Sluggish performence

[myocardia]

Try taking every screw that's holding your motherboard down out, and put the piece of anti-static plastic that it came in underneath it. Then, turn it on (with it laid on it's side, and no screws screwed in), and see what happens. It almost sounds as if you've got a short somewhere. I don't think it's your motherboard itself, although that's where most shorts come from in computers. Matter of fact, look underneath it, and make sure you didn't accidentally get a screw underneath it.

 

[kpamir]

Dont tempt me myocardia.......i thought about that a couple of times.

Ok guys i dunno BUT MAYBE ....... MAAAAAAAAYBE i found the problem.

Text

Ok now the first one is controlling my HDD

The second one says it is controlling my CD drives, now ive tried setting the second one to DMA if available but that hasnt worked from windws so im kind of stumped.


sorry for the hack job lol no ps and no tablet installed yet.

 

[serializable]

Ok I said I was having a similar problem but now its fixed. So on my motherboard I had 2 ide channels. One of them was controlled by the jmicron controller. I had my 2 optical devices connected to the jmicron and my ide harddrive connected to the other. I realized that the jmicron can only have 1 ide device connected to it for it to work properly. So I switched it so the ide hard drive is connected to the jmicron and the 2 optical are on the other. Then I went to rip a cd and it didn't make my mouse laggy at all. It had no affect in fact it ripped the cd really quickly while I did some other tasks. So maybe you should try plugging your optical drives into the ide channel that isnt controlled by the jmicron controller.

I just timed it and it took a little less than 2 minutes to rip an entire cd at 320kbps. Before I switched the cables it was taking 8-10 minutes.

 

[myocardia]

kpamir, what does it say for your Secondary IDE channel, or is that empty? BTW, the Primary being in Ultra DMA 5 mode is right. I'm thinking that you're having the jMicron problem. Either that, or you've got a short somewhere. You would not believe how hard it is to diagnose having a screw underneath your motherboard can be.

 

[kpamir]

Ok so which one isnt controlled by the Jmicron?

I have it in the ide channel thats blue and facing sideways towards the front of the case.

I tried the Jmicron earlier today...... and well it wouldnt even detect the drives.

Ok guys quick question

In my BIOS here are the settings for my disk drives
LGA or something like that : AUTO
PIO : AUTO / 0/1/2/3/4 ------- now for this....... wtf do i set it to? AUTO doesnt seem to be doing anything thats beneficial to me, i set it to zero but nothing different happens
DMA : AUTO and like UDMA 1 /2 /3/4 etc etc.


This has to be the problem, in device manager it says that it is set to PIO mode and thats the channel that is controlled by the intel.

Also just wondering my SATA hdd is plugged into the SATA1 slot...... which is controlled by the ICH7 and thats also on the primary ide channel.

 

[myocardia]

If both of your optical drives are new, set them both to UDMA 4. If one of them is older, set it to UDMA 2. Of course, setting them both to UDMA 2 will work fine. You can run an optical drive slightly slower, but you get crazy problems, like you're having, if you try to run them at a higher data rate than they can handle.

 

[kpamir]

this is even more annoying the problem is right there infront of me but i cant do anything.

Ok i went into bios and changed the settings...... nothing....... It wont change from pio mode.

i plugged my hdd into another SATA port but that still didnt change anything.

 

[kpamir]

Hey Zodiak, i am now in ur position.

my drives are detected as SCSI BUT im not getting that horrible slowdown anymore........ atleast for the time being.


Thanks for everyones attempts at helping me.


Appreciate it alot.

 

[kpamir]

Ok now im having problems with the SCSI. I cant install anything off the drive.

 

[zodiak]

Originally posted by: kpamir
Ok now im having problems with the SCSI. I cant install anything off the drive.

Glad to hear you got most of the problem fixed. Now that you're where I was at, you can try my solution:


1. Uninstall the Jmicron software - should be found in Add/Remove programs if you updated through Windows Update. If its not there, try to remove it from Device Manager under SCSI and RAID controllers.
2. Reboot and let XP install the generic drivers for the controller.

If its not found in either Add/Remove Programs or in the Device Manager, try the following:

1. Install the Jmicron software/drivers. It's on the CD with the MOBO, but you can't access it, can you? Try to do Windows Update with a Custom Update, then check the "Hardware, Optional" portion. If its there, install it. If not, try to google for your drivers.
2. Reboot, then uninstall the software downloaded. Reboot again, letting XP install the generic SCSI and RAID controller drivers.

Try that. Hope it works so you can enjoy your new system. Let me know if it doesn't.

EDIT: Just for reference, what did you do to make them show up as SCSI? Any BIOS changes, etc? Just want to know so I can help someone else if the same problem arises.

 

[kpamir]

Ill give that a try. thanks.

 

[Corren]

You might consider buying a UPS to condition your power if you really think you're having power problems. It will help deliver steady volts to your Power Supply. You won't need a huge one, as you'll be buying it for line conditioning and not backup.

 

[kpamir]

I dont know, so far ive spent close to 400 on psus alone....... all of which are GOOD but only 1 works in my home.

I called the builder today and they sent out an electrician to my hosue and apparently its 2 siemens breakers that are overtly sensitive. He said that you could change them out BUT i dunno if i wanna try that.

I dont think getting electricuted is worth it.

Im gonna look into that UPS but if its gonna draw power to my computer at such a high wattage....... would it really help?

 

[myocardia]

It's not hard at all to change breakers. Here's how: after unplugging all of your electronics (just to be safe), turn off the main breaker in your breaker box. It should be a 200 amp breaker. It supplies all of the other breakers with their current. When it's off, none of them have any power at all. Then, use your flathead screwdriver to change the breaker(s). 120v breakers are only about $10 each at Home Depot.

edit: I'd start with the one that is powering your computer right now. If it keeps tripping, you're either using too much current, or have a wiring problem.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: myocardia
It's not hard at all to change breakers. Here's how: after unplugging all of your electronics (just to be safe), turn off the main breaker in your breaker box. It should be a 200 amp breaker. It supplies all of the other breakers with their current. When it's off, none of them have any power at all. Then, use your flathead screwdriver to change the breaker(s). 120v breakers are only about $10 each at Home Depot.

edit: I'd start with the one that is powering your computer right now. If it keeps tripping, you're either using too much current, or have a wiring problem.

Myocardia, you do not know the extent of his knowledge of electrical work, yet you told him to do something that can seriously injure him if he screws up. Not very bright.

 

[kpamir]

I am kind of hesitant about doing that, id much rather not risk ........ death.


There is something seriously screwy with this house, horribly built.

 

[zodiak]

I'd call up some electricians to get some quotes on what'd cost for them to do it. If its a higher number, I'd then call one of them an offer about 70% of the quote in cash that day, if it were a reasonable price.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: kpamir
I am kind of hesitant about doing that, id much rather not risk ........ death.


There is something seriously screwy with this house, horribly built.

I forgot to ask, did you try the system with just one optical drive hooked up? Just leave one of them disconnected completely. Power and IDE cable. And set the remaining drive to master.???

 

[kpamir]

Yeah tried that.

Ok so i gave returned the silverstone 600watt PSU and bought a 400watt liberty........ and this one does the same thing.

All three of the ones that didnt work (500w liberty, 400watt liberty, and Silverstone 600w ) didnt not have that little switch on the back that switches from the differet wattage/voltage. So im assuming
thats what causing the problems with my circuit breakers. I am assuming that is the PFC feature.

The OCZ one i have thats actually working does have the lil switch on the back.

But back to the more annoying problem.......... I am gonna try what u said to try Zodiak.

 

[secretanchitman]

is the HD in pio mode? my 300GB was like that randomly for a while...cause i noticed that because i usually defrag that drive reguarly and when i did, it went a LOT slower than usual.

 

[kpamir]

nope the hdd is perfectly fine.

 

[corsa]

ok.....so would it be askin too much to take it to a friends house and see how it runs?

 

[Engineer]

What are the jumper settings on the two DVD drives? Do they have CS (Cable Select) and have you tried that? Until you get those out of PIO mode, you'll have this problem. I'm almost willing to bet that the PIO mode is dragging you down.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: Mogadon
Make sure your optical drives are running in IDE mode and not PIO mode. No reason why they should but doesn't hurt to check.

i was about to advise the opposite.
i had significant issues with my dvd writer when i installed it. it was due to the dma mode automatically set too high. pio fixed that but later a changed it to dma-33 and its smooth again.

 

[kpamir]

i have tried Cable select on both drives, ive installed one of my older drives that work perperly on my other computer and even that is forced into PIO mode.

I ve changed settings in the BIOS etc etc etc same problems.

I am going to return the motherboard, take the restocking fee, and hold out a bit longer for one of the Nforce intel edition boards to come out and ill hop on one of those.

hopefully the 590's arent too far off.

Appreciate the help guys.