[MelancholyRose]

You know I did, I posted that I did a long time ago. I said that each stick passed 6 times with no errors.

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Actually, I think I did that test after restarting the system. I wonder if it would be any different booting from it when powering on.

[MelancholyRose]

Actually, I think I did that test after restarting the system. I wonder if it would be any different booting from it when powering on.

[rshaffer61]

OK then we need to loo at drivers being the issue then.
When you say the motherboard was to be RMA'd has that been done or are we still working with the original Motherboard?

Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests

Here's how:

You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others). If your machine is running Vista or Windows 7, you must Select IE to “Run as Administrator”. After completing PCPitstop OverDrive you can close your IE browser and re-open it Normally so that you are no longer running as administrator.

Go to: http://www.pcpitstop.com
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)

Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.

The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.

Please post the URL internet address, from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.

Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.

After reviewing the results we will be more informed and may be able to provide better recommendations for you to work towards improving your machine's performance.

While PCPitstop does offer a variety of Paid Products, the PCPitstop OverDrive testing is FREE. Please ignore the references to Paid Products. We prefer to provide manual solution instructions that you can apply directly to your machine.

Best Regards

[MelancholyRose]

I'll do the test in a moment, but I thought I'd reply about the Mobo.

The motherboard being RMA'd isn't this one. It's MY motherboard that's being RMA'd. He still has the same one and it isn't being RMA'd.

[MelancholyRose]

Looks like the test came back fine, especially in the drivers area.

But, if you want to look at it, go ahead.

Test Results

[rshaffer61]

First issue I see is your drive is 26% fragmented. Never good and can cause all kinds of issues.
Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Background info courtesy of DonnaB Thank you

As for TFC, this is a tidbit of an article I found a while back by a MicroSoft MVP.

TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot%\temp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs). It shows the amount removed for each location found (in bytes) and the total removed (in MB).

Before running, it will stop Explorer and all other running applications. When finished, if a reboot is required the user must reboot to finish clearing any in-use temp files.
-- TFC only cleans temp folders.
-- TFC will not clean URL history, prefetch, or cookies. Depending on how often someone cleans their temp folders, their system hardware, and how many accounts are present, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or more. TFC will completely clear all temp files where other temp file cleaners may fail.

Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged
Please do not run any other Auslogics programs other then this one as they may cause unwanted results.
http://auslogics.com...defrag/download

[rshaffer61]

Second thing I noticed is a lot of games on your system. Are they store bought or downloaded through torrents?

[MelancholyRose]

No, we buy games on Steam, which is a popular game client, which is required to have for most games to even run now. You purchase and download games through the Steam client.

One reason why I never defragged his drives is because he has RAID 0. Will the RAID array get damaged if I defrag it?

Never mind, when doing a little research I see that defragging a RAID 0 doesn't hurt the data.

Edited by MelancholyRose, 10 July 2011 - 10:00 AM.

[rshaffer61]

All though fragmentation is not as bad with a NTFS formatted drive yours is way beyond what I see. Normally less then 5% I don't get to excited. At 10% I suggest it and anything over 15% is just a problem.
I understand your hesitation but glad you found it doesn't hurt the RAID.
If you constantly add and uninstall a lot of games or programs it is a good ideal to Defrag your drive at least once a month. Cleaning the Temp files is as easy as running TFC right before you run defrag.
These are basic maintenance and have been used for years which will help keep your system running smoothly.
Let me know how everything is running when you are done and we may want to run a chkdsk /r on the main drive to make sure the disk integrity is good.

[MelancholyRose]

I finished with the TFC and it cleared out about 700 MB worth of crap.

I'll run the defrag next.

Although when reading that defrag shouldn't hurt a RAID 0 array, doing a chkdsk DOES have a chance of hurting the array. I've read that running a chkdsk on any RAID can cause corruption. It may have been on just mirrored, but I think it's striped, too.

Oh, this is interesting. Right when I opened the defragger, I checked the system health. It announced that he had 6 different registry errors.

Edited by MelancholyRose, 10 July 2011 - 10:30 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Are you using the Auslogics defrag and what registry errors did it report?

[MelancholyRose]

Yes, using Auslogics.

It didn't tell me what errors they were. It just told me there were 6 and when I clicked "learn more" it took me to a page with a registry cleaner. That didn't tell me what they were either, so, I don't know what they are.

[rshaffer61]

I would be leary of any program that says you have registry errors and then requires you to buy the program to correct them.
Registry cleaners are notorious for messing registries up to the point the system becomes unstable and in some cases unusable.

[MelancholyRose]

Well the defrag is finished, regardless. Things seem slightly faster.

I'm still worried about the USB ports causing the display to crash.

Edited by MelancholyRose, 10 July 2011 - 10:46 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Have you tried the USB again since finishing the TFC defrag?