Dell Dimension 4600 running very slow.

It doesn't matter if I boot into windows, normal or safe mode. It doesn't matter if I boot into memtest86 it's very slow. I've tried 1 stick of ram at a time, I've tried differn't slots. It responds the same way. Memtest86 takes over 20 seconds to complete the first test. That test should really be over in a bout a second, especially with ddr pc 3200 ram. Do you think it's just the motherboard or does anyone know if a bios setting might cause this to happen? In memtest 86 it says the ram bus speed is 199 mhz, which where it should be but it's extremely slow.

Also, during memtest instead of a stead second count on the wall time it will skip every other second.

Try resetting the bios.

Remove the mobo battery for a few minutes.

btcomm--I did a Search within VDr on "slow" and came up with this
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sea...earchid=367198
Of course, the one I would recommend is Post #3 here
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...48#post1117448
But I did not consider a RAM problem when I wrote it.

What's the history behind the issue?
Did it run well last week? Did you make any changes?
How much ram does it have?

Spyware,virus (run Programs),One stick ram might be partally gone,
bad sectors on HDD (do chkdsk),Software particularly the ones that play with the boot screens like stardock and style XP specially after uninstalling them.Check motherboard transistors to see if they are bubbled.Whens the last defrag.And most of all what was the last thing you installed or did before the slowdown.