A7N8X Deluxe performance prob

[Rodney Paul Mayton]

File this under the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" catagory I guess.

System:

A7N8X Deluxe (rev. 1.04)
Western Digital 120G special ed. HD
Lite-On 52X CD R/RW
Athlon 3000XP (333FSB)
2X512MB PC 2700 RAM (I am at work and don't recall the brand, I think
Crucial)
W2K
Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT (upgraded recently from an MSI GeForce4 Ti 4200 8X)

I'm not too tech savvy (although I am learning a lot from these
newsgroups!), so I was hoping someone might have some suggestions. In the
past few months, I have upgraded the CPU, Heatsink/fan, RAM, and Graphics
Card, updated W2K with the latest SP/downloads from MicroSoft, installed MS
Office, updated the MB BIOS, and installed the latest Video Drivers.

I am not exactly sure when this problem began, but I noticed it first in
playing Thief 2. After about 15-30 min. of play, the graphics would come to
a complete halt, and then for about 30 seconds would stutter forward with
the sound repeating too. I had read about this particular game having memory
leak problems, and since it is an otherwise excellent game, I just accepted
it as a game related issue. Well, next I played Messiah, and had the same
exact symptoms. Then I noticed identical sluggish performance in PhotoShop,
almost as if the PC stops for 30 seconds or so to rest (or look for
something?). Now, we are playing Gothic and the exact same thing keeps
happening. It rarely results in a crash, just an "interruption" in play for
a short time, then returns to normal. Another symptom I noticed is that when
I click on "start" in windows, there is a pause of approx. 3 seconds before
the box comes up.

From what I have read on the web/newsgroups, I have found quite a number
of possible causes/fixes:
1. DHCP disabled/extra TCP/IP connections
2. Find Fast from Office
3. disable Spread Spectrum
4. increase vcore
5. raise voltage
6. disable APIC

It seems there are many possible causes/fixes for this issue! My best
guess from what I have read is that there is a memory problem of some kind.
Oh, and the MB/CPU temps are fine, so I don't think it is a heat issue. I
just flashed to the 1007 BIOS late last night so I have not tried much on
the PC since that. Maybe that helped. If anyone who has this (or similar)
set-up and has experience with this glitch, I'd really appreciate some
assistence.

 

[Paul]

File this under the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" catagory I guess.

System:

A7N8X Deluxe (rev. 1.04)
Western Digital 120G special ed. HD
Lite-On 52X CD R/RW
Athlon 3000XP (333FSB)
2X512MB PC 2700 RAM (I am at work and don't recall the brand, I think
Crucial)
W2K
Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT (upgraded recently from an MSI GeForce4 Ti 4200 8X)

I'm not too tech savvy (although I am learning a lot from these
newsgroups!), so I was hoping someone might have some suggestions. In the
past few months, I have upgraded the CPU, Heatsink/fan, RAM, and Graphics
Card, updated W2K with the latest SP/downloads from MicroSoft, installed MS
Office, updated the MB BIOS, and installed the latest Video Drivers.

I am not exactly sure when this problem began, but I noticed it first in
playing Thief 2. After about 15-30 min. of play, the graphics would come to
a complete halt, and then for about 30 seconds would stutter forward with
the sound repeating too. I had read about this particular game having memory
leak problems, and since it is an otherwise excellent game, I just accepted
it as a game related issue. Well, next I played Messiah, and had the same
exact symptoms. Then I noticed identical sluggish performance in PhotoShop,
almost as if the PC stops for 30 seconds or so to rest (or look for
something?). Now, we are playing Gothic and the exact same thing keeps
happening. It rarely results in a crash, just an "interruption" in play for
a short time, then returns to normal. Another symptom I noticed is that when
I click on "start" in windows, there is a pause of approx. 3 seconds before
the box comes up.

From what I have read on the web/newsgroups, I have found quite a number
of possible causes/fixes:
1. DHCP disabled/extra TCP/IP connections
2. Find Fast from Office
3. disable Spread Spectrum
4. increase vcore
5. raise voltage
6. disable APIC

It seems there are many possible causes/fixes for this issue! My best
guess from what I have read is that there is a memory problem of some kind.
Oh, and the MB/CPU temps are fine, so I don't think it is a heat issue. I
just flashed to the 1007 BIOS late last night so I have not tried much on
the PC since that. Maybe that helped. If anyone who has this (or similar)
set-up and has experience with this glitch, I'd really appreciate some
assistence.

I would add to the list:

7: Disk test - maybe some bad sectors are causing the disturbance ?
8: Task check - bad printer driver, or other polling type software
that looks for some peripheral. Review what SW was
installed lately. Ctrl-Alt-Delete and see what tasks
are running.
- virus scan
9: Event log - maybe Windows actually knows what is going on.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Pug]

Are you playing with the play disk in the drive, as the same thing happens
to me with GTA3 and Vice City. Fixed the problem on my machine by getting a
crack to disable the cd check.

Pug

 

[dino]

did you use a driver cleaner to get rid of the Det drivers?...or just use
the Control Panel?

 

[Creeping Stone]

...My best guess from what I have read is that there is a memory problem
of some kind....

Doesnt sound like a usual memory problem to me, which would mostly involve
diverse glitches and plenty of crashing :/

 

[Miikey]

Hi,
Since you updated the MB's BIOS did you re-adjust all the settings at
BOOT-UP for...
CPU, FSB, multiplier, memory speed and latency, vid.card type (use AGP 1st,
8X and such),
Also for HDD(s), DVD-CD(s): Boot Order, DMA on and more.
RE: BIOS reverts to very basic valueS after a flash.
Mikey

 

[Rodney Paul Mayton]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am thinking of saving essential files and
reformatting. It sounds a bit drastic, but I am 99% sure that it will fix
whatever the problem is.

 

[Arnie Berger]

File this under the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" catagory I guess.

System:

A7N8X Deluxe (rev. 1.04)
Western Digital 120G special ed. HD
Lite-On 52X CD R/RW
Athlon 3000XP (333FSB)
2X512MB PC 2700 RAM (I am at work and don't recall the brand, I think
Crucial)
W2K
Asus ATI Radeon 9600XT (upgraded recently from an MSI GeForce4 Ti 4200 8X)

I'm not too tech savvy (although I am learning a lot from these
newsgroups!), so I was hoping someone might have some suggestions. In the
past few months, I have upgraded the CPU, Heatsink/fan, RAM, and Graphics
Card, updated W2K with the latest SP/downloads from MicroSoft, installed MS
Office, updated the MB BIOS, and installed the latest Video Drivers.

I am not exactly sure when this problem began, but I noticed it first in
playing Thief 2. After about 15-30 min. of play, the graphics would come to
a complete halt, and then for about 30 seconds would stutter forward with
the sound repeating too. I had read about this particular game having memory
leak problems, and since it is an otherwise excellent game, I just accepted
it as a game related issue. Well, next I played Messiah, and had the same
exact symptoms. Then I noticed identical sluggish performance in PhotoShop,
almost as if the PC stops for 30 seconds or so to rest (or look for
something?). Now, we are playing Gothic and the exact same thing keeps
happening. It rarely results in a crash, just an "interruption" in play for
a short time, then returns to normal. Another symptom I noticed is that when
I click on "start" in windows, there is a pause of approx. 3 seconds before
the box comes up.

From what I have read on the web/newsgroups, I have found quite a number
of possible causes/fixes:
1. DHCP disabled/extra TCP/IP connections
2. Find Fast from Office
3. disable Spread Spectrum
4. increase vcore
5. raise voltage
6. disable APIC

It seems there are many possible causes/fixes for this issue! My best
guess from what I have read is that there is a memory problem of some kind.
Oh, and the MB/CPU temps are fine, so I don't think it is a heat issue. I
just flashed to the 1007 BIOS late last night so I have not tried much on
the PC since that. Maybe that helped. If anyone who has this (or similar)
set-up and has experience with this glitch, I'd really appreciate some
assistence.

I think your disk is dying. That would explain why it happens after
the disk warms up. Back up your system asap and run some disk
diagnositcs when the problem reappears.

ab

 

[KCB]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am thinking of saving essential files and
reformatting. It sounds a bit drastic, but I am 99% sure that it will fix
whatever the problem is.

Just for the fun of it, roll back your IDE driver to the original XP drivers
or to an earlier version of ASUS' drivers, whichever the case may be. What
you describe here seems very similar to what I experienced when I used a
version of Nvidia's drivers (sorry, can't remember which ones). When I
rolled back the IDE driver, everything was like new again.

My setup is similar to yours...

A7N8X Deluxe (rev. 1.04)
Western Digital 120G special ed. HD
Lite-On 52X CD R/RW
Athlon 2700XP (333FSB)
2X512MB PC 3200 RAM Corsair
XP Pro
Powercolor Radeon 9700 Pro

 

[Rodney Paul Mayton]

Ok...what I tried...

I tried my previous Graphics Card...no difference.

I tried switching the RAM to slots 1 and 3 from 2 and 3...no difference.

Last night I uninstalled PC-Cillin, reinitialized my modem, looked
(don't think I changed anything) at my TCP/IP settings, installed Rage3d
Tweak, and crossed my fingers...I then played Gothic for an hour with no
pauses, stutters, or hangs!

That is not really torture testing the system, but hey, any improvement
is great!

Now my only two problems are an Epson Printerport Error message every
time I start up (printer works fine), and I can't get my PCs to see each
other for LAN use. (I have a DLINK 604 hub connected to two PCs, with the
hub connected to a RoadRunner modem). But, those are probs for another
newsgroup.

Thanks for all the suggestions. This group is an invaluable resource for
ASUS MB owners!

rpm

 

[Ed]

and I can't get my PCs to see each
other for LAN use. (I have a DLINK 604 hub connected to two PCs, with the
hub connected to a RoadRunner modem). But, those are probs for another
newsgroup.

Thanks for all the suggestions. This group is an invaluable resource for
ASUS MB owners!

rpm

I have the DI-604, running WinXP PCs.

Set each PC up to use a non internet IP (192.168.0.1xx).
In windows Advanced TCP/IP settings, WIN Tab section I set Lmhost lookup
to disabled and Netbios over TCP/IP enabled.

If running a software firewall set it's home networking settings to the
range of the IPs your using for the PCs.

Ed