Kaputt Komputer?

[xerocool83]

So I built a computer for my Gf's little sister and she just started using it and she says it is freezing her computer when she used Word and it was slow when she used Powerpoint and Morrowind. I was wondering is there problems with these programs and Dual Core machines? I got her a 6300CPU and Windows XP professional.

Computer is:
SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Pioneer 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Read Black ATAPI Model DVR-111D - OEM

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail

pqi POWER Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model MAB42GUOE-X2 - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Thanks,
X

 

[apt403]

hmm, what kind of psu is in the system and what are the temps of the cpu under load and while idle?

 

[xerocool83]

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817194011
that is the PSU....The Temps should be fine I messed around with it before adn the CPU never got above 38C according to speedfan....but ill go over to her house and check the temps first hand....Also if I had kept an old harddrive in there for storage, could that cause it? It seemed to happen when she used word, when she opened a powerpoint from the internet and when playing starting morrowind. I have the OS on the new harddrive and the older one is just there for storage of her files...
thank,
X

 

[endyen]

What kind of ISP is she using? Does she have a firewall? What kind of spy filter is she using? What AV? What type of sites does she visit?
I built a rig for a friend's 10 year old. Within two weeks, it had been hacked seven ways from sunday, had almost a k of spyware, and two dozen viruses.
BTW I had loaded norton, but didn't update, told them to register etc.

 

[xerocool83]

I have tried to reformat the old HDD twice now but to no avail. It will not let me reformat it.

 

[Era]

I have tried to reformat the old HDD twice now but to no avail. It will not let me reformat it.

Disconnect the old HDD and try without it.

 

[bga]

Sounds like malware. From another system you should download BartPE, make boot CD, and then scan the troubled computer.

 

[bga]

Had the same problem once with my old HDD. There was a curropted sector that just couldn't be delt with. So i took a large magnet from an old speaker and rubbed it all over the drive. Then it had no problem being formated and used again.

No, I would definetely NOT recommend that! Modern HDD is factory lowlevel formatted (not the type format which you do from the OS). There are drive level (again not OS level) badsector and sector relocation tables - which all can be destroyed by a magnet. In the old days you could do it, IF you had a good low level format utility, but no longer - today it is strictly at the factory.
The reason why he can't format is because you can't format the system drive, which is locked by the OS. He needs to boot from the windows CD and repartition the drive from the installer (or use BartPE).

IF he thinks it is a HDD problem (could be - but I think malware), he CAN lowlevel test it with utilities downloaded from the manufacturer. At least Seagate has some good ones. Another reccommended harddisk utility is SpinRite 6 from Gibson Research (www.grc.com). That goes WAY lower on harddisk problems than the free drive utilities and the OS.

 

[bga]

That's funny the drive is only 2 years old. It's not SATA but it is a 7200RPM IDE 60bg Drive. I had no trouble at all getting it reset up with sector alocation tables and getting it reformated for an XP install using Partition Comander.

You were very lucky. You could have bricked your disk easily.

 

[bga]

Yes i know i could have destroyed the disk. I had already gotten a replacment for it. So i figured what the hell lets see if i can salvage it.

Thats another thing. I once also opened a failed harddisk - just for curiosity to see the inside and maybe find the reason for its failure. Never could fix it though.
But before any such drastic measures I would do a lot of other things...