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jp2msft - 24 Jun 2008 20:31 GMT

We recently cleaned my PC here at work (DELL Optiplex, P4, 3.2 GHz processor,
2 GB RAM): We booted from the XP Pro CD, deleted the partition, created a new
one, formatted it, and installed Windows XP Pro SP2.

Now, I have finally gotten all of my applications installed (Visual Studio
Pro, Microsoft Office), downloaded all of the Service Packs, all of the
Updates from MS, etc.

To my dismay, this PC is now running much slower than it did before.

For example: Starting a new email or Word document takes close to 60 seconds
to complete, and in my task manager, it never gets over 20% CPU utilization.

Is there something I need to tweak? What could I look for to make this
system cook like it is supposed to?

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Daave - 25 Jun 2008 01:05 GMT

> We recently cleaned my PC here at work (DELL Optiplex, P4, 3.2 GHz
> processor,
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Is there something I need to tweak? What could I look for to make this
> system cook like it is supposed to?

Have you installed all the proper drivers?

Certain Dells have a BIOS setting called OS Install Mode. If the setting
is "On," then you can only access 256MB of RAM. So, make sure it is set
to "Off." See Table 6-2:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe1750/en/sm/setup.htm

What was the reason you performed a clean install in the first place?

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jp2msft - 26 Jun 2008 14:29 GMT

This is going to be funny: My connection to SQL Server through Enterprise
Manager stopped working, and our IT guy couldn't figure it out. So, his
solution was to just format the hard drive and reinstall everything.

Now, I'm a software developer, so I needed a connection to the SQL Server,
but this seemed like an extreme way of going about things.

Sorry about taking so long to get back with you on this, too. For some
reason, the last few days of trying to access this page have loaded up a
blank page no matter how many times I try refreshing. Today, it let me in,
though.

I'm worried this PC may have some bad RAM or one of the motherboard chips
could have partially fried. I don't have any idea how to check that, though.

I'm looking into your solution now. If it works, I'll update your solution
as the answer.

> What was the reason you performed a clean install in the first place?

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jp2msft - 27 Jun 2008 15:38 GMT

Thanks Daave,

That got it. In the BIOS, it was set to some "more efficient" instead of
"more powerful".

I tried updating this yesterday, but this site seemed to be down.

> Certain Dells have a BIOS setting called OS Install Mode. If the setting
> is "On," then you can only access 256MB of RAM. So, make sure it is set
> to "Off." See Table 6-2:

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Daave - 27 Jun 2008 20:25 GMT

Glad to hear it's fixed, and thanks for posting back.

> Thanks Daave,
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>> set
>> to "Off." See Table 6-2:

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