Windows 2000 performance problems

[Jakobud]

Hey guys I am having a strange Win2k problem in my cabinet.  I don't know where it's coming from b/c I haven't loaded anything new on recently.  Anyways, it seems like everytime I run any executable, the machine just bogs down bigtime for almost 7-10 seconds before it does anything.  Like if I try to startup ZSnes for example, the machine will slow down bigtime for a 7-10 seconds and then once ZSnes is running everything is back to full speed.  I'm not sure if this is a hardware problem or what.  Anyone got any ideas?

[_Iz-]

Running any kind of anti-virus scanner? Maybe a recent virus sig update is causing the strange behavior.

[Odonadon]

Hey guys I am having a strange Win2k problem in my cabinet.  I don't know where it's coming from b/c I haven't loaded anything new on recently.  Anyways, it seems like everytime I run any executable, the machine just bogs down bigtime for almost 7-10 seconds before it does anything.  Like if I try to startup ZSnes for example, the machine will slow down bigtime for a 7-10 seconds and then once ZSnes is running everything is back to full speed.  I'm not sure if this is a hardware problem or what.  Anyone got any ideas?

How much RAM do you have?  It sounds like you're having problems with either lack of sufficient RAM, incompatible RAM, or something's wrong with the DIMMS alltogether.

Odonadon

[SNAAAKE]

Hey guys I am having a strange Win2k problem in my cabinet.  I don't know where it's coming from b/c I haven't loaded anything new on recently.  Anyways, it seems like everytime I run any executable, the machine just bogs down bigtime for almost 7-10 seconds before it does anything.  Like if I try to startup ZSnes for example, the machine will slow down bigtime for a 7-10 seconds and then once ZSnes is running everything is back to full speed.  I'm not sure if this is a hardware problem or what.  Anyone got any ideas?

I say disable ANY kind of anti virus software like "GOBACK" or other similer softwares.

You could also disable everything else that you dont use and see what happens.

Go to run and type "msconfig" and disable useless softwares you might not need.

You probley know this but it works great for me.  

[Jakobud]

No anti virus.  512 megs ddr.  Win2k has no msconfig but I know what you're talking about.  I have the very minimal amount of things load up at startup.

Might be bad ram. I dunno.  Anyway to test ram without swapping it out for other ram?

[SirPoonga]

How long has it been since a fresh install?

[Sasquatch!]

Might be bad ram. I dunno.  Anyway to test ram without swapping it out for other ram?

Yep!  http://www.memtest86.com/

[cdbrown]

memtest is very helpful and easy although it can report errors even if the sticks are good.  Sometimes motherboards with onboard sound and using the athlon cpu can generate errors (that's what I've have heard on other boards).  I have been running memtest on mine and get errors every now and again but I can't confirm whether it is actually the stick or something else.  If you do find errors, see if you can put them in another pc and retest to see if they can be duplicated.

SirP has a good point, OS's tend to destroy themselves over a period of time and need to be deleted/formatted and reinstalled.  Maybe clearing out all temp files, defrag the drive, just guessing now.

Good luck.

[Rasher2k]

Win2k likes to chew before it swallows (the Whore).

HDD Fragmented? Got the latest Service Patch (3)? Maybe it's playing with its' swap files? Who knows... 2K likes to go through all your stuff, like when you insert a cd it takes years to recognize it.

I have P4-2ghz with a gig of ram yet still manage to kill it on a regular occasion (then again, I play with a lot of dangerous stuff, but don't we all ).
But what can you do. Tweak? Patch? Reinstall...

[Jakobud]

Only been a couple months since I installed 2k on it.  I never install anything on this machine since it's in my cabinet. I installed the emulators I wanted and pretty much left the OS alone.  I will try that memtest and see what it says.

[Odonadon]

You shouldn't be running into a problem where Win2k deteriorates that badly in a matter of months  without you installing anything new or constantly tweaking.  Shouldn't be a swap file problem either with 512MB RAM.  I have a machine that I installed win2k on it when it first came out, and have only had to reimage it once.  The reimage took 5 minutes .  It's so nice to make an image instead of reinstalling the thing and drivers from scratch.  this is providing you use the OS properly, of course.  I've seen people kill it in less than 7 months - but that was an extreme case of non-stop mp3, mpg, etc. downloading and installing every Gator Companion, Bonzai Buddy and Webshots pop-up ad inspired program.  But it's an excellent to clear temp files and do a Defrag.

Just curious - how hot does it get in the cab?  Do you have any fans blowing air out?

And remember - If it's not worth your time troubleshooting it, you may as well do a fresh install.

Odonadon

[StephenH]

Press Ctrl-Alt-Del, and open Task Manager.   See what programs have high CPU usage percentage.   If anything other than your emus (when you first start them), and system idle process are high, note the name of the EXE, and try to figure out what it is by the name.