L
Lex
Hello, I was hoping someone here could help me with this problem I'm
having.
Firstly my system specs:
OS: WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 1
PROCESSOR: AMD64 3200+
MOTHERBOARD: MSI NEO PLATINUM K8N
RAM: 1GB KINGSTON 3700
HARDRIVES: 74 GB WESTERN DIGITAL RAPTOR and 80GB WD CAVIAR
VIDEO CARD: MSI RADEON 9800XT
SOUNDCARD: TURTLE BEACH SANTA CRUZ
ROUTER: DLINK DI-784
NETWORK INTERFACE CARD: DLINK DWL-AG530
CABLE MODEM: RCA DCM305R
OTHER: NORTON SECURITY AND ANTIVIRUS 2004 WITH LATEST UPDATES
Here's the problem:
On startup, when I get to the logon screen if I don't hit ok right
away and sometimes when I do I will have problems with starting
Windows correctly. It will go to the desktop, load my icons, and the
only item in the system tray will be the remove hardware icon. The
one with the green arrow pointing left.
I can tell this is an abnormal startup right away because it should
load Norton Security and Antivirus along with the speak icon for
volume control. For some strange reason that safely remove hardware
icon is always in system tray. If I open it up the only item listed
is my WD Raptor hardrive. Besides not loading programs correctly it
seems to just lock up and won't respond to any input aside form alt
ctrl del. I try to open task manager and it just stalls and never
does. The only thing I'm able to do is restart or shutdown. I'm
forced to restart. I put this system together a few months ago and I
have been having this problem daily since.
I have heard that AMD processors are picky about their calibration
with your system RAM. Could this be the culprit? If so, how do I
calibrate it?
Another problem, possibly related: My arrangement with the hardrives
is to install all programs on my faster Raptor drive and store data
files on my older 80GB caviar drive. When I right click the desktop
or within folders to create new folders or adjust things I get a
delay. This delay averages about 4 seconds. It can get very annoying
to say the least. It seems even with all this firepower of a system I
am having the worst performance I have ever gotten from one.
It seems the longer I keep it running, the more tasks I do, the slower
and laggier the system starts to become until finally something causes
it to freeze up and force me to reboot. I was wondering if perhaps
there are too many services running in the background that are eating
up my memory and causing conflicts. I used to run Windows 2000 and
never had any problems like this. That system seemed rock solid
compared to this.
In addition to this, I'm also having a problem with slow downloads
when using peer to peer programs like kazaalite or shareaza. It shows
in the program logs that most of my connections are lost or closed.
Most that do initiate decay to a rate of 0kb/sec and close. Another
older computer downstairs running Win2000 has the same problem even
when connected directly to the cable modem. A Mac Laptop we have
seems to work alright when connected directly to the modem but shows
the same problem when connected wirelessly. Browsing the internet and
downloading large files from an internet server works fine, but not
peer to peer connections. Does anybody know why this is? I see that
the Mac uses a network protocol called IPv6. I tried to replicate the
success on my windows machines by installing this protocol but no such
luck. I opened up the necessary ports in the router and I know it
should work because it was working at a previous time with these same
router settings.
I found a similar thread in another google
group:http://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=1
The person seemed to fix the problem with a cable switch. But isn't
the router supposed to do the job of a cable switch? It seems like
yet another thing that can go wrong to me. If worse comes to worse I
may try this route though.
I was getting this same exact problem with a different router and card
made by LINKSYS. The strangest thing about this problem is that it
was working on my new system just a few weeks ago. All of a sudden
it's not working. Previously I was getting total rates with all
transfers of up to 1MB per sec on shareaza. Shareaza and WinMX would
work but kazaalite wouldn't. Now none are working. I called my ISP
and they did a ping test which averaged 5ms. They said everything is
fine on their side and that I can theoretically have 3MB of bandwidth.
I asked them if they block P2P transfers and they said no. So I'm
truly baffled now, I don't know what is the problem.
I've tried a registry cleanup program, defragmenting my hardrives, and
removing some background services with an XP tweak program. All to no
avail though I've noticed some significant performance increases. It
seems strange to me that a new system with all this power can be more
sluggish and laggy than systems many years older and a mac laptop with
far less power. All the power is worth nothing without efficiency.
Lastly, is there a tweak or windows xp guide that you could recommend
that may help me alleviate my issues? After spending the money and
time building this system I would like to get the performance I know
it's capable of. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
having.
Firstly my system specs:
OS: WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 1
PROCESSOR: AMD64 3200+
MOTHERBOARD: MSI NEO PLATINUM K8N
RAM: 1GB KINGSTON 3700
HARDRIVES: 74 GB WESTERN DIGITAL RAPTOR and 80GB WD CAVIAR
VIDEO CARD: MSI RADEON 9800XT
SOUNDCARD: TURTLE BEACH SANTA CRUZ
ROUTER: DLINK DI-784
NETWORK INTERFACE CARD: DLINK DWL-AG530
CABLE MODEM: RCA DCM305R
OTHER: NORTON SECURITY AND ANTIVIRUS 2004 WITH LATEST UPDATES
Here's the problem:
On startup, when I get to the logon screen if I don't hit ok right
away and sometimes when I do I will have problems with starting
Windows correctly. It will go to the desktop, load my icons, and the
only item in the system tray will be the remove hardware icon. The
one with the green arrow pointing left.
I can tell this is an abnormal startup right away because it should
load Norton Security and Antivirus along with the speak icon for
volume control. For some strange reason that safely remove hardware
icon is always in system tray. If I open it up the only item listed
is my WD Raptor hardrive. Besides not loading programs correctly it
seems to just lock up and won't respond to any input aside form alt
ctrl del. I try to open task manager and it just stalls and never
does. The only thing I'm able to do is restart or shutdown. I'm
forced to restart. I put this system together a few months ago and I
have been having this problem daily since.
I have heard that AMD processors are picky about their calibration
with your system RAM. Could this be the culprit? If so, how do I
calibrate it?
Another problem, possibly related: My arrangement with the hardrives
is to install all programs on my faster Raptor drive and store data
files on my older 80GB caviar drive. When I right click the desktop
or within folders to create new folders or adjust things I get a
delay. This delay averages about 4 seconds. It can get very annoying
to say the least. It seems even with all this firepower of a system I
am having the worst performance I have ever gotten from one.
It seems the longer I keep it running, the more tasks I do, the slower
and laggier the system starts to become until finally something causes
it to freeze up and force me to reboot. I was wondering if perhaps
there are too many services running in the background that are eating
up my memory and causing conflicts. I used to run Windows 2000 and
never had any problems like this. That system seemed rock solid
compared to this.
In addition to this, I'm also having a problem with slow downloads
when using peer to peer programs like kazaalite or shareaza. It shows
in the program logs that most of my connections are lost or closed.
Most that do initiate decay to a rate of 0kb/sec and close. Another
older computer downstairs running Win2000 has the same problem even
when connected directly to the cable modem. A Mac Laptop we have
seems to work alright when connected directly to the modem but shows
the same problem when connected wirelessly. Browsing the internet and
downloading large files from an internet server works fine, but not
peer to peer connections. Does anybody know why this is? I see that
the Mac uses a network protocol called IPv6. I tried to replicate the
success on my windows machines by installing this protocol but no such
luck. I opened up the necessary ports in the router and I know it
should work because it was working at a previous time with these same
router settings.
I found a similar thread in another google
group:http://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=1
The person seemed to fix the problem with a cable switch. But isn't
the router supposed to do the job of a cable switch? It seems like
yet another thing that can go wrong to me. If worse comes to worse I
may try this route though.
I was getting this same exact problem with a different router and card
made by LINKSYS. The strangest thing about this problem is that it
was working on my new system just a few weeks ago. All of a sudden
it's not working. Previously I was getting total rates with all
transfers of up to 1MB per sec on shareaza. Shareaza and WinMX would
work but kazaalite wouldn't. Now none are working. I called my ISP
and they did a ping test which averaged 5ms. They said everything is
fine on their side and that I can theoretically have 3MB of bandwidth.
I asked them if they block P2P transfers and they said no. So I'm
truly baffled now, I don't know what is the problem.
I've tried a registry cleanup program, defragmenting my hardrives, and
removing some background services with an XP tweak program. All to no
avail though I've noticed some significant performance increases. It
seems strange to me that a new system with all this power can be more
sluggish and laggy than systems many years older and a mac laptop with
far less power. All the power is worth nothing without efficiency.
Lastly, is there a tweak or windows xp guide that you could recommend
that may help me alleviate my issues? After spending the money and
time building this system I would like to get the performance I know
it's capable of. Any help would be greatly appreciated.