my computer is having spasms!!

[Pyramix]

don't know what is wrong. but like every five minutes or so, everything like really, really slows down for about 15 seconds or so. if any audio is playing, it becomes choppy. videos too. even scrolling a page or typing becomes painfully slow. i type something and have to wait for a few seconds for something the system to show what i typed. anybody else has had this problem? anybody know what could be wrong? could it be because i have beta radeon drivers?

my system:
900 Mhz. TBird unoverclocked
Asus A7V133 Rev. 1.04 1002a BIOS (the latest)
32MB DDR Radeon (7078 beta drivers)
2 X 128 MB Cas2 Crucial RAM (running on SPD)
IBM 75GXP 45 MB (connected to promise controller)
16X Pioneer DVD-115 (connected to promise again)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Value sound card (drivers that came with cd)
Netgear FA311TX 10/100 NIC PCI

 

[MrGrim]

Something running in the backround? Something like FastFind?

 

[ledzepp98]

i might be way off here but make sure dma is enabled

 

[NOX]

Hmm?I was going to say what IDE controllers you running, but I see you have it all connected to your promise controller.

 

[nweaver]

What OS???? Try MSCONFIG, and see if it is a background TSR

 

[Pyramix]

nope, nothing running in the background.

i think my dma is enabled, but there is no way for me to ensure that. check this other thread of mine where i brought that up:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=357745

OS is win98 se

pyramix

 

[Pyramix]

what's a background TSR?

 

[Pyramix]

??

 

[esung]

TSR stands for Terminate and Stay Resident.. basically the program is running in the background. without *too* much interfering what you are doing in the foreground.. it's a term left originated on DOS era.. since in DOS most of the time you can only do one thing at a time.

in your case, just check to see if there's other program that's running without your knowledge.

 

[potz]

list your cards by what slot they are in... your sb live might be interfering with your nic or something...

 

[Pyramix]

nic in pci slot 2, sb in slot 4.

 

[Pyramix]

the only irq sharing going on is between nic and promise controller on board. whatever is in pci slot has to share irq with promise controller. you think that is the problem?

 

[borealiss]

is findfast installed on msoffice if you have it?

 

[Grendel99]

I might be way off as well, but when is the last time you defragged? And do you have a virus scanner running?

 

[Entity23]

i really dont know anything about this but i thought that i read somewhere that your nic sends some kind of signal every 5 minutes or so and that any devices on the same irq get affected as well. Something to do with an interrupt or something?

 

[Pyramix]

where did you read about that, entity?

 

[Pyramix]

borealiss, yes, i have office 2000, but fastfind is not installed. well, it's on an install on first run basis, and i haven't used it yet. so, theoretically, it's not there.

grendel99, this is a brand new computer. it's been running for less than a week, so i don't think not defragging is the problem.

another thing, whenever i try to play a game on the lan with my roommate, i freeze. i can play it by myself just fine, or i can play it on bnet too. but when i try to play with my roommate on the lan, i freeze. don't know why. just saying because maybe the two problems are related.

pyramix

 

[Pyramix]

bbbbbuuuuummmmmmmmpppppppppp

 

[MrGrim]

Isn't it obvious that the LAN card has a problem?

 

[Paladinexe]

Check msconfig (Start>Run type msconfig) to see what apps have checks in the boxes indicating what is running when you boot. Also if you have been connected to the internet there is a possibility of a a trojan program which may not show on this list.

Go here and download Adaware to detect any possible spyware or some trojans. The Cleaner will detect lots of trojans.

Is the hard drive spooling up when it slows down? Possibly from a premature sleep/srandby mode?

Both of these are really reaching for straws.

 

[db]

Pull the nic and see if problum remains.

 

[Pyramix]

well, the problem disappeared all of a sudden. don't know how or why, but it doesn't seem to be happening anymore. so, i guess i won't be messing with the nic.