The two problems are not necessarily unrelated. If you are experiencing RAM / CPU / motherboard problems and WinXP problems, I'd work on the hardware first. You can't reasonably expect XP to work correctly if the hardware is failing.
So, the RAM checks. You said it yourself, if it's taking several seconds to check 2 gig of ram, then there's probably something wrong. I would take out a module and see how it boots. If that was ok, I'd swap in the other module and see how it boots. If still no problem, I'd suspect that the newest RAM module was slower that the original module, meaning that the entire memory subsystem has slowed down to compensate. If the slowdown is apparent on both modules, I' d take them to a mate's computer that uses the same memory and test it out there, just in case you have a motherboard / CPU failure.
Assuming that the XP slowdowns are seperate from your memory issues, how long since you've defragged the computer using something like Perfect Disk? The included defragger in XP is ok, but Perfect Disk can get in and defrag your page file and other system files. How long is it since you've done a cleanup of all the temporary files on your machine? The sheer volume of these little buggers can substantially slow down the file system.
Also have a look in the system logs, particularly the Application and System logs for errors in the startup. Also, have a good hunt through your system's startup with MSConfig and see just how much junk is in there.
If it all seems to be ok and your machine is running slow, get a S.M.A.R.T event viewer and have a look at the error logs of the hard disk. You may find that the HD is on the way out - which could be causing the hand at the start, if the BIOS is having trouble actually autodetecting the HD.
Keep us posted.
Neil
So, the RAM checks. You said it yourself, if it's taking several seconds to check 2 gig of ram, then there's probably something wrong. I would take out a module and see how it boots. If that was ok, I'd swap in the other module and see how it boots. If still no problem, I'd suspect that the newest RAM module was slower that the original module, meaning that the entire memory subsystem has slowed down to compensate. If the slowdown is apparent on both modules, I' d take them to a mate's computer that uses the same memory and test it out there, just in case you have a motherboard / CPU failure.
Assuming that the XP slowdowns are seperate from your memory issues, how long since you've defragged the computer using something like Perfect Disk? The included defragger in XP is ok, but Perfect Disk can get in and defrag your page file and other system files. How long is it since you've done a cleanup of all the temporary files on your machine? The sheer volume of these little buggers can substantially slow down the file system.
Also have a look in the system logs, particularly the Application and System logs for errors in the startup. Also, have a good hunt through your system's startup with MSConfig and see just how much junk is in there.
If it all seems to be ok and your machine is running slow, get a S.M.A.R.T event viewer and have a look at the error logs of the hard disk. You may find that the HD is on the way out - which could be causing the hand at the start, if the BIOS is having trouble actually autodetecting the HD.
Keep us posted.
Neil