Dell i laugh at you in anger

Lydesia

The last great thing i used my dell dimension for is to order parts off komplett for my new machine which im building atm.
The machine i have is a Dell 2350 model. Its a 2.66 P4, so it still has a decent processing capibilities, in theory. The performance in the machine has dwindled over the last month or so to that of a P2. It takes 2-3 minutes to open Firefox. 5 minutes to Open Photoshop ect ect, i know this has nothing to do with the HDD as its running smoothly and is unfragmented.
In task manager the bar never leaves "100% CPU usage"
Has anyone an idea about what could be happining the processor?

P4 2.66 Gz
512 DDR
120 GB 7200 rpm.

Oh i have attached a Picture of the inside to show you the crapness.
they removed the AGP slot because i chose not to buy a graphics card off them and the only case fan is directed at the CPU (which has no dedicated fan) meaning there is no case fan. How cheep is that.

P

http://home.ripway.com/2004-12/225840/Dell.jpg

zAbbo

What AV software are you using ?

angelofdeath

dell machines are built like that to keep noise to a minimum, which considering they could be selling a buisness a hundered computers all working in an office is quite important, its not cheap, its just good sense

as for you cpu being at 100% all the time, which process(es) are using up the cpu?

vibe666

laugh at dell all you want, but your pc is running slowly because of spyware, and that has nothing to do with dell.

get yourself some spyware cleaning tools spybot, ad-aware etc. (google it) and go to www.merijn.org and grab some of the tools there.

Dell sold you exactly what you bought from them. they sell good pc's and they sell bad ones. if you'd properly educated yourself before buying yours you might not have ended up with something you now consider to be crap.

BUT, 100% CPU usage all the time and piss poor performance in general is a very good indication that you have severe spyware infections. again something that you would have picked up due to poor surfing habits, not anything to do with Dell.

there's no point blaming somebody else for your own mistakes. it does seem that you're learning from them though, so good luck with your new build, and you know where we are if you get stuck. in the mean time, get cracking on removing that spyware, and be careful what sites you visit, and what you download from them. spyware is everywhere these days, and you need to be careful, and above all well educated in the pitfalls of using a pc on thenet.

I am MAN

Your thinking on this problem was 100% irrelevant, download adware or spybot and if none of them work just do a system restore.

drive3331

im running a self build pc with the same processor. The only time perforance has dropped off like that has been due to spyware/adware been present. You've probably done this already but use lavasoft Ad-Aware remover (or whatever you prefer) with recent definitions and scan.

The other thought is to run msconfig from the run command and go to the startup tab and see what is loading when the pc boots. Try deactivate anything that doesnt look like it should be there.

One last thing, the ultimate solution, is to consider reinstaling XP, you'll probably be doing that anyway when the new pc is up and running.

drive3331

k....I am MAN go their before me...dooohhh

Ruu_Old

what they said, snoop through your system and look for junk you dont need. Also look into your startup options and see what you got running in there and make sure its not a virus.

Lydesia

bazH wrote:

What AV software are you using ?

Im not using any.

zAbbo

Lydesia wrote:

Im not using any.

bingo retardo

Lydesia

angelofdeath wrote:

dell machines are built like that to keep noise to a minimum, which considering they could be selling a buisness a hundered computers all working in an office is quite important, its not cheap, its just good sense

as for you cpu being at 100% all the time, which process(es) are using up the cpu?

Firewall, MSN messenger, Style XP, Steam and some system processes.
Its running a Program that slows it so badly

angelofdeath

lol, then you can hardly blame dell, eh?

Lydesia

bazH wrote:

bingo retardo

Well i have NAV i just dont keep it running in the bg cos' it uses so much system resources. And there was no need to call me that

+ i just scanned and no virus's

angelofdeath

do this, bring up task manager (ctrl alt delete) maximise it and go to the processes tab, hit print screen go to paint, go edit paste, save as jpeg and upload it to your boards.ie file manager or wherever and post a link to it in this thread and we might be able to figure out the culprit program

_sheep

Seems like your processor is full.

Better build that new system

zAbbo

Yes there is, you come on whinging about Dells poor performance when it is indeed yourself with a spyware/virus ridden OS.

Ciaran500

Whats continuesly using 100% CPU? It will tell you in the processes tab.

Lydesia

vibe666 wrote:

laugh at dell all you want, but your pc is running slowly because of spyware, and that has nothing to do with dell.

get yourself some spyware cleaning tools spybot, ad-aware etc. (google it) and go to www.merijn.org and grab some of the tools there.

Dell sold you exactly what you bought from them. they sell good pc's and they sell bad ones. if you'd properly educated yourself before buying yours you might not have ended up with something you now consider to be crap.

BUT, 100% CPU usage all the time and piss poor performance in general is a very good indication that you have severe spyware infections. again something that you would have picked up due to poor surfing habits, not anything to do with Dell.

there's no point blaming somebody else for your own mistakes. it does seem that you're learning from them though, so good luck with your new build, and you know where we are if you get stuck. in the mean time, get cracking on removing that spyware, and be careful what sites you visit, and what you download from them. spyware is everywhere these days, and you need to be careful, and above all well educated in the pitfalls of using a pc on thenet.

Cheers for the info, unlike most other people who posted.
Although its not spyware, i have Ad-Aware and Spybot and they found nothing

Lydesia

bazH wrote:

Yes there is, you come on whinging about Dells poor performance when it is indeed yourself with a spyware/virus ridden OS.

ITS NOT

And your a moderator! I cant believe people.
Can you not say something constructive?

Its not virus's and Spyware cos i scanned for both

angelofdeath

is there a second services.exe running at 100% by any chance?

zAbbo

Obviously its not virus's cause you scanned right?

heh anyway show us your running process's sorted by CPU

_sheep

This is an error between the keyboard and your chair, the hardware is fine.

Lydesia

_sheep wrote:

This is an error between the keyboard and your chair, the hardware is fine.

I came on looking for some help and i get posts like this.
The people ive talked to so far on boards have been extremly helpful and polite.
I might not know as much about comps as you do but dont fu*kin treat me like that.

Ciaran500

Mabye if you would stop bitching about people insulting you and lets us try to help you, you might get some more help. :rolleyes:

_sheep

If he posts his process list ill be happy to help. Until then my posts will make as much sense as his

angelofdeath

look your going to get that anywhere just ignore it, post a screenshot of your processes and we'll be able to sort you out

kleefarr

angelofdeath wrote:

boards.ie file manager

Sounds interesting. Where's that? In your user CP? I haven't come across that yet.

angelofdeath

http://members.boards.ie/

david

Uninstall all the crap you don't need, make sure you dont have more than one virus checker/firewall running at once. I had the same problem with a Dell P4 1.7 and it cleaned it up nicely, not my main machine but it's fine for everyday things... not music and dvd's though... I keep my P4ht 3.2 1024mb ddr for that

Ciaran500

freakonaleashx wrote:

not music and dvd's though... I keep my P4ht 3.2 1024mb ddr for that

Sounds like overkill to decode mp3 or DVD's.

Capt'n Midnight

Well entry level pc's from any of the big names aren't likley to have much extra throw in. You saved a few bucks on the AGP slot and fan.

Actually blame INTEL http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=31105&seqNum=3

SFX Style
..... Then in March 1999, Intel released the Flex-ATX addendum to the Micro-ATX specification, which was a very small board designed for low-end PCs or PC-based appliances. At this point, the SFX supply has found use in many new compact system
....
On a standard model SFX power supply, a 60mm diameter cooling fan is located on the surface of the housing, facing the inside of the computer's case. The fan draws the air into the power supply housing from the system cavity and expels it through a port at the rear of the system. Internalizing the fan in this way reduces system noise and results in a standard negative-pressure design. In many cases, additional fans might be needed in the system to cool the processor

kleefarr

angelofdeath wrote:

http://members.boards.ie/

:cool: Thanks.

weemcd

*click here* dell FAQ

angelofdeath

*shudders*

padraigf

If you're building a new system anyway Lydesia, couldn't hurt to reformat the Dell and reinstall everything from the ground up (with a non-dell windows disc). This will bring it back to the speed it was when you got it at the very least. No point in giving up on it now. If it's anyones fault it's microsoft's. Unless you keep your system bulletproof it will just slow to a crawl over time, nomatter how fast it is or who built it.

david

Ciaran500 wrote:

Sounds like overkill to decode mp3 or DVD's.

Meh... I didn't pay for it! The P4 1.7 can't really handle DVD's or music editing/recording very well.

angelofdeath

my pc would have to have flames and smoke coming out of it before id consider re-installing, i have nightmares thinking bout having to get it back to the state its currently in

elvis2002

download HiJackThis and copy the output in to this post. Search for it on google.

Also what do you have starting up a boot time? run "msconfig" and have a look in the startup for obvious reasons.

PS: Some people on boards are right spa's, he only wants some help, no need to abuse him. !!!

Ciaran500

elvis2002 wrote:

he only wants some help, no need to abuse him. !!!

To be fair he was abusing dell for something that sounds like hs fault.

zAbbo

but but they removed the AGP slot

Gone West

computers dont just disentigrate over time. Well not as quick as you say anyways! you must have serious spyware/adware/trojans. Format your drives, then use avp and sygate firewall and zonealarm.

elvis2002

Ciaran500 wrote:

To be fair he was abusing dell for something that sounds like hs fault.

He may be misinformed as to why his pc is fooked up, but since when has laughing at dell become a crime. Next you'll be burning people for laughing at microsoft

Zascar

Dells are good macines, but the 2350 is the bottom of the range so you can;t expect too much, They are so cheap because there is no AGP slot in the 2xx0 series, (they did not 'remove' the AGP slot, there is none, it has built in "Intel Extreme Graphics' - About 16mb capasity really) thats why they are cheap. It is meant for light use: internet surfing/word processing etc and not much else. The person who sold you the machine should have infomed you of this and would probably have suggested the 4x00 or 8x00 series if you needed more graphics perfomance.

My advse would be to just do a total reinstall and you will see that the Dell will be back to its original state, and as the other guys have mentioned, put a few essential programs on there (see faq sticky) and you shold be fine. No matter what manufacturer, if you pc isn;t looked after properly and fills up with crap, it will screach to a halt eventually...

Sherifu

Is your pc certified?




It sounds like your pc has a virus.
Ive never seen spyware hog all the processor time.
Style xp is an intensive program.
Try sidelining some of the programs you dont need.
Kill them one by one in task manager till u find the culprit*



*i accept no responsibility for your crap pc completely packing in.

micks

if spyware is clear
then try www.trendmicro.com on-line scan

lomb

all internet connected pcs need os reloads every 6-12 months to keep things fresh. the registry gets screwed up. just back up ur data and reload. then start with applying the sp2 patch immediately, follewed by ca ez virus 2005(free from microsoft.com/protect), follewed by adaware and spybot and microsofts own antispyware tool. follow this by ghosting the hard drive with norton ghost onto cds or a dvd, then u can always go back easily in the future.
ur pc is a business machine, it was not designed for gaming just like a mini is not designed for being a wedding car.

halkar

One thing that is worth checking is to see if you are using Dell keyboard or mouse software and look for updates if there are any. Some logitech software can use cpu resources a lot. Or if you can live without keyboard and mouse utilites just get rid of them by uninstalling.

Also if you are feeling brave, get Process Explorer which is like task manager but more detailed. You should be able to see what tasks using your cpu resources and details right down to the directories they are located

Lydesia

Ah right, cool to see some people who are willing to help.
I took those 2 screenshots of my task manager.

Processes:

http://home.ripway.com/2004-12/225840/Taskmanager.jpg

CPU:

http://home.ripway.com/2004-12/225840/taskmanagerCPU.jpg

There appears to be 2 system processes using all my CPU time.
I cant stop these cos' they are system Proc

Lydesia

halkar wrote:

One thing that is worth checking is to see if you are using Dell keyboard or mouse software and look for updates if there are any. Some logitech software can use cpu resources a lot. Or if you can live without keyboard and mouse utilites just get rid of them by uninstalling.

Also if you are feeling brave, get Process Explorer which is like task manager but more detailed. You should be able to see what tasks using your cpu resources and details right down to the directories they are located

Cool man cheers. i will check that out

Lydesia

lomb wrote:

all internet connected pcs need os reloads every 6-12 months to keep things fresh. the registry gets screwed up. just back up ur data and reload. then start with applying the sp2 patch immediately, follewed by ca ez virus 2005(free from microsoft.com/protect), follewed by adaware and spybot and microsofts own antispyware tool. follow this by ghosting the hard drive with norton ghost onto cds or a dvd, then u can always go back easily in the future.
ur pc is a business machine, it was not designed for gaming just like a mini is not designed for being a wedding car.

Cool cheers man
I will try that. buT what is ghosting?

Lydesia

Modified wrote:

Is your pc certified?




It sounds like your pc has a virus.
Ive never seen spyware hog all the processor time.
Style xp is an intensive program.
Try sidelining some of the programs you dont need.
Kill them one by one in task manager till u find the culprit*



*i accept no responsibility for your crap pc completely packing in.

LMAO, nice image.

Check the links there to see my task manager