Unknown Issues

Discussion in 'Software' started by Xenotonin, Oct 20, 2006.

  1. Xenotonin

    Xenotonin Private E-2

    I am posting this here simply for the fact that I have no idea what is worng and there is no random help section that I could see, so I picked the seemingly most popular area for a faster(hopefully) response.

    So here's the deal. I purchased a computer recently through Ebay, heedless to the warnings of others. The fact is I needed a computer, and as cheap as I could go, so I did what I had to. It got here and everything started up nicely and it was running smootly for the first 30 minutes or so. After that, it started to slow to a crawl, then speed up and catch up to all of the commands in queue, then slow right back down again. I couldn't even shut it down properly, because it just decided to refuse commands all together. I could open some folders and get the start menu, but it did not respond to any commands.

    Hardware/OS:

    AMD athlon(64bit) 3700+(2.2Ghz) processor
    1GB DDR(2 sticks of 512) Corsair X-pert Ram
    160 GB Seagate HD
    Nvidea X800 Video Card w/ "Arctic Cooling" system
    350 Watt Power Supply
    Windows XP

    I thought the power supply seemed a bit low for the hardware, but have absolutely no idea of how that effects proformance in any way.

    Any ideas?
     
  2. Toke

    Toke MajorGeek

  3. Bladesofhalo

    Bladesofhalo MajorGeek

  4. BirdBath

    BirdBath Sergeant Major

    Was the OS installed when you got the comp?

    You might want to do a clean install and start over.
     
  5. Xenotonin

    Xenotonin Private E-2

    The OS came pre-installed, liscenced to the wife of the guy I bought it from. I have no internet access from it right now, so till I do I am using friends/library. I was planning to burn a disk with ad-aware/spybot/AVG, but I wanted to see if the problem could lie elsewhere. The first thing I did when I got it was wipe it down with anti-static wipes, then spray it down with duster, then I booted it up, defragged, and ran chkdsk. So those are all done. When I checked the running processes, there where WAY too many for a blank system(only the OS was installed), around ...40 or so. Also, when I booted it back up after having to shut it down the hard way since it refused to respond to start/shut down, it took a long time to boot, staying at a black screen for at least 2 minutes before the windows start screen appeared.

    One other odd thing I found was the hard drive capacity. The Label says Seagate Barracuda 160 GB, but it is showing up as 127. I'm no expert, but that can't be right. I'm not talking about free space; it is showing the TOTAL space as 127. Any thoughts there?
     
  6. BirdBath

    BirdBath Sergeant Major

    Don't buy Computers on E-Bay :rolleyes:

    Just kidding.

    It sounds like the guys wife got rid of the thing instead of trying to fix it. Using her liscence is a no-no but if they were stupid enough to sell the thing without wiping the drive who knows how mucked up it REALLY is?

    The 160GB drive could be Partitioned so you are only seeing part of the drive then again it could be totaly screwed.

    I would suggest buying your own OS Disk and Completely Reformatting the drive. If you can check the drive for errors before buying the OS that might save some time and Coin.

    Download this http://www.majorgeeks.com/EVEREST_Ultimate_Edition_2006_d4876.html and check the whole system out before spending any more money.

    And have a look around on the drive for anything good :eek: :rolleyes:

    Again, just kidding.
     
  7. Xenotonin

    Xenotonin Private E-2

    Thanks for all the advice. It's actually getting these things done that is the problem. It stops responding for 5-10 minutes at a time, then will catch back up and run smoothely for a minute or two, then freeze again. I took it to a friends place and ran windows update and all it needed was security updates. I also ran windows new LiveOneCare online virus check and all it came up with were a few registry problems, but the problem remains. Also, I am not sure if it would be related, but for some reason I can't watch dvds through WMP, getting an error message along the lines of "no compatible dvd decoder" even though I downloaded divx beforehand, and I figured that would clear it up, and dixv doesn't seem to pick it up. Any suggestions? Oh yeah, when one of the dvd's installed the InterActive dvd player, it also came up with the error message. It picks them up and reads data cds, but won't play Dvds.

    So this Everest program, will it give me an idea of the problem then?
     
  8. BirdBath

    BirdBath Sergeant Major

    Everest is a system diagnostics tool that will tell you exactly what your hardware and software are capable of and give you warnings or tips on how to get your comp running smoothly. It gets very involved and technical.

    If you don't feel comfortable with this you could try these programs:

    http://www.majorgeeks.com/Advanced_WindowsCare_v2_Personal_d4991.html

    http://www.majorgeeks.com/CCleaner_d4191.html

    They will clean up the mess.

    As for the DVD's it sounds like codecs but you might want to clean up the system before worrying about movies.

    The forum will always be here just check back after you try those programs.
     
  9. Xenotonin

    Xenotonin Private E-2

    Thanks, I'll give those a try and get back to you.
     

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