My Problems Explained

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, in my most recent signature, I've noted that it's pretty tough for me to do almost anything with this computer effectively, so I figured I'd explain my problems in general so that I can see what you all would recommend. For this deal, assume that I don't feel like getting a new computer. Ok, here goes:

My PC is an eMachines (yeah, I know) eTower 533i, 56K Modem, 32 MBRAM with a 533 MHz. Yeah. Old school.

PROBLEMS:
Since 3/22/2005, my computer was acting up pretty bad. When I tried to reload the computer, I ended up having to use my Restore Disk twice, but the PC was slow to load. When it normally took about 3 minutes to fully load a computer up, now it takes about 5 to 7 minutes. I had to reinstall AOL 7, replacing phone numbers to actually log on. And when I used Ctrl+Alt+Delete to see what tasks were working, one such program, msgsrv32.exe was "Not Responding." When I closed that task, usually the PC loaded up beautifully. Other times, it would just crash and have to end up restarting the computer. So I figured to repair the file, I installed IE 6 since IE 5 was no longer supported. I've had a plethora of problems within a few days, counting over 5 or 6 days trying to save my computer at all costs.

HUNTING FOR SOLUTIONS
By looking online at school and with my injured home computer, I've read all sort of stuff. I've read about Power Management being involved, reinstalling IE, disabling certain startup items. I've even downloaded HijackThis as well as an updated Yahoo toolbar for IE with Anti-Spy. After deleting the spyware and hijacks Yahoo found, it still feels slow and limited to work, and I've had this thing for about 4 or 5 years. My computer was so infected that I had to make a custom Desktop to remind me of what this computer meant to me.

To the extent of my knowledge and trying to put in as much as possible, these are the problems my PC is facing. What can I do to help this computer without having to dream about buying a new one?

The moral of this story- avoid getting an eMachines computer!!! You dig?

 

[Geeky1]

Before you do anything else: Ditch AOL. It's the spawn of satan. Slow, unreliable, and possibly the least secure ISP and browser of all time.

Step 1: Get more RAM. 32MB was a laughably small amount when that thing was new, and is beyond pathetic now. Windows 98 supports up to 512MB of RAM (how much your board will take is an entirely different matter)... I'll check on that and find out how much it'll cost you.

Step 1b (optional): Get Windows XP Home or Pro... FAR more secure and more stable than Windows 98 or ME.

Step 2: Format the hard drive and do a clean install.

Step 3: Get on the internet, go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com , download all the updates (may take more than one trip to the site)

Step 4: Go to www.grisoft.com and download the free version of AVG Anti-Virus

Step 4: Go to www.mozilla.org and download Firefox. Use that instead of IE.

Step 5: Download and install Spybot S&D... check the "use system protection (teatimer" option (or something like that) during the install.

This has nothing to do with the computer... you bought a cheapass machine 5 years ago. It was slower than hell when you bought it. It's slow beyond description now. Emachines PCs used to be the worst of the worst. Short of Packard Bell, you couldn't buy a worse computer if you tried. The new ones are quite good (for cheap machines). You get what you pay for for the most part with computers. And when you bought that, $300 or $500 or whatever it cost you didn't get you much.

The other issue here is the user. Spyware is a completely avoidable problem. Use Firefox, Spybot, and don't install every piece of "free" software out there and it's all but impossible to get it. I've never, ever, EVER had a problem with it. Ever.

And really, honestly, you need a new computer. Not even my DAD (who used a Pentium 133 for like 6 years) has a system that slow anymore.

 

[Geeky1]

For RAM... what you need is 2 of these... Don't get anything else either. Crucial is not BSing you on this... your board DOES require a special kind of RAM (the chips have to be low density for it to work in that board) and I've looked at a number of other places... nobody else has RAM that might work for more than a few $$ less than Crucial, and the Crucial stuff is guaranteed to work. Get two sticks of this and be done with it:
http://www.crucial.com/store/listpa...eMachines&cat=RAM&model=eTower+533i&submit=Go

 

[Ev0]

If I were you John, I'd just get a new computer. You could pick up something used with 1.0GHZ and 128MB of ram (give or take) for practically nothing.

 

[donbenni]

Yeah i agree. Your computer is just old. Just buying a new tower shouldn't cost too much really. You'll have the issue of transporting all your data across, but surely it's worth it.

 

[Sprite]

I agree, i tried my hardest to fix an ailing pc for my uncle till he came to realise that he needed to get a new one. or if you use ur pc for just the net and word, you could swich over to mac.

anyway I think its about time to dust of that bank account and go shopping

 

[skip0110]

Does anything fit into 32 MB ram? Back in 1998 I had 96 MB and it wasn't enough.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Does anything fit into 32 MB ram? Back in 1998 I had 96 MB and it wasn't enough.

I remember back when my IBM was still alive, I think I could fit one window of Internet Explorer and AIM, maybe an MP3 player. Anything else, and it would be horribly slow. With 64mb, I could open maybe another 2 IE windows and word, if I was lucky.

 

[VT]

Geeky's got it pretty much laid out how I would have said it, minus AVG because I don't use that (Symantec Corporate Edition). I know you said you don't want to get a new computer, but if its the sentimental value of the old that's keeping you from doing that, get a new one.

First things first though, get rid of AOL. It is near Satanic when it comes to what it does to your computer. You should notice an improvement right there.

Windows XP is also going to help loads for you, although I don't believe XP supports anything less than 128mb of RAM. My father was completely against XP on his old 1998 Gateway (even worse than an Emachines, we have a newer one of those too). So one day when he was at work I installed XP on the Gateway (we were wireless networking the house and it is soooo much easier with all the plug and play stuff in XP and not having to deal with 3rd party controllers and stuff, not to mention security and stability) and dad was kinda pissed when he got home, but soon realized that he liked XP better but was just too stubborn to switch. Long story short, XP is way better than 98.

You can get a good tower (assuming you want to keep your old monitor) for around $400-500. Maybe less. I know you don't want to get a new one, but its definately the best route in the long run.

Does anything fit into 32 MB ram? Back in 1998 I had 96 MB and it wasn't enough.

Windows Calculator? Minesweeper might be okay. Solitaire might be too much for it.

 

[skip0110]

You can get a good tower (assuming you want to keep your old monitor) for around $400-500. Maybe less. I know you don't want to get a new one, but its definately the best route in the long run.

Yep. I was actually surprised that my roomie was able to pick up a Dell for only $600 with:
- 15 in flat panel display
- 3.0 Ghz P4
- 1024 MB RAM
- 80 gig HD

Thats a pretty solid system for a very low price. (They were running a 1 day promotion; $400 off any machine over $1000.)

 

[VT]

Yep. I was actually surprised that my roomie was able to pick up a Dell for only $600 with:
- 15 in flat panel display
- 3.0 Ghz P4
- 1024 MB RAM
- 80 gig HD

Thats a pretty solid system for a very low price. (They were running a 1 day promotion; $400 off any machine over $1000.)

Wow. That's faster than my laptop for 1/3 the price I paid for it 2 years back.
- 15" TFT LCD
- 2.66 Ghz P4
- 512 MB RAM (Uprgraded to 1024 about 8 months later)
- 40 GB HD

Good, cheap computers are definately out there, John. Don't be afraid to look around.

 

[skip0110]

Wow. That's faster than my laptop for 1/3 the price I paid for it 2 years back.
- 15" TFT LCD
- 2.66 Ghz P4
- 512 MB RAM (Uprgraded to 1024 about 8 months later)
- 40 GB HD

Yep, my laptop has the same specs (also with a ATI Radeon 9600) and cost me slightly under $3K about 2 years ago. I feel burned.

 

[JohnBM01]

Well, now it's been a week since the computer started acting up pretty bad. After doing some stuff, I think the computer is getting a little better. All this stuff is in my brother's name. He bought the computer and the AOL service, not me. But I have a feeling that I may have sighted the source of the problem. When I check System Profiles on my modem (even in Safe Mode), the PC freezes up to where I have to Ctrl+Alt+Delete to stop running the system profile task. It may also explain why sometimes, my connection will work, but in the 5th step of the AOL connection, it disconnects. Like I said, this is all I have and I don't work. Since I don't get a paycheck and committed to school, I can't simply go to another ISP or buy a new computer.

Among some of the soloutions mentioned, I have Mozilla, but I may have to reinstall it, or maybe consider the IE-looking Opera browser, and I also have Netscape, but it's horrible on my PC with Java and Flash and such.

Nowadays, I have better chances of getting on the computer, and while the process of [On -> other screen -> Win98 Second Edition screen -> Desktop -> Icons] is a bit slow, it's still effective. A piece of software I found and downloaded to my computer form my floppy disk is HijackThis. It's basically showing what processes are working as well as create a log of my files at startup.

 

[JohnBM01]

To add to my last post, sometimes MSGSRV32.EXE will work, but after playing a DOS game (Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein 3D, Descent, for example), the computer slows up again to the point where I happen to Ctrl+Alt+Delete and finally close MSGSRV32.EXE for the session. What I'll try to do is find out what files may be using MSGSRV32 so that I may find out what's causing it to be so slow at startup. Some sites say that this application is a symptom, but not the disease. I have yet to know more about this deal.

 

[Race Idiot]

I think your best bet would be to get a 512mb dimm and then get Win2K, which should run comfortably on a Celeron? AMD K3? Whatever the bloody hell eMachines use for processors. Although then you have the issues of finding the drivers for your hardware and I don't know what eMachines support site is like so yeah. I can't see XP running smoothly without you cutting a load of crap out of the install, so I think maybe 2K might be a better option. Personally I don't like using a normal XP install on anything below 1.0ghz, although that's why I have my cut and shut version of XP with allot of the features removed.

 

[VT]

Process File: msgsrv32 or msgsrv32.exe
Process Name: Windows Message Server

msgsrv32.exe is a process which is initiated by Microsoft Windows 9x and ME only. It acts as a 32 bit message server and will never appear in the Windows task list unless there is a problem with it.

Sounds like you've got a problem with Windows Message Server. I don't really know what to tell you to do to fix it.

You can probably fix the modem difficulties by uninstalling and reinstalling the modem.

 

[Geeky1]

I think your best bet would be to get a 512mb dimm

Unfortunately, he can't. It can only take 128MB, low-density DIMMs... for a maximum of 256MB of RAM. It'll run just fine on 2k with only 256MB tho... my Gateway engineering sample PPGA celeron board runs 2k just fine with a 466 Celeron and 256MB of RAM...

 

[Race Idiot]

Unfortunately, he can't. It can only take 128MB, low-density DIMMs... for a maximum of 256MB of RAM. It'll run just fine on 2k with only 256MB tho... my Gateway engineering sample PPGA celeron board runs 2k just fine with a 466 Celeron and 256MB of RAM...

This is why i'll never touch a celeron with a barge pole.

 

[sUn]

I own a Intel Celeron running on 256mb of RAM. That's not the end of it, the computer is actually a pre-built Sony VAIO.

 

[Geeky1]

Some Celerons are excellent, others are OK, and some suck. The memory capacity is not a function of the CPU anyhow... it's a function of the chipset.

-The new, prescott-core Celerons are supposedly excellent (for a P4...). They're faster than the Prescott P4s, clock-for-clock, they overclock better, and they run cooler- at least that's what I've heard.
-The Northwood core P4 celerons suck.
-The Wilamette core P4 celerons suck.
-The Mobile Celerons that are based on the Pentium M are excellent CPUs.
-The Tualatin core P3 Celerons are some of the best CPUs ever made- they had the same amount of cache as the regular (non -S) P3 Tualatins... the only difference was the FSB was 100MHz for the Celerons vs. 133 for the P3. This isn't a huge deal... the impact on performance was negligible... a Tualatin core Celeron is equivalent to an AMD Duron at the same clockspeed, or an Athlon Thunderbird clocked 100-200MHz lower than the Celeron. And it ran cool- it put out about 1/2 the heat the AMD CPUs did. Like I said... the Tualatin Celerons are some of the best CPUs of all time.
-The Coppermine core P3 Celerons were ok for budget CPUs... they weren't as fast as the P3, but they weren't bad... and they ran cool and were fairly cheap.
-The PPGA Celerons (black PCB, silver heatspreader over CPU core... look a lot like some of the later P1s) sucked. End of story.
-The Slot 1 Celerons with cache were very good CPUs for their time...
-The original Slot 1 Celerons (with NO L1 or L2 cache at all) sucked.

And as for RAM... I can throw a single Tualatin Celeron in one of my dual P3/DDR boards and drop 4GB of RAM in it. I could do the same if I had a s478 Celeron to go with one of my i865/875 boards...

 

[JohnBM01]

Okay, I apologize. When I try to view the Modem Properties, it doesn't freeze up. It only freezes up if I'm looking up Network Adapters. But when I try to load it up from the [System Properties -> Modem] deal, there's a window that pops up saying "Cannot read Port Name from Registry."

So, my problems with starting this machine up may just be because of the modem. I'm not going to do anything since all I have is a Restore Disk for this computer in case I screw up everything. So something within... maybe the modem's registry is causing these problems. I'll be sure to get some advice from you guys and gals if you have something to let me know about.

 

[skip0110]

Haha, crappy WinModems. "Lets replace $10 of hardware with some slow and fickle software!"

One of the stupidest ideas ever.

 

[JohnBM01]

Okay, I've recently downloaded and used Spyboy S&D. Said that it found 23 entries, so I cleaned up all 23. One I noticed was a sort of registry hack or something. Afterwards, here's the update:

Spybot cleaned all files (had to use Safe Mode)
MSGSRV32.EXE still slow to load, haven't yet checked out the modem

But as I really look at it, I don't think much has changed since the screwups my computer committed.

 

[jimihemmy]

Believe it or not, I actually still have a 533i. It's my wife's computer and works well for her. We've had it 5-6 years now. I put in 256mb soon after I got it but still too slow for me (multiple downloads.....) so I gave it to her.

Here is what I would do:
Make a list of all installed programs that you want to keep. Locate original discs and/or original downloads of them, then put all of them on a CDR.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KEEP!

Take all files and docs you want to keep, put those on CDR also.

Put in your Restore disc, shut down, power back up. Do a clean reinstall w/ format.
Your computer will be just like it was when you powered it up when you took it out of the box.

Start reinstalling your programs one at a time. After each reinstall, take some time with it a make sure everything works ok. Once you start having problems, uninstall the culprit and find something else that can do the same thing for you.

My wife's still slows down occasionally, but I expect that since she'll run yahoo and msn messengers, IE, WMP all at the same time.

also, save your money, upgrade to XP(sp2). Her computer has been much better since I installed that.....

good luck!

 

[JohnBM01]

Folks, it seems like I found the problem, and it was as easy as (disconnect). Apparently, the problem wasn't any programs I was running. It wasn't the modem. Turns out... it was my webcam! As soon as I disconnected it from my PC, everything seems to be faster and runs much better now. Last night, I found out that scanners can seem to slow down the processes of computers. With this webcam of mine, it seemed to have slown down the computer considerably. Now I don't even use this webcam a lot, so everything seems to run much better. As soon as I disconnected it and noticed my performance, I used Ctrl+Alt+Delete twice to restart the PC. Turns out, everything seems to be back to normal!

Perhaps the problem was that I uninstalled the files for my webcam and thereafter didn't use it much. Seemingly, that's the problem. There's no more MSGSRV32 Not Responding messages or something like that. Haven't tested my games, but that seemed to have been what's wrong with the PC and why it's been so slow to operate. If anything else comes up, I'll be sure to give you all a holler, you dig?

 

[Jmac279]

Yep. I was actually surprised that my roomie was able to pick up a Dell for only $600 with:
- 15 in flat panel display
- 3.0 Ghz P4
- 1024 MB RAM
- 80 gig HD

Thats a pretty solid system for a very low price. (They were running a 1 day promotion; $400 off any machine over $1000.)

Meh ...

I put together an equally fast system for less and it didn't come with all of Dell's bull**** ...