Toshiba R100 suddenly very slow(!)

[alex]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Hello

Just recently got a Toshiba R100 equipped with Centrino 1.1Ghz with
1/2Gb and got Xp and Fedora Core running 2.6.10.

Suddenly the machine has become very very slow. Both in Linux and XP.
I checked the BIOS settings but even by setting the CPU always at full
speed there is no difference. The machine is essentially not usable -
takes about 10mins to boot up XP for example.

Any hints? Many thanks.

Alex

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

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Hi Alex,

Don't know anything about Linux.

I can say though that 512MB of RAM may not be enough for WinXP. If
you open a lot of files or have a large number of services loading,
you can be running out of RAM so it is constantly accessing the
pagefile.

I have 62 services loading and about 18 resident utilities, and just
that takes up 384MB of RAM. I just recently upgraded to 2GB of RAM
and the performance increase is phenomenal.

If you aren't running out of RAM, I would next run malware and virus
scans.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

That which a man buys too cheaply . . .
He esteems too lightly


Alex wrote:
> Hello
>
> Just recently got a Toshiba R100 equipped with Centrino 1.1Ghz with
> 1/2Gb and got Xp and Fedora Core running 2.6.10.
>
> Suddenly the machine has become very very slow. Both in Linux and XP.
> I checked the BIOS settings but even by setting the CPU always at full
> speed there is no difference. The machine is essentially not usable -
> takes about 10mins to boot up XP for example.
>
> Any hints? Many thanks.
>
> Alex
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[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"C.Joseph Drayton" <kalek1@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:4219330e$1_10@rover.100ProofNews.com...
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Hi Alex,
>
> Don't know anything about Linux.
>
> I can say though that 512MB of RAM may not be enough for WinXP. If
> you open a lot of files or have a large number of services loading,
> you can be running out of RAM so it is constantly accessing the
> pagefile.
>
> I have 62 services loading and about 18 resident utilities, and just
> that takes up 384MB of RAM. I just recently upgraded to 2GB of RAM
> and the performance increase is phenomenal.
>
> If you aren't running out of RAM, I would next run malware and virus
> scans.
>
> Ciao . . . C.Joseph
>
> That which a man buys too cheaply . . .
> He esteems too lightly
>
>
> Alex wrote:
> > Hello
> >
> > Just recently got a Toshiba R100 equipped with Centrino 1.1Ghz with
> > 1/2Gb and got Xp and Fedora Core running 2.6.10.
> >
> > Suddenly the machine has become very very slow. Both in Linux and XP.
> > I checked the BIOS settings but even by setting the CPU always at full
> > speed there is no difference. The machine is essentially not usable -
> > takes about 10mins to boot up XP for example.
> >
> > Any hints? Many thanks.
> >
> > Alex
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>
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> CdwCxspRAQQ6z73jd4IrOhs=
> =GC6E
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
>
> x-- 100 Proof News - http/www.100ProofNews.com
> x-- 3,500+ Binary NewsGroups, and over 90,000 other groups
> x-- Access to over 1 Terabyte per Day - $8.95/Month
> x-- UNLIMITED DOWNLOAD

512mb not enough????????????????

What has become of us? Slaves to the RAM GOD?
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

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Hi Garf,

I don't know about being a slave to the RAM god, but OSes and
applications seem to be more resource hungry every year.

When I first used a computer for home use, it was a Morrow Micro
Decision running CP/M, and the entire OS fit on one 160KB floppy
disk. WordStar fit on one disk with room for data files.

I would also add that how we use our computers have changed
considerably over the last 20 years. I was very comfortable in the
past with one program open, doing some work then loading the next
program. Then Back&Forth came out and I could have a number of
programs at the same time plus I had God only remembers how many
TSRs loaded.

Now with Windows, I have many resident programs loaded and some
times more than a dozen windows open. If I was satisfied with just
running WinXP with no resident programs and just one application
open at any given time, I could probably get by with 128MB of RAM,
unfortunately I want to be running multiple programs and screens.

Ciao . . . C.Joseph

That which a man buys too cheaply . . .
He esteems too lightly

Garf wrote:
> 512mb not enough????????????????

> What has become of us? Slaves to the RAM GOD?



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x-- UNLIMITED DOWNLOAD

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

In "Toshiba R100 suddenly very slow(!)", alex69uk@gmail.com (Alex) wrote:

>Suddenly the machine has become very very slow. Both in Linux and XP.
>I checked the BIOS settings but even by setting the CPU always at full
>speed there is no difference. The machine is essentially not usable -
>takes about 10mins to boot up XP for example.
>
>Any hints? Many thanks.
>

With only one OS, my first guess would be a virus; although much less likely to
have infected both systems simultaneously, you could conceivably have done it by
performing the same (bad) action in both systems... Likewise if you have
deliberately introduced any utility process - eg. some anti-virus utilities can
be real resource hogs.

There are various utilities available (eg. SiSoft Sandra) that will tell you the
actual CPU clock speed, so you can check if the CPU is really running as fast as
it should be. A 10min boot time is definitely not right unless you're running a
full disc check each time.

Problem with the HDD? Read errors could slow its operation significantly (but
usually only as a precursor to imminent total HDD failure). You can run any
utility that uses the SMART feature of drives to give you more info about the
current state of the drive (eg. error rate and transfer mode). You wouldn't
normally see errors happening with a new drive, though, unless it had been
subjected to severe mechanical shock.

Problem with RAM? Check operation thoroughly with MemTest. As to size, the 512MB
that someone mentioned is not unreasonable even with XP, and gives tons of
headroom with Linux. I don't believe the problem is too little RAM, especially
since your system worked fine before.

Last & worst: a fault has developed with your motherboard or CPU? The only
solution here is a replacement (under warranty, hopefully).

Hope any of this helps...