Very slow system

["Robert G. (Doc) Savage" <dsavage@peaknet.net>]

My dad just sent me the Microtel PC I bought for him a couple of years
ago on the hope that I could fix it. Until about three months ago this
machine was a snappy performer, running Win2K/Pro very nicely. Then it
suddenly dropped anchor and has barely moved since.

I thought it might be malware or some other software problem, but it's
taking more than an hour to boot the Helix 1.6 (Knoppix-based) forensics
CD. It usually bogs down after hardware discovery. I'm ruling out
Windows or its associated gremlins as the cause. That leaves hardware.

Its generic ATX mobo has an Athlon XP 2000+, 256MB non-DDR, VIA Tech
VT8233 (AC97) on-board audio, an on-board S3 VGT8375 ProSavage8 video, a
pair of Maxtor 40GB drives (primary master & slave), and an MSI CD-RW
drive (secondary master). The only expansion card is a soft modem.

The interior is remarkably clean and dust free (which says a lot about
Spokane, where I grew up). I've reseated the single DIMM, and checked
the BIOS for any obvious missettings. The CD-RW drive has had some
trouble reading a couple of other Helix CDs. I'm willing to replace it,
but not until I'm sure it's the culprit.

Have any of you experienced anything like this? What did you do to fix
it?

-- Doc
Robert G. (Doc) Savage, BSE(EE), CISSP, RHCE | Fairview Heights, IL
Fedora Core 3 kernel 2.6.11-1.14_FC3 on a P-III/M IBM Thinkpad A22p
"Perfection is the enemy of good enough."
                         -- Admiral of the Fleet Sergei G. Gorshkov


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