Help with newly built PC? Prease?

[ElenaL]

Build your own PC they said. It'll be easy they said.
Hi guys! I recently built a computer with absolutely everything new BUT the hard drive. I formatted my SeaGate hard drive before installing Windows 7, but once the computer started everything was slow. Simple tasks take forever, and rebooting takes a good 15-20 minutes. This is my first customized PC and any help would be awesome. Thank you.
BTW my specs are:
i5 Intel Core
Z87 MPOWER Overclocking Motherboard
750W SeaSonic Power Supply
760 Superclocked EVGA Graphics Card
2 4G RipJaw Ram Sticks
2 SeaGate HDD (3T combined)

 

[benali72]

Ok, if I understand correctly, you built an all- new PC, installed a used disk, formatted the disk, then installed Windows 7 on it. You can boot into Windows and use apps, but everything is super slow (including start up and shut down).

I'd suggest doing some diagnostics to identify the problem(s). Does your PC have BIOS diagnostics you can boot into? Most PCs have a PF key you press during the boot process to access these diagnostics.

Get into the diagnostics, review all the hardware defined there, ensure all hardware is being recognized and being correctly identified. Most BIOS diagnostics have ability to test hardware (such as CPU, disk, ram, etc). Run all these diagnostics.

If the diagnostics all run ok, you MAY have a Windows software problem. To find out, I would boot a Live CD of Linux (a Live CD allows you to run an operating system from your DVD/CD player instead of off the hard disk). If Linux works fine, then you KNOW you have a Windows problem.

If you've determined that Linux works fine and you therefore have a Windows problem, boot into Windows. Once you get there (finally!) enter the Performance Manager. Your goal here is to identify if you have a system BOTTLENECK that is throttling performance. For example, you'll be able to see if one particular process (program) is strangling your system, and whether your CPU is maxed out at 100%. At this point you should be able to identify what the software process is that is causing the problem. Please post here if you get to this point and we'll try to take it from there.

Hope this helps, this is normally a situation you can fix fine, so hang in there.

 

[ElenaL]

Ok, if I understand correctly, you built an all- new PC, installed a used disk, formatted the disk, then installed Windows 7 on it. You can boot into Windows and use apps, but everything is super slow (including start up and shut down).

I'd suggest doing some diagnostics to identify the problem(s). Does your PC have BIOS diagnostics you can boot into? Most PCs have a PF key you press during the boot process to access these diagnostics.

Get into the diagnostics, review all the hardware defined there, ensure all hardware is being recognized and being correctly identified. Most BIOS diagnostics have ability to test hardware (such as CPU, disk, ram, etc). Run all these diagnostics.

If the diagnostics all run ok, you MAY have a Windows software problem. To find out, I would boot a Live CD of Linux (a Live CD allows you to run an operating system from your DVD/CD player instead of off the hard disk). If Linux works fine, then you KNOW you have a Windows problem.

If you've determined that Linux works fine and you therefore have a Windows problem, boot into Windows. Once you get there (finally!) enter the Performance Manager. Your goal here is to identify if you have a system BOTTLENECK that is throttling performance. For example, you'll be able to see if one particular process (program) is strangling your system, and whether your CPU is maxed out at 100%. At this point you should be able to identify what the software process is that is causing the problem. Please post here if you get to this point and we'll try to take it from there.

Hope this helps, this is normally a situation you can fix fine, so hang in there.

I entered the BIOS but I wasn't able to run any diagnostics. There's a way to mess with the overclocking settings, look at the OC profile, explore the motherboard, and monitor the hardware, but no diagnostics. Everything seems to be recognized correctly, I just couldn't find a way to test anything.

Unfortunately, I don't own a Linux Live CD, and I decided not to burn one because I'm afraid it won't be of much help. (I've been reading too many rants about pirated programs.)

I skipped that last step, for now, and entered the administrative tools. That took me to the Performance Monitor (and I also opened the Device Manager to see what I could find.) Both windows eventually led to the Resource Monitor which shows a maximum CPU frequency of 23%:

http://tinypic.com/r/15wbcb6/5
(the image never uploaded so I'm providing the link)

Would you suggest that I give the Linux CD a shot? Also, I don't know if it's of any help at all, but last night I went ahead and installed a bunch of drivers to my pc hoping that's what it needed. It's a tad faster today, but it still hiccups when running ridiculously simple tasks, as well as moving files becomes a hassle for it. 1G took about an hour to move from one folder to another. I noticed it was moving kilobytes as opposed to megabytes and the disk spiked up to 2048 KB/sec Disk I/O. Then out of nowhere the transfer speed changed to MB. My computer's as much a woman as I am, bipolar and hard to understand.

Thank you for all you do!

 

[benali72]

If you can download, burn, and boot from a Linux CD, you can see if Linux runs fine. If so, it means you have a Windows problem. You can get a free, legal copy of Linux from here - http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php.

CPU usage of 23% is fine. That means your CPU is not the "bottleneck" that is crimping your system performance. As far as I can tell from the Resource Monitor chart, your disk usage is ok too.

One other step I can think of would be to ensure your system is virus and malware free. If there's any chance you have a virus, download and scan with a free scanner such as Avast! or Malwarebytes. Sometimes systems run slow due to malware and this would fix that.

The other thing I can think of is to ensure that too many Windows Start up programs and Services are running. But one a current system like yours, this is normally not a problem.

Beyond this, we may need a Windows expert to help identify the problem (unfortunately I'm not one). So you may have post under the Windows 7 section to get help if none of this works. Hope this helps!

 

[ElenaL]

If you can download, burn, and boot from a Linux CD, you can see if Linux runs fine. If so, it means you have a Windows problem. You can get a free, legal copy of Linux from here - http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php.

CPU usage of 23% is fine. That means your CPU is not the "bottleneck" that is crimping your system performance. As far as I can tell from the Resource Monitor chart, your disk usage is ok too.

One other step I can think of would be to ensure your system is virus and malware free. If there's any chance you have a virus, download and scan with a free scanner such as Avast! or Malwarebytes. Sometimes systems run slow due to malware and this would fix that.

The other thing I can think of is to ensure that too many Windows Start up programs and Services are running. But one a current system like yours, this is normally not a problem.

Beyond this, we may need a Windows expert to help identify the problem (unfortunately I'm not one). So you may have post under the Windows 7 section to get help if none of this works. Hope this helps!

I downloaded and installed the malware scanner and wiped clean everything it suggested to. I've been using the PC for a while now and it's been a smooth ride. I also downloaded a couple of extra drivers from the motherboard company's website and it looks like everything is in check. I'm extremely thankful for all your help and advice!