receive a separate e-mail inviting feedback on the email service you received from Dell. Dell encourages you to reply, and give us your views, which we will use to improve our service to you in future.

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you for choosing Dell.

Regards,

Rahul P.
Dimension Hardware E-Support
UK & IRE.
------------------------------------------------------

Since he doesn't understand the simple original email I wrote, ("Please could I get a copy of the CD I need to reinstall/repair Windows XP Home Edition, I have installed SP2 and so I can't use the original CD which came with the PC") I'm unsure of the value of writing back and repeating my request.

Do you have any tips on how else to get hold of that CD?

I will try your other suggestions about the diagnostic utilities in the next day or two and post back with results.

Many thanks

Matt

[Matt_T]

FOR JACOB:
--------------

Hi there. I contacted Dell a second time and explained exactly which CD I needed (the SP2 version). They told me they won't send me one because I have a Windows CD (SP1!) which came with the PC. They invited me to call a telephone number and purchase the updated CD.

What to do next?


FOR WANNABE1:
-------------------

I'm attaching a couple more Event Viewer error logs because there have been several more errors and I thought the extra info might help.

As before they're attached as compressed jpegs.


Thanks to both of you,

Speak soon

Matt :-)

Attached Files

•  ScreenShot002.zip   357.4KB   84 downloads

Edited by Matt_T, 18 July 2006 - 01:02 PM.

[wannabe1]

Open the System Configuration Utility (msconfig) and shoot me a screenshot of what's under the "Startup" tab.

[Matt_T]

Here goes....see attached file.

Copernic is a desktop search engine which I've had for a couple of months...installing it didn't create any noticeable worsening of the pre-existing speed problems.

Cheers

Matt :-)

Attached Files

•  startup_tab.zip   179.05KB   84 downloads

[The Skeptic]

Your problem is most probably a badly corrupt windows. If you can't get or do not wish to buy winxp sp2, there is not much that you can do besides clear format your system. Since you can't do that with your SP1 disk the best way to do this is to remove your HD and install it as a slave on another computer. Back up important data. After backup format your disk while still on the other computer (my computer > right click the icon of your disk > choose format, slow format, NTFS files). After format install your HD back as master in your computer and install windows from your XP SP1 disk. After installation run windows update to download and install SP2 plus about 48 other updates.

The source of your problem can also be in the hardware though I doubt it. If you want to test your hardware download and run Microsoft ram test utility and a hard disk test utilities. You can find links in my signature. It could also be an overheating CPU but since DELL believe that this 2 cents sensor is unnecessary, there is not much that you can do besides cleaning the heatsink with compressed air or a thin brush and make sure that all fans spin freely. Do not remove the heatsink. If you do that you must perfectly clean the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the cpu, apply a very thin layer of a good quality thermal paste and reinstall.

[Matt_T]

FOR WANNABE1:
-------------------

Hi Wannabe1....here's a newly updated screenshot of system event errors and warnings as mentioned in my PM.

Let me know what to do next. Cheers & thanks.

Matt

Attached Files

•  SystemEventErrors.zip   469.18KB   103 downloads