Computers and Peripherals - Improving performance, slow Dell L700cx

My inlaws have a Dell L700CX with 63MB ram that is very slow, it comes up but freezes almost instantly. I think it is due to my teen niece surfing the web without any protection.

I was thinking if I install some additiional RAM and upgrade their hard drive it would be at least good for a basic PC. They don't do much but surf web and send/receive e-mails and occasional Word documents.

Compusa has 1GB PC3200/2700 DDR or PC4200 DDR2 memory on sale for $99. each, and a 250GB internal hard drive for $99.00.

3 questions:

Would this be enough to get them a serviceable PC?

How do I check what kind of RAM they currently have to be sure I purchase the correct type?

How do I find out their max RAM?

Thanks.

have you cleaned up the hard drive and registry ? check for spyware and viruses first. 200.00 is more than i'd put into it. a new dell system can be had for less than 400.00 now, and just the "box" for less.

Determine the correct memory at www.crucial.com. Why do you think they need a new hard drive?

What I've done is the disk cleanup and run disk fragment, I was going to install some free spyware and clean out all the junk but it's become so slow I can't even do that. I probably didn't ask the question correctly, I guess they don't need a new hard drive. The link you provided says they have a max of 512 MB, is installing additional ram along with a good cleanup enough to get it up and going?

Is the original 63 MB a chip that I could swap out with a 512MB chip? I can get 512MB dirt cheap at Compusa if that's all that's needed.

Thanks, that link is great. I bookmarked it.

You don't mean 63 MBytes, you mean 64 MBytes.

The crucial.com web site tells you that the system has two memory slots. It is also saying that to go to 512 MBytes you will need two 256 MByte DIMMs. This means you will remove the already installed DIMM or DIMMs.

The crucial.com web site tell you all the specs on the memory you need. You can probably find memory cheaper elsewhere, but not as easily. Crucial will also guarantee that the memory will work in your system or they will accept it back. Other sites may not give you that same guarantee. if you do buy elsewhere, make sure that you buy the right item.

You don't need a new hard drive. But you may want one. What size is the original hard drive? What operating system? You most certainly do want to reformat the hard drive and start over from a clean hard drive.

64 meg is fine for web surfing. if your operating system is reasonable ( w98 or later) all you need is a clean machine and a good isp connection. try adaware first. you may crash the system a couple times cleaning it out but you will get there. then download spybot, and if you are running wxp download BETA. if you are still not satisfied with the performance you may be looking at a virus. before you drop anything on a hard drive be sure your system can run it and you have the operating system registration key # before you install.

The operating system is Windows ME :eek: (My Enemy as it's known to some here).

How do I find out what size hard drive?

And from what I understand the reformat will wipe out files?, I have a travel drive I can move them to temporarily if necessary.

The memory is so cheap at either place I will probably just go ahead in increase it to the maximum.

left click "my computer" right click the drive designation, usually c, left click properties. it will show you the size and available space. a full format will wipe the drive clean and you need to re-install the operating system. got the cd ? all the drivers, got those cd's ? i really think if you clean it up you'd be happy, but if you have the ME cd try re-installation of operating system only. you will retain all drivers but it won't get rid of the bad stuff.

My plan is to do the cleanup and add some RAM, maybe just 256 and see how it performs.

One last question, they cancelled their internet while since the PC has been out of commission. Can I enter my internet settings into their explorer settings to get onto the web and download the spyware?

I recommend that you reformat the hard drive and upgrade to either Windows XP or Windows 98SE. Both are an upgrade since both are much better than Windows MyEnemy. I do not recommend that anyone use MyEnemy for anything.

If you are upgrading memory, don't stop at 256, go to 512. 64 MBytes is NOT enough for Windows XP, and barely enough for Windows 98.

Every Windows system should be reformatted and have it's OS re-installed every so often. The more the computer is used, the less time between these reformats.

Ok. 512MB and a reformat sounds like the best approach.

Once this is done I will install a XP upgrade I bought for myself (decided to buy a new pc instead).


Am I correct about having to move files before reformatting? There's not much to move.

Yes, before you reformat the hard drive you want to save any files that you don't want deleted.

Did you determine the size of the hard drive yet? You may want to get a new hard drive if the existing one is small.

yes you can use your ip settings. as far as moving files, i wouldn't carry over anything on that hard drive if i could get away with it. try to find the drivers online if you don't have them. now is the time to look for them since you can see what system drivers are needed. video, modem/network interface, monitor, etc. it's alot of work to go through just to bring on board the cause of your problems now. as long as you have nothing new or exotic in the system xp may have the drivers. how old is this unit ? i replace cpu cooling fans every two years. they're cheap.

I will be going over there tonight, I'll check out the size. Now that I'm armed with some information and a plan, I doubt it will be necessary to expand their hard drive BUT JUST IN CASE, what is considered small?

I checked out the Dell website and it appears the minimum for this series is 40GB.

Thanks for all the information and assistance, I checked out another "forum" type website today, and this one is so far superior in terms of quality and accuracy of information.

40GB is small, especially for Windows XP.

Keep in mind that (from the sound of it), this is an old machine. It may not, no, it probably will not reconize the newer over 120gb drives without some special effort (bios upgrade, new pci controller, etc).

What is the processor speed of this machine?
If it's under a 800 mhz, Pentium 3, I'd _seriously_ consider installing 98SE instead of XP. You will also save about 1.7gb of space by going with 98 instead of XP.

This is what is on the website, I don't know if this is generic to cover all types:

Intel Celeron processor that runs at 433, 500, 533, 566, 600, 633, 667, 700, or 733 MHz internally and 66 MHz externally or 700 or 800 MHz internally and 100 MHz externally.

Thanks. I'll consider all the options, make a decision and post back how it turns out.

I was able to get the scoop on the hard drive. It's 20GB, 10GB free space.

I ran the ad-aware and it found nearly 900 items of malware, etc. I installed the free version of Zone Alarm to protect it once it's backup.

I purchased the 512MB online, once that arrives I'll install it and do the reformat and go from there.

Thanks again.

have to agree with pendragon on 98se being the logical choice for that box. given the intended use of this machine your plan sounds very rasonable. i'm not suprised by what you found with adaware. if you had that much crap in your head you would be a little slow too. good luck :thumbup:

Do not attempt to install Windows XP on this hard drive. Either purchase a larger hard drive or use Windows 98SE.

I have the disks for Win 98 (don't know if it's SE), but as a part of the PC purchase I received free upgrades to Win2000 Small Business Edition. Is there a difference between the two? I would think Win2000SBE would be better, but what I'm finding out is that newer isn't always better when it comes to OS.

Do not put Windows 2000 on this machine. Windows 2000 (essentially Windows NT 5.0) is based on Windows NT 4.0.

Up until Windows XP Microsoft had two product lines for Windows. A "business" line and a "home" line.

The home line was Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ended with MyEnemy. The business line was the Windows NT line, ending with Windows 2000.

In many instances third party companies did not produce drivers for their products for Windows NT and Windows 2000 if they were games or other common home use programs, because most people playing games were not using NT or 2000, but rather were using 95, 98 or eventually MyEnemy.

Windows XP was the first OS that Microsoft produced that came in two flavors, Home and Professional, and was targeted for both either audience. With perhaps a few exceptions, the code for Windows XP is identical for Home, Professional, and now Media Center. They simply selectively turn on and turn off portions of the software to make the versions different.

Anyway, the bottom line is that Windows 98SE is fine for this machine. You will be able to find drivers for most of the hardware you will want to connect to it.

Just FWIW..

XP Pro and XP Media Center (MCE) are the same _except_, Media Center cannot join a domain *after* being installed. If you want MCE on a domain, you must join it during setup, as Terminal Services have been disabled.

Terminal Services being active conflicted with some of the Media Center code, so they simply disabled it.

I'm not sure what else that may effect.

I forget the difference between Home and Pro, but it seems it was along the same lines as best I recall.

I prefer Pro and the way it is laid out in setup, and since it is the same price for the OEM versions, I get Pro for new machines.

Thanks to everyone for you assistance, sorry for turning this thread into a quilt. I just want to be sure I get it right.


I'll report back if I encounter any problems, otherwise consider it a success

A few thoughts if I may;
I think it is due to my teen niece surfing the web without any protection. Protection is a MUST for the teen niece, you were young once (maybe still are) =)

if your operating system is reasonable ( w98 or later) I don't know that I would put Windows 98 into the "reasonable operating system" category. After all it has been considered end of life for two years now.

40GB is small, especially for Windows XP. This is subjective. The typical Windows XP installation will consume less than 2GB of hard drive space. If you're not storing massive amounts of MP3's or playing lots of recent games you'll be fine. Chances are good that anything requiring more space than this, with the exception of MP3's, will require a beefier machine in many other aspects.


It's 20GB, 10GB free space. When (if) you format it you'll be left with ~18GB or so free. Again this will still be plenty, aforementioned caveats aside.


Do not put Windows 2000 on this machine. I totally agree with this.

With regards to the planned RAM upgrade, you can hardly ever go wrong with sticking more in. That said, I probably wouldn't spend too much money improving this machine with new computers being as cheap as they are these days vs. the cost of the parts to update an old one. You mentioned you had a Windows XP upgrade CD that you purchased for yourself and ended up not using. Once you've got the RAM installed, I suggest installing this and taking it for a spin. The stability and overall experience of XP (no pun intended) may be just what you're looking for.

i ran w2k and never had a problem. With all the service packs installed,it was very compatible with about any game i wanted to play. for surfing and email it would be fine.

I finally had the opportunity to install the 512MB memory, I ended up taking the memory out of my old computer since they are both dell with same specifications. I booted it up and it appears to be running better, prior this installation it would lock up while running ad-aware and last night it made through without a hitch.

But when I click on my computer it stills says there is only 64MB, shouldn't it recognize the upgrade and show the 512MB?

what exactly did you put in and in which slots ? you can't just pop any old thing in there and have it work. that i know, but one of the other posters would have to tell you why. need to match memory an locate in order or something. i need alot of computers but not alot of ram

two 256mb chips, replacing one 64mb chip. The manual says to install 100 (mhz?) speed for upgrades, I first installed 133 but it didn't recogize the chip and would not even boot, it did an auto shutdown with a low memory warning. I may not have checked the right place, I'll check it again later. Again, it's running better, but I want to verify that it's not just from the ad-aware cleanups I've done.

The advice you're getting is correct. Format and reinstall is the best option. With 900 and some spyware items, it's already too late and there's no hope for your current installation.

I've tried to bring systems such as that back from the brink without re-installing, and it never works. Maintenance is the key. Keeping up with removing spyware once a week or so will keep it healthy.

Good Luck,

Joe Michel

you need to get that ram recognized. wish i could help but i don't remember the installation procedure. keep plugging away with adaware. once it took an entire weekend of scanning , delete, lockup, and reboot to get all the crap out of my sister inlaw's pc. never did any maint. the freakin desktop was wallpapered with download icons. after adawar can't find any more problems, download spybot and run it. sometimes one will get what another misses. sysyem mechanic type programs can clean up the registry and find duplicate files. did you ever find your drivers incase you do have to format ?

what's the model number of the dell's?

The pc that the memory went into is a L700CX, mine is a V350. The memory that went in is an aftermarket brand that I had added.

I located my windows 98 cd's and will be installing this after the reformat. I checked the virtual memory and it shows 10936, this is where the 512MB should show up?