new sys, sluggish hd performance and a BSOD!

[bosstone]

Put together a new system last night,
xp 2400
asus a7n8x (non deluxe) (latest drivers)
512 PC-2700 Samsung
ATI 9500 (cat 3.0 drivers, whql cert)
100 GIG Western Digital 8mb cache (the one with the 60 MIR's at Best buy)
32x cdrw

the psu involved is the foxconn 450 (220w combined 5/3.3v)

Installed XP no problem, but seeing awful HD performance..system gets super laggy when installing one piece of software and trying to multitask (opening IE/cruising web/mp3 listening) (also started chopping when i opened up quake3 and had mp3 player + mirc going). I started to run PC Sysmark and got a BSOD when i got up to the 4th test which was audio conversion. bsod said something about some type of kernal error on the top and the bottom mentioned: ftdisk.sys

When i installed XP Pro i was given two format options (Quick and Regular). I choose quick. (Thinking that might've been a bad idea!)

I am thinking at least with audio (i dont like their onboard sound prone to crackling from some source) i'll install my sb audigy and disable the onboard sound, still using the onboard lan though.
And maybe the HD is bad (the connections look fine) or i need to reformat it.
I realize the ATI 9500/9700 are really picky about whats configured in the bios and I think i have that down (disable fast writing, etc..) but im not entirely sure (i did perform a 3dmark score and got a 10650)

 

[bosstone]

evening bump..

 

[dexmanone]

dont like xp much myself so not too familiar with it, but have you tried loading drivers for what you have instead of the xp drivers?

 

[Data77]

I am having similar hard drive performance problems. The one thing I think I did wrong was install Nvidia's nForce 2.0 drivers. I have read not to and use Asus A7N8X 1.16 drivers. I have installed the Asus drivers over the nvidia drivers but I have no idea if they are working. Here is a message I have been posting trying to get help myself.

*************************
Hello, I just finished putting together a new PC and ran benchmarks but they seem low. Anyone have any ideas why I am getting low benchmark scores? Any help is much appreciated.

Benchmarks
Sandra 2003 Standard
.....CPU ALU 8296
.....FPU 3333
Memory
.....Int 2493 MB/s
.....Float 2383 MB/s
Hard Drive
.....24480 kB/s

3D Mark 2002 Pro
.....8952

System Specs
Athlon XP 2800+
A7N8X Deluxe (nvidia nForce2 chipset)
2x 512MB Corsair XMS PC3500 C2 DDR (Slot 2 and 3)
Western Digital 120GB JB 7200rpm 8MB cache HD
Thermaltake Silent 420 Watt Purepower PSU
Antec 1080AG Case
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM
Lite-On 48x24x48 CD-RW
Elsa Gladiac 920 Geforce 3 64MB (using old video until GeforceFX)
Windows XP Pro Service Pack 1

BIOS Settings
BIOS 1001.G
Memory Timings 5,2,2,2T
CPU FSB 166
Memory FSB Sync

Drivers
Asus 1.16 nforce2 (note: I installed the nvidia 2.0 nforce drivers first then used Asus drivers)

************************

 

[bosstone]

it is definitely my hard drive. i think it could be bad? maybe it is the nforce drivers? Perhaps a full reformat will have to do? im not sure of how to specifically remove those nforce drivers.

I cant get the Hard Drive to post a score using sisoft sandra benchmark. it says it takes 1-10 mins, but it was 20 before i checked and it said program not-responding.
when i used pcmark it gave my HD a score of 98! (ugh.)

i even replaced ide cable tonite, but i think i will go get a new drive from best buy on monday.

the graphics card is fine, my cpu is running hotter than yesterday if that asus monitor is correctly (was 51 which is oddly high, but tonight it said 69-71). and i'm using arctic thermal paste, sk6+ heatsink and a 60mm delta fan.. odd indeed. my xp 1600 runs at like 41c with the arctic and a vantec hsf on it.


edit/ nforce2 ide controller wont work correctly till SP1 is installed. perhaps this leading to problems with the HD. installing SP1 now (hopefully it works!)

 

[bosstone]

removed the nvidia 2.00 ide driver, put on asus 1.16 and everything is great. now the mobo is kicking.
cpu is at 35c at minimal load.