What could be wrong?

RobertFoster

most problems I get with my computer see pretty straight forward from the symptoms they show....this one isn't :dunno:

the computer seems a bit slow/laggy. this is particularly noticable when playing music. it could be playing along fine, and then when I open up the browser, or any app for that matter the music starts skipping and jumping. I'm playing music off my HDD so it's not a dodgy DVD drive or something.

I was thinking it could be either of 2 things.

1) My eBay bought CPU is buggered

why? because it's bought from eBay...and it's the only "original" part left from the first build (I replaced my RAM and mobo and gfx card a couple of months back)

2) Heat.

why? because when I put my hand at the PSU fan the air seems hot...like a warm summer breeze

Maybe it could be a combination of the 2?

It's just annoying me because I've to pause the music everytime I open an app to avoid going spare with the jumping.

Given the symptoms I'd have tought it was RAM trouble, but that's new...

I ran Prime95 for 4 hours and it came up with nothing...

silverside

have you anything running in the background? reinstalling the OS would be a quick (if drastic) way to narrow down the problem to hardware vs. software.

try installing speedfan or mbm to see what your temperatures are like.

RobertFoster

I was thinking of doing a reinstall, but I've no time for the upheavel.

I'll look into the temp thing - what's normal?

Cake Fiend

What OS?
Are your HDs running in DMA mode?
How much RAM?

joePC

Sounds like a software problem, what format is the music and what media player are you using. Please give PC spec. Also check to see are they processes running that arnt suposed to e.g. Task Bar it could also be a virus, AD ware etc...

Thanks JoePC

MeatProduct

I'd think it's a heat problem if you computer crashes occasionally. If it doesen't crash then I'd agree with the software suggestion.

Can you check the temperatures in your bios?

Nick

13

i had a similiar problem before, same thing with music that is, would make buzzing sounds or just start skipping altogether when i opend folders etc. i never figured out what the problem was exactly but basically i just reinstalled os (XP) and problem went away. if you have a specialised INFupdate (for eg. Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility) i recommend you install that straight after you install the OS, then add sound drivers etc and upgrade to SP1

ps google an app called motherboard monitor 5 .. it should give you temperature/fan info etc if you havent got a specialised prog todo so

my sys specs..
Asus p4c800 E-deluxe mobo @ 2.8ghz
512mb Corsair XMSLL DDR ram @ 215mhz x 2
liteon 52x32x52x
maxtor 40gb 72000rpm ata133 hdd
WinXP-Pro SP1

Stephen

I'd put money on it being your hard drives running in PIO mode.

RobertFoster

thanks for all the replies.

specs:

---

CPU: AMD XP 2600+
RAM: 1GB (2*512) PC3200 DDR400
OS: Win XP Pro
GFX: Ati Radeon 9600 XT
Mobo: Asus A7N8X Deluxe
HDD: Maxtor 80GB w/ 8mb cache

---

music:

---

player: iTunes
format: AAC

---

Sico, Stephen: How would I check if my HDD is running in DMA / PIO...what do they mean?

joe: anything I should look for in particular? I've run virus scanner (AVG) and ad scanner (spybot S&D) and nothing's come up.

Seems like an OS reinstall would be the best...

BigEejit

In windows xp right click on the "My Computer" icon and select manage. Then click on device manager in the resulting box and then click on IDE/Atapi controllers ...you'll see primary and secondary ide controllers .... double click on one, under the advanced settings tab you should see device 0 and device 1 ... there is a drop down box which is PIO only or DMA if available ... set everything to DMA if available ... do the same for the other controller ...... reboot ... . go back in again and check that the device 0 (or 1) on the primary controller is now reading Ultra DMA mode 4 (or 5 if S-ATA)

Stephen

Beware that if you only have a 40 conductor IDE cable you won't be able to go faster than UDMA-33. I learned this the hard way
Set my hard drives to use their max speed of UDMA-100, then the PC couldn't boot due to the crappy cables I was using.

RobertFoster

Checked the CPU temp via the BIOS: 60°C / 140°F

Primary IDE Channel:


Secondary IDE Channel:


That's what they were as default, I didn't change anything...

BigEejit

if that device thats PIO mode is your hd then that could be your problem .... that is a very high idling temp by the way ... swap cables if you can

RobertFoster

swap in what way? switch the HDD cable with the CDRW or DVD drive...?

RobertFoster

Originally posted by BigEejit
that is a very high idling temp by the way

what type of cooling should I invest in?

BloodBath

That is a very high idle temp. You wouldn't want your cpu going over that under load never mind idle. If that's your idle temp your cpu is probably climbing to about 70-75 under load which is dangerously high.

Your current cooling should be sufficient it might not be mounted correctly though. I assume it's the stock cooler you got with your pentium. Check to see if it is mounted correctly. Did you apply thermal paste when installing the heatsink? If not buy yourself a tube of good thermal paste and apply. There are pleanty of guides online just google it. If your not planning on overclocking the stock cooler is fine and even overclocks to a decent level.

Warm air from your psu is normal. This heat is from the psu itself not from your case.


BloodBath

RobertFoster

Originally posted by BigEejit
if that device thats PIO mode is your hd then that could be your problem .... that is a very high idling temp by the way ... swap cables if you can

do you mane the cables themselves or where the drives are on them? I take it you mean the flat cables with 80wires or something...can't think of what they are called...IDE cables?

RobertFoster

switched the cable and it was still set a PIO so I decided to reformat the drive.

got to the partition part of XP and it said the current install needed to be repaired. So I did. and the problems went away. and now all drives are displaying as DMA mode.

cheers for the help and suggestions guys.

Mutant_Fruit

But you still have to solve that amazingly high heat problem!

60C is way to high! You don't even want to be reaching that under full load. I've set my motherboard to turn off the computer if my temperature exceeds 56Celcius!

First thing you should do is get thermal paste! I can (nearly) guarentee you that you didn't reapply thermal paste when you put the CPU in the new motherboard.

Also, considar buying a new heatsink/cooler. You can pick up good and silent ones for under 20eur. Just look for high RPM (spinning speed) and low DB (noise). The lower the DB the better, and the higher the RPM the better.

And i wouldn't use that computer much until you get a proper cooling system in there! Its quite likely you could damage your chip running at tempretures that high.

Civilian_Target

Not if its an AMD. Plenty of AMDs (eg. the Athlon 1400Mhz) run happliy at 70-75C

RobertFoster

Originally posted by Mutant_Fruit
First thing you should do is get thermal paste! I can (nearly) guarentee you that you didn't reapply thermal paste when you put the CPU in the new motherboard.

I did, a big blob of it - I thought it was too much, but it was one of those little packets that come with the thing, so I thought they knew what they were doing.

can you recommend a cooler?

Sir Random

Originally posted by RobertFoster
I did, a big blob of it - I thought it was too much, but it was one of those little packets that come with the thing, so I thought they knew what they were doing.

can you recommend a cooler?

Did you use all the paste? :eek: You only need the equivalent of half a grain of rice, spread very thinly.