Using Win 7 excruciatingly slow - help or advice sought

[ecobuilder05]

My HD died awhile back and thought I'd put in a new SSD and see if I could try to recover files from it. Formerly XP Pro machine.

Thought I'd install Win 7 Ultimate as I'll be doing a new build soon.

Here is what's occuring:

• WEI is 3.6
• Boot up and shut down quite rapid
• Firefox starts fast
• waiting for sites to load very slow
• switching browser windows very slow
• clicking Start and Computer takes around a minute
• typing words in Google search bar takes upwards of 30 seconds to appear
• streaming siruisxm radio sporadic
• couple of BSOD - last one Bad Pool Header

I've read that many people have had success using Win 7 with hardware similar to mine but this kind of performance is ridiculous.

Not sure if other than ancient hardware it could be a driver or some other issue.

WEI
Processor 3.6
Memory 4.6
Graphics 5.9
Gaming GFX 6.9
Primary HD 5.9

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello ecobuilder05 Welcome to the Seven Forums!

How ironic you having 4gb on an older system and one old XP case I tossed a fast install of the 32bit Ultimate on where everything worked well only saw 1gb of DDR 333 memory. The cpu on that was an old Socket A Atholon XP3000.

Your new SSD shows the same 5.9 score as the Sata II 1tb drive 7 in on here showing how the WEI is not all that reliable as an accurate assessment of what is best but a fast reference tool only. Web pages moving slow is often ISP as well as the particular site being busy depending on the time of day or night you arrive there.

As for the BSODs the memory dump file(s) will contain the more precise details necessary for debugging the cause which could be display driver related which would also explain the slow going with browsers windows and typing text in general. The System File Checker tool(typing sfc /scannow at the Start>Run command line) can be a help at times at verifying the main system files are present and not corrupt in the event the Windows install was incomplete.

The last thing of course is not getting all the drivers needed on for the main board and chipset as well as sata controllers, network, video, and sound in good working order. That again however brings up the BSOD problem.

If you can zip up the memory dump file found in the "C:\Windows\Minidump\" folder to attach that to your next post that would be a good idea. The BSODs are generally analyzed in the Crashes and Debugging section here at SF however.

 

[ecobuilder05]

Good evening Night Hawk.

Ironic it is!! Before the HD failure, the system breezed quite nicely, even on CAD software. The slow speed moving between tabs or browsing in FF is related to whatever issue is present as it happens on every site.

Even typing this message I have to wait for it to catch up to continue typing.

I believe you are correct in stating that not all the correct drivers are present. I manually installed the correct driver for my graphics card last week after perusing this forum thinking that was the issue. Only thing it appeared to do was increase the graphics WEI score from 1.0 to 5.9.

Is there software/freeware that does a check for the mainboard & chipset drivers? Network, video, and sound are up to date. I ran Slimdrivers and it says it installed some updated drivers but one of them appeared to fail.

I am running scannow as we speak and will attach the memory dump file shortly.

Looking forward to chatting with you

 

[ecobuilder05]

Here is the zipped up minidump file.


Should I post this file in the Crashes & Debugging section?

 

[Night Hawk]

Some of the best freewares would be the System Info for Windows(SIW) and Speccy for gathering up the general information. SIW also breaks down the list of softwares installed as well as the hardwares to research the updates for each thing.

The other often advised freebie is the Secunia Personal Software Inspector or Secunia PSI for short. That will alert you when something new is available whether a Windows, hardware, or other software update(s) can be downloaded and installed. That one is often advised since it helps with security by keeping things updated.

 

[ecobuilder05]

Ah yes, I had SIW and Secunia on the XP drive.....very good programs.

Am tempted to update my BIOS from 1019 to 1021 but haven't flashed a BIOS before.
Not sure it will change much.

sfc.exe scan completed with nothing to report.

Ran Intel Driver Update Utility and it returns with chipset driver is valid.

Secunia had me install Microsoft update before it would scan.

 

[Night Hawk]

Those are good programs. The SIW will show the make and model for looking updates from either the board or card manufacturers or right from the chip manufacturers.

With the board there the Asus or Intel support site while for the card you would either go back to Sapphire or direct to the AMD/ATI downloads for the lastest Cat. 12.8 version which I suspect would now allow for some old game titles to run while anything after the 10.4 wouldn't.

The Secunia PSI is great for finding things while I keep from automatically starting up with Windows here. The constant popups for every little thing can be annoying as well as intefere with some programs at times. It's still a good one to have onhand however.

As far as the dump files you zipped up I think you will need to see those analyzed for you in the other section since the BlueScreenView program was unable to open them for a fast look. I still use that regularly however when finding it's a good one for showing which driver is at fault when you already know where a problem stems from. But it still has it's limits.

 

[ecobuilder05]

Ok I will post the minidump file over there.

As it stands, here is what is up to date:

graphics adapter driver
network adapter driver
chipset driver
sata controller driver
sound driver
Windows update
Avira AV
MBAM
ZoneAlarm FW
SuperAnitSpyware

 

[Night Hawk]

The Bad Pool Header indicates a possible system file corruption problem. One MS Answers thread saw the reply back from the thread starter that the drive was wiped to see a clean install of 7 solve that in a hurry! That's for sure! But I don't think you will be headed in that direction this soon!

If the ide, usb, and other controller drivers are all updated you now only need to isolate the cause of the BSODs themselves especially if you see any more of them. As far as the hardwares you have to look at what you were running 7 on compared to simply tossing a fast temp install on an old boat! I had to do that for a week when the first board on the present build was cooked by a faulty supply! Ironically all of the old XP drivers worked like a champ for the temp 32bit Ultimate install at the time.

 

[ecobuilder05]

Haven't seen another BSOD.

The causes for the 2 that did occur are as follows:

1st: KERNEL MODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED
by driver halmacpi.dll

2nd: BAD POOL HEADER
by driver ntoskrnl.exe

KARLSNOOKS is of the opinion that too much pain would be involved trying to get 7 to run on
my system. True as it may be, I'm willing to endure but believe there is a simple, albeit concealed solution.

One weird thing I've found is when I click on a header in google search and it hangs, I click another part of the screen and it goes transparent white and in brackets says NOT RESPONDING, and then the page pops up.

 

[Night Hawk]

The Bad Pool Header involving the ntoskrnl.exe file is usually from an error on the OS drive. When installing the 7 RC on a drive removed from an external casing(WD Essentials Green Power 500gb) I ran into every problem with anything being run due to what? The drive itself! The energy savers do not make good OS drives to begin with!

Other then that being the first 7 install on an old P4 board I wouldn't see any other thing in particular why the 32bit 7 wouldn't run. You may still want a good run of memtest just the same to rule out any bad ram with the DDR400 memory you have in the old case there. Bad Ram or simply seeing a bad incomplete Windows install is often the case with older hardwares while the old Socket A case I tossed 7 onto fast ran like a charm!

The web page going white and anything similar with a Windows Explorer window would suggest it was time for a clean install if you are running into that type of problem too frequently. Other then that occasionly you may have a fluke of something trying to load sideways into memory.

 

[ecobuilder05]

I did run memtest for the past 2 days and memory seems to checkout. I've also uninstalled Avira as suggested by karlsnooks and installed MSE.

You think the Corsair SSD might have an issue? I don't mind installing 7 all over again but it did seem to go smooth the first time.

I'm going to do a driver check one more time before I do anything else.

 

[ecobuilder05]

Update:

Replacing Avira with MSE led to a bit of an improvement.

Went through all the drivers and 7 had reverted some to it's own. Updated them again after turning off auto update and we are rocking!!! Mostly storage and usb controller drivers.

Not exactly a rocket but not so much of a slouch.

Don't have to revert to XP!!!

Thanks NH for your help and insight!!

Now to attempt a BIOS update. Any suggestions for the AFUDOS method?

 

[Night Hawk]

Often if there isn't any Live update option seen for a particular bios I always used a WinFlash update if available. You can look into backing up the present bios as well while many boards now see that option as a setting in the setup. A backup when using the old floppy method was a smart move in years past while newer bioses are generally easier to work with.