HELP: Choppy video/sound, should I reformat?

[Phvb]

Before you reply.... should I reformat? or ..what should I do? help
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Is there a way I can reformat my PC to where it was when it was brand new. Because I'm having video problems as well as sound issues while I play video games. I have posted a topic under the sound and video section of the forums where you may find more information about my problem.

I have read on another topic here that you can format your pc to where it was at the brand new point. When I first purchased my pc it was running games like Counter-strike with no problem at all. Now I can run the lowest pc requirments game like a Nintendo game... 'Mario' .. or something on an emulator and that runs horrible, slow-mo every 20 seconds then plays fine.. and then a few minutes later I'll encounter the same problem.

Can anyone help me on this?

Its been like this for over a year. And I really would like to fix this problem.

 

[ChineseTechie]

Fisrt of all, maybe you can provide a link to the other post that you have so it's easier for others to see what you posted. Second, don't use emulators, they almost all of the time has bugs. Ok, so what OS are you running?? When you are playing games, do you have other programs running?? You have to give us more about your computer before we can provide you any answer.

cT

 

[Phvb]

My other post about this topic:

https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic30916.html

OS:

Microsoft Windows XP Home

Other running programs:

I usually only run AIM and Norton Anti-virus/Protection when I play anything. When I start-up my computer I usually leave all programs that start up on. I don't have too many files on my HD. I have 21.5GB space left out of 40GB.

anything else you need to know? lets fix this

 

[ChineseTechie]

I have read the other post. So when you have the computer brand new, it ran the game fine but not now.... I would think you have other programs running in the background, ie. spywares. Run Task Manager to see what programs you have running. Try running a spyware remover and clean things up. For suggestions, you can check other post in the forum. I have seen numerious post with suggestion to spyware stopper. I wouldn't reformat just yet. Are you prepared to loose everything and having to reinstall everything again??

Did you run the defrag like socrates suggested?? I doudt if it's anything to do with the HDD though... Whenever a game lags, it's most likely video card and RAM.

cT

 

[Phvb]

I ran the defragment with Diskkeeper and this is what it said:

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Findings on C:

Diskeeper has completed a defragmentation run on this volume and there remain 524 fragmented files and/or directories and 1971 excess fragments. (There were 3427 excess fragments before the defragmentation run, and now there are 42% fewer.)

The average number of fragments per file is 1.03.

You should schedule Diskeeper to run considerably more often than it has been running to reduce the current fragmentation and maintain a lower level of fragmentation. This volume is moderately fragmented, with 63% of the total volume space available for defragmentation.

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I think I have a few spyware programs but I have not ever tried using them.. lets see I have Spyware Blaster, and Spybot search and destory, these any useful?... any other advice you can give me?

 

[Phvb]

I ran SpyBot and it picked up a 'WildTangent' along with Start-Page EH, and 11 problems were found .. guessing these are either viruses or problems that need to be fixed. Going to remove them. Don't think this is what effected my gameplay though. What else could it be?... it ran fine when I bought the machine!!!

 

[Phvb]

Can anyone help ?

 

[ChineseTechie]

Ok, I suppose when you turn on your machine you have a few programs opened. Close all the program like you would before you play a game. Then go to Task Manager and see how many applications are running under your login name. Identify what each of them are, if you don't know what it is, close it. I ususally have only 4 to 6 applications running when I go into a game. See if that works.

There are quite a few different reasons why games run smoothly when you first bought the computer. It all depends on your habits of using it. How long ago did you get this computer?? Do you download a lot of free software?? Do you visit a lot of sites that are "poorly coded"?? Sites that ask you to install things before you can visit the site. All kinda things can let different computer creep in and bog down your computer.

cT

 

[Phvb]

I'll try running the game while using a small amount of applications, and see if that helps. If not is there anyway I can restore my computer to the way it was when I first bought it? After Installing windows ect... ????

 

[mailpup]

You can if you can find a system restore point that far back. You will likely have to reinstall most updates and programs installed after that point, however. In most cases the files will still be on the hard drive but will not be "installed" and, therefore, not be in effect until reinstallation.

 

[Phvb]

Do you think this would help any?

Do you think restoring my original drivers for my pc might help any? if so, how do i do that ?

 

[ChineseTechie]

I doudt if you can go that far back for restoring your system. Original drivers?? What do you mean by original drivers?? This just came to me. Have you check your RAM?? Is it still the same as you first bought the computer??

cT

 

[Phvb]

Someone may have downloaded new drivers over my old ones for my graphics card. I'm not sure though. Anything you know about this?

My ram is 512. How do I check to see how much I am using/used?

I'll wait for you to reply.

 

[mailpup]

You are supposed to uninstall the old graphics driver before installing a new one. So if you think a new one was installed OVER the old one, that might be your problem. Don't know for sure. It wouldn't hurt to uninstall and reinstall.

 

[Phvb]

How exactly do I go about uninstalling my drviers? And then reinstalling? Could you guide me through this process a bit.

 

[mailpup]

Go to the Control Panel and find Add/Remove Programs. You should find your graphics driver listed there. Uninstall and restart your machine. Upon restarting, your operating system will want to install a generic video driver but cancel that. Then install your new graphics driver just like you would install any other program. Restart when prompted and you should be done. That's basically it.