I hate friends of friends with computers....

I have a friend of a friend with a HP (Pavilion 7915) computer, and it
crapped out recently, so my friend's friend had another's friend's teen
son wipe the HD clean. Unfortunately, the friend's son who wiped the HD
didn't know what to do after that.

THAT'S WHEN THEY FINALLY THINK OF CALLING ~ME~!

I am trying to install XP to this (Celeron1.1 G, 128MB RAM) sys, and I
am seeing things I have never seen before. The OS loads VERY slowly,
and furthermore it keeps saying it's can't copy many files... one file
after another. I've been hitting escape to ignore the ones it can't
load (since that is not a new problem to me)...but it's so bloody SLOW.

Is VERY slow performance a sign of impending HD failure? Or what?

Just asking.

Thanks for any insights, you brilliant and very helpful people, you.

Laura

ToolPackinMama wrote:
I have a friend of a friend with a HP (Pavilion 7915) computer, and it
crapped out recently, so my friend's friend had another's friend's
teen son wipe the HD clean. Unfortunately, the friend's son who
wiped the HD didn't know what to do after that.

THAT'S WHEN THEY FINALLY THINK OF CALLING ~ME~!

I am trying to install XP to this (Celeron1.1 G, 128MB RAM) sys, and I
am seeing things I have never seen before. The OS loads VERY slowly,
and furthermore it keeps saying it's can't copy many files... one file
after another. I've been hitting escape to ignore the ones it can't
load (since that is not a new problem to me)...but it's so bloody
SLOW.
Is VERY slow performance a sign of impending HD failure? Or what?

Just asking.

Thanks for any insights, you brilliant and very helpful people, you.
Laura

hd or ram. have you tied diags for the mfg on the hd or memtest on the ram
yet?

"ToolPackinMama" wrote in message ...
I have a friend of a friend with a HP (Pavilion 7915) computer, and it
crapped out recently, so my friend's friend had another's friend's teen
son wipe the HD clean. Unfortunately, the friend's son who wiped the HD
didn't know what to do after that.

THAT'S WHEN THEY FINALLY THINK OF CALLING ~ME~!

I am trying to install XP to this (Celeron1.1 G, 128MB RAM) sys, and I
am seeing things I have never seen before. The OS loads VERY slowly,
and furthermore it keeps saying it's can't copy many files... one file
after another. I've been hitting escape to ignore the ones it can't
load (since that is not a new problem to me)...but it's so bloody SLOW.

Your friend's friend's friend's son??? That's a pretty long stretch
to be asking for serious help. Consider washing your hands of
the whole mess.

Barring that, do a basic hardware check:
1. Check the CPU fan, case fans, and any other fans in
the computer and make sure they are working.

2. Access the BIOS and if the BIOS has a temperature
monitor feature, make sure the temperatures are ok,
especially the CPU temperature.

3. Shut down your computer and turn off power *at the
surge protector* (which cuts off standby power while
leaving the computer grounded) or unplug it. Take
the standard precautions against static electricity
(wear a wrist strap or keep one hand grounded at all
times).

4. Open up the computer and dust it out. *Do not use a
vacuum cleaner* - it might cause static discharge.
Get some dust remover spray (Walmart, BestBuy,
RadioShack) and a dust mask, and take the computer
outside and spray out the dust. Keep the end of the
spray straw at least six inches from any components and
keep it moving so as to avoid excessive thermal shock
to the components.

5. Reseat all the modules, including the memory modules,
and cables inside the computer.

6. Remove the CMOS battery, measure its
voltage, and if the measured voltage is significantly less
than the voltage marked on top of the battery (usually 3
volts), replace it. Note: If you do this step, you'll
have to set up your BIOS again.

7. Turn on the computer, and if it boots, download
"Memtest86+" from http://www.memtest.org and run
it for a few cycles to thoroughly check out your memory.
Zero errors is the only acceptable result..

Then, upgrade the memory to at least 256MB, or preferably
to 512MB. (Go to http://www.crucial.com and use their
memory advisor to find compatible memory.)

--Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com

hd or ram. have you tied diags for the mfg on the hd or memtest on the ram
yet?

No, I have not. What do you suggest?

I'm trying for the second time to load the XP OS to a clean (freshly
formated) drive, and just copying the files to continue the OS load is
taking two hours plus! I KNOW that's abnormal. That process normally
takes only a few minutes.

Bob Day wrote:

Your friend's friend's friend's son??? That's a pretty long stretch
to be asking for serious help. Consider washing your hands of
the whole mess.

LOL I would, but they are paying me.

Then, upgrade the memory to at least 256MB, or preferably to 512MB.

I agree about the memory upgrade, but technically, XP can load and run
on a sys with these specs. Not run well, but yes, run.

XP runs and loads VERY slowly on a computer with only 128 MB of RAM. It'a
good time to add some RAM.

--
DaveW

----------------
"ToolPackinMama" wrote in message
...
I have a friend of a friend with a HP (Pavilion 7915) computer, and it
crapped out recently, so my friend's friend had another's friend's teen son
wipe the HD clean. Unfortunately, the friend's son who wiped the HD didn't
know what to do after that.

THAT'S WHEN THEY FINALLY THINK OF CALLING ~ME~!

I am trying to install XP to this (Celeron1.1 G, 128MB RAM) sys, and I am
seeing things I have never seen before. The OS loads VERY slowly, and
furthermore it keeps saying it's can't copy many files... one file after
another. I've been hitting escape to ignore the ones it can't load (since
that is not a new problem to me)...but it's so bloody SLOW.

Is VERY slow performance a sign of impending HD failure? Or what?

Just asking.

Thanks for any insights, you brilliant and very helpful people, you.

Laura

DaveW wrote:
XP runs and loads VERY slowly on a computer with only 128 MB of RAM. It'a
good time to add some RAM

I don't disagree, but stuck at 49% of install files to load OS is TOO
EFFING SLOW! By any standards.

Could it be a hardware problem? That's my question.

I can load WinME or 98 instead if that will help. No problem. BUT right
on the computer is a sticker that says it is XP ready!

Comments?

ToolPackinMama wrote:

I don't disagree, but stuck at 49% of install files to load OS is TOO
EFFING SLOW! By any standards.

I'm sorry. I should have said stuck FOR TWO HOURS at 49%....

For the second time....

I hope you all can agree that THAT is unusual, and is not
explained/justified by the lackluster hardware config.

"ToolPackinMama" wrote in message
...

hd or ram. have you tied diags for the mfg on the hd or memtest on the
ram yet?

No, I have not. What do you suggest?

I'm trying for the second time to load the XP OS to a clean (freshly
formated) drive,


Is this a quick format or a full format? With the problem you're having,
you should be doing a full format.
It sounds more like bad sectors on the harddrive than faulty ram. When ram
has bad spots, my experience is Windows setup hangs or crashes.

The best/easiest thing to do is to try another hard drive if you have one
available.
Also, you should remove all unnecessary peripherals during setup. I.e., any
unnecessary ISA or PCI cards, printers, modems, etc. This will remove the
possibility that they are causing any conflicts.

I've found that if there are 'overclocking' settings in the BIOS, they can
cause problems with Windows setup = you might confirm the BIOS setting are
'normal'.

For hard drive utilities, you need to search the drive manufacturer's site
for diagnostic tools. All the major disk manufacturers provide diagnostic
tools for their hard drives for free.
Here's a link to Seatools from Seagate. They don't mention that the tool is
specific to Seagate drives, but it might be.
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/B7a.html

On Track provides a free demo version at
http://www.ontrack.com/dataadvisor/ I've no experience with their utility.

From my experience, you should do a 'recover bad sector' pass on the disk -
regardless of whether the utility says the disk is good.



and just copying the files to continue the OS load is
taking two hours plus! I KNOW that's abnormal. That process normally
takes only a few minutes.

fj wrote:
"ToolPackinMama" wrote in message
...

hd or ram. have you tied diags for the mfg on the hd or memtest on the
ram yet?

No, I have not. What do you suggest?

I'm trying for the second time to load the XP OS to a clean (freshly
formated) drive,



Is this a quick format or a full format?

Full. I tried both.

It sounds more like bad sectors on the harddrive than faulty ram. When ram
has bad spots, my experience is Windows setup hangs or crashes.

I agree.


The best/easiest thing to do is to try another hard drive if you have one
available.

HA!

taking two hours plus! I KNOW that's abnormal. That process normally
takes only a few minutes.

Thank you. That's what I thought!