Hard Drive problem?
Discussion
Need some advice from those in the know. My desktop PC(Athlon XP2000, 512Mb Ram) started to make some clanking noises from the 80Gb hard drive and not long after that it died a death - fair enough.
I bought a new 160Gb Seagate HD, put it in, installed XP Home(SP2) and all my software and whilst everything worked, it seemed to be running slower than before it died. When windows starts the welcome sound stutters as if the system is having to work hard to get everything done at the same time? If you play the welcome sound when it is up and running it plays perfectly, as does anything else you play sound wise. I have taken the sound card out, reconnected all cables and used the original drivers that came with it.
Thinking there was something wrong with the hard drive I took it back to the shop, told them the story, they swapped it for a 160Gb Maxtor. I put that in, all the stuff on it again – same thing.
Is this as a result of fitting a larger drive to an old PC? Could the fact the power supply is only 300w have anything to do with it. I noticed there were also a load of windows updates after I installed XP, anything to do with any of these?
Any suggestions as to what I could have done wrong more than welcome.
(suggesting I get someone who knows about PCs to fix it would not be helpful
)
I bought a new 160Gb Seagate HD, put it in, installed XP Home(SP2) and all my software and whilst everything worked, it seemed to be running slower than before it died. When windows starts the welcome sound stutters as if the system is having to work hard to get everything done at the same time? If you play the welcome sound when it is up and running it plays perfectly, as does anything else you play sound wise. I have taken the sound card out, reconnected all cables and used the original drivers that came with it.
Thinking there was something wrong with the hard drive I took it back to the shop, told them the story, they swapped it for a 160Gb Maxtor. I put that in, all the stuff on it again – same thing.
Is this as a result of fitting a larger drive to an old PC? Could the fact the power supply is only 300w have anything to do with it. I noticed there were also a load of windows updates after I installed XP, anything to do with any of these?
Any suggestions as to what I could have done wrong more than welcome.
(suggesting I get someone who knows about PCs to fix it would not be helpful
) Are all the display and motherboard drivers installed OK on the new XP home install? Check the device manager for question marks. The default drivers are often inefficient, and can cause sound stuttering during scrolling or large screen changes. (like the welcome screen fading in and out)
aldi said:
Are all the display and motherboard drivers installed OK on the new XP home install? Check the device manager for question marks. The default drivers are often inefficient, and can cause sound stuttering during scrolling or large screen changes. (like the welcome screen fading in and out)
After I installed XP there were some question marks in the device manager but once I installed drivers I had on Cds for the various bits they all went. If it wasn't for the fact I am so used to the way this PC works I would not know there is anything wrong - but there is.
Is there any reason why the larger drive(160Gb 8Mb 7200rpm) should be any slower?
Silly question, have you updated the drivers to the latest versions?
Also have you had a look in the EventLog to see if there are any issues there?
Have you loaded any AMD specific drivers (I know for the X2 processors there is a processor driver). Got all of the current XP hotfixes and patches?
The times I have experienced stuttering sound has either been due to excessive cpu utilisation or incorrect drivers.
Also have you had a look in the EventLog to see if there are any issues there?
Have you loaded any AMD specific drivers (I know for the X2 processors there is a processor driver). Got all of the current XP hotfixes and patches?
The times I have experienced stuttering sound has either been due to excessive cpu utilisation or incorrect drivers.
Edited by Nismo'D on Wednesday 22 November 15:39
Nismo'D said:
Silly question, have you updated the drivers to the latest versions?
I haven't but all was well with the drivers I had before the HD packed up? Nismo'D said:
Also have you had a look in the EventLog to see if there are any issues there?
Should have warned you, PC numpty, how do you do that? Nismo'D said:
Have you loaded any AMD specific drivers (I know for the X2 processors there is a processor driver). Got all of the current XP hotfixes and patches?
Does that apply to my steam driven AMD? Got every single XP update/hotfix. Nismo'D said:
The times I have experienced stuttering sound has either been due to excessive cpu utilisation or incorrect drivers.
Not that I know what I am talking about but it seems that whatever you ask the PC to do it uses all the capacity of the CPU and leaves nothing for anything else. If that is possible(?), is there anything that can be done about it? Once again, everything was perfect and faster before the new HD.
New big HD would normally be noticably faster than an old small one, especially on a fresh install. In the device manager, what is listed under 'display adapters'? Also, under 'ide controllers' check the properties of all the channels and make sure that everything is in DMA mode (not PIO)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/81747
Follow the instructions at the bottom to make the changes to the registry.
Follow the instructions at the bottom to make the changes to the registry.
aldi said:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/81747
Follow the instructions at the bottom to make the changes to the registry.
Followed it to the letter, no deal. Unplugged the zip drive in case that was complicating matters before doing it too. Follow the instructions at the bottom to make the changes to the registry.
Ok, if we assume that for reasons better know to my PC it will not work with a 160Gb HD, don't know if that's possible? It's about 5 years old if that makes any difference.
What if I wipe the drive, create a partition the size of 80Gb(same size as the original HD) leaving the rest unused. Would the PC think it is an 80Gb drive or is it smarter than that?
At present I have split it in half(C&D) but maybe it still sees it as a 160Gb drive.
Any further suggestions before this thing learns to fly?
Ribol said:
aldi said:
Are there any settings in the BIOS for UDMA?
I see a note on the right about shielded cable, the original one worked fine with original HD, have also tried another one in case I damaged it swapping over drives.
Out of interest is it an 80pin or 40pin cable? (40's are quite chunky, 80's have lots of very fine bumps where the individual wires are running). Whilst newer drives can run on 40's, often with no problems they can complain bitterly about it.
OK, some more clues for anyone that hasn't given up already 
Just re-installed XP, as soon as it finished I checked the device manager, ULTRA DMA mode shown as opposed to PIO. PC looking cr@p but obviously working properly.
I have a Microsoft SP2 CD, ran it to upgrade to XP SP2, as soon as I restarted the PC I checked to device manager, it has changed to PIO mode, PC running like cr@p again, sound stuttering etc.
This PC has been reformatted using the same XP CD and the same SP2 CD many times, each time perfect - with original HD.
With this HD, doing everything the same way I have always done it it goes to PIO mode every time, lost count how many times so not a one off glitch.
Does any oif the above mean anything to anyone? (Bios pics above still apply)
Just re-installed XP, as soon as it finished I checked the device manager, ULTRA DMA mode shown as opposed to PIO. PC looking cr@p but obviously working properly.
I have a Microsoft SP2 CD, ran it to upgrade to XP SP2, as soon as I restarted the PC I checked to device manager, it has changed to PIO mode, PC running like cr@p again, sound stuttering etc.
This PC has been reformatted using the same XP CD and the same SP2 CD many times, each time perfect - with original HD.
With this HD, doing everything the same way I have always done it it goes to PIO mode every time, lost count how many times so not a one off glitch.
Does any oif the above mean anything to anyone? (Bios pics above still apply)
If you can find a copy of ALi's IDE drivers for XP then that might help. Google says they're part of an integrated set of drivers at v2.07, but ALi's ftp site appears to be down at the moment. Maybe try again later?
eta, *stop the press*
www.majorgeeks.com/download4463.html
Don't know if that will specifically work for your stuff but give it a go, whats the worst that could happen?
eta, *stop the press*
www.majorgeeks.com/download4463.html
Don't know if that will specifically work for your stuff but give it a go, whats the worst that could happen?
Edited by aldi on Thursday 23 November 09:15
The other possibility is that this new HD will be UDMA 133, whereas your old drive may have been UDMA66 or 100, the higher frequency at which this communication occurs may be too much for the Cable (interference), or may not be supported fully by your motherboard, due to its age.
My suggestion would be try the driver update as suggested for the Motherboard, if this doesn't work check the motherboard manufacturers site and look for BIOS updates and try that.
If no luck there, change the cable for a new one.
If no luck then you may need to slow the UDMA settings down to 100 (should be described in your motherboard manual (if you have one)).
My suggestion would be try the driver update as suggested for the Motherboard, if this doesn't work check the motherboard manufacturers site and look for BIOS updates and try that.
If no luck there, change the cable for a new one.
If no luck then you may need to slow the UDMA settings down to 100 (should be described in your motherboard manual (if you have one)).
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