repairing a hard drive

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NokiaDude

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2002
3,966
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Wait . . . are you playing Diablo 2? It's famous for being a CPU hog. Even on my computer it gets the CPU usage upto 100% until I exit.
 

hatefulreign

Member
Jun 22, 2003
36
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ok im runign 1.6ghz 512 sdrram and a 80 gig hard drive and a geforce 4 mx 420 graphics card

and it does this in any game that i install and some times if im downloading to much stuff in kazaa it does ti to
 

Shadey216

Junior Member
May 9, 2003
16
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you said you are using Kazaa lite. Are you running version 2.1.0 Build 1? It is an awesome version, but i have noticed that it really takes a lot out of your system, especially when you are downloading from multiple people at the same time. What games are you getting lag at? Have you tried updating your bios or chipset? Be sure when you actually close Kazaa lite you close it, not just sent it to the system tray.
 

hatefulreign

Member
Jun 22, 2003
36
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where can i update my bios and chipset i have a compaq and i think i have the newest version of kazaa lite and yes i do close it all the way and i have even deleted it and my games did the same thing games like diablo one all the way games like wolfenstein
 

hatefulreign

Member
Jun 22, 2003
36
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can anyoen tell where woudl be the best place to download drivers for a compaq presario 5300 model 5321SR i need drivers for the whole thing:eek:
 

masterosok

Member
Apr 30, 2003
140
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it really sounds like you could be a combination of kazaa, and the actual games you play. What games are you playing? The Geforce MX 420 is a nice card but it may have some issues running some of the newer games out, if your running at high detailed settings. What resolutions and gfx settings are you using in these games?
 

hatefulreign

Member
Jun 22, 2003
36
0
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lets see i did a format and then i installed a different video card i installed a voodoo 3 and i got the latest drivers for it and then i ran diablo 1 and i its was doign it worst so i think the geforce 4 mx 420 is helping some how
 

masterosok

Member
Apr 30, 2003
140
1
81
Yeah, its gonna do better then a Voodoo 3, but that doesnt mean it can run all the games that are out today with out an issue,

Diablo, should run fine, however games with newer graphix engines may have issues even on the 420.

It really depends on what setting your running these games at, higher resolutions and grphx settings will cause your games to run slower.
 

hatefulreign

Member
Jun 22, 2003
36
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look i rly dont think its a video card problem becasue i have try all the setting i could have and my graphics card was working good i never had the problem until i download kazaa and started downloading music and stuff so i rly thinks its a virus
 

cheetoden

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,578
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If you've wiped the hard drive clean, I don't see how you could possibly still have a virus.
 

masterosok

Member
Apr 30, 2003
140
1
81
k, just tell us what those setting are? maybe that can help, I could be wrong, but i dont think its a virus, not if you formated the drive.
 

cheetoden

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,578
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Sounds more like a bunch of spyware and crap mudding it up and slowing it down.

Get Adaware. Its free. Clean it up. Get on with your life.
 

LostHiWay

Golden Member
Apr 22, 2001
1,544
0
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Wow!! some of the responses in this thread are....i don't know.

Anyway...The hard drive isn't the problem. It's Windows. Sounds to me that you've got tons of spyware running. Basically what you need to do is reformat again. Then reinstall Windows clean...don't do an upgrade. Then load all your drivers. DON'T INSTALL anything else except the game. The game should play fine then. Then you can install the rest of your apps. Don't install any of those spyware apps like gator, etc.

Also when you want to play a game make sure you close Kazaa lite all the way and any other apps (like IM's). Just clicking the little X in the corner doesn't close it. You need to go to the system tray and close it. That's one of the reasons your games are playing slow. Kazaa is just taking too many CPU cycles
 

microAmp

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2000
5,988
110
106
Here is a link to AdAware that was mentioned. Ad Aware

Here is another spy ware removal tool, use both Ad Aware and SpyBot Search & Destroy
SpyBot

Each one will find what the other misses.
 

hatefulreign

Member
Jun 22, 2003
36
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0
ok guys im gonna do a low level format all i need to know is what drivers will i need when the format is over if any one can give me a list that would be great and i dont have the recorvery disk so yea i got download all the new drivers and i do have a windows disk im gonna install windows 98se instead of xp pro my computer is a compaq Presario 5300 model-5321SR
 

Steven the Leech

Golden Member
Oct 16, 1999
1,443
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Did you look at the manufacturers support/downloads/drivers section on heir website? Basically with XP you probably wouldnt need to install anything except SP1/chipset drivers [if applicable].

With 98 you will need all of the drivers for the sound/video/modem/nic/.....

The key is to got to the MF website and DL all of the stuff you need, and also download a "manual".
 

azkiwi

Senior member
Oct 1, 2000
812
0
71
FWIW I don't think its a virus problem, I think it s an OS / driver issue. Don't go back to 98, you'll just have different problems to deal with. Make sure you have Sp1 and the latest drivers for all your hardware. Do you have any USB devices?
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
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I seriously doubt your games are "lagging" because of a virus. It's most likely junk programs that you've installed that run in the background constantly... Real Player and Kazaa are examples of those type of programs that you have to "turn off." If you want to start fresh, you don't need to do a low level format, all you need to do is format the drive... in the event that you do have a virus that your virus scanner missed (ahem, you do have one don't you?) formatting the MBR should clear up any that stick around after a normal format.
 

zephyrprime

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
7,512
2
81
Sounds more like a bunch of spyware and crap mudding it up and slowing it down.
The hard drive isn't the problem. It's Windows. Sounds to me that you've got tons of spyware running.
Bingo. This doesn't have anything to do with the HD. Either you:
1. got a bunch of spyware crap on your PC causing the lagging
2. reinstalled your viruses after you reformatted
3. your computer is just plain slug slow

And all games cause 100% cpu usage while active.

Formatting again isn't going to do anything and low level formatting isn't going to do anything. (by the way, there was a period of time way back when you could low level format, then later you couldn't and now you can again.)

By the way, you're not running with only 256MB of ram are you?
 

hatefulreign

Member
Jun 22, 2003
36
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i am runing 384ram and i just did a low level format and its helped a little but im still getign the same prob but at least it isnt completely freezeing its just lags and goes back normal before it would freeze up and then go back to normal