I need computer help!

this should be it

3265.jpg
 
Hmm, I don't see how that computer is slow, as it was reformatted. Slow.... Explain, what are you doing on this laptop that is slow? Web pages loading slow, or games, or Powerpoint, or what? What antivirus software do you have loaded? Anything else in the background loaded? Did you do use the System Restore or did you manually reinstall Windows with a Dell Windows cd?

Sure you could get additional memory for that, as memory is relatively cheap (yours probably takes DDR 266 SODIMMs), and easy to install, and best bang for your buck. Next thing to upgrade would be the harddrive as 4200rpm is the slowest (well currently) that harddrives spin at. The faster they spin, the faster they can pump out data. To install a new drive is a lot more effort and isn't easy if you have data on your current drive that you want to bring over. Laptop harddrive convertors or a USB to IDE adapter would be best in that situation.

Make sure you remove the battery and AC power first before installing the memory. The screws are Phillips, and are small, so a jeweler's set of screwdrivers or eyeglass screwdrivers work the best. Don't torque the screws that much. Quarter turn to snug it is all you need.
 
hawk82 said:
Hmm, I don't see how that computer is slow, as it was reformatted. Slow.... Explain, what are you doing on this laptop that is slow? Web pages loading slow, or games, or Powerpoint, or what? What antivirus software do you have loaded? Anything else in the background loaded? Did you do use the System Restore or did you manually reinstall Windows with a Dell Windows cd?

Sure you could get additional memory for that, as memory is relatively cheap (yours probably takes DDR 266 SODIMMs), and easy to install, and best bang for your buck. Next thing to upgrade would be the harddrive as 4200rpm is the slowest (well currently) that harddrives spin at. The faster they spin, the faster they can pump out data. To install a new drive is a lot more effort and isn't easy if you have data on your current drive that you want to bring over. Laptop harddrive convertors or a USB to IDE adapter would be best in that situation.

Make sure you remove the battery and AC power first before installing the memory. The screws are Phillips, and are small, so a jeweler's set of screwdrivers or eyeglass screwdrivers work the best. Don't torque the screws that much. Quarter turn to snug it is all you need.
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For example, when I first start up firefox it takes 5 minutes. This is good information I appreciate it. Microsoft programs are slow as well. I run Norton which I realize can slow things down but I do too much online to not have it on.
 
If you have Norton Antivirus or Mcafee Antivirus on your laptop, you might want to think about using a different antivirus product as both of those programs have become resource hogs, and have also are starting to miss viruses (probably due to the updates being released daily, instead of hourly or sooner like most of the other antivirus software packages have gone to).

If you want to pay for an antivirus software package, I'd recommend either NOD32 or Kaspersky's AV. If you want free, then try AVG Free Edition or Avast Home Edition. All of those are light on system resources but do an awesome job keeping your computer clean.

edit: 5 minutes to load firefox? wow... something screwy is going on there. Is the harddrive activity light blinking constantly while trying to load the programs? Is the fan in the laptop working? Do you hear any grinding or clicking sounds coming from the computer?
 
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Dharma1521 said:
For example, when I first start up firefox it takes 5 minutes. This is good information I appreciate it. Microsoft programs are slow as well. I run Norton which I realize can slow things down but I do too much online to not have it on.
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use avg instead

not a resource hog and works just as well. and it's free!
 
also, this may seem silly but what power scheme are you running? dell's have intel speedstep running so if you're running in anything but home computer or presentation mode your processor speed is cut in half
 
hawk82 said:
edit: 5 minutes to load firefox? wow... something screwy is going on there. Is the harddrive activity light blinking constantly while trying to load the programs? Is the fan in the laptop working? Do you hear any grinding or clicking sounds coming from the computer?
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Oohh I think you are on to something.
 
hawk82 said:
If you have Norton Antivirus or Mcafee Antivirus on your laptop, you might want to think about using a different antivirus product as both of those programs have become resource hogs, and have also are starting to miss viruses (probably due to the updates being released daily, instead of hourly or sooner like most of the other antivirus software packages have gone to).

If you want to pay for an antivirus software package, I'd recommend either NOD32 or Kaspersky's AV. If you want free, then try AVG Free Edition or Avast Home Edition. All of those are light on system resources but do an awesome job keeping your computer clean.

edit: 5 minutes to load firefox? wow... something screwy is going on there. Is the harddrive activity light blinking constantly while trying to load the programs? Is the fan in the laptop working? Do you hear any grinding or clicking sounds coming from the computer?
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Yes it sounds like its trying to do it. I will check those anti-viruses out.
 
I'm going to agree with hawk and say this sounds like hardware failing. If after a clean install the load times are that bad, you might have a failing motherboard component, possibly a dying hard drive, or a memory/memory slot issue...among other possible problems.

I assume you are out of warranty coverage, but doesn't dell put a diagnostics program on its hard drives that can be run outside of windows that tests hardware for failure? Just a thought, but I don't know how to begin to tell you how to use it...maybe a dell guru on here knows.
 
So here, this is what you do.

Take it out and paint some flames on it... or at least put some cool decals on it, maybe a number 18.

..Yeah... you're feeling me.
 
ERage said:
I'm going to agree with hawk and say this sounds like hardware failing. If after a clean install the load times are that bad, you might have a failing motherboard component, possibly a dying hard drive, or a memory/memory slot issue...among other possible problems.

I assume you are out of warranty coverage, but doesn't dell put a diagnostics program on its hard drives that can be run outside of windows that tests hardware for failure? Just a thought, but I don't know how to begin to tell you how to use it...maybe a dell guru on here knows.
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Yup, assuming the drive wasn't fully formatted and the diagnostic partition removed.

To open the Dell Diagnostics, turn on the laptop, start hitting F12 and eventually a boot menu will pop open, select diagnostics or hardware test. I forget the actual name, but it should be apparent which one to choose. Once in there run the full test, which will test just about every piece of hardware in your laptop.
 
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