Lowered performance from too many connections?

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Sho86

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Jun 1, 2013
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I'm not quite sure where to post this so I decided here based on what I know so far. I have an old old ('05 or so) Emachines computer that has been slowly dying over time. T5048 (XP media OS) is the model, though hard to find info on it, least for me. We bought a 7300gt (old i know, i know) for it, and back in its hay-day it ran WoW, videos, etc without a hitch, albeit on medium-low settings.

For about two years now its performance has been degrading slowly, now to the point where it skips and lags on youtube/hulu and studdering in WoW so bad its unplayable, not to mention just overall load times for boot up and grabbing programs has increased a lot. During that time I've been slowly replacing parts, new in what I can, and some from another computer (another emachines), that ran fine, but stopped using due to being a Frankenstein 1gb ram/vista combo package that I bought when I was too trusting from best buy.

First I replaced the CPU, swapped it with the vista Emach as they shared the same type (I checked on this countless times before doing so, so I can confirm that works fine). This worked for a little while but then the degrading came back. Next I gave it a higher PSU, 450w, the same that runs my current PC for gaming. Again, this seemed to give it a little boon to performance for a short time, then degraded once again. Now today I wiped and re-formatted the HDD from the vista-stein, and cloned the XP HDD over. In doing so I had to disconnect the CD-ROM as it only has two IDE ports.

During its first boot up (booting from newly cloned HDD) I had both HDD still attached, and it ran perfectly fine. Thinking I finally nailed it, I powered it down, took out the old HDD, put the CD-ROM back in with the new HDD and powered it back up. This went right back to studder and lag, at which point I swapped the IDE ports the CD-ROM and HDD were using, getting the same result. Finally I took out the CD-ROM, leaving the new HDD as the only IDE connection and it now runs fine again, for the time being...

So my question is, is the motherboard dying out where it can no longer functionally use both ports at the same time? Though it was able to clone using both IDE, I have no clue if it was running slower at the time, also it ran fine while both HDD were hooked up, if that makes a difference.... Or, can a CD-ROM thats faulty cause a power drain of sorts that could hinder performance? I haven't used that CD-ROM in years, and if I remember correctly the last time we tried it ran intermittently.

Buying anything right now is out of the question for me, and more or less just want to figure this out. I can throw the CD-ROM from the other into it if need be, but rather not deal with that hassle if I can avoid it. Thanks for the help in advance.
 
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Sho86

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Jun 1, 2013
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If buying a completely new computer was an option to me, I would have done it long ago. Right now though I only have my current gaming PC, and the two emachines that my mother used/uses for odds and ends. If I can't solve this then so be it, but for the time being in my current situation, I figured I'd try here for advice before giving up and just leaving it as is until it may or may not act up again.
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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Jul 11, 2012
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The PC worked great for the programs and games that you had but as soon as you connected to the internet, things went awry. The internet is a heavy cpu, gpu ram usage "program" that is just not good with PC's earlier than Vista (2009). Even in XP, you only got as much as IE8 which isn't really suited to Hulu, youtube or even Skype or Flash media videos without some osrt of issue with lagging, disconnection, and shut downs.

Keep your old Pc for those old games and go buy a second-hand Pc that is dated past 2009, with either Vista or Windows 7, if that is what you prefer but then you can forget about those older games, you would get different issues due to compatibility.

I'm using Vista (SP2) x32, IE9, GT 8600 512mb, 160gb Sata hdd, 4gb 800mhz ram right now, it's best for internet especially without Google junk clogging up the works. I"ve got Windows 7 x32 and x64, they need so many internet addons with IE9 it's not worth having them for internet. If IE 10 had been around a few years ago, I'd have installed it, better with Windows 7.

Your PC would be able to run Serious Sam 2, if you are thinking of playing a different type of game.

Those older emachines only had a low end PSU, and ram, not really good enough except for older games and programs pre 2006.

Let me just say that my dad has had the same hammer for 32 years, it's only had 4 new handles and 3 new heads, but it's still the same hammer.
Your emachine has had so many uplifts that it would put Phyllis Diller to shame.
 
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Sho86

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Wow, ok... This really went off topic. I initially was just asking if a motherboard could have the possibility of not working correctly or if a CD-ROM has the capability to cause such an issue if it is faulty. As it stands, with one IDE connection being the HDD, it runs anything its given (within reason for its age) just fine. Hulu, WoW, YouTube, etc all do fine right now, I really don't know how this led to the internet being a problem but its not (I suppose I was not detailed enough on stating it works perfectly fine after what I've currently done in the first post).

I was only wondering if this might be because either the motherboard is slowly dying which I ask that since all I've seen is motherboards are a 'pass-fail' type of hardware - looking to see if there was an in-between. Also, if a faulty CD-ROM could cause enough of a problem for performance issues if it were hooked up, which Alexoiu touched on slightly, and was hoping if someone could think of a similar example or problem.

At this point nevermind, I asked this question only trying to save myself a little time throwing in the other CD-ROM and seeing the outcome, if it sounded like the motherboard could have been more of the problem. I'll just continue at this on my own.
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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You rambled on about changing and swapping different parts almost to the point of not even having the same PC anymore. I'm not even sure what you got now. Please give all your current PC hardware.

Here are some links to your original PC -
T5048
Drivers etc

The motherboard uses only DDR400mhz ram up to a maximum of 2gb.
The original OS was Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 but this motherboard is certified to be Vista (x32) compatible.

You just can't re-install over the top of a hdd already with an OS, you have to delete the hidden partition that Vista has embedded in the hdd before you format and install a different XP, and then you'd need XP media Center and not regualr "XP" version ot utilze the motherboard properly.

The hdd is more than likely worn out considering the age of it, possibly bad sectors. Any bad sectors more than 4096kb in size will cause issues.

This Pc is only good for really old games pre 2005, and basic Office use.

The cd/dvd drive looks like a slot drive meaning that the facing cover has been removed and you insert the disk through a slot (like on a HD TV). This is prone to dust accumulation, so it could be the cd/dvd drive needs a good cleaning.

If you don't use the 9 in 1 card reader, disconnect the cable from the motherboard and the power cable for it.
 
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Sho86

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Jun 1, 2013
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After I made my last post, I did the rest of my testing around and found out the problem was the IDE 1 connection on the motherboard. Even the old HDD runs fine on the IDE 2 when the CD-ROM isn't on IDE 1.

Although, when something is connected to IDE 1, or the HDD is connected to IDE 1 even by itself, the problems flare up again. I didn't think of it sooner as from what I've seen in forums, motherboards supposedly don't go out like that. I always hear how they just 'quit'.

Also your right about the vista HDD, I actually used DBAN then WD edition Acronis to clone the old HDD of XP media. Although it was a wasted effort for that now, at least I learned a bit more about HDDs.

In the end I'm just leaving it be since there is nothing I can do about the motherboard, or would be willing to do anyways. As its already been mentioned, the money would be better spent elsewhere, and at this point I've still spent none.
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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The motherboard is fine, nothing wrong with it.

Manual
"The emachines t5048 data recovery boot CD (version 2 released 04/04/2011). If your data is still on your emachines t5048 this CD will recover it do not use this data recovery CD for any other system as this CD is designed for use only with the emachines t5048 more information on this data recovery disk can be found here no matter what operating system you use this emachines t5048 boot CD will automatically start up and give you a Windows® like graphic user interface. This interface shows all your t5048 hard disk contents and also your cds and or usb key content. This is an operating system with built in data recovery software written in house..use the download button for more information on the emachines t5048 Windows® 8 Windows® 7 XP & Vista data recovery boot cd."

I wouldn't use it for Vista, would be great for XP, though. You could use a regular XP OS but not be able to acquire some of the features of the Media Center, which is basically your DVD movies, anyhow.

The primary cable is for the hdd, the secondary cable is for the CD/DVD drive. Both devices should have pin jumpers on the back of them, set them both to Master and not Cable Select or Slave. The HDD might have a label on it giving details to the pin setting, some drives don't require a jumper to be the Master.

You only set the Slave option if you use only one PATA 80-pin cable, the second connector is the slave device, usually the CD/DVD drive to which you would then set the Slave jumper pins. Try not to have both the CD/DVD drive power connector on the same line as the hdd, if possible.
 
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Sho86

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Jun 1, 2013
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Well I will have to take back what I said about the internet earlier, to an extent. Earlier today the problem came back again and was digging around the web for ideas (I just hate giving up heh). Drivers kept popping up with similar symptoms in forums, and led to the use of Sysinternals from the Microsoft Tech-Net site, namely the Process Explorer, for finding the cause.

Using the explorer at first yielded no results, everything running normally with local programs running (IE Playstation emulator etc). Although soon as I hit a youtube, and even after I stop using it, the graph started recording Hardware Interrupt/DPCs at ~%50. The computer would then have its usual troubles of not being able to use anything.

I went to the network card driver and checked the version, which ended up being a '06 Vista driver, which how that got there I'm not even sure. The HDD is an exact clone of the XP HDD, which had the driver as well when I checked. Another driver was available on board which ended up being an '03 driver. Soon as I installed that driver, the interrupts went away and the computer ran fine.

I did a few restarts and watched long shows, played some WoW, YouTube, etc, trying to recreate the problem with no results. Graph on the explorer is still clean and running like it did years ago. So I apologize with my earlier remark TenPc about the internet. While it still is a very much internet-worthy PC, the internet was in fact the source of the problem.
 
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