Computer seems quite slow - just installed a new SSD drive

[macselite]

I have a 2009 Toshiba NB205-N313/P that I am upgrading and sending to a friend as a gift.

It only had 1GB of RAM and was running XP. So I bought a new 2GB chip and put it in, and installed a new SSD and did a fresh install of Window 7 Pro.

The HDD that I replaced was a Toshiba 160GB 5400RPM HDD that came with it (model#: MK1655GSX). I replaced it with a Toshiba 128GB SSD Q Series Pro (model#: HDTS312XZSTA) that I got from Best Buy.

When I did the fresh install of Windows 7 Pro, I made sure that AHCI was enabled in the BIOS, which it already was.

After the install, it seemed a bit slow for an SSD based on how fast programs and pages were loading. Although it did seem to be OK after using it for a minute or two after each reboot.

But I wasn't satisfied, so I ran a benchmark test with ATTO and it came up with the following figures:

Read - 120MB/sec
Write - 100MB/sec

I don't have the exact numbers, but those are the numbers that I remember.

The laptop has a SATA 2 setup, so it should be getting numbers in the range of 250MB/sec - 280MB/sec, shouldn't it?

Is there a diagnostic tool that I can run to see if something is wrong with the drive?

I called Toshiba CS, and they were not very helpful. They didn't have many solutions. They told me to either go to their support website and look for solutions, return it and get a replacement, or return it and get a different brand.

The computer is all packed away and ready to ship, but I will unpack it and do what needs to be done to get it working at the optimal speed. I'm not going to send a gift to a friend that has subpar performance.

Since it seemed to behave after using it for a few minutes, I decided to pack it up to ship it, but the next morning, after I thought about it, I decided that I needed to look into it more to make sure it is running the way it should be.

I have a 2006 Macbook in which I put a Samsung MZ-7TD250BW 840 SSD 250 GB, and I was basing my results with the Toshiba on my Macbook's performance, which is why I questioned it the next morning, because my Macbook gets pretty much up to speed seconds after it boots up.

Interestingly enough, I ran a benchmark test on the Samsung drive in my Macbook with BlackMagic, and it gave speeds of 120MB read/write. But I'm not sure how reliable that program is. It's the only one that I found in the app store.

I also have a Toshiba Portege Z835-P330 Ultrabook that has an SSD, and that also gets up to speed seconds after booting up. But that is only about 2 or 3 years old. I ran ATTO on that, and surprisingly, it came up with the following numbers:

100MB read
20MB write

So based on how fast it runs, those numbers seem to be off. I'll have to look into that later, but since it is running OK, that is not a priority.

If need be, I'll take out the new Toshiba SDD in the laptop I'm sending to my friend, wipe it, bring it back, and get the following drive and reinstall everything all over again:

Samsung 840 EVO 120GB (model#: MZ-7TE120BW)

What do you think? Thoughts? Advice?

[Midknyte]

The Atom CPU is pretty low end. That's probably affecting the overall performance.

Did you try updating the chipset drivers? This was the latest link I could find for the 945GSE.
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...ng&ProdId=3045

I've never worked with a Toshiba SSD, so I'm not sure how good they are.
Did it come with an SSD optimization app similar to the Samsung Magician software?

[macselite]

Hi Midknyte,

Yeah, I figured it being a netbook that it might have specs that would be slowing things down.

I used the Toshiba Software Installer for Windows 7 that I found on the Toshiba support page for this netbook to install all of the drivers, including the chipset drivers:

http://support.toshiba.com/support/m...eeText=2336272

It looks like the most recent ones listed on the support page for this netbook are the following:

Intel Chipset SW Installation Utility for Windows 7 (32/64)
Posted Date: 2009-07-28 | Version: 9.1.1.1015 | Size: 4.51M

I assume those are the chipset drivers that it installed. So the chipset drivers that you linked to are more up to date. Should I try that? Could that possibly fix things?

No, unfortunately this drive did not come with any software utilities.

Btw, this is the same laptop that you helped me revive via that crazy fix where I put it in the fridge and updated the BIOS. Thanks again for that.

[Midknyte]

Should I try that? Could that possibly fix things?

Updating the drivers might help. I don't think you have anything to lose.

[macselite]

OK. Thanks. I'll give that a shot.

[macselite]

It worked! Thanks so much. You helped to fix this laptop, yet again, Midknyte. You rock. My friend will really be happy when she receives this.

What I did was I downloaded the Intel Driver Update Utility and ran it. Although it didn't show an update for the chipset drivers, it did show that I needed to update the Graphics Media Accelerator Driver. As you can see from the attached screenshot, the one that the Toshiba Software Installer installed was quite old (ver. 8.15.10.1930 vs. ver. 15.12.75.4.1930).

videodrivers.PNG

Right after the install of the update, it sped right up!

Here are the results from the benchmark test before the update:

ATTOTest1.PNG

And here are the results of the benchmark test after the update:

ATTOTest2.PNG

It performs significantly better.

What's weird is after the update, when I played a video on YouTube (not HD; only 360p) in both Chrome and Firefox (I only tried those browsers), it froze the computer forcing me to reboot it.

I had already installed the latest version of Adobe Flash Player, so I installed the latest version of Adobe Shockwave Player and it plays fine now.

Do you think installing the Shockware Player fixed it or was that a coincidence? If it was a coincidence, any idea what caused the freeze up? I don't think I was running any other program when I was playing the video.

One feature about this laptop that I have a question about is the USB Sleep and Charge feature, where you can charge a USB device like a cell phone by plugging it into the USB port that supports that feature. Do you know if having this feature enabled causes the battery to drain, even when no device is plugged into it? I remember turning off the computer for the night and unplugging the power to it since it was at 100%, and then next time I booted it up, the battery level was less than 100%. Thoughts?

Also, what are your thoughts on the use of pagefile and hibernate with SSDs? Do you have any tips for optimizing SSDs or are they pretty much plug and play these days, even in older systems like this one (2009)?

Thanks!

[Midknyte]

Not sure why video drivers would help, unless it was a combination of video/chipset drivers.

Chrome has Flash built-in. Firefox uses the plugin-browser version of Flash. What do you mean by Shockwave Player? Shockwave Director is different from Flash.

Do you know if having this feature enabled causes the battery to drain, even when no device is plugged into it? I remember turning off the computer for the night and unplugging the power to it since it was at 100%, and then next time I booted it up, the battery level was less than 100%. Thoughts?

I doubt that USB feature is doing anything if there are no devices connected. Batteries won't stay at 100%. There is always a trickle of power lost.

Also, what are your thoughts on the use of pagefile and hibernate with SSDs? Do you have any tips for optimizing SSDs or are they pretty much plug and play these days, even in older systems like this one (2009)?

Hibernation is your call. If you don't use hibernation, then disable it. You should still have a pagefile, especially if you don't have much RAM.

You said you didn't get any apps with the Toshiba SSD. A clean install of Win7 should have aligned the drive properly and disabled the defragger. Other than that, you can look at this:
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/Windo...ate-Drive.html

[macselite]

Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing it installing the chipset drivers when it was installing the graphics media accelerator driver, so that was probably it.

Here is the Shockwave Player that I installed, which is listed in the same section of the menu on Adobe.com as Flash Player:

http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/?promoid=KLXMH

Oh. I didn't know that all laptops had a trickle of battery loss when they were off and not being used. Good to know.

If there was software that came with the drive that was stored on the drive, then I deleted it when I wiped the drive. But there is no mention of any software on the box or on the instructions. And I asked CS if there were a diagnostic or optimization software they could recommend, and they didn't have any suggestions.

Oddly enough, I had to manually disable the Defragger, even though it was a fresh install of Win7. Not sure why.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

Thanks again for the help!

[Midknyte]

Shockwave Player (Director) is different from Shockwave Flash.

Shockwave Player displays Web content that has been created using Adobe Director.

Oh. I didn't know that all laptops had a trickle of battery loss when they were off and not being used. Good to know.

That's true for any battery.

[macselite]

OK. All I know is I installed Shockwave Player and it worked.

Good to know. Thanks.