HW or xp problem

WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily bus.
apps
Sys is running 'like treacle' re booting takes 20 min, safe mode about 8 min
The sys is not compromised by nasties
Event Viewer shows nothing, HW devices show no problems, C drive 33% free
A disk check on C ends at second phase with unable to complete msg, Seatools
basic test passes, extended test, well I ended it after 4 hours as it only
completed 10% (160gb drive)
sfc completed without errors, but took 1+ hours
Using raid 0 on Adaptec hw card, verifying the mirror, well its run for 9
hrs & only completed 18% - last time I ran this process it completed in 3
hrs or so.
Running Task Mngr, App Tab, when I start an app, eg OE newsreader, the app
loads, Tsk Mngr shows it loaded, not responding, then an OE pane is
populated shows running, then not responding until next pane loads
Outlook itself took some 5+ mins to load completely, excel/word takes 1+
mins
Nothing odd in Performance tab, no heat issues
Nothing updated / added since last good config

DL

What is the CPU and how much RAM does your computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

Another way to investigate your hard drive is to use HD Tune.

Try HD Tune only gives information and does not fix any
problems.

Download and run it and see what it turns up. You want HD Tune
(freeware) version 2.55 not HD Tune Pro (not Freeware) version 3.00.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Select the Info tabs and place the cursor on the drive under Drive
letter and then double click the two page icon ( copy to Clipboard )
and copy into a further message.

Select the Health tab and then double click the two page icon ( copy to
Clipboard ) and copy into a further message. Make sure you do a full
surface scan with HD Tune.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

Try this approach?
How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/en-us

The underling principle on which this method is founded is that you
restrict what loads when you restart your computer adding back one item
at a time until the error occurs. The last item you add back is the
application causing the problem. This approach may not reveal the cause
of the problem as not all start up items are revealed by msconfig. If
this arises there is a further programme which can be used but let's see
if clean booting identifies the problem application.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily
bus. apps
Sys is running 'like treacle' re booting takes 20 min, safe mode
about 8 min The sys is not compromised by nasties
Event Viewer shows nothing, HW devices show no problems, C drive 33%
free A disk check on C ends at second phase with unable to complete msg,
Seatools basic test passes, extended test, well I ended it after 4
hours as it only completed 10% (160gb drive)
sfc completed without errors, but took 1+ hours
Using raid 0 on Adaptec hw card, verifying the mirror, well its run
for 9 hrs & only completed 18% - last time I ran this process it
completed in 3 hrs or so.
Running Task Mngr, App Tab, when I start an app, eg OE newsreader,
the app loads, Tsk Mngr shows it loaded, not responding, then an OE
pane is populated shows running, then not responding until next pane
loads Outlook itself took some 5+ mins to load completely, excel/word
takes
1+ mins
Nothing odd in Performance tab, no heat issues
Nothing updated / added since last good config

"Gerry" wrote in message
...
DL

What is the CPU and how much RAM does your computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.


DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily
bus. apps

??

Point accepted Alister.


--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Alister wrote:
"Gerry" wrote in message
...
DL

What is the CPU and how much RAM does your computer have? Right
click on the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties
to get this information.


DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily
bus. apps

??

On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:40:24 +0100, "Alister"
wrote:


"Gerry" wrote in message
...
DL

What is the CPU and how much RAM does your computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.


DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily
bus. apps

??

"Gerry" doesn't always read what he replies to.

DL wrote:

WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily bus.
apps
Sys is running 'like treacle' re booting takes 20 min, safe mode about 8
min The sys is not compromised by nasties
Event Viewer shows nothing, HW devices show no problems, C drive 33% free
A disk check on C ends at second phase with unable to complete msg,
Seatools basic test passes, extended test, well I ended it after 4 hours
as it only completed 10% (160gb drive)
sfc completed without errors, but took 1+ hours
Using raid 0 on Adaptec hw card, verifying the mirror, well its run for 9
hrs & only completed 18% - last time I ran this process it completed in 3
hrs or so.
Running Task Mngr, App Tab, when I start an app, eg OE newsreader, the app
loads, Tsk Mngr shows it loaded, not responding, then an OE pane is
populated shows running, then not responding until next pane loads
Outlook itself took some 5+ mins to load completely, excel/word takes 1+
mins
Nothing odd in Performance tab, no heat issues
Nothing updated / added since last good config

Sounds like your hard drive is dying. The alternative could be a failing
power supply. Since the psu is an easy t-shooting step, swap it out for a
known-working one. If the hard drive still can't get through the SeaTools
For DOS extended test, replace the hard drive.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

"Gerry" wrote in message
.. .
Point accepted Alister.

Sorry.

Cpu 5%
Commit 650 / 3427

"Jonathan Harker" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:40:24 +0100, "Alister"
wrote:


"Gerry" wrote in message
.. .
DL

What is the CPU and how much RAM does your computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.


DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily
bus. apps

??

"Gerry" doesn't always read what he replies to.

Jonathan

I admit I do make mistakes at times. It was, however, a less important part
of the post. We are all fallible at times!

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



"Jonathan Harker" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 12:40:24 +0100, "Alister"
wrote:


"Gerry" wrote in message
.. .
DL

What is the CPU and how much RAM does your computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.


DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily
bus. apps

??

"Gerry" doesn't always read what he replies to.

On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 13:06:46 +0100, "Gerry" wrote:

Jonathan

I admit I do make mistakes at times. It was, however, a less important part
of the post. We are all fallible at times!

It was the first line of the OP's post... and it was apparently
important enough for you to make a special request for it.

DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily bus.
apps
Sys is running 'like treacle' re booting takes 20 min, safe mode about 8 min
The sys is not compromised by nasties
Event Viewer shows nothing, HW devices show no problems, C drive 33% free
A disk check on C ends at second phase with unable to complete msg, Seatools
basic test passes, extended test, well I ended it after 4 hours as it only
completed 10% (160gb drive)
sfc completed without errors, but took 1+ hours
Using raid 0 on Adaptec hw card, verifying the mirror, well its run for 9
hrs & only completed 18% - last time I ran this process it completed in 3
hrs or so.
Running Task Mngr, App Tab, when I start an app, eg OE newsreader, the app
loads, Tsk Mngr shows it loaded, not responding, then an OE pane is
populated shows running, then not responding until next pane loads
Outlook itself took some 5+ mins to load completely, excel/word takes 1+
mins
Nothing odd in Performance tab, no heat issues
Nothing updated / added since last good config



A system can run like treacle, if there is an interrupt storm.
(That is where a piece of hardware issues interrupts at a high
rate of speed, when there is nothing that actually needs
service. This keeps an interrupt handler very busy, without
being otherwise visible.)

Perhaps someone here can suggest a way for checking for that.

(The Performance graph perfmon.msc, might be one way to
look at it. It has a "% interrupt time" counter in the
processor section. Also, Sysinternals Process Explorer,
has an entry for it. But I don't know if those are
sufficient, to diagnose all possible failure modes
of hardware interrupts. Such as, say, spurious interrupts,
where the processor gets interrupted, but the associated
interrupt number is bogus, and there is no handler registered
for it.)

Paul

Have UPS configured, and tested working. & High end pwr supply
However I think now resolved, it appears the Adaptec 2410SA controler card
was failing.
Removed the card, connected one of the mirror drives to onboard sata. Booted
immediately without issues.
Ran extended bootable floppy memory tests together with Seatools extended
test, all passed

"Paul" wrote in message
...
DL wrote:
WinXP Pro updated, AMD 3800+, 2gb Corsair dual dominator - primarily bus.
apps
Sys is running 'like treacle' re booting takes 20 min, safe mode about 8
min
The sys is not compromised by nasties
Event Viewer shows nothing, HW devices show no problems, C drive 33% free
A disk check on C ends at second phase with unable to complete msg,
Seatools basic test passes, extended test, well I ended it after 4 hours
as it only completed 10% (160gb drive)
sfc completed without errors, but took 1+ hours
Using raid 0 on Adaptec hw card, verifying the mirror, well its run for 9
hrs & only completed 18% - last time I ran this process it completed in 3
hrs or so.
Running Task Mngr, App Tab, when I start an app, eg OE newsreader, the
app loads, Tsk Mngr shows it loaded, not responding, then an OE pane is
populated shows running, then not responding until next pane loads
Outlook itself took some 5+ mins to load completely, excel/word takes 1+
mins
Nothing odd in Performance tab, no heat issues
Nothing updated / added since last good config

A system can run like treacle, if there is an interrupt storm.
(That is where a piece of hardware issues interrupts at a high
rate of speed, when there is nothing that actually needs
service. This keeps an interrupt handler very busy, without
being otherwise visible.)

Perhaps someone here can suggest a way for checking for that.

(The Performance graph perfmon.msc, might be one way to
look at it. It has a "% interrupt time" counter in the
processor section. Also, Sysinternals Process Explorer,
has an entry for it. But I don't know if those are
sufficient, to diagnose all possible failure modes
of hardware interrupts. Such as, say, spurious interrupts,
where the processor gets interrupted, but the associated
interrupt number is bogus, and there is no handler registered
for it.)

Paul

Jonathan

The purpose of this thread is to help solve DL solve his problem? How are
your two posts contributing towards achieving that objective?

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Jonathan Harker wrote:
On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 13:06:46 +0100, "Gerry" wrote:

Jonathan

I admit I do make mistakes at times. It was, however, a less
important part of the post. We are all fallible at times!

It was the first line of the OP's post... and it was apparently
important enough for you to make a special request for it.

"Gerry" wrote:

Jonathan

The purpose of this thread is to help solve DL solve his problem? How are
your two posts contributing towards achieving that objective?

Perhaps he thinks that if he can get you to read more carefully, it
will cut down on your making unnecessary requests of the OP - which
should help the OP solve his problem?

Perhaps Max he might make a more positive contribution by making his own
suggested solutions to DL. Perhaps he cannot, so he takes his pleasure in
deprecating the efforts of others trying to help!

--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Max Goldman wrote:
"Gerry" wrote:

Jonathan

The purpose of this thread is to help solve DL solve his problem?
How are your two posts contributing towards achieving that objective?

Perhaps he thinks that if he can get you to read more carefully, it
will cut down on your making unnecessary requests of the OP - which
should help the OP solve his problem?