How to lose 9 Gigs

[FAQ]

I've had SERIOUS computer problems with a computer I bought 5 months ago (600 athlon, k7m mobo, 128 meg ram, geforce ddr). Despite it's awesome hardware, it ran at about the same speed as a 233 p2 (sometimes slower). It crashed a lot and was a pain in the ass big time. So after having my more computer literate friends look at and try to fix it, they failed and I called the retailers (obviously I should have called sooner).

They "fixed" it not too long ago (a week maybe) and I started reinstalling software. Well, after noticing starcraft taking 5 mins to load I called them back. He said (and I quote),"You need to install win 98 because win 2000 nt is what's making your computer slow" Riiiight, well I did it just to prove it's not freaking win 98 (hell, I had win 98 on it when I first got it and it ran like crap then too) and sure enough my comp was still slow. (though, starcraft wasn't slow loading)

So before I call him, I noticed my c drive (normally 11 gigs) says it's only 1.99 gigs!! I'm like, ohhhhhhhh shiat. How the crap did I lose 9 gigs? I called again, this time he says to just bring it in again and we'll look at it together but I'm still wondering why 1) My comp is slower than a snail and 2) I managed to lose 9 gigs......

thoughts, comments??

 

[hubbs]

You probably didn't lose it. It was probably set up like that so that it only reads so much in the beginning.

 

[FAQ]

I guess so, but how would I retrieve the other 9 gigs? How did I make only look for 1.99 gigs in the first place??

 

[Grey]

Am I hope you mean you had 1.99 gigs FREE not the hardrive read 1.99 gigs. Might want to look at it yourself if ure tech inclined and see what the rating on the cover says...

 

[hubbs]

There is a setting that could have been messed up in the formatting that would make it run only on 1.99 gig. You can try reformatting and try to find exactly where to reach that setting and make sure it reads 9 gig. That's what I am thinking. Not possitive though.

 

[Dameon]

FAQ - Real simple... the tech moron who is servicing your computer setup the partitions wrong. To explain, if they setup the drive using FAT16, the maximum allowable "Drive" is 2GB. Formerly, your system was probably setup using FAT32. If you go to Start - run and type in FDISK the rest of the drive should be there. Choose create EXTENDED PARTITION, then create logical drives for a 9GB drive to add on.
Otherwise, plan on redoing the whole system... as the tech doesn't seem to know his head from his arse.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Are Win2k and 98 on seperate partitions? If it's all one big partition and it's only reading as 1.99GB, run fdisk, enable large disk support...see if there's any unused space. You may have to delete and recreate your partitions to get all 9GB to show up. Good luck.

 

[randypj]

Dameon--Am I correct in assuming that when the tech set it up, at "enable large disk support" (whatever) in FDISK, he said no? If so, I think I'd be cussing him in person.

FAQ--I'm guessing the retailer was CompScrewUSA or Worst Buy? Depending on the retailer, you might want to keep this thread and possibly discuss the matter with corporate, depending on how willing the local store is to bend over backwards for you, now that they've "fixed" it so well. Point is, I'd be afraid that at this location, they may have no one who has a clue. I'd really be p'd at going through all this crape because of their lamineptitude.

This last weekend, I "found" 6 gigs that my brother had "lost". I didn't want to spend a lot of time, and the "lost" E: drive didn't contain anything he needed, so I just whacked at it with Partition Magic.
--Randy

 

[Mday]

i am thinking FAT problems myself.

what did fdisk say?

FAQ, your first mistake was not coming here FIRST

is DMA enabled?

and what programs start at star up? (run msconfig).

<<every line has been a new edit, i hate editting. and i hate making incomplete posts>>

 

[Tripleshot]

The reason yopur computer is running so freakin slow is by the time you acount for OS and other software,you are out of swap file room.If you can get a hold of partition magic,it will give you your gigs back.I hope you didn't have data on those lost gigs.They may remain lost.

If you use partition magic and the 1.99 gig &quot;C&quot; drive is fat 16,the P.M. program can fix that too. It is an excellent package for these kinds of problems.

What retailer did you buy this rig from? (Remember,everyone makes mistakes.Point out the problem and allow them to rectify to your satifaction.Absent your satisfaction, kick some butt.!)

 

[Jimbo]

Backup any data you want to keep.
Fdisk and start over.
Learn your BIOS settings.
Get the latest drivers for EVERYTHING.
Your life will get better.

EDIT: Spelling

 

[WoundedWallet]

While the FAT reasoning makes sense, that does not explain why it worked like crap before the loss of 9gigs.

So here is another suggestion in case all the above suggestions don't work, or even before you try them.
Run error-checking in W2k (Mycomputer/driveletter/properties/tools/error-checking) or the equivalent in W98 which is scandisk.

There is a chance that you have a bad HD and your fat table is corrupted, explaining the missing 9GB and the slowness.

If that is the case, save the logs from the program you used to fix the harddrive and take it back to where you bought and demand a new and bigger one for the lousy customer service given to you by an unqualified employee. AKA &quot;the moron&quot;.

If you hardrive is bad the fix will be temporary and the errors will return.

WW

PS. I thought this post was explaining &quot;how to lose 9gigs&quot;. Some sort of a diet I thought...

 

[FAQ]

Wow, lots of info.....I left assuming this tread was dead but you guys didn't abandon me yet! OK, I'll go through this person by person:


Grey: I know I'm computer illiterate but I do know how to read total hard drive space/space remaining correctly.....and yes, it's 1.99 *total*..........thanks for the advice though, I'm sure I'd miss something like that in the future =)

Dameon: Yeah, I think he's a moron too. =) I'll try doing that or telling him to do it tomorrow when I take it BACK over to the shop again. Thanks for the info

Sir Fredrick: Maybe, I dunno....it said I had all 11 gigs when I was running win 2000 though, and now it says 1.99 so maybe you're right about the different partitions, I'll check it out. Thanks

randypj: Lol, though I'm sure those 2 retailers are bad enough, I got mine at a local store, AMC. Good deals but I think I know why they're so cheap. =) I SHOULD go yell at them but I'm not that kinda guy, but I'm losing my nerve so maybe I'll let them have it if they can't fix it tomorrow.

Mday (notice the spelling!): I haven't gotten a chance to run fdisk but I'll do so if problems persist. You're right, coming here is the best way to get good, ACCURATE information regaurding computers! I'll be sure and visit more often. As far as DMA, I have no idea what it is so I can't say if it's enabled and what not. No programs I know of are running at startup but I'm not positive until I run msconfig. Thanks for the info though!

Tripleshot: I got this &quot;rig&quot; (more like pos) from AMC. A local shop with pretty good prices. Yeah, it's been running sllllowwwwww ever since I got it so I dunno if it's windows. I've ran win 98, 98 se, and win 2000 nt on it so far. I could install win mil but I didn't bother yet. Thanks for the recovery info, I'll ceck it out. I'll be kickin some butt soon if this thing isn't operational!! Thanks!

Jimbo: Nothing on my comp to back up, just Starcraft and Unreal. That's it. I've started over atleast 5 times now. BIOS settings have remained untouched since I got the comp except for a few minor changes....hard to get drivers without internet access. Life isn't my problem, it's my pos computer! =) Thanks anyway

WoundedWallet: Could a bad hardrive be the reason for my computer to be freakishly slow? I mean, my fps in games and benchmarks have sucked too, would a bad hd affect these? If so, I've spent the last months in frustration of it, doh. Yeah, I think they should give me my $1250 back in store credit so I could get a better comp for free basically in exchange for this one. If not, then the last 5 months without the use of a computer was really gay and I wasted my $ since it's not worth anything near that now. We'll see after tomorrow......thanks for the help though. Oh, and I don't think I'll ever need to worry about a diet in my life, I'm good to go in the weight department!

Thanks for the help though all.....maybe I'll get some justice finally! (or maybe not.....)

sorry for the long post, feel free to add anything, I could use the help

 

[Mears]

This is what I probably think the answer is. Did you check your disk space using the drive space tool in system tools. If you did, it only displays 2gigs no matter how big the HD is.

 

[Mday]

things don't run that slow with a small swap file. But things do run FUNNY if you have a small swap file.

I set mine at 64MB once, and Word 2k gagged. of course now i have more space, it's at 1 GB (which is a lot).

 

[Mday]

FAQ, for DMA,
windows key
-settings
--control panel
---system
----device manager
-----hard drives
------double click on the drive, and see if there is an X on the DMA. if not, X it and reboot as told.

while you are at device manager peak around to see if there are any problems, there will be flags.

 

[FAQ]

I think all my systems are running fine except for sound and my modem or something, so no flags to speak of. I'll enable DMA if problems persist after I go in to the shop today, thanks



what's dma and what's it do anyhow?

 

[BenSkywalker]

What is the date of your BIOS?

When your system posts, does it list your processor as AMD(Unknown)600MHZ or something like that(been a while since I've seen it firsthand)?

With the age of your system it is possible you have a K7M with an older BIOS and a newer .18u build Athlon, not a good combination, particularly for performance.

When I installed Q3 with my K7M, .18u Athlon 550 and old BIOS Q3 identified my CPU as something like 80MHZ, and benches were performing like it. With some tweaks using the older BIOS I was able to get performance up to somewhat tollerable levels, around a PII 266(I have one for direct comparison), but flashing the BIOS to the latest at the time was a shocker, the system flew with the BIOS update.

The HD problem sounds like FAT16, that has already been gone over, but the system performance sounds like what I mentioned above. Do you have the date of your BIOS, or know what it identifies the CPU as? I wouldn't tend to think a &quot;pro&quot; would miss something like this, but by the way you describe him and the state of your &quot;fixed&quot; computer I would definately check it. If your system does require a BIOS flash, are your friends capable of handling it? It isn't hard, you just need to be very careful.

 

[FAQ]

Hmmmm, BIOS flash eh?? Sounds good to me (I know I could really f-up my comp so I'll let someone else do it). Yes, in the beggening it says AMD(Unknown) 600 MHZ. Dunno BIOS EXACT date but I'm reallllllllly sure it's in 1999.

Oh, and as for bad signs in a computer store, here's 2 I found out today.

1) This computer &quot;pro&quot; who's gonna make everything better again is wearing a cowboy hat and needs to shave

2) The &quot;to be repaired&quot; shelf has 10+ computers on it


it's in his hands now........(not that I got anything against him, I just hope he THINKS fixes it and believes me when I say it's not fixed) =)

 

[FAQ]

Oh, can someone also maybe fill me in on what kind of monitor to buy if my comp ever works again? I need to know the very basicas, like the dot pitch and max resoultion and frequency ect.

Thanks for the help

 

[Rellik]

Sorry to hear about your comp. Friend of mine has a similar setup
and he is having problems now for 3 months. I know how u feel.
Anyway, about the monitor. What do you do mainly. Are you the &quot;casual gamer&quot; or the &quot;advanced photshop/videoediting guy&quot;? Personally, I´d
invest into a real good monitor if you care about your eyes. Since
grwat monitors are really affordable these days, it shouldn´t be a problem.

My personal recommendation :

Samsung Syncmaster 700p plus (17 inch)
or
Samsung Syncmaster 950p (19 inch)

they cost around 350 $/500 $ here.

 

[Bleep]

If it were mine the first thing I would do is open the case and look at the specs of the HD. You may have had a bad HD the first time and the guy replaced it with a 2.1 Gig. Ive seen it happen.
Bleep

 

[Hyper99]

I can only guess two thing.
It maybe converted from 32fat to 16bit fat table
if you do checkdsk
you can check for cluster size if it 32Kbytes then yes it is
16bit fat table
2. your file table maybe corrupted
using scandisk in dos maybe able to fix it
do scandisk /autofix /all
also run fdisk.exe
then display partition table
command 4 or 5
Nice computer you got there but Im afraid regardless how powerful it is, you still got this pain to deal with just with any computer that is less powerful, say a K6-2
I have to say that this can sometime be very difficult to trouble shoot
as sometime the file or data maybe so badly corrupted that
only a fresh install of win98 will do
it has happen to me a few occasion where my sound card would
not work, and sometime do and all has to do with problem with
windows
I thought it was the motherboard, replace with another one
did the same crap
so I fed up with it and did this
format c:\
then reinstall everything from scratch again and ever since
everything worked beautifully
Since you bought a premade computer so who know what the hell they did with it, could be faulty modem, faulty sound card etc.
or even defective motherboard.

 

[FAQ]

Naw, it's the same HD but thanks for the heads up on what could have happened. I'm interested in a 17&quot; monitor and I'm a &quot;casual gamer&quot;.

I've started from scratch atleast 5 times now......still slow as my grandma

 

[Sir Fredrick]

As far as performance goes, that machine should be pretty quick. Assuming you have the latest drivers (if not, install them), it MAY be your hard drive that's slowing you down. It's probably a cheapie, and the problems you're having with it are just making matters worse.
However, if it's not just load time that sucks, there must be something else slowing you down as well.
Have you tried running some benchmarks? How about rc5?
If all of your devices are sharing IRQ's, that can slow things down (so I've heard), and if you have devices with exclamation points next to them in device manager, try taking them out of the system completely, and see if your performance is any better.

I set up an Athlon 750 system wiht 128MB of RAM and it kicks, in 2k or 95 OSR2. Too bad the motherboard died a week after I set it up. Sending it back tomorrow morning.