New AMD Phenom™ Quad-Core System but is slowing down Is it the harddrive IDE

[webfusions]

Recently build a new AMD Phenom quad-core system and using my previous hard drive. My hard drive is in the same condition as before and i reckon this is where the fault is. Windows becomes very sluggish in simple tasks like accessing control panel approximately 2-3 seconds and entering windows XP. Navigation around the system feels very heavy not smooth.

I have done every procedure i can think of including:

Optimizing the registry
Virus scanning
Defragmenter
MSCONFIG disabling all non Microsoft services
Disable indexing

When i first set up the system everything was fast i recently installed:

Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
Panda Antivirus Platinum

The hard drive does sound like its processing information which makes me think this is the problem.


System Summery

Field Value
Computer
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name DANIEL-T8HFVRDS
User Name Administrator

Motherboard
CPU Type 2x , 2200 MHz
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Unknown
System Memory 1024 MB
BIOS Type AMI (12/17/07)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)

Display
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS (512 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA G72
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (GC81158U41HS)

Multimedia
Audio Adapter Realtek HD Audio output

Storage
IDE Controller ATI IDE Controller
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
SCSI/RAID Controller JMicron JMB36X Controller
Disk Drive WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0 (298 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616 (16x/48x DVD-ROM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions
C: (NTFS) 31988 MB (22643 MB free)
D: (NTFS) 254223 MB (221238 MB free)
E: (NTFS) 19030 MB (3081 MB free)
Total Size 298.1 GB (241.2 GB free)

Input
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse Microsoft PS/2 Mouse

Network
Network Adapter Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (192.168.1.5)

Peripherals
Printer EPSON Stylus Photo R300 Series (Copy 2)
Printer EPSON Stylus Photo R300 Series
USB1 Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller [NoDB]
USB1 Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller [NoDB]
USB1 Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller [NoDB]
USB1 Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller [NoDB]
USB1 Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller [NoDB]
USB2 Controller Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller [NoDB]

This is from hijackthis if any help


Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 11:20:31 AM, on 1/8/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
D:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
D:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
D:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
D:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
D:\Program Files\Webroot\Spy Sweeper\SpySweeper.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\wscntfy.exe
D:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
D:\Program Files\CPU-Control\CPU_Control.exe
D:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files\Lavalys\EVEREST Home Edition\everest.bin
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - {0579B4B6-0293-4d73-B02D-5EBB0BA0F0A2} - D:\Program Files\AskSBar\SrchAstt\1.bin\A2SRCHAS.DLL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ZoneAlarm Client] "D:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSConfig] D:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe /auto
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [CPU_Control] D:\Program Files\CPU-Control\CPU_Control.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://D:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O23 - Service: TrueVector Internet Monitor (vsmon) - Zone Labs, LLC - D:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
O23 - Service: Webroot Spy Sweeper Engine (WebrootSpySweeperService) - Webroot Software, Inc. - D:\Program Files\Webroot\Spy Sweeper\SpySweeper.exe

--
End of file - 1673 bytes


If you require any more information please tell me and I will do my best to provide it

Any help I receive will be gratefully appreciated

Thank you daniel

 

[webfusions]

Please could someone help me as this is really effecting my work......

 

[MysticEyes]

Well get the free version of this and run a Benchmark test.

http://www.hdtune.com/

Whats the rate?

Then look under Info for DMA. Under Active what does it say?

 

[webfusions]

I believe this is what you want Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)


I have posted additional information from the scan:


HD Tune: WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0 Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 5.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 63.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 51.9 MB/sec
Access Time : 13.6 ms
Burst Rate : 64.7 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 2.1%

HD Tune: WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0 Information

Firmware version : 08.05J08
Serial number : WD-WCAMR3351082
Capacity : 298.1 GB (~320.1 GB)
Buffer size : 8192 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-6
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)

S.M.A.R.T : yes
48-bit Address : yes
Read Look-Ahead : yes
Write Cache : yes
Host Protected Area : yes
Device Configuration Overlay : yes
Automatic Acoustic Management: yes
Power Management : yes
Advanced Power Management : no
Power-up in Standby : no
Security Mode : yes
Firmware Upgradable : yes

Partition : 1
Drive letter : C:\
Label : Administrator's Documents
Capacity : 31988 MB
Usage : 29.42%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : Yes

Partition : 2
Drive letter : D:\
Label : Boot,Downloads and System files
Capacity : 254223 MB
Usage : 13.05%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No

Partition : 3
Drive letter : E:\
Label : New Volume
Capacity : 19030 MB
Usage : 83.81%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No

 

[webfusions]

When starting the software the temperature was 17 and has changed to 27 could this be the reason

 

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Daniel,

Think for a moment, if you will, about what it is you are trying to do, and your expectations for same.

What was your previous processor arrangement for your OS? Dual-core, maybe? Does AMD recommend that an OS be newly installed when using the quad-core Phenom? I do not know.

Few if any software, including OS, is designed with multiple-cores in mind. If the instance of the Windows OS you have worked reasonably well on a dual-core setup, it does not nor should it follow automatically that it should do the same on a quad-core hardware setup, necessarily. The implementation of the OS would have to scale in its design for that to happen - which would automatically be able to detect the increase in processor cores at bootup and deal with it dynamically because the capability has been inherently designed into the OS. I do not know if WinXP Pro SP2 was designed with that in mind or not - but, I seriously doubt it, however.

What does AMD recommend? Are you following their guidelines, or setting your own?

I would guess that if you have not reinstalled the OS onto a new disk/(s), and if that is what AMD is recommending, then that is what you need to do. How compatible is IDE HD vs SATA with Phenom? Does AMD recommend RAID setup with Phenom - I see you have a RAID controller?

-- Tom

 

[MysticEyes]

I believe this is what you want Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)


I have posted additional information from the scan:


HD Tune: WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0 Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 5.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 63.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 51.9 MB/sec
Access Time : 13.6 ms
Burst Rate : 64.7 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 2.1%

HD Tune: WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0 Information

Firmware version : 08.05J08
Serial number : WD-WCAMR3351082
Capacity : 298.1 GB (~320.1 GB)
Buffer size : 8192 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-6
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)

Well those numbers all look fine.

When starting the software the temperature was 17 and has changed to 27 could this be the reason

Hard to say. My drives usually hover around 33C, testing them does not seem to raise the temps.

When i first set up the system everything was fast i recently installed:

Macromedia Flash MX 2004
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
Panda Antivirus Platinum

The hard drive does sound like its processing information which makes me think this is the problem.

What exactly do you mean by "does sound like its processing information"?

 

[JackDogg]

Hi webfusions
if its of any help, i have a similar HDD to you >>>> WD CaviarSE 160Gb JB 7200RPM 8Mb cache

my rig is pretty quick. i ran the HD Test (thanks MysticEyes!) and here are the results for my HDD. you may be able to glean some info from this >>>>>>

HD Tune: WDC WD1600AAJB-00PVA Information

Firmware version : 00.07H00
Serial number : WD-WMAP9C898387
Capacity : 149.1 GB (~160.0 GB)
Buffer size : 8192 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-7
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)

----------------

HD Tune: WDC WD1600AAJB-00PVA Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 34.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 73.1 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 59.2 MB/sec
Access Time : 13.1 ms
Burst Rate : 70.8 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 8.3%

----------------

S.M.A.R.T : yes
48-bit Address : yes
Read Look-Ahead : yes
Write Cache : yes
Host Protected Area : yes
Device Configuration Overlay : yes
Automatic Acoustic Management: yes
Power Management : yes
Advanced Power Management : no
Power-up in Standby : no
Security Mode : yes
Firmware Upgradable : yes

Partition : 1
Drive letter : C:\
Label : Win XP
Capacity : 20002 MB
Usage : 19.52%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No

Partition : 2
Drive letter : H:\
Label : WIN ME
Capacity : 20002 MB
Usage : 13.87%
Type : FAT32
Bootable : Yes

Partition : 3
Drive letter : E:\
Label : Programs
Capacity : 10001 MB
Usage : 7.55%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No

Partition : 4
Drive letter : F:\
Label : Backup
Capacity : 20002 MB
Usage : 59.12%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No

Partition : 5
Drive letter : G:\
Label : Spare
Capacity : 14998 MB
Usage : 0.44%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : No


HD Tune: WDC WD1600AAJB-00PVA Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 200 200 51 0 Ok
(03) Spin Up Time 158 157 21 3075 Ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 100 100 0 230 Ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 200 200 140 0 Ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 200 200 51 0 Ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 100 100 0 649 Ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 100 100 51 0 Ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 100 100 51 0 Ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 100 100 0 224 Ok
(C0) Power Off Retract Count 200 200 0 6 Ok
(C1) Load Cycle Count 200 200 0 230 Ok
(C2) Temperature 110 102 0 33 Ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 200 200 51 0 Ok

Power On Time : 649
Health Status : Ok





.

 

[webfusions]

what other documentation could i show you. i decided i will buy a Sata hard dive soon

 

[webfusions]

In my opinion upgrading the hard drive and buying a Sata device will increase overall performance do you agree. Do you have any recommendations for a fast Sata device

If I do this i want to install windows 64 bit Professional edition

 

[MysticEyes]

In my opinion upgrading the hard drive and buying a Sata device will increase overall performance do you agree. Do you have any recommendations for a fast Sata device

If I do this i want to install windows 64 bit Professional edition

Sure SATAII is faster, but you said:

When i first set up the system everything was fast i recently installed:

According to the HD Tune results it appears the raw performance of your drive is fine, hence your current problem may be due to some other factor(s) in your system.