System lag & reboot issues

[umami]

Hoping someone can help with this problem. I'll try to be as descriptive as possible:

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2.4 P4 533mhz FSB
ASUS P4PE mobo w/onboard LAN, SATA, RAID
2x 512mb 333mhz DDR RAM (actually 1x333, 1x400, both Kingston brand)
MSI Geforce 4200Ti running dual monitors
Seagate SATA HD 7200rpm
2 IDE HD 7200rpm
SilenX 450W PSU (1 day old)
Zalman coolers on CPU and video card
USB mouse
Universal Audio UAD-1 DSP card (PCI card)
Mark of the Unicorn 828MkII firewire audio interface
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I have been running this machine for about a year and a half with a different audio interface (M-audio delta 1010) with absolutely no problems. About two months ago I added the UAD-1 card and continued to have no problems. A month ago, I replaced the 1010 (which is a PCI interface) with the MOTU 828. At this time, I also reformatted my primary harddrive and reinstalled Windows XP Pro. Almost immediately after booting the clean system, I started to get mouse lag--the mouse cursor would jerk across the screen, particularly when doing things like copying files from one folder to another, or while running any audio application. A friend suggested that it might be lack of RAM causing the problem, so I bought a second stick of 512MB DDR RAM as mentioned in the above spec. While installing the second stick of ram, I discovered that the 2nd RAM slot had 3 bent pins. I carefully bent these pins back into place, reinstalled the new RAM, and ran memtest on it with no errors. The mouse lag problem persisted, and I finally decided to reformat again and reinstall windows.

I'm still having the problem. I've tried running the system without the new ram, I've tried swapping ram. I've unplugged the 828. I've changed latency settings on the 828 to both extremes of short and long. I've moved the UAD-1 card into every open PCI slot, suspecting IRQ conflicts. I went so far as to buy a new firewire PCI card to replace the onboard firewire. Nothing helps. I get tremendous mouse lag (and erratic audio performance--crackles and pops), especially when running audio applications (which typically run around 60-80% cpu).

So over the last couple of weeks, a new problem developed: I will get an hour or so of functional computer time (with mouse lag), then upon opening a new application, the app will crash until I reboot the machine. At reboot, the system freezes upon displaying the CPU speed (10 seconds or less into reboot, and before POST). I have to power the system down and restart, whereupon it boots as a 1.8ghz CPU, then dumps me to the BIOS screen saying something like "the CPU speed you have selected is incorrect blah blah." My choices are "manual" or "2400". Neither choice makes a difference--the only thing that seems to get the machine to start is turning it off for 10-15 min, then restarting (which would suggest an overheating issue?).

Suspecting a failing power supply (I was running a 300w psu, which I can only guess was overloaded), I upgraded to a 450W psu yesterday. Still having problems. ASUS mobo monitor reports CPU temps under 44C and mobo temps under 40C. Voltages are good.

My apologies for the novel, but I'm at wit's end here. Can anyone help?

 

[Technonut]

Have you tried using another mouse? (PS2) I would start with that, and totally strip your rig down to the basics. Get a clean WinXP installation going. (install all updates) Be sure to install the Intel Chipset drivers also. Then add your other cards 1 at a time.

EDIT: BTW, welcome to AnandTech Forums..

 

[umami]

technonut: Thanks. I've actually been a lurker here off and on for ages. I used to have an account, but since I so rarely post it's been lost to time...

I've stripped this thing down, twice, to the bare essentials: mouse, keyboard, mobo. Then installed the UAD, then the MOTU. I will try another mouse, otherwise I've done everything you've suggested, including Intel Chipset drivers, to no avail. Everything is updated--current drivers across the board, current service packs (incidentally, I had the problem prior to installing XP SP1), etc. I'm nothing if not thorough.

Cheers

 

[Technonut]

Does your system act-up with just the basics installed? When you add the first card, run for awhile to check things out before adding another card. There has to be a point where issues start to occur.

I am curious about the USB mouse... Please post back if changing to a PS2 does any good.

 

[umami]

Roger that--I'll try both of those suggestions. Ironically, the biggest challenge is going to be scrounging up a PS/2 mouse.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

To be certain I understand you correctly, at this point even with a fresh format and install of XPPro and a barebones setup minus the MOTU 828 you are having these issues, correct? Because reading this the problems start as soon as it enters the mix which makes it suspect #1.

 

[myocardia]

You more than likely have a partially-screwed bios, man. Try reinstalling/upgrading your (motherboard) bios.

edit: That's assuming that using a PS/2 mouse doesn't solve your problems.

 

[pspada]

It may be as simple as loading the chipset drivers? and you can probably find one of those green USB to PS/2 adapters that come with virtually every USB mouse, right? Won't prove that your mouse is not a problem, but may allow youto connect a different USB mouse to the PS/2 port if necessary.

 

[umami]

Ok, I installed the existing usb mouse as ps/2 using the "little green adaptor", and also installed another mouse, neither of which solved the problem.

I also uninstalled the MOTU interface, uninstalled the software and deleted the program folder, which had little effect. Next up: revert BIOS to earlier version.

Just for entertainment's sake, here are a few other things that have happened tonight:

The PCI firewire card shows up in the device manager with a little yellow exclamation point. "this device cannot start (code 10)." Any attempt to reinstall drivers fails. Finally I uninstalled and physically removed the card, re-enabled the onboard firewire controller. Reinstalled drivers for the MOTU, and now the system fails to recognize that the MOTU interface is even plugged in. Curiously, I had the MOTU running while the PCI firewire card was claiming failure, but at that time the MOTU was not showing up in the device manager. This is like the bermuda triangle of computer problems.

Tomorrow, I'm testing the MOTU on a nearly identical machine that a friend of mine runs with no problems. At least then I can eliminate the MOTU as the culprit. My suspicions are leaning toward the motherboard at this point.

Thanks to everyone for your help thus far.

 

[Bad Dude]

Check the capacitors on the board carefully. Maybe the board has blown capacitor that you don't know about and it happens at the right time to cause this problem.

 

[umami]

It appears my MOTU is malfunctioning. Tested it out on a friend's machine and couldn't get the computer to identify the device at all.

However, I've still got the lag issues. Will attempt a clean installation of WinXP tonight and see if that helps. What a mess.

 

[Sahakiel]

If you can get it to just sit in windows, run task manager and see what's chewing up your CPU cycles.

 

[alekbe]

i got exactly the same problem(with the mouse), and i'm so frustrated, tried everything. got a wacom board to and it lags the same when the computer gets something a little to much to do... the system was running nicely for 1 year and then something happend...

sorry for the english (norwegian)

 

[alekbe]

ahhh.. my last troubleshooting session finally paid off. i also got a geforce card and dual monitors maybe thats the conflict in som strange way. it is something called nwiz.exe that lays in your windows/system32 folder, the only thing it does is making it possible to have multiple desktops,
DELETE IT! that solved the problem for me and I am once again a happy 3D nerd. hope this is the solution for u to, it sure sounds like it !