He just answered his own problem.
I'll bet there is a memory element burned, and it doesn't rear it's ugly head until the XP kernel tests it... hard hang.
I have seen mobos where the BOS mem test does fine, but Windows pukes and it was RAM (or its settings)that was the reason.
Windows XP has a function which constantly monitors where all the files are, to improve performance ostensibly. I think it's called "paging" you can turn it off and the HDD light will flash a lot less.
Nope. You might be thinking of the MRU list: which saves the most recently used documents. Disabling this feature does little to improve performance.
Paging is part of virtual memory, where the hard disk is used to store parts and pieces of computational memory, so that more RAM can be freed up. The process is called "paging". You can turn off virtual memory by reducing the paging file to zero: but that's like wearing ear plugs to eliminate an alarm signal. The disk bashing may be less, but the machine will die with an unrecoverable page fault when some bloated Windoze program tries to run and gobble more RAM than the machine has available. The right answer is to add more RAM.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Mickeysoft used to claim it would run in 128MB (which it would - but only at about the same speed as window glass flows at STP).
To avoid wading through molasses syndrome 512k was the lower limit and these days with much larger AV databases even 768k is borderline.
He probably means disable disk indexing to speed up searches.
It is also a particular problem with some AV products where an XP machine that has been off for a while will saturate the internet connection grabbing downloads and updates and then use every last scrap of disk bandwidth checking files for infection. Theoretically it does this "in the background" but in practice it can make a memory constrained machine grind to a complete and utter standstill. Talking here minutes to respond to a priority key chord like ctrl-alt-del.
ISTR it takes something like 768MB or less to create a situation on XP SP3 with a mainstream AV loaded where things grind to a virtual standstill. Adding memory to at least 1GB will prevent this problem.
Disabling indexing helps a bit but it isn't a major player.
-- Regards, Martin Brown
It's called Indexing. A lame attempt to create an after the fact disk directory.
And the first thing you disable.
I use (on Mark/qrk's recommendation) Agent Ransack to find files. It supports Regular Expressions, making for nicely narrowed searches. ...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |
I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
I've loaded and run XP with 256MB of RAM. I inherited a collection of cash registers running XP that would only take 256MB of RAM. The motherboard fit inside the keyboard, so socket space was limited. As XP grew with every update, the system became unusable. In order to keep things alive until new machines could be budgeted, I installed WinFLP: While not a spectacular improvement, it was small enough to run on
256MB RAM. I later used it on a P166, PC104 board, running a weather station with a 1GB CF card for storage.Give WinFLP a try. The necessary serial number and disk image are easily found. No activation. Incidentally, it will run with only
64MB of RAM, but really needs 128MB for the install.I'm still running XP on most of my various machines. I max out the memory to 4GB if possible. However, the fastest is running XP as a VM under VMware.
Incidentally, we still don't know how much RAM is in the OP's machine.
Yeah, I forgot about that. I usually turn it off as it really is only useful for MS Office applications. I also don't install MS Search
4.0. For finding things, I use either "Everything" or "Agent Ransack".-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
It's too bad you can't turn off some people. ;-)
Thanks. My head is fog enshrouded arc lamp most of the time.
"Putting the HD on another computer,the files are all there"
Be grateful. Evacuate all important files then drop a nuke on the drive (re-install Windows).
Reminds me of a song by Emery called "As Your Voice Fades" (available on YouTube). The fun starts when the vocalist screams "WHY DID YOU DIE???"
(re-install Windows).
On a new drive, unless your time is worth very little.
YouTube). The fun starts when the vocalist screams "WHY DID YOU DIE???"
Have you tried a different video cable? The monitor, after boot, is identified through a data channel of some sort, and the OS sends it the 'appropriate' signals for the monitor type. If your cable is not handling the identification right, the BIOS (which falls back to VGA low-resolution) will be the only video you can see.
I've seen variations on this, including DVI video cable being the culprit.
You may have memory gone awry above the normal DOS usage range. Go get MEMTEST86 (Google for it) and run it for some hours.
-- Tauno Voipio
drive
Just put the drive into a USB drive enclosure for SATA or IDE, and put a new drive and OS in the computer. Then transfer files as needed or archive them on CDs. I did that when my HP desktop died. It seems to have been bad capacitors on the MoBo (and I actually heard some of them pop before it finally would not even boot).
When my Vista laptop wouldn't boot, I did the same thing with the drive, and copied it onto my Win7 machine. Then I did a full clean install of Vista and it works OK. I don't use it much. It's just handy to have in case a customer is using Vista and I have to provide support for my products.
I no longer have a working desktop machine. I have four laptops with (1)
Win95, (2) WinXP, (3) Vista, and (4) Win7. I also have some non-working (or partially working) older machines with various flavors of MSDOS and a laptop with Win98 (I think) that now halts with a controller error. I might also have a machine with WinMe (a real POS)!
I have a lunchbox machine that had its MoBo damaged by a leaky NiCd battery for its CMOS setup RAM. I fixed it but it just goes through a partial boot and gives a beep code which I can't decipher. It has an LCD monochrome display and a proprietary driver board and I don't see anything. I can probably add a regular display driver and plug in an old CRT or flat panel monitor, but I really want to use the machine to mount a couple of legacy ISA boards such as a Needham's EPROM programmer and a multifunction A/D-D/A-DIO board.
Paul
3
uses
If you need your data use Clonezilla or SystemRescueCD.
OTOH you could provide a LOT more detail on what happens.
?-)
"activation".
foe a
XP,
you
Correctimundo. Since i have no choice but to use mixed OS machines, i build seriously ram fat machines.
?-)
p.
If can see the start-up screen your PC is not totally dead. Can you a text like" hit DEL to go to BIOS settings" or similar. If that DEL or works then your keyboard works and you can check that settings there are OK.
By the way, Internet is full of Web sites telling how to fix a problem PC, there surely is a newsgroups for this too. If you want advice from electronic newsgroup you can only blame yourself. My helpfull advice here is to use a large sledgehammer
A small one, used many times, would be equally helpful.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
-- "it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
But that doesn't give you the satisfaction of a well swung 20 lb sledge, with a four foot handle.
You get extra points for any parts that fly more than 25 feet. :)
Cite!???
Hell, I am confident enough to say that there are no such hammers.
Probably damn few hand tools with "four foot handles".
You are just making up (trying to) for something you lack.
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