Need some computer help

[Dammit!]

Windows XP Service pack 3 (fresh install as of a couple weeks ago)
internet explorer 8
ALL windows updates installed
Office XP installed
Adobe master suite CS3 installed
Symantec AV installed

A couple weeks ago I bought a SATA hard drive (used to run IDE) and did a fresh install of Windows XP. It's a legit volume license and everything is up to date.

The problem I'm having is that anytime I do pretty much anything, the CPU maxes out to a hundred percent and the PC slows to a crawl. There's like an initial 100% spike, pause, then once it loads a web page for example, it goes back down. This problem does not exist on my old Windows XP install. I can disconnect the new drive and plug the old one back in and it's fine. The only difference hardware wise is one uses an old IDE drive and the new one is a SATA (16MB buffer, 7200rpm).

Software wise, the only things that are installed now that weren't installed on the previous HD is Office and the Adobe CS3 package. Everything else is the same as it always was.

System specs
P4 2.4ghz (it's an old machine)
1GB DDR1
Geforce 6600 (128MB... again, it's an old machine)
500GB SATA hard drive
Onboard LAN and sound

I've been messing with it for days but I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?

[MonroeMike]

I had this problem, my HD was stuck in PIO mode (very CPU intensive).

Check to make sure DMA transfers are enabled.

[Dammit!]

I don't think that applies to SATA drives does it? If it does I can't find the setting.

[MonroeMike]

My computer with the SATA drive is not working right now, so I cannot look at the device manager.

I know this was the page where I got the info to fix it. Maybe something there may help you.

http://winhlp.com/node/10

[Dirtcrasher]

I'll just add one thing..... Once I started using Firefox instead of IE, MOST or ALL of my freezing/crashing issues disappeared.........

I'll never use IE as a browser again!

[Dammit!]

It isn't just IE that's running slow though. I don't know what is going on but anytime I try to do anything the CPU maxes out ever since I installed this new drive. I'm probably going to try flashing to the newest BIOS revision and see if that helps. I always hate doing a BIOS flash. Makes me nervous. If anything screws up during the flash, dead motherboard.

It's an old computer and needs to be retired really. Given that it's an old system I'm even having problems finding good information online. I'm afraid the problem might just be that the motherboard uses 1st generation SATA technology and there's no helping it short of replacement. I'm using the recommended driver. I've tried several different settings in the BIOS. Nothing nets ANY improvement at all.

Edit to add new info:

I ran some tests with HD tach to get a breakdown of this new drives performance versus the old one.

New SATA drive is getting 136MB/s burst speed. A little over 100MB/s sustained speed. Random access is clocking in at 20ms. The new drive is beating the old IDE drive in every stat except random access. The old drive scores 13.3ms in random access, 89MB/s burst speed and I don't remember what the sustained speed was. Like 40MB/s I think. Based on the results you'd think overall performance would be BETTER not worse. 7 milliseconds more random access time wouldn't account for the issues I'm having.

There's also this unexplained spike in the CPU useage that happens like clockwork. About every 60 seconds there's a big spike that only lasts a second. It goes by so quick that it only shows up on the graph. The process list doesn't catch it. I've killed off all non-essential processes and it still does it.

[Dirtcrasher]

5 days ago my PC crashed...... I spent 2 days trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro with it, calling this one, that one, etc etc etc......

I called Mom, said "whats on sale?" I got a brand new Compaq with all new updated crap and WIN7 and it's the best 350$ I could have spent.

I was up and running in 2 hours and so glad I now have updated components. Not the best or fastest, but MILES ahead of the old one.

It just went on the credit card, whats it matter at this point? Until last year I NEVER had a balance, now I do.... Thats life!

[Dammit!]

I build my own PCs. This one has been solid as a rock for years. Hard to believe how long it's been running honestly. I had a feeling as soon as I needed to upgrade one component on it I would end up having problems though. Sure enough, that's exactly what's happening.

[MyMistress86R]

I second the BIOS update for your motherboard...with the switch to the SATA over the IDE, it could be as simple as a glitch there that has been addressed...

Just something to look into...

[cox]

take the HD back and swap it for another one. may be defective?

[DeePa]

i hear you on upgrading a dinosaur...

spent 2k on a computer back in 2003...p4 2.4, 9800 pro vid card, 1 gig of ram, 120 gig hd, great gigayte mobo, dvd burner, nice case, all the extras...

i have been weighing out options. My vid card just died after 7 yrs, and i just bought a new 1gig HD 3560 card. Put a p4 3.4 in it a month ago, and ive upgraded to 3 gigs of hyperx ram. So figure I spend 250 or so in the last few months on it hoping to edit HD video, but now what else is going to go?

It has onboard SATA and RAID, and i think that I am gonna get a new SATA Hard Drive in a month or so. Maybe I can edit some video but i doubt it. For the 350, I probably could have gotten a better machine thats has new components and edit video without a doubt.

As far as your problem...if you just did a fresh install, do another one and see if it fixes it

Windows 7 is much better than XP IMO

[Dammit!]

All the upgrades I'm doing are with the hopes of being able to edit HD as well. I'm in the same boat as you pretty much. My Motherboard maxes out at 3.4Ghz (P4) and 4 gigs of RAM which is still far, far from ideal for editing HD video. To get a new CPU, motherboard, memory and video card would cost me about four bills for the minimum specs I would want. I'm thinking about selling a couple rare items I've been clinging to just to get it done. Upgrading what I have now seems like it would be wasted money.

Anybody want a NOS kt576 or two? They won't be cheap but I have them. :lol:

[Louis Mielke]

I've got a MSI board that supports upto a quad core with 1666 fsb. You can HAVE it. Still uses DDr2 so if you have DRR2 ram you can reuse your ram. You'll need a chip and cooler which can be had for under 200 bones.

As far as your existing problem I'm not sure what to tell you but it sounds like some peice of software is sucking down the resources. during the spike what does performance monitor show as the highest load on the CPU and HDD?

Now heres the big thing in my mind. If your editing video, HDD ACCESS SPEED is crucial.

Don't be afraid of RAID 0 for your best through put if your editing video. Just make sure you backup your stuff to a single drive.

Dammit PM me when you get a chance so we can talk. I've got some stuff and I think I can work out a hook up for you at least for your rigg.

[Dirtcrasher]

You should have seen the PC they had for 500$ (ran out in 1 day.....)

1000 Gig Hard Drive
6 Gig Ram
Dual core whatever processor
Built in DVD drive and burner
And whatever else awesome there is :lol:

I'll just plan on buying a new PC every 3-5 years.

I can FINALLY view these videos you guys post up and have 2 USB ports in front and 4 in back :beer

DEEPA, I wonder if you can download your Go Pro camera on this machine??

[Dammit!]

3-5 years? This one has lasted me like 8 or more. I was still playing Quake 3 when I built it. That game was first released in 1999. :lol:

[DeePa]

Dammit...

I installed that card and now i can watch those HD go pro movies that I took. Before the sound and video would be all mismatched and all f'd up. I found that card for 75 shipped on ebay brand new.

[Dammit!]

I've got my eye on a geforce card that's PCI-E, 768MB of memory, dual DVI and dual HDMI outputs (I run dual monitors so I need the dual outputs). It's about the same money and seems like it will do the job.

I'm not in a huge hurry. I'm really just trying to be 100% high def before the next imperial invasion so I have plenty of time. The sooner I get it done the sooner I can start learning everything though.

You know you can upload your gopro HD footage raw, straight to youtube right? As long as the clips are no more than 10 minutes long anyway. I've been wanting to see some footage of your group's rides for a long time. Upload something! :lol:

[DeePa]

i dont have anything great at the moment...havent really ridden since like october...

how is the quality on youtube? same as on the camera? I need to redownload premier and be able to cut out clips of a long video.

[Dammit!]

The quality is great if you upload a raw clip that hasn't been edited. I haven't figured out how to edit the HD stuff without degrading the image quality yet because my PC can barely even play them let alone edit them. Here's a raw clip from a HD gopro. You have to change it to 1080p in the little box in the bottom left part of the video. Looks about 90% as good as the original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQqj2hnUCW0

[Dammit!]

I just discovered Quicktime Pro has the ability to trim the raw files. My computer can't play the HD quicktime files though so it's kinda hard to tell how well this worked right now. I'm going to upload the trimmed file to youtube so I can make sure it worked. If it does, this is really cool because Quicktime Pro only cost $30. :D

I'll let you know how it works. Should be perfect for just trimming the parts you want for youtube.

[Dammit!]

Well Quicktime Pro does the trick for sure if you just need the ability to trim a clip. Actually I think you can string clips together with it as well.

I trimmed this clip down from 27 minutes to 10 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0imlgLuwgEA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0imlgLuwgEA

[DeePa]

sweet...ill have to go take a quick rip to get some footage then give quicktime pro. you ogtta pay for that?

[Dammit!]

you ogtta pay for that?

I did. I'm sure there are cracks online but I didn't feel like messing with them. I heard a long time ago that apple will flag a serial code if it gets activated too many times so eventually those cracks wouldn't work anyway. It's only 30 bucks and from what I'm seeing it's well worth it.

It's not immediately obvious how that trim function works. Let me know if you have any questions about it. And get some vids posted! :lol: