So my good computer decided to pop a shit and the power supply broke. I'm stuck using my laptop as a secondary (I'm not using my other computer as a backup because it's a Pentium 2)
Anyway, the laptop is a Compaq Presario 2178CL, bought secondhand from a friend, so driver CDs and all other peripherals that come with it are out of the question because he doesn't have it anymore.
Essentially, I'm running WinXP Pro on it, a fresh install because he had a ton of shit on there before, but it's lagging like hell. And I mean like hell. I've done all the basics for WinXP performance (turn of SysRestore, Disk Indexing, pruning BG processes and services) and it's still fucking laggy.
It should be getting reasonably fast speeds, as it has:
1.6GHz AMD Mobile CPU (rated at 2.4GHz)
512MB RAM
Radeon IGP 320M (I have Omega drivers installed for proper resolutions on my second screen)
some shitty Conexant sound chip
It isn't a terrible laptop, but it's not great either. As far as I can tell it should run Windows fine (it ran it fine when I first got it) but now it chokes up ALL THE TIME. Two processes that keep jumping up to eat up CPU are the Microsoft Security Essentials MSMPENG.exe and Firefox (but I can't not use firefox as IE and Chrome don't recognize the internet for some reason)
What should I do to speed it up? Can anyone help me find a driver disc? I've googled far and wide and had no viable results come up.
You could always install Linux on it.
Google the laptop name and find the drivers for its gpu/sound/other stuff?
^ that.
Consider Windows 98 as well..
[editline]10:23PM[/editline]
Worked for my old pentium 3 with 128mb of ram.
I'm pretty sure I have all the proper drivers installed.
Oh well, I installed Vista and it's running better. Still not up to par with what I'd expect with it's specs, but it'll do.
[QUOTE=Protocol7;21653794]I'm pretty sure I have all the proper drivers installed.
Oh well, I installed Vista and it's running better. Still not up to par with what I'd expect with it's specs, but it'll do.[/QUOTE]
On 512 MB of RAM you're running Vista? That's not a good idea.
I'd try Windows 2000. It's the lowest version of Windows your laptop will support. It should run alot better than Vista on that amount of RAM.
[url=http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=331541&]Compaq's Driver site for your laptop[/url]
[QUOTE=Shining_Sabe;21653999]On 512 MB of RAM you're running Vista? That's not a good idea.
I'd try Windows 2000. It's the lowest version of Windows your laptop will support. It should run alot better than Vista on that amount of RAM.
[url=http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=331541&]Compaq's Driver site for your laptop[/url][/QUOTE]
It's running fine, so I don't think I'll switch back for awhile at least.
Is this a good replacement PSU for $40 w/ Mail In Rebate for my broken PC?
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148040&cm_re=APEVIA-_-17-148-040-_-Product[/url]
As far as I can tell it has enough wattage (my dead PSU had 700W as well) and correct cable requirements.
[QUOTE=Protocol7;21653794]I'm pretty sure I have all the proper drivers installed.
Oh well, I installed Vista and it's running better. Still not up to par with what I'd expect with it's specs, but it'll do.[/QUOTE]
You installed Vista, xp Requires like 512mb of ram (could be wrong) and Vista requires 1gb..
:confused:
[QUOTE=Mokkan13;21662896]You installed Vista, xp Requires like 512mb of ram (could be wrong) and Vista requires 1gb..
:confused:[/QUOTE]
Vista's RECOMMENDED specs are 1GB ram. Windows 7 [I]requires[/I] 1GB.
[editline]10:33PM[/editline]
I think Windows XP's minimum is 128MB, but I haven't seen the boxes in forever.
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