A Slow Pentium

[Zacko10000]

My parents' have some old Trigem pentium system. This computer is really slow for some reason, even after upgrading parts, tweaking settings (bios), running system utilities (defrag and scan disk), and clearing temp and cache files. It takes over 3 minutes to boot into Windows 95, and when waking up from sleep mode takes about 2 before you can actually do anything. An old 486/33DX that I set up boots faster then that! I can't figure out why it is doing this? When they got it, it was faster. Most of the parts are decent, although I question the hard drive and possibly the motherboard. Would more RAM make a major difference (they have 16MB)? What are the symptoms of a slow hard drive? What are the symptoms of a bad (cheap) motherboard?


Specs:
Intel Pentium 120 MHz MMX
16 Megs RAM
Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme (4MB)
10X CDROM
1.2 GB Hard Drive (don't know maker, I haven't checked)
16 bit sound card
33.6 modem

[jokostel]

well its probably both of what im about to say:>>

#1. the hard disk needs a good format and clean install after a while... i try to do it every 6 months at least.

#2.raise the FSB speed from 60mhz to 66mhz...durastic improvements will be made in the pci bus speed as well...
(that is if you can up the bus speed on this motherboard.)

[socalgal]

More RAM! You'll most likely see a noticeable improvement with another 16mg - but more is the better! I would say the best minimum for Win95 is at least 32mgs.

[jokostel]

id hafta agree with 32mb or more... socalgal...my mind is in a distant galaxy tonight...kinda tired better to go bed...hehe /forum/smile.gif cya....

[800XL]

Check that in the bios the internal or Level 1 (L1) cache is enabled. If it is disabled it would cause a slowdown on the order you describe. Check for something like "System bootup speed" and set it for fast/turbo as that will do effectively the same thing.

I also have to second the full hard drive notions. Clean out some space if it is tight. 16 megs of RAM is not exactly optimal, but it should not cause problems of the scale you describe.

[buitenb]

what a 120 mmx ? where did you get this one
first buy 16 mb ram and overclock the 120
to 133 or 150 ~~

[jonathankeeping]

The best thing for a slow booting computer is a complete format and re-install of Windows. This may seem drastic, but it is definatly worth it. This would also free you up a lot more of your HD. With 16Mb you would benefit massively with another 16Mb. This would stop all the virtual HD access.

[Zacko10000]

Thanks for the advice