Help.. New PC - Running v.slow..

[benbfc]

hi all,

just got a new pc base unit running XP Pro. The spec is AMD XP 2800, 512ddr ram, 120gb hard drive,
its running well apart from the multimedia side of things. For instance running itunes or winamp to play music are fine when they are the only things running however load up a couple internet explorers
or Championship Manager (soccer game, no sound, basically a big spreadsheet) the music will distort when the processor has to work, it can even pause for seconds at a time, i recntly sold my xp1600
with 512mb ram (only xp home) and had no similar problems with exactly the same programs. the
same thing happens on windows media player when playing videos, the sound will didtort and the video pause etc.



Is it codecs or software i need? or something i need to change within windows? i doubt i need
more ram buts its a possibility. Anyone got any suggestions?

thanks in advance.

ben

 

[Appledrop]

this is happening on my friends xp1900+ syystem.. often his music will go all strange, and his CPU load at 100% when it shud probably not be. ..

i would like this to become answered!!

 

[Appledrop]

not my thread.. but bump

 

[thorin]

Ok so open your task manager ctrl+shift+esc , click the CPU column (so that it's sort by processor usage %) and tell us what's using most of the CPU.

Thorin

 

[arcenite]

and please don't say system idle process

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: aRCeNiTe
and please don't say system idle process

lol


anyway, what motherboard are you running? are you running 1x512mb or 2x256mb ram? indeed, look at the processes tab and see if there is anything sucking resources when you are idle.

 

[benbfc]

i am running 1x512 mb

and there isnt owt but system idle process running lol grrr!!!

 

[mechBgon]

Post your complete system specs please, including all add-in cards and the brands and models of stuff

 

[benbfc]

ok..

athlon xp 2800
512 mb ddr 3200 ram
120gb 7200rpm ram
nvidia geforce 128mb 5200
ASRock K7S8X Motherboard
Pioneer DVR 107
Firewire card...

anything else just ask

cheers

ben

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: benbfc
ok..

athlon xp 2800
512 mb ddr 3200 ram
120gb 7200rpm ram
nvidia geforce 128mb 5200
ASRock K7S8X Motherboard
Pioneer DVR 107
Firewire card...

anything else just ask

cheers

ben

That's helpful info You might try removing the firewire card as a fact-finding step.

Also, what order did you install stuff in? I'd go like this:

1. WindowsXP
2. Service Pack 2 for WindowsXP (this gets DirectX 9.0C installed too)
3. SiS chipset driver package for the motherboard
4. Video drivers
5. Audio drivers

You might try steps 3 through 5 again (I'm assuming you have WinXP SP2 installed). Here's a link to SiS's downloads section, and here is a link to ASRock's drivers for the K7S8X, including the audio driver. You can get nVidia's latest drivers for your video card from here.

Good luck

 

[Appledrop]

did any of this work m8? YOu may also try This free online virus scanner

 

[benbfc]

Just got up!

Thanks for the help mechBgon.

As for..

1. WindowsXP
2. Service Pack 2 for WindowsXP (this gets DirectX 9.0C installed too)
3. SiS chipset driver package for the motherboard
4. Video drivers
5. Audio drivers

All this was installed for me (certainly the audio and video drivers, xpo and SIS chipset)

ServicePack hasnt yet been downloaded so is being downloaded as i type, i will install that and see if it fixes the problem, if not i might have to go back and do it in the order that you put because at the moment it will be a bit of a strange order.

ben