Sluggish performance

[suedenim]

I'd go to the ASUS web site and search for driver downloads - hopefully they have a mobo fillter. If that doesn't work out then try the nvidia website. Some of these websites can be fairly unintuituve so come back and let us know how it goes.

[TheReaper]

tried it, been everywhere, no good. so i swapped out all my sataII hdd leads with new ones in case of power or data probs, fromatted the thing, reinstalled fresh windows, better tahn it was at the moment but not perfect.

 

my mobo has 3 pci-ex16 slots, two blue and one white which in brackets says (x 8 link white) am I right to assume the two blues are for dual graph cards and the white is for a single card??? i started with my single card in top slot which is blue, tried moving to bottom slot which is also blue due to space probs, then thought to put it in white slot in middle, didn't before as it says x 16 but in brackets (x 8)

 

i'm not sure now which it should be in, why is the single white one x 16 (x 8)

 

i thought like with ide hdd's the blue slots were primary? therefore on dual channel ram, there's two blue and two white, the blue are a1 and b1, the white are a2 and b2. confusion...

[jaz]

You don't mention what kind of psu you have. please post brand and wattage, and if possible amps on the 12v rail.

[TheReaper]

ATX 300x 500watt PSU

[krazypoloc]

To me it sounds like a Memory problem. Every time I have seen windows explorer hang as described, it has been RAM related. Make sure you have your memory settings correct. Those P5N's are finicky with memory settings if I recall correctly. I have seen this sort of thing many, many times. Try running your memory @533MHz just to rule out your memory. Also make sure your memory voltage is correct. Those boards don't autodetect memory voltage correctly and MUST be set manualy, so if your memory takes anything out of the norm then it will not perform right.

 

If it's your HDD then try SpinRite, its a great little app that runs in a dos shell, and is the best I have found for HDD troubleshooting, recovery, and repair.

[TheReaper]

thanks for the help. this will sound silly but how do i find out what voltage the ram should be running at?

[jaz]

I'm bettin' it's his psu. atx has to be the most generic, cheapest psu that comes standard with cheap raidmax cases. They might have improved on their quality, but i seriously doubt it. If you give us a part or model #, we can look it up for you and see if it's "up to snuff". Amps on the 12v rail are important. They should be generous there.

 

The ram should have to voltage specs on the stickers on the ram or on the package. If you don't see either, try calling the makers and ask them.

[krazypoloc]

I'm bettin' it's his psu. atx has to be the most generic, cheapest psu that comes standard with cheap raidmax cases. They might have improved on their quality, but i seriously doubt it. If you give us a part or model #, we can look it up for you and see if it's "up to snuff". Amps on the 12v rail are important. They should be generous there.

 

The ram should have to voltage specs on the stickers on the ram or on the package. If you don't see either, try calling the makers and ask them.

 

I highly doubt his PSU would cause windows explorer to hang on a regular basis, random crashes and BSOD's are usually signs of a crap PSU. But I'm certainly not contesting that his PSU is a good one, I just don't think its that relevant to the troubleshooting process.

 

But you are correct about the RAM, just check the stickers on the side. they should say 2.x V. You can access your memory timings and voltage by pressing a predetermined key during your computer's startup[ before it boots the OS. Should be delete, backspace,F1,F4,F5, and sometimes TAB. But it depends upon the make and model of the motherboard. It should say press the " " key to enter system setup, or something to that degree.

[TheReaper]

thanks guys, here's the info on PSU & RAM. PSU 500W ATX 2.03(P4) model 300X. AC Input 115/230VAC 10A/5A 50/60Hz. AC Output 115/230VAC 1A/0.5A 50/60Hz. DC Output is in a table hard to show in text but +3.3v 20A. +5v 22A. +12v 16A 130w max. -5v 0.5A -12v 0.8A +5VSB 2A 9.6w max. 500w max

 

RAM Elixir M2Y1G64TU8HB0B-25C.0705.XX.TW

PC2-6400U-555-12-E1.1GB.2Rx8.800

ME0713105C

on the black nodules it says:

N2TU51280BE-25C

644465W1CF TW

other side:

70402799CU TW

[jaz]

So you have only 16 amps on your 12v rail. That's really low. Your components are nice, but probably want more power and amps than the atx can provide. You can test your video card with this (click utilities on the left side and you'll see the vcard tester DL.)

 

But just to play it safe, i would take a look at the recommended psu's in this forum, and you'll get a better idea of what's up with psu's and how important they are, even if it's not the cuase of your present problems, it could be down the road. And it's going to hold you back from upgrading or adding more stuff to your rig.

 

I've upgraded my psu 3X during 3 pc builds.