Youtube videos getting laggy

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blind_masseur

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Comp Specs:

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo
Western Digital 600GB SATA 7200rpm 32MB cache hard drive
AMD Barton 3200+ 2.4ghz 400fsb cpu
ATI Radeon 9600XT graphics card
3x 1GB sticks of 400mhz DDR1 RAM (Corsair)

if you need to know anything else let me know

Background Info:
Lately my computer just isn't running like it use to. I used to do a lot of gaming, but now it's mostly browsing. I started getting problems loading web pages and switching tabs in Firefox. The problem became consistently worse until I switched to Google Chrome; however given the power of my system I shouldn't have had to switch. Unless there's something wrong with Firefox. The problem has nothing to do with my internet connection as I have a 30mbit/s download speed and 1mbit/s upload speed. My only conclusion was that my processor is getting old and can't process the way it use to. Also for some reason Firefox was taking up like 200mb of ram even when freshly started. I don't know but I'm getting kind of off topic here. The point I'm trying to get at is that I think my processor and video card are dying and I'm wondering if I should bother to do anything about it. I recently added the 3GB of RAM replacing the 1 GB I had and the hard drive is also new (both less than 1 year old). The graphics card is about 4 or so years old I got it off eBay as I had to replace my original graphics card (9800SE) and the processor and mobo are from when I first built the computer almost 8 years ago.


The Problem:
Now it seems I can't even really play a Youtube video without the video lagging like crazy. The video itself is fully loaded. I noticed that the problem got worse with the latest update of flash a few weeks ago from 9.x something to 10.x something. I have no real lag problems when watching divx or avi videos with VLC media player; however something recorded at a really high resolution like 1280x720 would be unplayable due to lag, even in VLC. I've used programs to re-encode the videos at a lower resolution to test that they work and have no problems playing videos as high as 720x480. I don't know if the lag from high resolution videos and the lag from Youtube have anything to do with one another, but Youtube videos are virtually unwatchable; especially since the latest flash update.

This problem is persistent with other video playing websites like Daily Motion, Nate, Google Video, etc. The severity of the lag seems to depend on the speed of the movement in the video. For example, a video of someone drumming really quickly would lag more than a news blog or documentary.

The problem itself also seems to be very inconsistent. Sometimes I will load a video and have it lag a lot. Try closing down the browser and all background processes and restarting the video with the same problem or sometimes worse. And then I can be doing something like writing this post and testing video on other websites and go back to the same video and it runs significantly smoother; however not without a severe degree of lag.

Sometimes the lag seems to be tied with processor use. For example if a web page is loading in a new tab and I switch over to the video it will be more laggy as the web page is loading but once the web page is fully loaded the lag resumes to the same level it was when the video started. Mind you, the videos are always laggy on youtube. Again I experience absolutely no video lag when watching videos in VLC media player. And all videos are fully streamed or loaded.

What I'm wondering:
Is this a software or hardware problem? I've been meaning to reformat again (which I do semi-annually depending on how computer problems arise) but haven't gotten around to it. I have a lot of file organization and backup to do; or can I fix the problem by changing some computer settings? As near as I can tell there is no way to change how YouTube videos run on the computer.

If it's a hardware problem, is it worth shelling out $150 or so for a new AGP card or is it my processor and I'm screwed?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Thanks,
Steve
 
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Illustrious
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If the problem is hardware related, the way to find out is swap out the hardware. Start with he 9600XT. Also, why 3 x 1GB in single channel? Use 2 x 1GB is dual channel with the 3200 Barton and NF2 MB. I have the identical ASUS socket A MB with the AMD 3200 Barton. Beyond the 9600XT being faulty or overheated, RAM is often the cause of system failure when loading software. Perhaps run memtest and check for defective RAM. If the hardrive is an old IDE model in service for a long period like a decade, it is supect to failure too. I just had an old IDE WD drive fail after ten years. I should have realized the drive was going bad when the system seemed 'sluggish'. Loading up a SATA drive on the ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe requires advanced knowledge of the board. I can help with the installation of a SATA drive. You would need to create a floppy SATA driver from scratch to load at the F6 prompt and be able to use the SATA interface preinstaled on the board. Anyway, the board/video card run hot by nature. A check of the 9600GT's fan as well as the CPU fan couldn't hurt. Use a can of compressed air to clean out any accumilated dust from the system fans.
 
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blind_masseur

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At first I didn't understand what you meant by single and dual channel but after doing a little bit of research I think I understand. Are you saying that my computer would run faster if I installed 1 GB sticks only in the second and third socket and left the first socket blank? If so, is that first socket essentially useless to me?

Just in case it's relevant to the investigation the system has never at any point crashed or failed. Sometimes the browser will crash and the system experiences up to a minute of lag before it reboots the desktop but I've never had the system fail.

Also, for clarification, I had an IDE drive that I replaced a little less than a year ago with the SATA drive. There was no problem with the IDE drive but Canada Computer's had a sale on and I figured a SATA drive would be a lot faster. I had no such problems that you described when installing the drive using Windows XP. I did however try to install Windows 7 and it failed to produce the drivers required to install my particular hard drive. I didn't want to go through the trouble of mounting the drivers onto the Windows 7 ISO (I have no floppy drive) so I opted to just leave XP installed. (I can't believe XP had the drivers for my SATA drive but Windows 7 didn't.... wtf?). I did this at the same time as the RAM upgrade and the weirdest thing is that it seems to have had no real positive affects on my computer. It currently runs slower than ever I think...

All the fans are working fine. I usually run some compressed air through the system every few weeks, but I guess it's a little over-due.

If the problem was a faulty 9600XT (bearing in mind I've had no troubles with it running games and *** over the past 3 years or so) any idea how I could go about testing the video card without going out and wasting money on a new video card if that's not the problem? It's not like I can pop a video card into the machine and if the problem persists then take the video card back and say I didn't need it. And it's not like I'm going to be able to do much with a spare AGP video card, PCI-E has pretty much dominated the market. If not, do you have any recommendation in regards to video cards from either of these two lists? It's been so long since I've done research on VGA charts and I wouldn't really know what to look for:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?cPath=43_553
http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=catalog&catID=1160

Also I just checked my internal temperatures using EVEREST and it says:
Mobo: 20 degrees C
CPU: 52 degrees C
GPU: 32 degress C
GPU ambient: 30 degrees C (what is this???)
WDC: 37 degrees C

from what I can tell everything is fine other than the processor, but I can just throw a little more liquid silver on there since it's summer. I also installed an upgraded processor fan and heat sink about 5 or so years ago (whatever summer Oblivion first came out) as I was having CPU over-heating issues, but have had not heat troubles since I stopped gamming. Even on the hottest of days.

Also, for some reason on my processor specs Everest reads that my Barton 3200 XP is 1100 Mhz (11 x 100), any idea what that means? According to windows it has 2.4 Ghz and that's what it had when I bought it...

Lastly, I started to run a memtest but it seems that it would take hours and hours so I will post this now and leave it running over-night and get back to you. Is there anything I missed or forgot? Thanks for all the help so far.

Update: I was just watching a video and it was medium lag for the first 4 minutes and then the drums kinda hit a climax and the video almost completely lagged out. After exiting full screen the video is a lot smoother, and this seems to be consistent with all videos on YouTube (the smaller the video screen the smoother is runs). And the sound never ever ever lags. Only the video. Although nothing ever seemed to lag 6-12 months in the past. Can't pinpoint in my memory whether this was before or after the increase in RAM and new hard drive. If it helps I think I had 2 512MB chips on dual-channel before the RAM upgrade. Would 2 x 512MB on dual channel run faster than 3 x 1 GB on single channel?
 
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Illustrious
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At first I didn't understand what you meant by single and dual channel but after doing a little bit of research I think I understand. Are you saying that my computer would run faster if I installed 1 GB sticks only in the second and third socket and left the first socket blank?
Click to expand...
Yes. The RAM would then be in dual channel mode and have more bandwidth and be capable of greater GB/sec. data transfer rates to the CPU. Two channels would be more attuned to multitasking also.

If the problem was a faulty 9600XT (bearing in mind I've had no troubles with it running games and *** over the past 3 years or so) any idea how I could go about testing the video card without going out and wasting money on a new video card if that's not the problem?
Click to expand...

You would need a second known working card to install to rule out 9600XT failure. Download GPUZ and see if any GPU/GDDR3 temps are available with the software. If the video memory is overheating it can cause problems. GPUZ may offer the card's fan speed also.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

The everest temps look good. My 3200 Barton runs a little hot too.

Download CPUZ and check the CPU and RAM speed/specs.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

As far as software causing the problem, a few suggestions.

-Download and install Internet exploer 8

-Download and install Google Chrome browser, much faster than IE8 on many speed related tests

-Also Firefox and Opera browsers are available for free download to test with.

-Adobe.com has the latest Adobe Flash Player free download. Youtube uses Adobe Flash Player for their videos.

-Also try updating to the latest version of JAVA at Java.com

EDIT I had to go back and reread your message to see you have tried other browsers. It's a long message and hard to remember everything you wrote with the schedule I have.
 
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blind_masseur

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So is that first slot essentially useless to me?

You would need a second known working card to install to rule out 9600XT failure. Download GPUZ and see if any GPU/GDDR3 temps are available with the software. If the video memory is overheating it can cause problems. GPUZ may offer the card's fan speed also.
Click to expand...

GPU-Z says the GPU temp is: 30.6 C and the PCB temp is: 29.0 C
I don't seem anything about GDDR3

Weirdly, it says the Fan Speed is at 0% but I can look inside the case and see the fan is going at full blast.

Shaders: 4 Pixel / 2 Vertex
DirectX Support: 9.0 / SM 2.0
GPU Core Clock: 499.5 MHz
GPU Memory Clock: 297.0 MHz
Pixel Fillrate: 2.1 GPixel/s
Texture Fillrate: 2.1 G Texel/s
Memory Type: DDR
Bus Width: 128 bit
Memory Size: 128 MB
Bandwidth: 9.5 GB/s
GPU Clock: 513 MHz Memory: 297 MHz
Default Clock: 500 MHz Memory: 300 MHz
ATI CrossFire: Disabled

Is there any other info you need from GPU-Z?

Download CPUZ and check the CPU and RAM speed/specs.
Click to expand...


CPU Clocks (Core #0)
Core Speed: 1094.2 MHz (Okay this is really freaking me out. Now even windows is saying it only has 1.09 Ghz. What happened to my other 1.3 Ghz?
Multiplier: x 11.0
Bus Speed: 99.5 MHz
Rated FSB: 198.9 MHz (this is half of what it was when I bought it)

CPU Cache:
L1 Data: 64 KB -- 2 way
L1 Inst.: 64 KB -- 2 way
Level 2: 512 KB -- 16 way

Memory General:
Type: DDR
Channels #: Dual
Size: 2048 MB

Memory Timings:
DRAM Frequency: 99.5 MHz
FSB: DRAM: 1:1
CAS# Latency (CL): 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD): 2 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP): 2 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS): 4 clocks


In case it wasn't clear I decided to take the third stick of RAM out




It that card better than the Radeon 9600XT I have now? It looks like it...

So I updated everything you suggested (my nVidia drivers, flash player, java) I'm going to restart and see how bad the problem is. Right now, the biggest thing freaking me out is what happened to all my processor speed? It was 1.09 GHz as of last night. I don't remember the last time I checked before that, but I'm sure a couple weeks ago it was 2.4 GHz. Any ideas? Thanks so far.
 
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Illustrious
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CPU Clocks (Core #0)
Core Speed: 1094.2 MHz (Okay this is really freaking me out. Now even windows is saying it only has 1.09 Ghz. What happened to my other 1.3 Ghz?
Multiplier: x 11.0
Bus Speed: 99.5 MHz
Rated FSB: 198.9 MHz (this is half of what it was when I bought it)
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is aproblem with this. The CPU is not running at 2.2GHz like it should. You could try resetting the CMOS jumper to default the BIOS and see if that gives you full speed with the 3200. This kind of thing happens when the processor is not recogniized properly in BIOS. I have to trvavel today and my 3200 system is home. I can reference that system if need be, but try defaulting the BIOS. Unplug the system, remove the battery and reset the jumper. Instructions in the MB manual.

Also, to your initial question about Youtube video lagging, you can try downloading the videos to the hard drive and playing them from there. Use a software like this and try it. No streaming video involved with this.

http://atube-catcher.dsnetwb.com/get-video-software-windows-home/content/banco-datos-Welcome-Home-Page.html

Note. That processor/RAM speed is wrong and is certainly a problem. Try defaulting the BIOS first.
 
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blind_masseur

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I couldn't find the instructions in the MB manual. The BIOS is really sensitive so I don't want to try and screw it up. What do you mean by "reset the jumper"? Switch it from connecting 1 and 2 pins to 2 and 3 pins, then press power button and wait a minute, then return to the position that connects 1 and 2 pins and then put the battery back in (after having waited at least 5 minutes)? Is this the right way to do it?

I've long since thrown out my MB manual but I was looking in here:
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/nforce2/a7n8x-e/e1876_a7n8x-e_deluxe.pdf

and couldn't find it. If you can point me to what page in that manual has the instructions for defaulting the BIOS I will be able to use that to figure it out.

And is that PCI card in fact better than my currect graphics card?
 
soundguruman

soundguruman

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The more software you load, the more the video will lag, and that includes loading microsoft updates.
Cut down the number of applications to minimum and the lag will be less.
Chrome does not run worth a crap in an XP system. That's one thing that you should delete.
It's not the video card, it's that your processor cache is full, and every time it reaches 100%, that's when the video lags or stops.
Change to a quad core processor motherboard and you will get the results that you want, but upgrading what you have now won't do much of anything. Dump all but the most needed applications (1 web browser, 1 media player, etc... 1 all in one security application) and you will improve some.
 
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Illustrious
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CPU Clocks (Core #0)
Core Speed: 1094.2 MHz (Okay this is really freaking me out. Now even windows is saying it only has 1.09 Ghz. What happened to my other 1.3 Ghz?
Multiplier: x 11.0
Bus Speed: 99.5 MHz
Rated FSB: 198.9 MHz (this is half of what it was when I bought it)
Click to expand...

The CPU frequency has to be set manually to 2.2Ghz. with the 3200 Barton on my A7N8X-E Deluxe . I have my system fired up, see BIOS camera shot. Go into system BIOS and manually set the CPU frequency to 200MHz. To do this, boot the system and tap the delete key to enter BIOS. Use the arrow keys to select Advanced>Advanced Chipset Features. Under CPU Frequency (MHz.) enter 200. Save and exit. That should put you at 2.2GHz. Get someone to help you if you don't know how.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9625/bioscpufrequency.jpg

bioscpufrequency.jpg


CPUZ should look liken this with the 3200 Barton running at 2.2GHz.

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/260/cpuz22ghz.jpg

cpuz22ghz.jpg


This should solve the machine's 'lagging problem. My system does not lag at all.
 
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I run very minimal processes in the background. Never had a microsoft update. As a matter of fact I've shut off about 60% of the microsoft services that run in the background by svchost.exe that I don't use. The total memory used by all 5 of my svchost.exe processes it less than 35MB. Other than that the only other stuff running is the typical csrss.exe, explorer.exe lsass.exe, rundll32.exe, services.exe, smss.exe, spoolsv.exe, winlogon.exe, system, and system idle process.

Other than that the only other thing that runs is uTorrent or media monkey if I listen to music. And my Video drivers. I don't even let java or adobe update run on start up. I only ever run them manually. I don't even use any kind of security on my system. Never had for 8 years and never had any virus/spyware related problems.

The reason I switched to google chrome is because it runs a lot smoother than Firefox. However the problems with Firefox cropped up at the same time as my YouTube problems. Even after clearing all my cache, private data, etc. from Firefox it uses about 150MB of memory from the second I start it. And after maybe 30 minutes of use it almost doubles that. I've always loved firefox but my system just seems to reject it in the recent months.

The solution to just switch to a quad core processor and mobo is kinda nil and half-cocked don't you think? That's like saying, instead of troubling-shooting the problem just buy a new system. I'm not going to buy a whole new system for almost $1000 when all I do with this one is torrent and browse the web. That doesn't seem too intelligent does it? Especially if the problem is solved by replacing one piece of hardware for $50.

I'm not running a lot of high resource programs. You do seem to be right about the video lag having to do with the processor cache. When watching a YouTube video the browser takes up at least 70% of my CPU resources. I will try trouble-shooting with Opera and maybe another browser since you say chrome is no good with XP. I'm avidly against Internet Explorer and Firefox is just a lost cause it seems.

I will try the solution below to restore my CPU to it's original capacity and see if that fixes the problem because I never use to have lag when streaming videos online until recently. If it was my CPU cache, wouldn't I have always had this problem?

P.S. I see on my side tab here that you are one of the Top Experts, and an Audio Tech. Is that like building and EQing PA's and mixing for shows and stuff? In which case. Me too. How do you enjoy it? I've only been in the industry a couple years and I'm loving it. I'm interested in getting into doing my own studio recording soon as well; as I am a musician. Everyone is telling me that if you are going into any kind of multimedia design, then a MAC is the way to go. A large part of the reason I'm reluctant to buy a new PC is because I was thinking my next machine would be more practical to have a MAC if I'm going to be recording. What's your opinion on this as an Audio Tech?


UPDATE: So I went into my BIOS, low and behold all of the settings were as they should be. I didn't have to change a thing. Weirdest part is now my system is reading as having the the full 2.2 GHz of CPU frequency. Problem is that I didn't change anything...

Also my CPU-Z says:
2191.3 MHz core speed
199.2 MHz bus speed
398.4 MHz Rated FSB

is the 0.50% difference because of hardware deterioration over time or what?

So when I logged on and started posting this update there was no video improvement. I installed Opera and it was working better. I installed Safari and it was even better. I went back to Firefox to give it a try and it ran almost perfectly smooth. And now things are even working in Chrome. What did I do to make all the videos work again? Maybe it's that the computer is recognizing the CPU at full capacity again, but how did I fix that? Something weird is going on here guys... any idea what it is?
Click to expand...
 
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Illustrious
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Yeah, when you went into BIOS the CPU Frequency reset. Now the CPU is processing at 2.2GHz like it should be. My system did the same thing thing! My CPUZ looked exactly like yours! Not sure why. If it's the board, BIOS or perhaps a bad battery. I suspect a bad battery is the cause. My system has been out of use for many years.

Your 'lagging' problem is solved. As long as the CPU is at 2.2GHz and your utilizing the dual channel RAM function, the system runs very well. Easily surfs the net and plays back video.
 
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Illustrious
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The 9600XT is more powerful than a PCI 8400GS. You know the AGP interface is good, so if you change the card get another AGP card. I wouldn't know about the 3200 Barton running HD videos. I use an e6600 C2D in my HTPC with my only blu-ray player. I don't have any 'lag', but the blu-ray software seems a little sluggish to launch and play nice.
 
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blind_masseur

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So getting a new video card wouldn't help to run the HD videos, the CPU is the reason they are lagging?

Thanks for all the help. I know this is getting off topic now but any recommendation on what browser might run best on my system? I don't really care how it looks or what options it has as I can always customize those.

Firefox now seems to start at around 30MB if I clear all my cache and private data after every close. However it is very quick to jump up to hundreds of MB of memory usage.

Chrome on the other hand usually only uses 20-30mb of memory but runs a new instance of itself for every tab (plus one additional which I can only assume is a backup to help prevent crashing). This doesn't necessarily seem like a bad thing though as the resources are allocated tab by tab and therefore the slowness of one tab wouldn't affect the other tabs, am I right?

Opera starts off using 180MB of memory from a fresh install, and Safari uses 120MB. I haven't spent very much time with either of these two browsers (although when I was doing web design I was using Opera to make sure all my code was multi-browser compatible). Any suggestions? Or should I post a new topic in the appropriate thread for something like this?
 
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Illustrious
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Your CPU is at 2.2GHz. Sure a state of the art quad core at 3-4GHz. would perform much better. Does a friend have an Intel i7 or AMD PII quad system that you can test with? A new system would improve perfiormance all around.

Give this a read over concerning browsers.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firefox-chrome-opera,2558.html

Microsift will release IE9 in the upcoming months. IE9 looks promising with a lot of innovation as far as broswers go, but XP will not support IE9.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361444,00.asp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361485,00.asp
 
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blind_masseur

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Thanks for the browser info.

I'm still having this video problem. I've been away for a while so I haven't been watching a lot of Youtube, but I was checking out a trailer and about halfway through the video starts lagging like crazy. I checked my CPU and everything is reading fine. Full 2.2 GHz
 
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blind_masseur

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Yes. I often do so and the lag occurs even when the video is fully loaded. I just ran a speed test at that site which reports 24.94 MBps download speed and 0.96 MBps upload speed.
 
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Illustrious
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Well, it's strange you are having the problem with youtube videos. Other applications run normal speed. How about other web based streaming videos? Are all streaming videos lagging from all sites?
 
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Illustrious
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Also, have you updated the NF2 chipset to the latest driver version? This the latest driver from Nvidia for the NF2 chipset. It includes a LAN driver. I use this chipset on my board. There are a few drivers I choose not to download from this package, something like firewall manager or similar. In Device manager, check the version of the LAN driver (under network adapters). Perhaps try loading the LAN driver first.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_udp_winxp_5.10.html
 
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blind_masseur

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Yes. That was one of the first things you told me to do. It over-wrote some of my audio settings unfortuneatly, but I was able to tinker with stuff to get everything back in order.
 
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