Inspiron 3891, baffled, excruciatingly slow

I'd say there are 2 other bits of info that can really shine some light on the slow performance. What kind of hard drive are you using? I would expect a traditional HDD to result in pretty slow performance, even after reinstalling the OS. A SATA or NVMe SSD should be significantly faster. If you open up task manager, which CPU are you running and what's the utilization across the CPU, RAM, and hard drive? 

It's one of the older mechanical drives.  However, I replaced it with another mechanical drive (same manufacturer, more capacity) and it was just as slow.  I just took the second drive from a machine where it ran as fast as one could expect a mechanical drive to run and it was just fine.  I know the SSD's and NvMe's would be faster but, for what this guy does, either drive would be sufficient and, in a normal situation, neither drive would perform THIS slowly.  :-)

CPU is an i3, 16 GB of DDR RAM and a Seagate 1 TB drive (before the SSD's came out, I used these all the time and never experienced any system this slow.  Even the newer N95's and N100's would outshine this unit.

Thanks.

PS  the RAM is Dell's RAM so there should be no issue with parity, etc.

Run ePSA-Diagnostics (outside of Windows).

Yeah, clean-install of Windows-11 (or 10 if you must) on a NVMe-SSD (or at least a SATA-SSD). In about 10 computers, now-days only my NAS has spinning-drives inside.

Device-Manager should be "clean" of errors.

Reliability History Report should be clean and (eventually) giving you a 9-10 score.

Install HWiNFO64 and make sure all your cores and other stuff is reporting properly. Crystal Disk-Info and Disk-Mark to check your drives. OCCT to stress test.

Thanks.  Already ran ePSA and it didn't help.  Device Manager shows nothing needs fixed or updated. 

I'm going to try HWINFO64 and then give up.  I've wasted enough time on this and haven't gotten anywhere.  :-)

It's time he buys something else.  :-)

Thanks again.

@dvdrttr214​ ,

1. Already ran ePSA and it didn't help.

2. Device Manager shows nothing needs fixed or updated. 

3. I'm going to try HWINFO64 and then give up. 

4. I've wasted enough time on this and haven't gotten anywhere.  :-)

5. It's time he buys something else.  :-)

6. Thanks again.

1. I was just wondering if something was broken so it would not pass.

2. Good

3. Oh, I didn't know you were helping a friend.  You are nice.

4. What's the rush?

5. Possibly. However all my computers are at least 2-3 years old and they all work fine. 

6. No problemo.  

Check task manager > performance > cpu frequency 

a down clocked cpu can make pc feel excruciatingly slow 

Thanks.  CPU is 6%; disk is 100%. 

When I open Task Manager, no resources show anything even remotely using 100% ... the items listed may add up to 15%

Now trying all the things I can find to see if I can resolve the reason for 100% ... disabling Windows Search, Prefetch, etc.  

This is my last effort :-).  I've spent several hours trying to resolve this, between my own research and the suggestions of those who posted here.  Thanks to all. 

Running running chkdsk /f /r now.  If that doesn't do it, I'm done.  :-) 

@dvdrttr214​ ,

1. Thanks.  CPU is 6%; disk is 100%. When I open Task Manager, no resources show anything even remotely using 100% ... the items listed may add up to 15%

2. Now trying all the things I can find to see if I can resolve the reason for 100% ... disabling Windows Search, Prefetch, etc.  

Running running chkdsk /f /r now. 

3. This is my last effort :-).  I've spent several hours trying to resolve this, between my own research and the suggestions of those who posted here.  If that doesn't do it, I'm done.  :-) 

1. I've seen this before over the years. It can be almost anything (hardware or software). I think one time it was Intel-RST (which I hate) going bonkers. Did you read the SMART-status the C-Drive (status and temp). But as you see, it's easy enough to recreate and check if it's fixed.

2. Could be, but more than likely ... something like #2 here, or needs #1 (on a perfect spinning-HDD or preferably a SSD).

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps-desktops/xps-8960-can-i-install-an-rtx-5070-fe/6a1e6f895e24e611a502aa07?commentId=6a20c104205c2e50bfee5cfb

3. Well, respectfully sir ... you just identified the root-problem, so the actual meaningful troubleshooting just started. Sometimes it helps to think of it like a puzzle instead of work. Take a break if you need to.

Thanks for the encouragement to 'push on,' but, if this doesn't work, I'm done.  :-)  I stay with things like this longer than some would because it's also a learning experience.  I found some things to try, and had some suggestions to try, that I wouldn't have known today.  I have 30+ years of experience and realize how much more I need to learn.  It's things like this that help improve my general knowledge.  :-)

However, I know when to quit too (though sometimes not soon enough :-(  ).  

Thanks.

Dave