"Slim Win" wrote in
:

Finally got the summons to do something to improve my aged
mothers equally aged Compaq Pres' 5170 which runs so slowly it's
unbelievable (recent OS renewal W98SE, nothing improved) and l
was wondering what l'll find inside the case...

Compaqs site specs list the 5170 at 10Gb HD, but this one is 6Gb
from new, so l cannot believe anything l read on the Compaq
site... but sys' info tells me it's a 64Mb ram machine with a
100Mhz bus, 4Mb graphics chip (on Mobo?) and a PIII processor...

PIII means its 450MHz or more - which *should* be fairly nippy
running Win98SE, even with only 64MB of memory.

The disk size discrepancy may be down to the way drive sizes are
described (binary vs decimal GB) plus the presence of a hidden
setup/recovery partition. Or maybe Compaq chnaged the spec later in
the product lifecycle - happens a lot.


Can l scrap Compaqs software (would locating individual
sound/modem/mobo drivers be impossible or not?) and reformat and
reload the OS without the Compaq flavour?

Suggest you run AIDA32 on the system to check what hardware is
actually there. According to HP's site, Win98 drivers for a 5170
are available he

http://www29.compaq.com/falco/sp_res...odel=1764&Os=8

If the hardware and driver availability match up, and assuming you
have an installable copy of Windows not a recovery CD, I'd suggest
you make a DOS boot diskette and use FDISK to delete the existing
partition(s) and start afresh.

Also... how do l get into CMOS setup on this machine?

Tap the F10 key during bootup.

My even older K6-350Mhz ****es all over the Presario... the
Compaq sounds just like a Geiger Counter most of the time... the
HD just clicks and clicks away like there had been a nuclear
accident when the PC's asked to perform the simplest task...

Maybe the hard drive is faulty - the clicking could be multiple
retry and recalibrate head movements. Which might also account for
the very slow speed of the system. Also check whether the
controller is working in PIO mode - that'll slow things a lot.

Do you have a spare hard disk to try, just to test the theory?


Want to scan a photo? Got 2 hours to spare? That's how long it
takes to scan and allow you to manipulate ONE 6" x 4" colour
photo on an HP all in one USB device... so you see what l mean
about slow... but this machine really takes the biscuit...

Scanning can take up lots of memory - lots of swapping on a 64MB
system - slow system, but not 2 hours worth. Maybe supports the
malfunctioning hard disk theory... see above.
..
..
..

Lack of FE or BSOD errors makes me think there's no burned out
hardware...

Not a very reliable diagnosis IME.

Could it have been like this from new? Does anyone know?

I doubt it, but...

--
BRG
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http://www.brgservices.co.uk/