Slow Latitude C500/C600

Trying to get an old Latitude of mine running enough for a down-on-her-luck friend to use for looking for work in addition to using the public library pc's.

This machine is obviously very old, and I've been trying to get it usable for surfing the web but it's been an uphill battle. I've got to boot up, hook up to the wireless signal, and it runs but is extraordinarily slow.

I've cleaned all the personal files off it that I can find, optimized the disk, killed unneeded processes running, etc. There is not enough disk space to do a defrag.

The specs.
Latitude c500/c600
Win xp home with all updates
Firefox with all updates
HD: I assume it's a 10GB unit. Capacity: 9.35 GB, Free space: 1.04GB 11%
Page file size for drive: 384MB
32 processes running, commit charge: 289736
Physical memory: 261532
Avail memory: 107725
System cache 140440

Is it possible that the various system files are taking up that much HD space?

Is there some sort of program that can be downloaded that will analyze the system and look for other files that can be deleted and still let the system work?

Thanks

 

Maybe you can try a clean reinstall of Windows XP if you still have the Windows XP disc lying around. Max for a Windows XP installation should be something like 4GB used or even less.

 

I would say run diagnostics make sure all your hardware is in working order? Most common reason for slow OS performance is a failing drive..

 

I don't think there's much you can do here short of adding more RAM. XP on 256MB is generally a pretty lousy experience (even with a clean install) and throwing FF (which is generally pretty memory intensive) ontop of that will only make it worse.

 

Download and install XP Lite.

Also consider upping the RAM a bit.

 

Or better yet, install Ubuntu 10.04 with Firefox. Should easily fit, and run better with the lessor resources. It will also include Open Office so she can work on a Resume. It should have all the drivers for a C600 included. Install it with the NIC plugged in, and after updates it should see all hardware.

 

I'm trying to install 10.04 and have successfully burned a cd on my desktop. However, when I boot up the old latitude with the cd in the drive it does come up with three options from the Ubuntu menu.
1) Demo and installation. Supposedly you can run a demo of the OS and then do a full install (replace XP I assume?) from within the demo if you choose.

2) Install to run alongside or under XP which I assume I don't want to do as I want XP gone and Ubuntu in its place.

3) Online Ubuntu tour.

I've been trying to do number one but it will not boot from the cd for some reason. It keeps telling me I have to re-boot so it will boot from the cd but it won't do it. I have tried re-booting, running the cd from the the run menu, ejecting and re-installing the cd, etc. There is an option to install some sort of software that will help the re-booting from the cd drive it if doesn't work otherwise but that did not work for me either.

I don't know what NIC is?

Any ideas?
Thanks

 

Sorry, NIC(Network Interface Card).

I have installed 10.04 on several C600's and c610's in the past with no issue. Goto Dell's support website and download the most recent BIOS for the model you have. To tell exactly what you have, reboot the laptop, and hit F2 several times once you see the Dell splash screen. It will tell you the exact model so you can look it up and download the BIOS flash.

You could also try 11.10. I recommended 10.04 because I had successfully used it on a similar Model Dell. 11.10 is the newest flavor of Ubuntu, and might not have the boot issue.

Is there an advanced option you can click on at the first Ubuntu screen? I haven't run the workstation install of 10.04 in a while just the server install. I'll run it later tonight and get back to you with the exact options you need...

-Loki