I cant troubleshoot this. pls help.

[Kalesh]

Motherboard Asus P4S133-V
Intel 1.7ghz processor
512 mb SDRAM (2x 256
GeForce MX-440SE 64mb AGP car
1 CD writer
2 Hard disks
Seagate -- 80 gb barracuda 7200rpm(bought 3 months ago, 2-3 days
later the problems started
40 gb 5400 rpm

Symptoms
1.My computer Freezes randomly .... hard disk light glow
constantly(does
not blackout..just cant move mouse, keyboard stops..).Mostly durin

startup
2.It takes 10-12 min to write a cd.(before it use to take 2-3 min)
3. Asus Probe say
cpu temp 40-47 degrees --> o
mb temp 38-40 degrees --->ok
cpu fan 3299 ---> o
power fan value 0 --> below threshold level
chassis fan value 0 --> below threshold level.(i dont have thi
fan
i have ATX 12V power supply connected is connected
4. System seems to lag when starting multiple processes.Like whe
winamp is on and i start Microsoft Word it the mouse and musi
stops(lags, breaks) for a couple of seconds.(stops-resume-stop-resum
cycle
Everything is quite slow now. Gaming to data transfer
5. Booting Time has also increased form 2-3 min to 6-7 min

I have tested Booting time, CD Write time, System Lag and freeze on
different hard disks with 2 different Win xp installations...its th
same problem everywhere

I have also checked my CVT (ya ....not a UPS) its also ok...as Syste
is having the same problems without it.

is it the CPU , or motherboard or the Power supply thats havin
problem

i think its the Power Supply but not sure

ah and it also freezes in safe mode(it did a couple of times at boot)
ive cleaned out dust recently
So please help...i really appriciate

 

[Jan Alter]

OK. Have you backed up your data? No, I'm not screaming to run for the
lifeboats yet. However, it sounds like you may have either a software
program or two programs that conflict that are eating up your memory and it
would be worthwhile to start using msconfig to diagnose your startup
applications.
If you haven't backed up then that's the first thing I would try.
Additionally, if you have the time and inclination I would move the data
from the new drive (80 gig) to the old one (I assume your boot drive) and
try a clean installation of Windows to see how everything is going and if it
fixes the problem. If you like the results then move your data from the 40
gig drive to the 80 gig drive and keep that as your installation disk.

 

[Charlie Wilkes]

Motherboard Asus P4S133-VM
Intel 1.7ghz processor.
512 mb SDRAM (2x 256)
GeForce MX-440SE 64mb AGP card
1 CD writer.
2 Hard disks.
Seagate -- 80 gb barracuda 7200rpm(bought 3 months ago, 2-3 days
later the problems started)
40 gb 5400 rpm

Symptoms-
1.My computer Freezes randomly .... hard disk light glows
constantly(does
not blackout..just cant move mouse, keyboard stops..).Mostly during

startup.
2.It takes 10-12 min to write a cd.(before it use to take 2-3 min).
3. Asus Probe says
cpu temp 40-47 degrees --> ok
mb temp 38-40 degrees --->ok
cpu fan 3299 ---> ok
power fan value 0 --> below threshold level.
chassis fan value 0 --> below threshold level.(i dont have this
fan)
i have ATX 12V power supply connected is connected.
4. System seems to lag when starting multiple processes.Like when
winamp is on and i start Microsoft Word it the mouse and music
stops(lags, breaks) for a couple of seconds.(stops-resume-stop-resume
cycle)
Everything is quite slow now. Gaming to data transfer.
5. Booting Time has also increased form 2-3 min to 6-7 min.

I have tested Booting time, CD Write time, System Lag and freeze on 2
different hard disks with 2 different Win xp installations...its the
same problem everywhere.

That seems to rule out software. RAM is the next thing to check...
get memtest86, runs from a boot floppy.

Charlie

 

[dawg]

You might have a virus. What programs are running when you open Task
Manager.

 

[needin4mation]

Exactly. Open the task manager, go to the proccess tab and sort by CPU
(first). Look at the percentages on performance. Are they at 100%.
See what is eating up the processor, if anything. It is is not a
program, then I suggest RAM.

 

[Kalesh]

thx for the replies.

1. memtest86 ---> tests 0 -9 no errors
2. my both Hard disks passed the Seagate Disk Wizard self tests

last night i tried rebooting the system.

1. Without the CD Writer ---> freeze at post..even befor
Primary-slave disk
chec

2. Without the 40 gb disk ---> it did start but power just went of
just after
win xp login screen ...i did had asus probe as startu
service(displays the
asus probe logo..then boom)

3. About CPU usage
a) mostly system idle process takes 90-99 of cpu.so thats ok
b) one thing thats weird is that even games like Age of empire
takes
90+cpu when run but when i press alt+tab to switch to tas
manager
the usage drops to 10-20 suddenly
c) task manager takes 100 cpu for 1 sec when i run it

definetly not a virus or a program...im dead sure about it

Jan my both disks can boot ....so ive tried booting form both its th
same problem in both the installations

 

[Dave]

Motherboard Asus P4S133-VM
Intel 1.7ghz processor.
512 mb SDRAM (2x 256)
GeForce MX-440SE 64mb AGP card
1 CD writer.
2 Hard disks.
Seagate -- 80 gb barracuda 7200rpm(bought 3 months ago, 2-3 days
later the problems started)
40 gb 5400 rpm

Symptoms-
1.My computer Freezes randomly .... hard disk light glows
constantly(does
not blackout..just cant move mouse, keyboard stops..).Mostly during

startup.
2.It takes 10-12 min to write a cd.(before it use to take 2-3 min).
3. Asus Probe says
cpu temp 40-47 degrees --> ok
mb temp 38-40 degrees --->ok
cpu fan 3299 ---> ok
power fan value 0 --> below threshold level.
chassis fan value 0 --> below threshold level.(i dont have this
fan)
i have ATX 12V power supply connected is connected.
4. System seems to lag when starting multiple processes.Like when
winamp is on and i start Microsoft Word it the mouse and music
stops(lags, breaks) for a couple of seconds.(stops-resume-stop-resume
cycle)
Everything is quite slow now. Gaming to data transfer.
5. Booting Time has also increased form 2-3 min to 6-7 min.

I have tested Booting time, CD Write time, System Lag and freeze on 2
different hard disks with 2 different Win xp installations...its the
same problem everywhere.

I have also checked my CVT (ya ....not a UPS) its also ok...as System
is having the same problems without it.

is it the CPU , or motherboard or the Power supply thats having
problem?

i think its the Power Supply but not sure.

ah and it also freezes in safe mode(it did a couple of times at boot),
ive cleaned out dust recently.
So please help...i really appriciate.

You've got classic symptoms of a bad power supply. But some of your
symptoms could be caused by bad RAM, also. The easiest check to make would
be to pull BOTH sticks of RAM out, and then install ONE stick of RAM,
preferably in a RAM slot that wasn't being used before. So if you had 3 RAM
slots and (1 and 2) were in use, put a stick of RAM in slot 3 only. If that
doesn't change anything, pull out the one stick and reinstall the other
stick, in ANY RAM slot. If that still doesn't help, you are probably
looking at a bad power supply. That wouldn't be surprising, as power
supplies are very prone to failure, and (as I mentioned before) your
symptoms do point to a bad power supply. -Dave

 

[Jan Alter]

What I was inferring in my first post was to do a new install of XP on your
80 gb hdd. I realize it's time consuming, but the information you're
providing says IMHO that you have a program eating memory. If you've already
done this then I'm way off base, but you mentioned ...

90+cpu when run but when i press alt+tab to switch to task
manager
the usage drops to 10-20 suddenly.
c) task manager takes 100 cpu for 1 sec when i run it.

The other matter is power dropping out, which then leads to suggest a
hardware problem as others have speculated. That would say PS, especially
when the machine is cold. If you keep rebooting and the computer eventually
stays on then it most likely is a PS with bad caps.

 

[Kalesh]

thanks for help!!

dave i as you told i checked my RAM(even though i was quite lazy and
lot of motivation was required).I have 2 RAM slots.

1.Remove RAM 1(SLOT1) + RAM 2. put RAM 1 in other SLOT 2 ---> slo
boot + lag (that winamp+mouse thing
2.Remove RAM 1. Put RAM 2 in SLOT 1. ---> slow boot + la
3.Now i have RAM 1(SLOT 2)+RAM 2(SLOT 1). -->slow boot + lag

now im 88.76% sure that its my power supply thats bad

thx