DELL 400SC problem (memory?)

[substance12]

i recently bought a Dell 400sc p4 2.26g.

There seems to be some sort of memory issue. When I run NERO the buffer meter is in constant flux and i'm not even running other programs. it also takes 2x longer to burn a cd. The mouse, at times is laggy. I'll move it around alot and sometimes it stops as if the memory was being used up and the cursor slows down.

I have no stability issues however. Well the system did crash on me once. I've tested the system with the stock 128mb ram.... with crutial pc2100 512+256... and also with kingston pc3200 512x2 ram. All produce the same symptoms.

other specs:
winxp sp1 + all updates, fresh install.
ati 9500 pro
onboard LAN and sound
leadtek 2000xp capture card.

 

[johnjkr1]

You try flashing the bios? Having worked at Dell, I can tell you that never hurt when it came to strange issues like yours

 

[substance12]

i have the latest A04 BIOS already.

 

[poppyq]

Check device manager to see if your optical devices (cd-rom, dvd-rom, etc) are using dma mode and not stuck in PIO. That could definitely be causing the problems you are seeing. check the properties of the atapi/ide controllers (primary and secondary) and the advanced settings tab.

 

[substance12]

do you think the location of the jumper on the optical devices ( i have 2, 1 cdrw and 1 dvdrom) could play a role as well? perhaps if "cable select" was selected instead of "primary"?

I will try those solutions out when I get home.

 

[substance12]

poppyq: your advice worked! (so far)

slave drives were stuck in PIO... no idea why. Also for some reason the slave drives were not being detected in BIOS but i could access them in windows.

 

[Tanner]

poppyq 😀

U a smart d00d 😀