wrathloki

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So I just put together a new computer, everything is new except for the hard drive, here's the parts as follows:

Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 2.13GHz
Gigabyte GA 965P DS3
1 gig corsair ddr2 800
Antec Truepower II 550 watt psu
XFX 7600gt
250gig Western digital hard drive (2-3 years old)

So here's the problem, the computer seems to just be randomly hanging. For example, I'll open a program and it will just sit there for a minute or 2 doing nothing at all, then after that it'll start loading. Now when its doing this the processor is not working at all until its done hanging, it basically does nothing at all. Another example of this is when I'll be playing a video game, graphics all out as high as they go and it'll run perfect (doesn't even heat up the cpu or the video card) but every minute or so my framerates will drop like a brick and it will become unplayable for a minute or 2. Another example is sometimes I'll exit a game and it'll close out and go to windows, but I'll still hear the sound from the game and its process will still be going, it'll be like this for a minute or 2 also then it will fully close out. And yet another example would be if i'm installing something it will be progressing steadily then it will just sit there and do nothing for a few minutes, no processor resources being used up at all, then it'll start working again.

Sorry for all the examples but it helps get my point accross. Now, could it be the hard drive since its fairly old? Or do hard drives not really deteriorate over time. I don't know much about hard drives but it almost seems like a caching issue or something, but who knows, I don't really know what i'm talking about. So, what do you think the problem could be? Thanks for any help.

Edit: By the way, all my drivers are updated to the latest versions.
 

Bazukaz

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Hi,
Is your OS installation fresh (i.e installed on the current computer) ?
Did you install all the drivers required ?
If so , it may be a hardware problem. It is possible that CPU is not installed correctly(the heat sink is not firmly attached to CPU case).
There may be many reasons , like RAM , video card , etc.
Since the components are new , it is unlikely that they are bad.Sometimes changing BIOS settings may help.
You can try to go to BIOS and load fail-safe defaults.

Regards,
Lukas.
 

wrathloki

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Hi,
Is your OS installation fresh (i.e installed on the current computer) ?
Did you install all the drivers required ?
If so , it may be a hardware problem. It is possible that CPU is not installed correctly(the heat sink is not firmly attached to CPU case).
There may be many reasons , like RAM , video card , etc.
Since the components are new , it is unlikely that they are bad.Sometimes changing BIOS settings may help.
You can try to go to BIOS and load fail-safe defaults.

Regards,
Lukas.

-Fresh install of XP
-All drivers installed
-Heatsink firmly attached

What are these fail-safe defaults in the bios? Can they help me figure out what may be wrong?
 

Criminal89

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One question for you. Is the harddrive SATA or IDE? The reason I ask is because i have heard that there are issues with the PATA controller on some of the 965 chipset motherboards. If you are infact using an IDE harddrive then that could be the problem.
 

Bazukaz

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Hi,
One more thing :
If HDD diode is always on when PC stops responding , there may be a problem with your hard drive(bad sectors).
 

Nomans63

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I think Bazukaz is right. Your 250 Gig WD HDD is dying.
Open the 'Event Viewer' from Windows 'Adminisitrator Tools' group, check the 'System Panel'. You should be able to see LOTS of red Error icons under the Type' and 'disk' under 'Source'. Read the detail error. It probably will say something similar to "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0...".
If this is the case, run WD HDD diagnostic program to confirm the error amd then RMA the drive if still in warranty, otherwise you know what to do...
 

wrathloki

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I think Bazukaz is right. Your 250 Gig WD HDD is dying.
Open the 'Event Viewer' from Windows 'Adminisitrator Tools' group, check the 'System Panel'. You should be able to see LOTS of red Error icons under the Type' and 'disk' under 'Source'. Read the detail error. It probably will say something similar to "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0...".
If this is the case, run WD HDD diagnostic program to confirm the error amd then RMA the drive if still in warranty, otherwise you know what to do...

Hmm, well I looked at that and there were a few errors but they were all internet related.

One question for you. Is the harddrive SATA or IDE? The reason I ask is because i have heard that there are issues with the PATA controller on some of the 965 chipset motherboards. If you are infact using an IDE harddrive then that could be the problem.

The hard drive is sata so it wouldn't be that.
 

blunc

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it sounds like a software issue, I suggest launching the "task manager" and checking the "process" tab to see what is hogging all your CPU time during these lags. I wouldn't be worried about the "system idle process" but it sounds like something else is taking control of your system and hogging your CPU time.
 

wrathloki

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it sounds like a software issue, I suggest launching the "task manager" and checking the "process" tab to see what is hogging all your CPU time during these lags. I wouldn't be worried about the "system idle process" but it sounds like something else is taking control of your system and hogging your CPU time.

The cpu is not being hogged, the cpu isn't doing anything at all when it hangs. When its hanging, nothing at all happens, no process power being used or anything, until it starts working again.
 

Nomans63

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OK, wrathloki, your 250 WD HDD is working fine. Does the red HDD light stay on for the whole time when your computer hangs; and the HDD light would go off if the computer starts working again? If this is the case, I'm still thinking that must be some hardware related to a storage drive is not working (if not the SATA drive itself, then it could be the controller, or even the CD/DVD drive). Try to hook up the HDD to a different SATA controller to see whether it would make any difference. What about CD/DVD drive? Check the cable on both ends. I'm almost positive this is a hardware issue, just can't pinpoint exact the cause...
 

godman

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you didnt say ifit was overclocked or not? If o go back to stock and see if it works @ stock frequency. :? dunno if it would work but then you never know...
 

wrathloki

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Nope, no overclocking. But I did decide to just buy a new hard drive, I needed to upgrade to sata 3gbps anyways, I am using sata150 right now. And now that I think of it, could this be what was causing the problem? Sata150 meants 150 mbps, right? If this is the case it could just be that my hard drive is holding the whole system back, couldn't it?
 

godman

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I needed to upgrade to sata 3gbps anyways, I am using sata150 right now. And now that I think of it, could this be what was causing the problem? Sata150 meants 150 mbps, right? If this is the case it could just be that my hard drive is holding the whole system back, couldn't it?

actually, you're wrong there...You will notice no difference from sata to sata 2. :( there is a difference in speed(double) but the drive cannnot (even today) transfer faster than around 100mbs, even then it would be a large file. The 300mbs is only used sometimes, its a burst speed, data might be stored and then unleashed at that speed (in short) transfering at 300mbs

Sata150 meants 150 mbps, right

ah but you're right here :D

But I did decide to just buy a new hard drive

thats a good idea anyway. However if you have anyone who might be able to lend you a HDD for a bit, or if you have one even borrow it and test to see if its the HDD thats the problem, a process of elimination! :D
 

wrathloki

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Well, either way it'll be nice to have an extra 250gb, this lil one I have no just isn't enough. So I took some time to see what was happening when the computer was hanging, and the HDD light was stuck on and there was no processor use every time it was hanging. I guess I'll just have to wait to see what happens when i throw the new hdd in there.
 

aequalsb

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I've experienced hanging when there was sypware or viruses involved. Perhaps a good scan of your computer might turn something up.