It's really slow....and I don't know why!!

FroGGer

I just built a computer for my friend about two weeks ago. He gave the computer to me yesterday and told me that it's really slow to respond and you have to wait 30 seconds for a window to open. Anyways, I checked it out and it was working fine for me with no problems for two days. I ran prime 95 earlier today though, and after running it, it became really slow like he described. I mean really slow just for an icon to highlight after left clicking on it once took 7 seconds. I don't know if it was a coincidince that it happened after running prime 95 or if it is occuring from the stress.
Can someone give me some advice on this?
the computer has an
ABIT AS-8 mobo
P4 3.0 ghz socket 775
AIW 9800 pro
1 gb corsair value ram

Most of the time it runs fine though for me. I don't know what he does with the damn thing. Like I said, it might happen when it gets stressed.
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sickofsoyo · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:42 pm Post subject:

first, I would run prime 95 on computer boot. Then run some antivrus and adware programs such as spybot and adaware, and microsoft antispyware. Then If all that doesn't help, check your PSU, and heat. Those are clear signs of the processor not getting enough juice or the CPU throttling, to check if it is throttling, look for throttlewatch on google.
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[KoG]^weaZel · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:45 pm Post subject:

the first thing to check is the temperatures. Then go with the AV and other stuff. But this sounds alot like an overheating cpu.
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FroGGer · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:09 pm Post subject:

the computer idles at 46 degrees. It's a little high but I did use the intel heatsink.
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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

46C is about right for that proc........they run on the hot side, even with an aftermarket air cooler. 44-48C seems to be about the norm.

Do a spyware/virus search, from safe mode, check the Task Manager for any wierd programs taking up alot of system usage, check the RAM and page file usage to see if something is hogging resources.
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[TN] Nathan · ALMIGHTY PWNER! Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Posts: 7406

I would check the temperature while under load.

48c idle is a little high for this processor.

Sounds like the CPU is throttling itself back due to heat.
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FroGGer · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:58 pm Post subject:

sorry, but by throttling you mean that the processor reduces it's productivity due to too much heat being created which cannot be dissipated in time.
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FroGGer · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:11 pm Post subject:

YOU KNOW WHAT?...........................................

I am the biggest idiot in the world. I built this computer in 4 1/2 hours (including OS installation) and I put one of the fans on backwards and it completely messed up the airflow in the case. I'll change it and hopefully it will work. BTW the CPU reached 56 while running prime 95
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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

56C isn't bad, again.......but yeah, the airflow might be your issue.

What PSU are you using in that, just out of curiosity.
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FroGGer · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:47 pm Post subject:

He didn't want to spend too much so it's a Rosewill 400 W power supply that came default with case.
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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

That might be your issue there. With the 9800 AIW (power hog), the Prescott 3ghz, and whatever you have for cooling, HDD's, and lighting.......it might be a bit underpowered. I would give that PSU at best 250w at operating temps.

It really doesn't sound like a CPU heat issue to me. Throttling would slow it down a bit, but just barely perceptible. Not a full 10 second delay. I would say it's either a PSU issue, especially considering you say it happens after Prime95........and (at a guess) after a good heavy gaming session for your friend. Low power to the rails will slow your HDD down to a crawl.
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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

I'm too lazy to edit.

Try pulling your PSU, and dropping it in his machine. Run it again, same tests, and see if it slows down again. Yours should be more than powerful enough to juice it up.
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sickofsoyo · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 10:17 am Post subject:

[KoG]^weaZel · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 11:11 am Post subject:

with those temps I would be reseating the heatsink. And see how it goes from there.

A 500 watt psu is not needed for that computer. A QUALITY 350-370 watter would be perfect. One of the new high efficiency units would be perfect.
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FroGGer · Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:43 pm Post subject:

You really think I should reseat the cpu?
I thought about that, but the first thing that came to my mind was also the PSU, I already bought one about a week ago and was going to change it. He also said it randomly restarted a couple of times. I think that is directly related to the PSU because the CPU was not hot enough to cause that.
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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

Sounds like it, yeah. Swap it out, and see what happens.
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FroGGer · Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 1:03 pm Post subject:

Ok, so I swapped it out and it still responds really really slow. could it just be a bad windows install? I did a memtest and nothing came up. If it's not windows it's either the memory or cpu heat dissipation.
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2young2care · UberTweaker Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 1031

is it possible that your friend messed w/ the bios? i've seen some people mess with the bios settings a little bit, and mess a lot up. if not, i'm thinking that there's a probleem with connections or conductivity or something.

of course, I'm probably wrong. I normaly am.

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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

Could be a bad Windows install, yeah.

Have you run any HDD diagnostics? Could be a faulty hard drive.
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FroGGer · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject:

No, what is a good HDD diagnostic?
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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

The one designed for your drive.............

Go to whatever drive maker's website, they all have software that'll check to see if it's a failing drive, or any other problems.
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sandness · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:15 pm Post subject:

Is the parking brake on?

n/m I'm no help

2young2care · UberTweaker Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 1031

sandness wrote:
Is the parking brake on?

n/m I'm no help

normaly i'd tell you that if you don't have anything that is productive to say, not to say it, and if u do that's spam, but my posts are normaly just as useful ^_^ lol

... actualy, you might not be all that far off...

question for frogger: is your friend one of the many poeple on this world that would, (don't take this the wrong way) be st00pid enough to mess with any settings (bios or otherwise)? It may very well be a hardware problem, but I have to say that depending on who your friend is, it's most likely a problem created by yor friend. definately do spyware/adware/virus scans on that thing, and check or reset all your settings. and make sure that everything is hooked up right in the compy itself. and i'd like to know what kind of case, and how you have your fans set up, if it's a cooling issue. i'd even try doing a defrag, too. it might help if the 'puter knows where it's data is, before it ries to go get it.

wow. that's probably my largest post ever. i hope i'm right.

*edit* would this be the some compy as this one... ? http://www.tweaknews.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6071
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FroGGer · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:55 pm Post subject:

Yes sir. I doesn't do the restarting anymore it was a heat issue. My friend is so smart that he put the damn case in an enclosed cabinet with a front door and closed the door (so no one could see the computer).. lol...anyways I did run a defrag and still the same thing. The fans are set up as follows
one fan blowing air in at the front, one fan blowing out air at the top, one fan blowing air out in the back, and a fan blowing air out on the side. I know it's not following bernoulli's equation of what should go in should come out, but I figured that the extra heat inside would be expelled quicker this way.
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[KoG]^weaZel · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:00 pm Post subject:

the side fan you want blowing IN rather than out.
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