Computer-savvy folks... browser question

jebarrs

My hard drive crashed last week - as in, totally shot to hell, and my back up system failed. So I had to go get a new hard drive and reprogram my computer from scratch, O/S on up. I got a new O/S, XP 2007 (an upgrade from the previous XP 2004), and also loaded the new Internet Explorer 7 (an upgrade from IE 4 on the previous hard drive).

However, now, when I try to scroll down a page on my browser, or when I'm even trying to scroll down a page in Word or any other document, there is a delay. The scroll is not smooth - it's very jerky. If I click by hand on the down arrow on the scrollbar 4 times, it takes about 10 seconds while the windows flickers down 4 times. It's very, very annoying and time consuming to wait when I need to get to the bottom of a window or scroll.

Any advice on how to fix this? I never had this problem on my old hard drive. I'm thinking maybe the processor is just slow and can't keep up with the new hardware and upgraded software? DH suggested maybe I need more RAM now that I have updated programs, but he wasn't sure. Anyone know what might be a fix?

Thanks!

giapez80

Are you using a laptop computer? How old is your computer?

It sounds like you may not have the proper video driver installed on your computer. I'm not exactly sure what you have, but having an improper video driver loaded will cause this type of screen anomoly. The video driver is the peice of software that tells Windows how to tell the actual video hardware in your computer what to do. Think of it in very simplified terms as an interperter(sp?). If it's not speaking the right language, things aren't going to be quite right.

I'm not trying to get technical here but Windows XP is Windows XP. You're sure you don't have Windows Vista now? There really hasn't been any Windows XP 2004, 2005, 2007 ,etc.. releases.. but I'm going to assume you may have been talking about versions of Microsoft Office (i.e. Excel, Word, etc..)

 

jebarrs

Hurrah! Someone who knows what all my blather means!

Yes, I'm sure it's Windows XP, not Vista. I didn't know if there were various release versions or not. I have a Dell Inspiron 600m. It's about 4 years old, give or take a few months.

The video driver... that sounds like it might be the issue. I was having sound issues last week until I loaded a new audio driver. How do I know which video driver I need? I went onto Dell's support and driver download page, and there are about 10-15 of them, all different types and sizes and names. I called Dell support, but since the warranty ran out on my computer ages ago, they won't even tell me what kind of mechanical components are built into the machine.

Thanks!!

aprilbridezilla19

Also, just download firefox!  I can't stand IE7 or any of the others.  I always end up getting popups with blockers and add-ons.  I have zero issues with firefox!

giapez80

I don't know which one you need, I'll email FI and ask him.  He was actually the one who posted that for you...I saw it and handed him my laptop and said answer that.  As soon as I get an answer from him, I'll post it for you.

 

giapez80

Here is my FI's response...HTH!  Yeah, that's one of the things I'm starting to not like about Dell. You used to be able to enter in your service tag information and it knew EXACTLY what hardware was in your machine. However, a few years back they started cutting costs and such and the information you get isn't as specific. Basically they offered the laptop with different options and they give you the downloads for ALL of them, not just the specific model you have. There's not a real easy way for me to tell you across a message board how to ascertain what type of graphics adaptor may be in your machine. One way would be to watch for some type of logo when you turn on your machine. It should be one of the first things you see, well prior to seeing the "Windows XP" logo. It might say something about ATI or NVIDIA, and this may give you a clue as to what type of graphics adaptor may be in your machine. It also may say nothing, which isn't much help at all. You could possibly download them all and run them. Most of the time the drives will install but if they aren't the correct one the computer will just not use it if the driver is not compatible with the hardware. There shouldn't be more than three or four choices for video drivers (Probably an ATI, an nVidia, and an Intel)

jebarrs

Thanks so much! I'll hop on Dell's support page again today and see if they offer a Intel driver. That was the one that worked for my sound issues, so maybe it's all Intel.

Thank you again! (And to your FI as well!)