A Couple Problems

[OutlawCecil]

I recently bought a bunch of brand new parts from TigerDirect and successfully put together my very first computer. It's a heck of alot faster then my old in every way but a seemingly all-knowing friend at work swears it's not getting the speeds it should be.


Problem 1:
My Hard drive is a SATA-II and from what I see (and my knowledge is short in this area), it's not running as SATA at all. This is from one of my utility programs...

Max. Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA/133)
Active Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA/100)

I have jumpers set on "Force 150" as recommended by many sites but it still doesn't seem to be pulling the speeds it should be. I ran some tests a while back and I was told it is indeed slower then it should be. I also have no idea about the drivers. I installed windows just like normal and my friend is telling me I don't have any sata drivers at all. I searched the disks that came with my system as well as the Maxtor and Intel sites for the drivers and came up with nothing. Any help?



Problem 2:
I run a server 24/7 but not alot of people play all at once. I usually have about 1400MB ram still free from running my server (and other small background stuff like anti virus). I recently have been playing a game called Second Life and about a week after playing, it started crashing. I'd get a popup in my toolbar saying I need to turn on my pagefileing. My old computer was ALOT slower then this computer and had almost 1/4 the memory (not to mention slower memory at that) And it seemed to run the server + a game just fine. Either Second Life or my background programs are sucking out all the Ram or ive got a problem of some kind. I know my server isn't a ram hog. I also keep a very clean computer so you can rule out a virus, spamware, spyware, or a cluttered registry.




Parts:
Case = Ultra XBlaster Clear Side Blk Mid-Tower Case
RAM = Crucial 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz (x2)
GFX card = NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS 512MB PCIe w/DVI/TV-OUT
HardDrive = Maxtor 500GB Serial ATA II HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G Model 7H500F0
CD/DVD reader/burner = Lite-On 16x Int SATA DVDRW Super-Multi SH-16A7S
PowerSupply = Ultra 600w V-Series DR PSU Black
Fan = Ultra Skt 775 Cooling Fan upto P4 3.8GHz
Processor = Intel Core2 Duo E6400 2.13Ghz Socket 775
Motherboard = Intel DG965RYCK Socket 775 Motherboard
O.S. = Windows XP Professional
Anti Virus = McAfee Security Center (Full)


I've been fighting problem 1 for a looong time now and problem 2 is getting annoying. I'll appreciate any help you can give.

 

[mike99]

Did you install the motherboard drivers from the supplied CD? You can also check INTEL website for later versions. Even with 2Gb of memory, you should still have Pagefile enabled. If you open Task Manager the Performance Tab shows Peak Memory use in bottom left corner. Second Life may have a memory leak, check if you can isolate the problem.

Mike.

 

[OutlawCecil]

like i said, the motherboard CD only came with the basic drivers, none of which looked like it had anything to do with anything sata related.

I've also turned on my pagefileing so I guess i'll just have to keep it on.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Problem 1:
My Hard drive is a SATA-II and from what I see (and my knowledge is short in this area), it's not running as SATA at all. This is from one of my utility programs...
Max. Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA/133)
Active Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA/100)

I have jumpers set on "Force 150" as recommended by many sites but it still doesn't seem to be pulling the speeds it should be. I ran some tests a while back and I was told it is indeed slower then it should be. I also have no idea about the drivers. I installed windows just like normal and my friend is telling me I don't have any sata drivers at all. I searched the disks that came with my system as well as the Maxtor and Intel sites for the drivers and came up with nothing. Any help?

This is normal. The BIOS reads the SATA drive as running at UDMA 5 (normally ATA100), but it's actually running at UDMA 7 (ATA150). You can move the jumper over to use the full interface speed (allows higher burst transfer rates) which then becomes UDMA 8 (ATA300). I know for a fact that your motherboard supports the faster interface speed. The drive will still function properly after switching the jumper around.

Problem 2:
I run a server 24/7 but not alot of people play all at once. I usually have about 1400MB ram still free from running my server (and other small background stuff like anti virus). I recently have been playing a game called Second Life and about a week after playing, it started crashing. I'd get a popup in my toolbar saying I need to turn on my pagefileing. My old computer was ALOT slower then this computer and had almost 1/4 the memory (not to mention slower memory at that) And it seemed to run the server + a game just fine. Either Second Life or my background programs are sucking out all the Ram or ive got a problem of some kind. I know my server isn't a ram hog. I also keep a very clean computer so you can rule out a virus, spamware, spyware, or a cluttered registry.

As Mike said, you should still have a pagefile enabled. Some programs (Second Life may be one of them) actually require one to be present in order to run properly (I wish developers wouldn't do this). Mike also had a good point in that you should check to see if perhaps SL also has a memory leak.

 

[OutlawCecil]

so moving it over will make it run faster? How far do I move it over? which pins? I got the left 2 covered right now. Just switch it to the right 2?

 

[mike99]

Should be a label on the drive showing the options. In Device Manager you can check the driver for SATA controller. Should be an INTEL provided. Try using the Update button.

Mike.

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

Is sata set to IDE in the bios?

 

[OutlawCecil]

ok last time I checked my bios "SATA" wasn't listed anywhere which is why I assumed it isn't installed correctly in the first place.

I just checked Device Manager and I was relieved to find these listed. No updates for either of them tho
Intel(R) ICH8 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2825
Intel(R) ICH8 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2820

Why is there two of them though? I only have 1 harddrive. Is the other my dvd burner?

 

[mike99]

They are your SATA ports. Expand the entries and check transfer rate and Driver, supplier and version/date.

Mike.