XP Mystery

I have a brand new Gateway with XP Home installed from the factory. The problem: It apparently becomes captivated with some thought of it's own and refuses to acknowledge the users desire to run a program. (Now.) After some delay, which only it understands, it will eventually load and execute the program. The delay is usually on the order of 30 minutes to as much as 2 hours. The owner considers this to be unacceptable performance.

The only things "added" to the box are Norton Internet and AV software, plus some software provided by the DSL provider. Connection to the external world is through a FW router.

Other symptoms noticed: Event log has several warnings about missing W32 time sync and a few "can not connect to the DHCP server, lease has expired, etc., errors". (How this can be, I do not rightly understand since the router is only three feet away and acts as the DHCP server.) Apparently, it recovers and obtains a new lease at some point because it does not continue to produce the errors. Finally, NetDetect (Symantec) was scheduled to run every 5 minutes, forever. (Seems a bit overly done to me since the live update is only scheduled for every three days or so.)

Any thoughts will be appreciated greatly.

Regards,
Mike

 

Don't know about the errors but you could do a Full Test on PC Pitstop to see if a poorly maintained drive or bad settings are the cause.

 

NTL,

The machine is only a few weeks old, not enough time to mess it up too badly, yet. The user is not a power user and only uses a few programs. (Outlook, a few card games and very rarely WORD and EXCEL.) The box is a 2.0 GHz, 256 MB memory, 40 GB disk, 18" FP, Gateway 500S. More than enough HP to be a screamer. (Or at least, one would think so.)

But, never one to miss an opportunity, I did run the tests. Pretty much all checkerd flags.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had never seen that site before. I will keep it around for future possibilities. It is always good to know these things.

Regards,
Mike

PS - I once had a friend named Dave Swhartziendrubber and he finally changed his "too long" name. Now, he is Bob Swhartziendrubber.

 

If you're going thru a router, do you need the DSL ISP's software? Also, did you try turning off the Norton's ?

 

30 minutes to 2 hours to load a program?? It'd be back in the box and on it's way to Gateway quicker than a teenager drops third period French!

As for the errors, the Win32 error is normal, the clock syncs with a time server on the web. If the web site and clock can't be set, then the error. This can be turned off. The DHCP error is because the computer didn't get a IP address while trying to access the internet or did noy communicate properly with the router. Nothing again.

Do a CTRL+ALT+DEL (all three keys at the same time) and under the Performance Tab, what is the CPU usage? Should drop to 1 or 2%. Nothing working correctly should take that long to open any program especially with a NEW Gateway.

 

Del,

The router has all the info to establish contact with the ISP and should hold the link forever. (Of course that is only in theory. So when it drops, the router will re-establish the link. Most of the time.)

And you have hit upon the next thing to try, I guess. I have been reluctant to get rid of Nortons but that may be next. I use this product on three other machines without any problems. It is the recommended version for XP. However, if all else fails, that may be the next thing to do. I was just hoping someone would chime in and say "Oh yes, I know your problem. You need to grease the grindle nut and retighten the splangfelter.") You know, something easy to fix (after someone else tells you what it is !)

TNX for the assistance Del. CUL

Regards,
Mike

 

Emtronics,

I have never seen anything quite like this before. Task manager doesn't show anything going on. The processor is essentially idle most of the time. (In all fairness, when this "problem" occurs, you can't get Task Manager up, at that time. If you have it up already, you can see it.) Another odd thing, if you have any program up and running, it will continue to run as if nothing is wrong. Even though no other programs will load and run, the programs that are up, will keep running.

It is only stopping here for a few days, on it's way back to Gateway! (I never took French but I did drop German after the first class, when I found out everyone there had lived in Germany for years and years! That is what happens when you attend a college in a town next to an Army base.)


Regards,
Mike

 

LOL, well it being a new machine, you might consider using the Restore CD. (or Recovery CD, or whatever Gateway is calling it this month) Things that go hang in the night are usually software related. Drivers bumping into memory address' and the like, but it can also be a virus or a worm. It may well be worth a shot on the Recovery CD and IN MY OPINION, I wouldn't put Norton anything on my computer. Your problem smells of Norton.

 

Sounds like the wonders of Norton to me.

has given me problems before though i only have a 633 not 2Ghz

But Norton has never worked well in my little experience, I use AVG(u wouldn't even know it's running) - got it after getting my first virus-it found it and deleted it without a problem and no problems since

i take it you have tried viri and trojan scans online just in case..

 

Need an great A/V? eTrust EZ Anti-virus

 

I have been using my etrust for almost a year, and swear by it. I don't know of anything out there better.