Windows XP unsuitable for latest hardware ?

[karthik316_1999]

I'm doing a dual boot with win xp sp3 & win 7 on a recently built custom PC, running amd phenom ii x4 955 / a mid-range asus motherboard / 1 TB + 0.5 TB drives / 4 gb ram.

Whenever I boot into windows xp, everything starting from accessing the control panel / system properties / installations / accessing my secondary SATA HDD seems to take so much of time. Even worse, browsing with the Internet Explorer is a nightmare as the computer hangs almost 99% of the times whenever I open the browser.

On the other hand, win 7 is just as smooth as a cake, with no issues at all.

Had re-installed the OS('s) more than thrice & no change. It is not loaded with any additional softwares as such, being a new PC.

Should I take it that windows xp is too old for my hardware or could there be other problems ?

[Sam]

no. XP is fully compatible with your PC. looks like some other problem. most likely driver conflict or a bad installation.

[karthik316_1999]

I have re-installed windows several times (the disc has had no problem whatsoever so far). Compatibility issues with drivers..? which exactly would that be..

Is there some diagnosis that can be done to figure out wats going wrong ?

[Sam]

if you can try dualboot with Win7 & XP SP2. SP3 is known to have a few problems.

[ArjunKiller]

Is your version of Windows XP original? Illegal version of the OS have driver issues sometimes.

[lm2k]

I used xp on athlon iix2 255 with a mid range mbo but if win7 runs well the xp flies well on my pc.
Both phenom ii and athlon ii were of same era.
Did u check ur power options in ur xp's control pannel in my case when ever I installed xp it wud set it to some 'portable laptop' mode,changed it to 'always on' and was ok.also did u try installing xp to another partition of ur hdd?

[bubusam13]

Originally Posted by ArjunKiller

Is your version of Windows XP original? Illegal version of the OS have driver issues sometimes.

:O :O I don't think so

@karthik316_1999 why you need XP when you have win7. Aniwz, you can run XP inside Win7 using Windows Virtual Machine. Further go to BIOS and select IDE mode instead of AHCI in Hard Drive settings. XP have issues with AHCI. Check if this correct ur peoblem. But I too think you are having a driver conflict. Which brand of motherboard you are using ? Got to its website and download the drivers specifically for XP. Further go to task manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL), go to processes tab and see which process is using maximum RAM and CPU. And dont say system idle process is using 99% cpu

[Sam]

some may try to run Turbo C++ compiler. which runs fine on WinXP but needs dosbox on Win7.

[karthik316_1999]

Originally Posted by lm2k

Did u check ur power options in ur xp's control pannel in my case when ever I installed xp it wud set it to some 'portable laptop' mode,changed it to 'always on' and was ok.also did u try installing xp to another partition of ur hdd?

It was in "minimal power management". I have now changed it to Always on.. if at all that makes a difference ?
Just wondering, if the Asus EPU has got something to do with this.. As the mode keeps changing between auto/max.performace/max.power saving..

Also, its a brand new HDD so I dont think installing on a diff. partition would make a difference ..

Originally Posted by bubusam13

:O :O I don't think so

@karthik316_1999 why you need XP when you have win7. Aniwz, you can run XP inside Win7 using Windows Virtual Machine.

Somehow feel @ home with win xp Though I wont be uing XP that much, might need it for some older apps since the win 7 is a 64 bit version. Also, was more concerned if there was something faulty with my hardware.. that caused these kind of "freezes" as win xp is considered as the most stable OS..

Further go to BIOS and select IDE mode instead of AHCI in Hard Drive settings. XP have issues with AHCI. Check if this correct ur peoblem.

Good point there..! Its already in the IDE mode.. as changed by my vendor at the time of 1st installation..

But I too think you are having a driver conflict. Which brand of motherboard you are using ? Got to its website and download the drivers specifically for XP.

The drivers were installed from the driver disc that came along with the board..

Further go to task manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL), go to processes tab and see which process is using maximum RAM and CPU. And dont say system idle process is using 99% cpu

As of now, its Internet Explorer..

--------------

Speaking of all this, one thing that hits my mind is my PCI tv tuner card. This had always worked with my previous windows xp's. This time around, I had a problem as I had mistakenly installed an updated PVR software (Winfast PVR2) that was meant for more newer varaints of the card. In fact, this is where the freezing problem begun... (Had re-installed XP twice after that)

Now, the card is not being recognised itself by windows. Even refreshing the hardware list under Device Manager does not bring up the card.
Manually installed the "correct drivers" and the software says "capture device not found".

Just thought of mentioning this..

[bubusam13]

Then try removing the card or if its inbuilt, try switching it off in BIOS. And what about Virtual Machine? You answered every point but left out this. And installing from OEM CD doesnot mean that drivers are specifically for XP. Aniwz, u may try some outdated drivers. It works really.
Aniwz, I too suffered such problems and I ended up selling my system on eBay for RS 4000. In my cause, the fault was ESD. Then I came to know ESD really cause damages.

[lm2k]

Originally Posted by karthik316_1999

It was in "minimal power management". I have now changed it to Always on.. if at all that makes a difference ?
Just wondering, if the Asus EPU has got something to do with this.. As the mode keeps changing between auto/max.performace/max.power saving..

Also, its a brand new HDD so I dont think installing on a diff. partition would make a difference ..

low power mode brings down the cpu clock to min( as in my case just 746mhz)
hdd does not hav same speed through out but it is less for some area and high for other so if os is on a partition with slower area then it wud affect performance
but frm ur last post it seems to be a driver conflict as pointed out by senior members.

another thing worth tiring(if things don't get rite after correcting driver of Ur TV tuner card) is that going back to ahci mode (in bios) and slip streaming(use nlite and raid drivers u got in oem driver cd of u r mbo) sata drivers to xp setup cd to get a modified setup cd and then try installing xp from that. may be that might help.

[karthik316_1999]

Found something interesting ! Maybe this system freeze in windows xp isn't to do with the gpu card driver.

The culprit appears to be the "AMD processor driver".. The moment I install this

Technical Download Details

the system becomes unstable.. Once uninstalled, the OS operation is normal !

It does say this driver is for Windows xp sp2 & I'm using sp3.. however, when I run some games, they give me a message asking for the installation of amd processor driver failing which the application might not work as expected..

Could this be it ?

Also, found a amd dual-core optimizer driver at this page..

Technical Download Details

Maybe I must try installing the AMD processor driver + AMD dual-core optimizer together ?

[Sam]

^^ why you need those (processor driver)?

my pc running on AMD processor & till date not asked for any driver.

[karthik316_1999]

Just plugged in an old game and it asked for this particular thing. however, it works fine without that as well.. issue resolved !

Hopefully, someone will benefit from this thread.. this amd processor driver is installed by default along with the motherboard driver CD. Uninstalling it will resolve the problem..

[Sam]

you just need audio driver & video (GPU) drivers. the amd drivers are for some ancient OS, most likely.

[bubusam13]

I too use AMD... I find it better than Intel and at a low price. And for me too it never asked for a driver... though I hate the AMD fuel service running in background. Stopping that service won't matter much but will save some processing power and KBs of memory