PC Running Reaaaaalllly Slow !

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Ian W

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Hi,

First post here, im a technician by trade but for some reason I really can't get to the bottom of the problem with my own PC lol

Quick Spec

P4 3.6
1GB RAM
Onboard Video
Maxtor 80GB HDD x2 (Master and Slave)

Put a new motherboard in a couple of weeks ago due to my last one dying after blowing a few capacitors, I bought a ASROCK P4VM890 which is bacially the same as what was in (new model of my original board).

At first it was working great but then all of a sudden its gone tits up lol

Firstly it takes a good 5 mins to boot up XP, then intermitantly it wont display my slave HDD. The machine runs really slow, if for instance im playing an MP3 and I try to scroll down a webpage then the mp3 will slow down like someones put there hand on the record player lol

Another strange one which is puzzeling me is that sometimes my keyboard wont work, its a MS wireless one and i've never had an issue with it before but now it doesnt like working unless I reboot the machine a few times.

I have run tests on the HDD's using HD Tune and they come back ok, my thoughts are now the RAM but with there being multiple faults im thinking the new motherboard could be faulty.

Can anyone make any recommendations?

Cheers

Ian
 
Make sure you've reinstalled the new motherboard drivers and removed the old ones. Also try re-installing gfx drivers and thing peripheals as well. Short of that just do a clean format and all should be fixed. Not to practical to just drop a new mobo into an old setup.
 
Sorry, should of made it clearer in the original post.

When I installed the new bored I done a clean install and installed all the latest drivers for the board and periphials.

I suppose it wouldnt hurt to try it again to see if its got it self in a mess somewhere

Ian
 
Sounds to me as if you had it running fine before you then installed some software! Is it perhaps your AV?
I have stopped using ASRock and Jetway boards because of fat cap problems - some failing after as little as a month.
Still, you may be right about the board if all you have installed is Windows.
Hope this helps
 
Using Sophos AV, been using it for a few years and never had any probs, its on my laptop and thats fine.

Im pretty sure its a dodgy bored to be honest, I think im going to do a full reinstall on it and see how it goes, if its still bad then i'll look at sending the board back.

Ian
 
Sounds like a m/b fault, but to be surer, I would run a memory test all night, and a HDD test the next night.

Mind you, stranger things have happened to me, like a very intermittent lock-up was eventually traced to a faulty CD drive (which of course, was not in use at the times). Since you have clearly had to reseat everything on your m/b, there is always a chance of static failure or connection trouble.
 
Ian W said:
...

At first it was working great but then all of a sudden its gone tits up lol
Click to expand...

Sounds like classic spyware! I recommend you run the following 3 anti-spyware utils:

  • Ad-Aware 2007
  • Spybot Search & Destroy
  • AVG Anti-Spyware
All are free.
 
Ian W said:
Another strange one which is puzzeling me is that sometimes my keyboard wont work, its a MS wireless one and i've never had an issue with it before but now it doesnt like working unless I reboot the machine a few times. Ian
Click to expand...

Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Receiver Version 2.0 is not detected sometimes from a cold boot. On my board Intel G965WHMK I had to replace it with a version 3.0 receiver. Version 3.0 is fine. Of course I don't know if this problem is separate from the other problems you're having
 
gbhall said:
Sounds like a m/b fault, but to be surer, I would run a memory test all night, and a HDD test the next night.

Mind you, stranger things have happened to me, like a very intermittent lock-up was eventually traced to a faulty CD drive (which of course, was not in use at the times). Since you have clearly had to reseat everything on your m/b, there is always a chance of static failure or connection trouble.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Can you recommend any decent memory testing software?

I ran a HDD Test again last, im pretty sure I have narrowed the problem down to either a faulty drive or a faulty connection on the board (due to me having issues with both my drives both connected to the same IDE Cable this seems more likely)

Ran a HD Tune test on my C: and the results were about 5% of what they should be, I think im going to try another HDD Tonight to see how I get on with that.

captaincranky said:
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Receiver Version 2.0 is not detected sometimes from a cold boot. On my board Intel G965WHMK I had to replace it with a version 3.0 receiver. Version 3.0 is fine. Of course I don't know if this problem is separate from the other problems you're having
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip :)
 
Cheers,

I'll give them a go tonight.

Last memory test software I used was something like memmaker about 10 years ago lol

Ian
 
Quick update on my problems.

Ran memtest86, no problems there so thats my memory ok :)

Hoping to get hold of a different HDD tonight to see if it will run better with that.

Ian
 
Another last thought - how much free space to you have on the HDD? If it is less than the space set for the windows page file, this will cause things to run slow.
 
You could try running all 3 anti-spyware and the anti-virus scans in Safe Mode.

When I see this many different symptoms, it smacks of spyware! If not, then your MoBo is simply flacky.
 
almcneil said:
You could try running all 3 anti-spyware and the anti-virus scans in Safe Mode.

When I see this many different symptoms, it smacks of spyware! If not, then your MoBo is simply flacky.
Click to expand...

I'll give it a go when I tonight and see what happens :)

Problem with working in IT is when you get home I dont want to touch my own stuff lol

Ian
 
Ian W said:
I'll give it a go when I tonight and see what happens :)

Problem with working in IT is when you get home I dont want to touch my own stuff lol

Ian
Click to expand...

LOL!! Ain't it the TRUTH!! Yeah, I find ti harder to get motivated to solve my own comp problems than when I work for customers! No sense of urgency I guess.
 
Ah - that's because we think we know what is important! The clients all think it is a panic stations job - we know better, don't we? Ha!
 
check That CDROM

Hi new member here too. I liked gbhall's comment about a faulty CDROM. I too am an IT person and I have had bad CDROMS completely stall XP pro even though there was nothing in the drive. Try unplugging it and see what happens. Good news is, new ones are very cheap now.
 
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