help! i can hardly access my files

[trevelynzx]

whenever i open a folder, my computer takes about 1-2 minutes to load up the contents (icons!). this is getting rediculous and really making me mad. i have an ASUS crossfire advantage mobo with a radeon x1900xtx.

could this be a driver problems? i'm running the omega drivers for the 1900xtx. also, i've used the newest catalyst versions but the problems remains the same, so i think it's not a video driver problem.

if i reinstalled windows would that fix it? or is it a mobo problem?



ANY help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. thanks!

 

[order66]

Might be a PS problem.What PS are you running?

 

[trevelynzx]

coolermaster realpower 550w

everything else works fine... can max HL2 out with no problems.

 

[trevelynzx]

anybody?

 

[imported_Tick]

Ok, firstly list a complete parts list. Then, is SMART enabled on the disk? How new is the install? Have you change anything? What troubleshooting have you tried? What EXACTLY happens when you try to load things?

 

[trevelynzx]

hey thanks for your interest! here's the parts list:

amd athlon 4800+ toledo dual core
asus crossfire advantage mobo
ati radeon x1900xtx (512mb)
WD raptor (150gb/10k)
2 gb corsair xms DDR 400
Thermaltake XASER armor series
creative x-fi "fatal1ty" sound card
coolermaster Realpower 550w
LITE ON DVD-r/rw/ram

that's pretty much it on the hardware end.

i have no idea what SMART is, how would i go about checking to see if it's enabled? the install (i'm assuming you mean windows) is relatively new, say, a month old. i haven't changed anything out of the ordinary (i.e. no overclocking etc). i have, however, reinstalled the video drivers several times with no success. i'm now using the Omega drivers which, like the catalyst drivers, don't fix the problem. i've also reinstalled/updated my mobo drivers with no success.

now an example: say i double-click on "my computer" then "my documents" then "my music." after double-click on 'my music' the window (not the whole computer) will seem to freeze for 10 seconds to two minutes. very frustrating. also, if i'm in a program (say, winamp) and try to navigate to a file to open THROUGH the program, the folder contents load EXTREMELY slow... takes about two minutes to finally display say about 15 files, during which time the "open" dialog box will become unusable and unresponsive. however, the rest of the computer functions normally during this and at all other times. i haven't noticed any other problems. i'm really at a loss because i can't determine if it's the GPU or mobo, and even if i did both of those manufacturers provide very poor customer service.

again, i really appreciate your time and response!! thanks!!!!!

 

[PurdueRy]

I would say your hard drive is borked

 

[trevelynzx]

really?!?!? i have NO other problems except this. does that still sound like a HD issue?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: trevelynzx
really?!?!? i have NO other problems except this. does that still sound like a HD issue?

I suppose my other guess would be something corrupt/virus/something else on the HD such as a bad windows install. That would be my first line of attack. If that doesn't fix it I blame the hard drive

 

[trevelynzx]

ok, i just ran the Western Digital DLGDiag quick test, but it aborted with an error that said "07 - SMART Offline Immediately command error on drive 1!"

anybody know what the heck that means?

 

[PurdueRy]

sounds like SMART is turned off which is an option in the BIOS

 

[imported_Tick]

Yeah, you need to turn on SMART in bios. Also, I know you don't want to here this, but have you tried reinstalling windows?

 

[imported_rod]

Have you scanned for Virus/Spyware/Adware?

Also, what is your CPU+Mem utilisation? Is anything being maxed out?

RoD

 

[trevelynzx]

yea, i consistently scan for spyware/adware/viruses with adaware, spybot, and symantec AV corporate. also, my processor/mem usage is down in the single digits most of the time (unless i'm running other apps) so i don't think it's spyware. i'll try that bios thing right now. if that doesn't work, i guess i'll be reinstalling in the near future.

thanks for all your help!

 

[Ausm]

You might want to try to rollback your system to see if that helps because possibly it was something you loaded that pooched the O.S. Then if that doesn't work do a clean install andif it istill that way then I would think it was the Hard drive going to heck.


Ausm

 

[Luckyboy1]

Scanned for bugs in safe mode yet?

 

[jdkick]

Start with the diagnostics. Enable SMART in the BIOS (should be on all the time for that matter) and run the diagnostics again. If you get an error code, check here: http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/errorcodes.asp

Also, since it's only happening on file access, make sure that nothing else is running in the background. It's good that you scan regularly for viruses and *ware, but there's no gaurentee.