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re: SLOW running dos program in XP Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 6:08 pm Posted by Tom Swanson (5553 messages posted) How much RAM in the LT? On Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 4:21 pm, morley wrote: >Hi--can anyone give me an idea to solve a problem I am having with a business program >(a dos program) I am running in a Win XP pro laptop? I have the same program running >VERY well in a desktop machine, but I can see NO differences in settings etc between >the 2 machines. This program will run in my laptop but it CRAWLS along to the point >of being useless! Both machines are Dell--and both are Pentium 4 machines. I realize >this is limited info--but at this point ANY info is welcome. >thanks in advance for any replies >morley [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 7:36 pm Posted by morley (36 messages posted) Thanks for the interest--I've got 384 MB in the Dell Latitude c610. I don't think that can be any problem here---I can run this dos program on an old P1 Acernote laptop (with win95, mind you!) and it works like a charm with 64mb ram. On Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 6:08 pm, Tom Swanson wrote: >How much RAM in the LT? > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 9:03 pm Posted by Tom Swanson (5553 messages posted) Shouldn't be a problem with that much RAM. WindowsXP used a lot ore RAM than 98 or ME just to idle. Have you tweaked your startup processes the same in both computers? HD speeds about the same? You might search for posts on slow computers. Your systems sound much the same and it takes a lot of poking around to find out where the difference is. Same number of processes on each one? I'll do some looking and see if I can find a decent idea to pursue. On Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 7:36 pm, morley wrote: >Thanks for the interest--I've got 384 MB in the Dell Latitude c610. I don't think >that can be any problem here---I can run this dos program on an old P1 Acernote laptop >(with win95, mind you!) and it works like a charm with 64mb ram. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Friday, November 14, 2003 at 6:26 am Posted by morley (36 messages posted) Thanks Tom for the comments. Indeed, the systems are similar (except for the mobility factor in the LT) and I have carefully compared both machines, but obviously I have missed something. The startup process for the DOS program is identical, using the same batch file. The HD speed (4200) in LT is slower then the desktop but remember the program runs fine on my older laptop. I will GLADLY listen to any ideas you may come up with! thanks morley On Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 9:03 pm, Tom Swanson wrote: >Shouldn't be a problem with that much RAM. WindowsXP used a lot ore RAM than 98 or >ME just to idle. Have you tweaked your startup processes the same in both computers? > HD speeds about the same? > >You might search for posts on slow computers. Your systems sound much the same and >it takes a lot of poking around to find out where the difference is. Same number >of processes on each one? I'll do some looking and see if I can find a decent idea >to pursue. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Friday, February 6, 2004 at 8:47 am Posted by JB (5 messages posted) I have a DOS batch file which uses a DOS for-loop to pass the names of all files *.png in a specific directory to another DOS batch file. The second DOS batch file is executed repeatedly, once for each file. It checks whether a corresponding file exists in another directory, and if so, appends a record to a data file. After the for-loop, the first DOS batch file triggers off a C++ executable which performs tests on the files listed in the data file. This batch file used to run quite quickly on other Windows operating systems, and on XP, but it got slow for no apparent reason. When it slowed, it got as far as running the C++ program, then stuck for ages when it used the data file. The first time it ran slowly, I ran virus checks, disk error checks, and disk defragmenter, and it was OK again. It got slow again, but the second time, the same treatment did not cure it. I looked at what was happening while the machine was running slow, and found that the C++ program started running while the DOS for-loop was still building its data file. The Task Manager showed that all the memory was used, and the CPU usage was about equally split between 2 processes, the one I knew about and System. I have now avoided the problem by changing the method to avoid using the DOS for-loop, but I still do not understand what could have been happening when the machine seized up, and what was the underlying difference between my machine when it ran the batch file quickly and my machine when it was slow. Could this relate to your problem? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Friday, February 6, 2004 at 1:45 pm Posted by morley (36 messages posted) Hi JB--thanks for the interest. It's been a long time since I started this thread and I have kinda given up on finding the answer to this problem. I have tried the virus check, defrag, disk error checks ad nauseum. The dos program on my laptop does NOT totally stop but runs consistently about 1/20th the speed that it is supposed to. Originally, when installed on my laptop it worked flawlessly for months--then one day, out of the blue, for no apparent reason, the program began to crawl. I may have added software, hardware--something along the way that has interfered, but I cannot pin it down--too long ago! You state "then stuck for >ages when it used the data file" which does not happen in my program. But I would still be interested in knowing exactly how you : "I have now avoided the problem by changing the method to avoid using the DOS for-loop". What did you change to make the program run smoother? I should add, that I am not exceedingly computer savy, but also not a total newbie, having been only self-taught. thanks again, morley On Friday, February 6, 2004 at 8:47 am, JB wrote: >I have a DOS batch file which uses a DOS for-loop to pass the names of all files >*.png in a specific directory to another DOS batch file. The second DOS batch file >is >executed repeatedly, once for each file. It checks whether a corresponding file exists >in another directory, and if so, appends a record to a data file. After the for-loop, >the first DOS batch file triggers off a C++ executable which performs tests on the >files listed in the data file. > >This batch file used to run quite quickly on other Windows operating systems, and >on XP, but it got slow for no apparent reason. When it slowed, it got as far as running >the C++ program, then stuck for >ages when it used the data file. > >The first time it ran slowly, I ran virus checks, disk error checks, and disk defragmenter, >and it was OK >again. It got slow again, but the second time, the same treatment did not cure it. > >I looked at what was happening while the machine was running slow, and found that >the C++ program started running while the DOS for-loop was still building its data >file. The Task Manager showed that all the memory was used, and the CPU usage was >about equally split between 2 processes, the one I knew about and System. > >, >but I still do not understand what could have been happening when the machine seized >up, and what was the underlying difference between my machine when it ran the batch >file quickly and my machine when it was slow. > >Could this relate to your problem? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Saturday, February 7, 2004 at 2:07 am Posted by JB (5 messages posted) Hello Morley I am convinced that you and I are suffering from the same effect. My DOS program has been used for years with no problem, then a colleague and I using the same program on 2 different machines running XP, had a similar experience to yours: it ran properly for a time, then for no obvious reason, it just crawled every time it was run. I am afraid my remedy is probably not an option for you. Instead of using a DOS for-loop calling a second DOS program to create a data file for a C++ program, I sent DIR output to a file to input to the C++ program, and modified the C++ program to do what the second DOS program been doing. So I have avoided the problem, but not solved it. I think my slowness was associated with a DOS program calling another DOS program in a loop, particularly as the second DOS program which was being called repeatedly appended to a single output file. It looks as though it is possible for another call to start execution before the previous one had finished, and the system was fighting itself over the output file. But I have no theory about why the behaviour changed, that must be something connected to the working of XP. I would be interested to know what sort of operations your DOS program was doing; it may give a further clue to the cause of the slowness. I hope between us we may be able to work this out. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Sunday, February 8, 2004 at 8:12 am Posted by morley (36 messages posted) Hi JB. Well now you've gone and done it! I am beginning all over again to try and get to the bottom of this. And I have discovered something about my situation. It seems as though, while trying to check resource usage etc, my application WILL run properly when it is minimized or in a small window. At full screen the program bogs down. iF I change the display option to "window" instead of "full screen" in my program properties, the app runs the way it is supposed to. I began to check display settings long ago as I know that some dos programs run better at 256 colors etc. Altho that had nothing to do with my problem, while fooling around with display settings, I wanted to see what happened with the program when it was minimized/half-window. So, what does all this mean? Probably that I am an idiot and have missed some little detail--that still eludes me!! Any thoughts? On Saturday, February 7, 2004 at 2:07 am, JB wrote: >Hello Morley >I am convinced that you and I are suffering from the same effect. My DOS program >has been used for years with no problem, then a colleague and I using the same program >on 2 different machines running XP, had a similar experience to yours: it ran properly >for a time, then for no obvious reason, it just crawled every time it was run. I >am afraid my remedy is probably not an option for you. Instead of using a DOS for-loop >calling a second DOS program to create a data file for a C++ program, I sent DIR >output to a file to input to the C++ program, and modified the C++ program to do >what the second DOS program been doing. So I have avoided the problem, but not solved >it. I think my slowness was associated with a DOS program calling another DOS program >in a loop, particularly as the second DOS program which was being called repeatedly >appended to a single output file. It looks as though it is possible for another call >to start execution before the previous one had finished, and the system was fighting >itself over the output file. But I have no theory about why the behaviour changed, >that must be something connected to the working of XP. I would be interested to know >what sort of operations your DOS program was doing; it may give a further clue to >the cause of the slowness. I hope between us we may be able to work this out. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Monday, February 9, 2004 at 9:07 pm Posted by JB (5 messages posted) Hello again Morley When I read your reply, I tried different settings for DOS, but could not find any that made any difference. So I went back to "Windows XP Annoyances" and have found the answer. Presumably, as you posted your original message here, you have access to the book? Chapter 5: Maximizing Performance, section Advanced NTFS Settings, page 185. Among all that stuff, he mentions that the master file table(MFT) can become fragmented, causing bad performance, and he says on page 187 "Unfortunately, the only way to defragment or rebuild the MFT is to format the drive." On the internet, I found software that can defragment the MFT, downloaded a free trial version, ran it, and my problem has gone. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Tuesday, February 10, 2004 at 6:56 am Posted by morley (36 messages posted) Excellent, JB! Yeah--I tried all the different settings for dos as well. I guess that explains the ONLY difference between my laptop (NFTS) and my work desktop (FAT32) and why things went wrong on the laptop. For relative "newbies" such as myself, these things are not readily explained while setting up an operating system. If I had maybe done some more research on NFTS BEFORE formatting my hard drive perhaps I would have made the MFT larger. One last question (I hope!), which software did you use? I see that there may be a few choices, but Diskeeper offers a trial version for WinXP Home (does not mention PRO version). Thanks for your help--I appreciate it very much, morley On Monday, February 9, 2004 at 9:07 pm, JB wrote: >Hello again Morley >When I read your reply, I tried different settings for DOS, but could not find any >that made any difference. So I went back to "Windows XP Annoyances" and have found >the answer. Presumably, as you posted your original message here, you have access >to the book? Chapter 5: Maximizing Performance, section Advanced NTFS Settings, page >185. Among all that stuff, he mentions that the master file table(MFT) can become >fragmented, causing bad performance, and he says on page 187 "Unfortunately, the >only way to defragment or rebuild the MFT is to format the drive." On the internet, >I found software that can defragment the MFT, downloaded a free trial version, ran >it, and my problem has gone. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Tuesday, February 10, 2004 at 7:26 am Posted by JB (5 messages posted) Yes Morley, it was Diskeeper Professional trial version I used. I believe that the MFT defragment facility is not included in the Home version. Hope you have similar success to mine. Goodbye [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 6:44 am Posted by morley (36 messages posted) Well, a big dissapointment--I installed and ran Diskeeper Pro and it did not solve my problem. I noticed that my MFT was 93% maxed at a paltry 64k total size. This does not seem right! On Tuesday, February 10, 2004 at 7:26 am, JB wrote: >Yes Morley, it was Diskeeper Professional trial version I used. I believe that the >MFT defragment facility is not included in the Home version. Hope you have similar >success to mine. Goodbye [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Thursday, February 12, 2004 at 5:45 am Posted by JB (5 messages posted) Do not despair. Have you defragmented MFT? Are you sure? I had several attempts before I achieved it. It has to run without Windows running, and I had difficulty in getting it right. You have to 'Change your settings', then select 'Set a boot-time defragmentation' and select 'Defragment the Master File Table' . Before defragmentation starts, you have to respond to a 'Y/N' question with Y, and if you do not do it in time, the defragmentation does not happen. I hope that is all you need. On Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 6:44 am, morley wrote: >Well, a big dissapointment--I installed and ran Diskeeper Pro and it did not solve >my problem. I noticed that my MFT was 93% maxed at a paltry 64k total size. This >does not seem right! > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Friday, February 13, 2004 at 7:42 am Posted by morley (36 messages posted) Yeah---I have done that--a few times and actually the MFT was not really fragmented--only 2 files. And I was very careful to answer "Y" before the allotted time ran out. Still, did not help. Anyway, if you ever think of any other reason for this, please post here, I appreciate it. I still believe that the problem is not very deep--and perhaps something to do with monitor settings or driver--dunno--just my gut feeling! Anyway, glad to hear that you got the answer to your problem. -take care- morley On Thursday, February 12, 2004 at 5:45 am, JB wrote: >Do not despair. Have you defragmented MFT? Are you sure? I had several attempts before >I achieved it. It has to run without Windows running, and I had difficulty in getting >it right. You have to 'Change your settings', then select 'Set a boot-time defragmentation' >and select 'Defragment the Master File Table' . Before defragmentation starts, you >have to respond to a 'Y/N' question with Y, and if you do not do it in time, the >defragmentation does not happen. I hope that is all you need. > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: SLOW running dos program in XP Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 4:59 pm Posted by Massimo (1 messages posted) I hope you solved your original problem, in the meanwhile. If you didn't , have a look at my case: I had pretty similar symptoms, - dos batch files running fine for the 1st month in my laptop with Windows XP, then suddenly very slow execution of any dos command sequence run whithin a batch file. What I found is that the problem is strictly related to the 'Auto-protect' function of the Norton antivirus. Only if I disable it, the batch file execution comes back to its normal speed. I did not try other antivirus for now. Massimo On Friday, February 13, 2004 at 7:42 am, morley wrote: >Yeah---I have done that--a few times and actually the MFT was not really fragmented--only >2 files. And I was very careful to answer "Y" before the allotted time ran out. > Still, did not help. Anyway, if you ever think of any other reason for this, please >post here, I appreciate it. I still believe that the problem is not very deep--and >perhaps something to do with monitor settings or driver--dunno--just my gut feeling! > Anyway, glad to hear that you got the answer to your problem. >-take care- >morley > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum