hard drive weirdness

[scruffy]

My hard drive has recently started playing up, particularly when playing football manager 2005 (v processer intensive). If playing MP3s whilst saving the game my sound goes really stuttery and it takes ages to save. Often when playing the game it goes really jerky and seems to take longer to load, usually when playing MP3s. Sometimes it's fine though, especially when the only window open is the game and winamp is not running. Playing audio cds is a lost cause when playing the game due to stuttering. I thought I had fixed the problem by clearing some free space but i now have 15 gig or so free and the problem still persists.

Related to this problem is my mouse going jerky and once it has started windows programs take longer to load and windows is not very smooth.

I have checked for viruses and I have no spyware on my pc at all. The PC was also running the same setup with no problems before. Is my hard drive knackered, should I just invest in a SATA one (can't really afford it)?

My system is:

Abit AV8-3rd EYE
Athlon 64 3500+ - (Cool n Quiet enabled)
1 gig Corsair ram
Soundblaster Live Value (onboard sound disabled)
Maxtor 75 gig, 7200 rpm, IDE
Logitech MX 1000 cordless mouse

 

[folken]

What is your cpu/mem usage when the system is idle and in use?
Maybe something is eating tons of ram and you are completely running off swap space on the hd.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[scruffy]

idle my cpu is 0% - 11% and memory is about 60% available with just basic programs open, even with this I am getting some mouse jerkyness. When playing football manager 2005 the cpu often hits 100%, this is when i get the most stuttery sound but the memory still shows about 40% free. It seems strange that i've run the same game on the same setup for ages before now with no problems...

 

[scruffy]

hm, i changed all the cables around and it looks like it's fixed it - fingers crossed!