[derann]

Hi there.....

My first topic (hello everybody)....not IT (learned some through the years..)..need your help
Bought used computer without HD (put new one in) and tried to install XP sp3 (previous OS: Vista home).Installation went very slow (7-10 hours) for couple times in last 4 days.My best shots were:
-reset CMOS (OEM board...nothing major to change in settings)...no changes (still slow)
-unplug all non-esential hardware.....still slow
-ran memtest: 1 pass in 1,5 hours...no errors
-put new memory moduls (2x1 gb),tried one in every slot.....nothing happend
-reload CPU (everything looks OK and sitting flat).....slow
-ran several test on hard drive,CPU,memory,MB.....no errors
-noticed:CPU usage very high,commit charge very low (7-9%) when running simply search in explorer (nothing in conection with installing windows)
-checked "DMA" and "PIO" settings..
My best guess: MB (faulty northbridge memory controller ) or CPU
To help you I ran CPU-Z and :ph34r:atached the results

This "thing" drives me nuts and you are my last hope before something get trashed
All the best

Attached Files

•  amd.txt   61.11KB   124 downloads

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If one pass with memtest took about 1.5 hours then I agree with your observation and would suspect the motherboard or CPU. my first advice would be to make sure that the CPU is not overheating. Many BIOSs are programmed to cut cpu speed by half in case of overheating. Boot to BIOS and look in "computer health", or whatever it's called, what CPU temp is.

[The Skeptic]

If one pass with memtest took about 1.5 hours then I agree with your observation and would suspect the motherboard or CPU. my first advice would be to make sure that the CPU is not overheating. Many BIOSs are programmed to cut cpu speed by half in case of overheating. Boot to BIOS and look in "computer health", or whatever it's called, what CPU temp is.

[derann]

Hi

I checked CPU temp:

Hardware monitor AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+
Temperature 0 51°C (123°F) [0x13B] (Core #0)
Temperature 1 47°C (115°F) [0x12A] (Core #1)

and:

Hardware monitor ITE IT87
Voltage 0 1.33 Volts [0x53] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 1 2.50 Volts [0x9C] (VIN1)
Voltage 2 1.79 Volts [0x70] (+3.3V)
Voltage 3 5.59 Volts [0xD0] (+5V)
Voltage 4 12.16 Volts [0xBE] (+12V)...... high end ?!
Voltage 5 -4.67 Volts [0x49] (-12V)
Voltage 6 -11.46 Volts [0xB3] (-5V)
Voltage 7 5.05 Volts [0xBC] (+5V VCCH)
Voltage 8 3.07 Volts [0xC0] (VBAT)
Temperature 0 27°C (80°F) [0x1B] (TMPIN0)
Temperature 1 45°C (112°F) [0x2D] (TMPIN1)
Temperature 2 22°C (71°F) [0x16] (TMPIN2)
Fan 0 1875 RPM [0x168] (FANIN0)
Fan 1 1094 RPM [0x269] (FANIN1)...... is that speed to slow?
Fan PWM 0 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM0)
Fan PWM 1 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM1)
Fan PWM 2 50 pc [0x40] (FANPWM2)

and I found this (if that means anything at all):

Multiplier x FSB 13.5 x 200.9 MHz.... FSB should be 1GHZ and multiplier is at max ?!
Max FID 13.5x

Thanks for your reply... hope to lock that problem down
Cheers

[The Skeptic]

I don't see any problem with CPU temperature.

"Multiplier x FSB 13.5 x 200.9 MHz...". Your cpu runs at 2.6 Ghz. FSB is 200 and it is multiplied by 13.5 to give cpu speed of 2.6. No problem here.

Question: did you run memtest from a bootable CD or was there any installation to the hard disk involved? Please run it from a bootable CD and report how long it took for a single pass.

[derann]

One pass finished in 1 hour (no errors)...couldn't run memtest in standard mode (reboots the system) option 2 only...left memtest to run overnight....memtest started from bootable disc (no windows involved).
Question:could bios flash be of any good and where could I find such a file for nettle3 MB?

Cheers

Edited by derann, 18 July 2010 - 09:40 PM.

[The Skeptic]

Was the hard disk brand new when you installed it? Could you move it to another computer and run chkdsk?

1: Make sure that the flat cable that connects the HD is the correct one (80 leads, not 40 like they use for CD drives).

2: I guess that there is a secondary IDE port on the motherboard. Move the cable to this port and see if it makes any difference.

3: Reset the BIOS again. Disconnect the power cord and take the battery out for not less then 10 minutes. Reinstall and only set time and date and make CD drive first priority boot device.

[derann]

-Tried two HD (old one with IDE and new one with SATA)....similar results (7-10 hours)
-Tried 4 SATA ports (of 4)
-Both CD and HD connected on SATA port
-Memtest ran through the night......5 passes in 8 hours
-No time for another try (going to work)...

Cheers

[The Skeptic]

Frankly, I don't know what the problem is. I have never seen a case in which problems in the most basic level of hardware caused such a slowdown. In all the cases that I have seen I ran into error messages, blue screens, reboots and general instability. Something is choking your computer without creating a visible instability. With older computers you could set CPU speed by jumpers and quite often mistakes were made, causing poor performance. I doubt that there is such an option with your computer, but I would spend some time looking at it.

Download Sandra Lite from SiSoftware. Use the program for benchmarking various components. It's a good program and may help pinpointing the source of the problem.

[derann]

@ “The Sceptic”
I apologize for everything.....it was my fault: Somehow I didn’t see that greyish (unavailable thing in BIOS settings) which says “L2 cache: none”. “Load default settings” made it appear and everything looks ok now.
One more time....sorry for your spent time (I learned something again)....
Cheers

[The Skeptic]

No need to apologize. I am glad it was sorted out.

Thanks for letting us know.