Western Digital + WinXP Pro speed degradation...

[Adam Trace Spragg]

Hi all...

I recently upgraded my old system with new mobo (Giga-byte K8N Pro),
processor (AMD64 3200+), RAM (1gig ddr), and WD 200 gig SATA hard drive.

Everything was fine at first, but I started noticing increasing sluggishness
after a week or so. Game levels didn't load as fast. Bootup time eventually
doubled. Things got really slooooowww...

The CPU utilization was about nil. No memory problems. The hard drive light,
though was indicating a lot of activity, staying solid for a long time during
processing. I tried a scandisk operation, which took HOURS of crawling before
it eventually hung. I reinstalled Windows XP again (during the process it
froze during the formatting and I had to restart). This seemed to help, but
a day later (after installing apps), the problem persisted.

One thing I read was that one shouldn't use BOTH the SATA power connection
and legacy (molex) connection at the same time. The SecureConnect cable,
though, that comes with the drive, appears to connect to the power, so I
thought I'd really f'd the thing up by using both power sources. Turns out
the SecureConnect cable, in spite of attatching to the Serial power port, is
only a data cable (WD tech support told me this).

Last night I bought a new, identical WD 200 gig SATA drive. Hooked it up
using a different SATA data cable (the one that came with my mobo), and molex
power, and everything seems fine. Fast as hell. I'm concerned, however,
that, now knowing the cause of the problem, it might reappear.

Anyone experience this sort of gradual system degradation? Is there some
additional setup I need to do in WinXP Pro to make things work more gooder?
Could it just be a flukey bad drive?

Thanks in advance....

Adam

 

[Rod Speed]

Hi all...

I recently upgraded my old system with new mobo (Giga-byte K8N Pro),
processor (AMD64 3200+), RAM (1gig ddr), and WD 200 gig SATA hard drive.

Everything was fine at first, but I started noticiog increasing sluggishness
after a week or so. Game levels didn't load as fast. Bootup time eventually
doubled. Things got really slooooowww...

The CPU utilization was about nil. No memory problems. The hard drive light,
though was indicating a lot of activity, staying solid for a long time during
processing. I tried a scandisk operation, which took HOURS of crawling before
it eventually hung. I reinstalled Windows XP again (during the process it
froze during the formatting and I had to restart). This seemed to help, but
a day later (after installing apps), the problem persisted.

One thing I read was that one shouldn't use BOTH the SATA power connection
and legacy (molex) connection at the same time. The SecureConnect cable,
though, that comes with the drive, appears to connect to the power, so I
thought I'd really f'd the thing up by using both power sources. Turns out
the SecureConnect cable, in spite of attatching to the Serial power port, is
only a data cable (WD tech support told me this).

Last night I bought a new, identical WD 200 gig SATA drive. Hooked it up
using a different SATA data cable (the one that came with my mobo), and molex
power, and everything seems fine. Fast as hell. I'm concerned, however,
that, now knowing the cause of the problem, it might reappear.

Anyone experience this sort of gradual system degradation? Is there some
additional setup I need to do in WinXP Pro to make things work more gooder?
Could it just be a flukey bad drive?

Yep, most likely. You should have had a look at the SMART data.

 

[Adam Trace Spragg]

:> Anyone experience this sort of gradual system degradation? Is there some
:> additional setup I need to do in WinXP Pro to make things work more gooder?
:> Could it just be a flukey bad drive?

: Yep, most likely. You should have had a look at the SMART data.

Dunno what SMART data is.

Also, I'm pretty sure installed the nVidia nForce drivers (not sure what
what version), and may have clicked "yes" to install the SW IDE drivers.
Not sure if that would make any difference, but it might.

adam

 

[Rod Speed]

Dunno what SMART data is.

Basically data the drive keeps on what problems it has.

Also, I'm pretty sure installed the nVidia nForce drivers (not sure what
what version), and may have clicked "yes" to install the SW IDE drivers.
Not sure if that would make any difference, but it might.

Very unlikely to produce those symptoms.