XP pro x64 slowdown question

[RocketSniper]

The short version: My computer is f*** slow and I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it has something to do with Windows XP Pro x64 edition. Problem is, my PC won't let me install any other OS's to test my theory.

Long version: got a new graphics card on monday from newegg, and a power supply with it to keep it going.

Current PC specs:

Intel 975XBX MoBo

Quad core 2.4 GhZ 64 bit processor (Intel)

Sapphire 4870 ATi Radeon video card

Corsair 750 Watt power supply

500 Gb 7200 RPM SATA HD

32 MB Patriot SSD (SATA) HD

While I was installing the video card, I ended up pulling one of the data cables attached to my main hard drive. (No longer listed because) I broke it. So, I figure I'll try out XP Pro x64, get going with the right size OS for my processor. Install it, no issues immediately, get everything reinstalled, drivers and such. Intel's audio studio thing won't install, not really that big of an issue. Anyway, did all of the pre-req installs, Firefox, graphics card drivers, updates, etc. Nothing really was an issue until about the third restart, after the graphics card drivers were installed. Windows took ~20 minutes to start up. Not figuratively, literally. When it finally loaded, everything was the slowest I've ever seen it. Clicking an icon wouldn't register for ~20 seconds, clicking the start menu wouldn't make it pop up for ~four minutes. It kept getting worse and worse, so I reinstalled windows again. Same thing happened. So, I tried without drivers. Same thing happened again. Weird thing though? Games run fine. As soon as it doesn't deal with my 500 gig hard drive, everything starts running quickly again. Installed it on my SSD instead, and it's running smooth... or at least, was for the first hour or so. It's starting to decline to the same thing, and probably won't turn on tomorrow morning... which means another re-install. For the first couple of hours, it works fine, but it progressively gets slower and slower until nothing will work any more. Plays both of the games on my SSD (Supreme commander, WoW) fine on max settings, no lag whatsoever, and ironically takes longer to register a click on the icon than to load the game itself. Also, at some point, the 500 gig drive got re-formatted for no apparent reason, so I lost the backup drive.

Anyway, trying to reinstall XP Pro (Not x64), when I reboot, it works fine, loads drivers, etcetera, up until right after I accept the license agreement. Bugs me with a window asking for me to insert a disk from one of the many windows products I do not own, and the only two disks I have don't register. Off the top of my head, it was asking for XP Pro, Server 2000, ME, '98, and there were a few more, but I can't remember them. Installing windows CDs will not work from inside windows, as it considers changing to x32 a downgrade and will not allow me to continue. Help?

[Zarmakuizz]

Hello

How about the ram?

You can install windows vista with a (big) USB formatted into NTFS. You can also install a 64 bits linux distribution (Ubuntu 64-bits for example) if you find the usb creator for the distribution you choose.

[Kitashi]

I'm curious to know how much RAM you have too. That aside, I've had a similar problem, where I can't install a different version of Windows because the current version thinks I shouldn't. I ended up using a LiveCD version of Linux (I used Feather) and reformatting the HDD with it, then installing Windows.

[RocketSniper]

I've got four gigs of 533 DDR2 RAM. It's not the issue =p

Any suggestions on which version of linux to use? I'd like to use it to break windows so I can re-install XP 32, which worked 100% fine before.

Thanks for the help so far, guys =D

[Zarmakuizz]

Ubuntu is a good version if you have never been into the linux world. I just hope your PC isn't too young. In all case, you shoud have an ethernet cable after the install (for update and maybe wifi driver).

You should install linux after any windows system. If you install windows after installing linux, you will not be able to access to linux when booting, and you will have to use a LiveCD of Grub, or to reinstall ubuntu...

[prophetik music]

your question confused me at first, because you could always boot to your install disc (assuming you've got a true install disc) and then delete the partition that contains your xp 64 drive. that's the route i'd have done originally. screw m$'s crappy install program, just go in the back door (which is actually the front door, when you think about it).

if it doesn't let you boot to the disc, go into your bios and change the boot order to have the optical drive first, and it'll boot.

[RocketSniper]

Yeah, that'll probably work. Or at least, would if it would let me repartition the drive. Maybe the x64 cd will let me do it...

32 bit edition CDs don't let me do anything other than attempt to verify that I'm a legitimate windows owner, which fails despite my multiple operating systems that fit what they're asking for. This is a pretty horrible design flaw on their part, I can't wait to get this piece of crap off my machine.

Thanks all for the help!

[Kitashi]

Any suggestions on which version of linux to use? I'd like to use it to break windows so I can re-install XP 32, which worked 100% fine before.

I used Feather Linux, which can be run off of a CD or USB drive (may have to change boot order in BIOS). After you have Feather running, you can reach the partition menu by right-clicking on the desktop, going to "install," and going to something along the lines of "operating system (safer)." I don't remember it word for word because I haven't used it in a while, but I do know it has "(safer)" in it.

After you have the partition window open, delete the windows partition and use "write." After this is done, you should be able to reinstall Windows without any conflicts with older versions.

[prophetik music]

Yeah, that'll probably work. Or at least, would if it would let me repartition the drive. Maybe the x64 cd will let me do it...

32 bit edition CDs don't let me do anything other than attempt to verify that I'm a legitimate windows owner, which fails despite my multiple operating systems that fit what they're asking for. This is a pretty horrible design flaw on their part, I can't wait to get this piece of crap off my machine.

Thanks all for the help!

i still have no idea what you're doing that causes it to ask for older versions of systems. i've reinstalled systems repeatedly on my computer, and i've never seen that. it does that when you boot from a cd only, without loading windows?

if that doesn't work, unplug your hard drive, boot to the disc, and when it loads up properly plug in your hard drive again. i should point out that you need a sata drive for this to work.

[RocketSniper]

:-xYeah, it only does that when I'm booting from a 32 bit edition of windows XP CD. Haven't tried the 64 bit edition yet though, because I'm two days into a hard drive / info recovery scan using "PC Inspector". No idea if this it taking stupidly long because of the software, pro x64, or if it just takes a long time anyway, but at this rate I'll be reinstalling some time near the end of this week, friday maybe. Gotta get the stuff off of that drive before I screw with it too badly again...

Also, as willing as I normally am to follow random instructions, I'd rather not mess with / plug in my hard drive while my computer is on. I'll probably attempt the pro x64 CD first, if that works/doesn't work, I'm going to go with feather linux, if that fails, I'll try ubuntu, if that fails, I'm unplugging the SSD and getting windows on the 500 gig drive. I wish I had made more copies of my FL folder now. Figured three would be enough, you know?

[Kitashi]

I wish I had made more copies of my FL folder now. Figured three would be enough, you know?

Are they all on the same drive? I only have one external hard drive, so I can only really have two copies of my stuff in the case of hardware/OS problems. My CD burner broke a while back, so now I can't back files up on CD, either.

[RocketSniper]

Two on the 200 gig (in case one got corrupted but the drive was fine) and one on the 500 gig, in case the 200 gig drive failed. Didn't forsee both failing within a week. Pro tip: if you crawl around inside your computer, don't be clumsy. This thread serves as a good warning for people needing to back up files... Also, the scan is now on cluster 64.5 million-ish, and still has another 60 millionish to go.so... day four of the scan and it's still ridiculous lol

[RocketSniper]

Update, the undelete program froze, so I repartitioned all of the drives after backing what little I had left up to an external hard drive. Windows 32 CDs still bullshitted me for a while the following prompt

Setup cannot find a previous version of windows installed on your computer.  To continue, setup needs to verify that you qualify to use this product.

Please insert one of the following windows product CDs into the CD-ROM drive: (Abridged...) XP Home (Full version), XP Pro (Fll version), Windows 2000 professional, Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 95, or NT Workstation 3.51

It rejected XP x32 with no SPs, and XP x32 with SP 3, finally got it running with an SP 1a disc. In any case, windows is finally working again.

Now to recover the data... Anybody heard of any freeware better than GetDataBack? After searching around online for a bit, it turns out a lot of other people had problems with it freezing and taking two weeks on fairly medium - small sized disks.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, it's been a great help to getting me back on my feet.

[Kitashi]

Off the top of my head, there's recuva by Piriform (people who made CCleaner). I've never tried it to see how well it works, and I don't know if it's be able to recover files from a repartition, but you can try it.

[Zarmakuizz]

I just heard about TestDisk, who looks like to be a good tool.

[prophetik music]

Update, the undelete program froze, so I repartitioned all of the drives after backing what little I had left up to an external hard drive. Windows 32 CDs still bullshitted me for a while the following prompt

Setup cannot find a previous version of windows installed on your computer.  To continue, setup needs to verify that you qualify to use this product.

Please insert one of the following windows product CDs into the CD-ROM drive: (Abridged...) XP Home (Full version), XP Pro (Fll version), Windows 2000 professional, Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 95, or NT Workstation 3.51

It rejected XP x32 with no SPs, and XP x32 with SP 3, finally got it running with an SP 1a disc. In any case, windows is finally working again.

Now to recover the data... Anybody heard of any freeware better than GetDataBack? After searching around online for a bit, it turns out a lot of other people had problems with it freezing and taking two weeks on fairly medium - small sized disks.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, it's been a great help to getting me back on my feet.

ah!

it's because you don't have a full version of windows on your disc. you've got an upgrade-only disc, requiring a previous validated version of windows in order to install.

[RocketSniper]

Wow, awesome, OCR has deleted my post three times now. Finally up and running again, and I'm not retyping my essay(s) again. the SP3 disk comes with windows, still no idea why it's asking for the other disks to proceed.

500 gig drive died, windows / bios no longer even recognizes it as a drive. Before it died though, I ran the Seagate HD health tools on it - 7500 hours of run time. Five hours a day for four years, not too bad.

Also, I'd recommend Recova out of all of the listed recovery programs, it's fast, simple, and works. to everyone that's helped so far in this thread, I've managed to recover all of the lost information that I wanted to recover, and have managed to get windows reinstalled / everything reformatted and such. Thanks much!

[Ronyn]

Sounds like I'm too late to really be of any help, but yeah it sounds like you were using upgrade discs and not full retail copies. What nobody has mentioned yet is why you even had 64bit in the first place. 4 gigs of RAM is the maximum XP 32bit can address, and should be what you use, 64 bit with your specs is a complete waste, not to mention the lousy 64 bit support that exists for many applications in this environment, which I would not be surprised was the cause of your slowdown if your hardware and OS turn out fine. Also, while a chkdsk in windows isn't always definitive, it's faster than some of the detailed scans you're trying, might consider that as well. Restoration 2514 (google it) is also a handy tool for recovering in XP, no trials or any of that crap. Anyway, I troubleshoot slow systems all the time, shoot me a PM if you ever need help.

[prophetik music]

again, just like the last 64-bit OS question, you're completely wrong. no 32-bit computer can actually access all 4 gigs due to video ram and addressing problems within the x86 architecture.

do you really do system troubleshooting? i'd be surprised since you really don't know what you're talking about beyond the 'lol i use computers' phase.

[Ronyn]

again, just like the last 64-bit OS question, you're completely wrong. no 32-bit computer can actually access all 4 gigs due to video ram and addressing problems within the x86 architecture.

do you really do system troubleshooting? i'd be surprised since you really don't know what you're talking about beyond the 'lol i use computers' phase.

Ouch, well yeah I admit I didn't fully understand the hardware limitation in the other post, I do feel pretty stupid about that. But I definitely know from experience how impractical 64 bit upgrading is right now. Unless you know for sure the support is there from all the necessary publishers, it's ridiculous to do for 4 GB of RAM, totally not worth it, just trade one problem for another. But thanks for the blanket "wrong stupid ass doucebag!" post, always helpful in the help forum.

[RocketSniper]

Oh yeah, incredibly. It wasn't about the RAM, I wanted to get the right bit size for my processor and figured now would be as good a time as any to get on that. Didn't realize how much it sucked until everything was fully installed, though looking back, most of the suck / fail actually came from my dying hard drive. Still, I'm not going to bother with more windows installs at this point because everything is finally working right.

Also, the flame response really wasn't called for, but whatevs. Thread was helpful for the most part. One last time before I bail out for a while again, Thanks to all that helped!

[prophetik music]

you're welcome, jg. i posted that simply because you gave very wrong info not only here but in another thread that was asking about the same question. one time i'd have let slide, but when i saw both i figured i'd, uh, let you know.

what you also forgot about is that 4 gigs of good ddr2 800 memory is 41$ shipped at newegg right now. upgrading for 4 gigs isn't a big deal, but it's cheaper than any other upgrade to do to your system (besides adding a dvd-burner), and THAT makes 64-bit computing worth the time. plus, if more of us do it, more people will start writing for it...and then it'll become more mainstream.

and, when you're working on huge music files, that last 800 megs actually can be the difference between bluescreening and being able to work on your song. particularly if you're running several instances of large, ram-heavy programs.