Upgrading my existing computers (desktop and laptop)

[Óttar]

My desktop is a 2008 Gateway LX4710-01.

The machine runs smoothly, but sometimes while toggling between internet tabs, it slows down and the screen has white splotches that take a while to fill-in and my cursor goes really slow taking forever to type something into a search-bar.

When I wake it up from its automatic sleep, it will take forever to get up and running and usable (see above). Sometimes when it wakes up, it goes to a black BIOS screen and it says "Port 00" and I have to hit the power button and turn it on again.

It does this about every other time it wakes up from sleep or I restart it. What can I do about this? Can I upgrade it, or is the PC too old? The slowness really makes my heart skip a beat and I get really pissed off.

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My laptop is a HP 15 ac-04710TU. It is much faster than my 2008 desktop. The only problem is, every once in a while when it awakens from sleep mode it gets sluggish and it takes a while to access or type anything in tabs.

Would upgrading the RAM from 4GB to 8GB help?

[Marinus]

With the desktop it seems to be a HDD problem, are you still using the one that came pre-installed?

The laptop problem might be to do with Windows power management, I had a similar issue with a laptop I had before. Try disabling the "hybernation" option at the start menu, which version of Windows are you running?

[Óttar]

With the desktop it seems to be a HDD problem, are you still using the one that came pre-installed?

Yes.

[Marinus]

Yes.

The hard drive probably has ran its course given that it's from 2008. Port 00 errors are often to do with the cables connecting the hard drive to the motherboard. Have you ran any disk health check up utilities?

[NSXD60]

Yeah, the hard drive is probably done for.

[Óttar]

The hard drive probably has ran its course given that it's from 2008. Port 00 errors are often to with the cables connecting the hard drive to the motherboard. Have you ran any disk health check up utilities?

I defragment my hard drive every Wednesday. The thing is, right now moving between internet tabs is very quick and efficient. It is just when I want to boot up the machine, either from sleep or from start up that things get irritating.

Is there any way I can replace the hard-drive with an SSD if I pry open the computer portion? Apparently, the Gateway LX4710 was first released in June of 2010.

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Would upgrading the RAM or getting an SSD make my laptop go faster?

[Marinus]

I defragment my hard drive every Wednesday. The thing is, right now moving between internet tabs is very quick and efficient. It is just when I want to boot up the machine, either from sleep or from start up that things get irritating.

Is there any way I can replace the hard-drive with an SSD if I pry open the computer portion? Apparently, the Gateway LX4710 was first released in June of 2010.

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Would upgrading the RAM or getting an SSD make my laptop go faster?

Which versions of Windows are you using on your machines?

You should be able to change your HDD to a SSD. Just have to check which generations of SATA your motherboard accepts.

Because of the age of the hdd, even with the defragmentation some of the sectors get damamged over time and when you defrag the hdd the PC will move about and merge blocks of data but these bad sectors will still affect performance as they get in the way essentially.

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The laptop problem might be to do with Windows power management, I had a similar issue with a laptop I had before. Try disabling the "hibernation" option at the start menu.

And RAM won't make much difference if the amount you already have is not operating on full so to speak, you may have 4GB but only use 3.2GB at max. What would make a bit more difference is if the RAM is also clocked at a higher rate.

SSD certanly will make a difference though. Might not need it though.

[zhaoyun]

Haven't had a desk top in over a decade, no reason to have one.

My last three lap tops have been HP, they seem to fit the perfect slot of price, function, reliability and design for me.

Unless you are a hardcore gamer, I wouldn't spend more then $900 on a new lap top.

[Óttar]

Which versions of Windows are you using on your machines?

Desktop = Windows 7 Professional

Laptop = Whichever was most common for PCs in 2015

[Marinus]

Soz for the late reply, went to bed very late last night.

Ok this is your machine right? https://www.cnet.com/products/gatewa...-640-gb/specs/

Use the Windows built-in disk health checker if you haven’t done so already.

Go to my computer > the HDD partition where the OS is installed > right click > properties > tools tab > error-checking > check now > check both options.

Your PC will either restart, or you can restart it yourself. When it boots back it’ll go into a black screen and will run checks for a while, might take a good bit of time but it’ll find bad sectors in the HDD and attempt to fix them.

You can also download this utility to check on the HDD health: https://crystalmark.info/en/download/

You could also run a memory test If you want, on the start seach bar type mdsched.exe and press enter, the PC will perform the task next time it’s booted.

I checked the CNET and your motherboard’s storage interface is a SATA 3 so there should plenty of SSDs available. You could also go for a HDD/SSD hybrid. Much cheaper and higher capacity than a standard SSD but slower, although faster than conventional hard drives.
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With the laptop, try and disable the “fast startup” and “hybrid sleep” options in power management.

Right click the start menu > power options > choose what power buttons do > click "change settings that are currently unavailable" > you’ll see “fast startup” now un-check the box beside it and save the settings.

Go back to power options > change plan settings > change advanced power settings > expand the “sleep” option > expand “allow hybrid sleep” and choose off, hit ok.

Restart the laptop and see if the problem persists the next time you resume it from sleep.

I would also run the same checks as the desktop, it’s good to check anyway.