Author Topic: Computer problem I just can't figure out.... (SOLVED!) (Read 13746 times)

Ginsu Victim · « **on:** July 02, 2009, 10:17:59 am »

First off, I'll get the specs out of the way:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor

ASUS M2N-MX SE Plus AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Transcend 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model JM4GDDR2-8K

DIAMOND 3650PE1GOC Radeon HD 3650 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V Power Supply

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

So here's the deal.....

My system runs everything fine, except for when I do anything 3D. Well, I take that back. EVERYTHING runs fine, including 3D, until I begin any kind of input (mouse/keyboard, gamepad, etc).

For example, I ran the Street Fighter IV benchmark and it ran perfect. It never gave me a single slowdown or anything. This morning I installed the game and it ran fine at first, but once I started playing, I began to get off and on slowdown. It was never related to anything happening on-screen. It just happened on a regular cycle.

This regular cycle slowdown has been the problem in everything. Games will run perfect, then slow. It's cyclical.

I bought Ghostbusters and everything ran great until they finally gave me control of my character. Once I was able to start playing, the slowdowns began.

This is the case with Far Cry, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, GTAIV, Plasma Pong.....even Postal 2. Older games are even giving me this problem. I can set games to their absolute lowest settings and I still get this slowdown.

This problem existed for me in Windows XP SP2, so I thought if I upgraded to Vista 64, maybe that would help, but it didn't. When I installed Vista, it was a fresh install onto a formated drive and before I did anything else, I tried Far Cry 2 and the problem still existed.

So is this input related? I'm really stumped here and I've tried a lot of things to figure it out.

I'm not at home at the moment, so I can't try any suggestions right now, but I'm open to hearing any ideas on this. I've got a good gaming rig, short of being able to actually game on it!

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:23:26 am »

Hmm... that's an odd one. Sounds almost like it could be your video card... have you updated the drivers to it?

Also, do you have another video card you can swap out and to try to reproduce the problem?

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:24:54 am »

Also... have you been monitoring the heat on your video card? Do you have any extra cooling on it?

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:25:08 am »

Drivers are up to date. The one thing I've been working on doing IS getting ahold of another card, but I don't have a comparable card and no one I know has one I can borrow.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #4 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:25:57 am »

Quote from: HarumaN on July 02, 2009, 10:24:54 am

Also... have you been monitoring the heat on your video card? Do you have any extra cooling on it?

The problem starts right away. The temp is fine, and I have seven fans in my system.

SirPeale · « **Reply #5 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:34:00 am »

Have you tried swapping out your input peripherals?

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #6 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:38:19 am »

Five different mice, two keyboards, PS2 controller via USB, Xbox360 controller via USB. Tried several.

saint · « **Reply #7 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:46:51 am »

Check for BIOS updates.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:49:01 am »

up to date

saint · « **Reply #9 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:54:52 am »

Hrm.. well, across two separate OS loads of two different OSes, I would have bet on hardware on firmware. At this point, just for troubleshooting, I'd be swapping out components.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #10 on:** July 02, 2009, 10:56:48 am »

That's been the plan. I'm just trying to find a different vid card to try. This one is PCI-E 2.0 16x. Should I maybe try a non-2.0 card, if I can get ahold of one? I'll order one if I really have to. (I have no idea of the difference...)

CCM · « **Reply #11 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:19:27 am »

Check the return policies of places like Best Buy or Staples. If you can buy a video card at one of those places and return it no questions asked for a full refund, it would be easier than ordering online. If you find the video card is the problem, then order a new one online for cheaper...

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:20:25 am »

I've definitely considered it already.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #13 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:34:56 am »

I just went to our IT department and asked if they had a decent card I could borrow for the weekend, so I've got an XFX GeForce 7200 GS 256MB card to try out. Nowhere near what I'm using, but it will at least give me an idea whether or not it's my current video card that's giving me the trouble. I'll try it over the weekend and get back to this thread with my results (though I'm still open to suggestions).

ChadTower · « **Reply #14 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:47:13 am »

Something wants to tell me it's the power supply. It doesn't make a ton of sense but I have seen a couple of machines where peak loads would cause the supply to overload, reducing current flow, and some part of the system would respond by slowing down. It wasn't always the same part, either.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #15 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:48:49 am »

My PSU is brand new. It did the same thing with the last one. (different brand and wattage)

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #16 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:50:54 am »

PEBKAC

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #17 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:51:38 am »

Quote from: HarumaN on July 02, 2009, 11:50:54 am

PEBKAC

need an emoticon that flips you off.....

ChadTower · « **Reply #18 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:52:01 am »

Could it be the line voltage, then? Is it plugged into an outlet strip or UPS? A different outlet?

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #19 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:52:44 am »

Quote from: Ginsu Victim on July 02, 2009, 11:51:38 am

Quote from: HarumaN on July 02, 2009, 11:50:54 am
PEBKAC

need an emoticon that flips you off.....

Or maybe an ID ten T error...

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #20 on:** July 02, 2009, 11:53:15 am »

Quote from: ChadTower on July 02, 2009, 11:52:01 am

Could it be the line voltage, then? Is it plugged into an outlet strip or UPS? A different outlet?

Power strip.
What about not being grounded? Hardly any of the outlets in our house are.

ChadTower · « **Reply #21 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:01:05 pm »

Quote from: Ginsu Victim on July 02, 2009, 11:53:15 am

Power strip.
What about not being grounded? Hardly any of the outlets in our house are.

Well that's not good but probably would cause an issue from the start if it were one. Anything new on that strip? Anything new on that circuit as a whole? How old is the strip?

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #22 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:02:13 pm »

Strip is a few years old. The same things that are normally on it are on it. My last computer ran fine on it.

ChadTower · « **Reply #23 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:07:32 pm »

Quote from: Ginsu Victim on July 02, 2009, 12:02:13 pm

My last computer ran fine on it.

That doesn't mean much unless you have a $100 power strip. Cheap power strips age badly. It is probably worth taking the 90 seconds to swap it out just to be sure.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #24 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:08:27 pm »

Well, it wasn't a cheapie (it does have some surge protection), but it's worth a shot.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #25 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:10:18 pm »

And by "last computer" I mean that I took it out, put in the new one, and the problems were there from the start.

drventure · « **Reply #26 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:34:48 pm »

Out in left field, but there's a couple things I'd check.

1) are there any background processes running that you aren't familiar with. If you've got a backup process, or and indexing service firing up after a specific amount of time, those things could definitely slow the pc down. And +you+ may not have even installed them, but something you did install set them up behind your back. Check the Scheduled processes in Control panel too.

2) is the system bios all standard settings. Sometimes just resetting the bios to defaults and retweaking it could fix a problem like that.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #27 on:** July 02, 2009, 01:32:34 pm »

1) Like I said in my first post, I tried fresh installs of Win XP and Vista 64 on a drive I'd just wiped clean. I went straight into trying games before installing anything else (drivers aside). Also, I've tried AMD Fusion, which closes as many background processes as possible, and I still had the problem.

2) I've tried resetting it. Nadda.

saint · « **Reply #28 on:** July 02, 2009, 02:22:04 pm »

Quote from: Ginsu Victim on July 02, 2009, 01:32:34 pm

1) Like I said in my first post, I tried fresh installs of Win XP and Vista 64 on a drive I'd just wiped clean. I went straight into trying games before installing anything else (drivers aside). Also, I've tried AMD Fusion, which closes as many background processes as possible, and I still had the problem.

2) I've tried resetting it. Nadda.

Firmware on the video card maybe? Is it onboard audio?

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #29 on:** July 02, 2009, 02:24:29 pm »

Quote from: saint on July 02, 2009, 02:22:04 pm

Firmware on the video card maybe? Is it onboard audio?

I've never seen a firmware update in my searches. (Nor have I read anyone say they've done one on this card...)

Yes, I am running onboard audio. I'll try a sound card. Thanks for pointing that out.

massive88 · « **Reply #30 on:** July 02, 2009, 02:58:12 pm »

Quote from: Ginsu Victim on July 02, 2009, 02:24:29 pm

Quote from: saint on July 02, 2009, 02:22:04 pm
Firmware on the video card maybe? Is it onboard audio?

I've never seen a firmware update in my searches. (Nor have I read anyone say they've done one on this card...)

Yes, I am running onboard audio. I'll try a sound card. Thanks for pointing that out.

Just disable it.

For that matter, disable everything you dont absolutely need from inside your bios. Unplug cd-roms/hdds/remove ram sticks etc... get down to the barest of bones that you need to get into the game and see if it works. If it does, start to enable things.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #31 on:** July 02, 2009, 03:03:39 pm »

hard drives aren't a problem, as I tried two different ones previously.

I'd considered removing 2 GB of RAM and trying them one at a time.

I'll try disabling the sound and running a game without it before I try the sound card. Thanks for that idea.

(I'm jotting all these ideas down and will try them later)

ChadTower · « **Reply #32 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:22:35 pm »

How is removing RAM going to provide an effective test on high load slowing down of the PC?

King Nerd · « **Reply #33 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:38:40 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on July 02, 2009, 05:22:35 pm

How is removing RAM going to provide an effective test on high load slowing down of the PC?

If one of the RAM chips are the issue, NOT having it in there might prove that it's a RAM issue.
It'll be a constant slow down, not an intermittent one.

Every RAM issue I've had froze the system completely, not slowed it down. *shrugs*

Does input slow everything down? For instance, watching a DVD and typing away?

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #34 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:41:59 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on July 02, 2009, 05:22:35 pm

How is removing RAM going to provide an effective test on high load slowing down of the PC?

Hey, I'm grasping at straws here.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #35 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:43:01 pm »

Quote from: King Nerd on July 02, 2009, 05:38:40 pm

Does input slow everything down? For instance, watching a DVD and typing away?

Nope, just in games that access the 3D. 2D stuff isn't affected.

massive88 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:45:04 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on July 02, 2009, 05:22:35 pm

How is removing RAM going to provide an effective test on high load slowing down of the PC?

Sherlock Holmes style of computer trouble shooting.

Also, you can still load a computer without several gigs of ram and see if it gives consistent frame rates. Run it with two sticks, then the other two, then mix two. Two gigs should be plenty of ram to do whatever game and see if it still slows down. One gig should be enough (in XP) provided he doesnt have word documents and webpages open at the same time.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #37 on:** July 02, 2009, 05:49:02 pm »

Quote from: massive88 on July 02, 2009, 05:45:04 pm

One gig should be enough (in XP) provided he doesnt have word documents and webpages open at the same time.

When I play a game, I always restart the computer and make sure I have as little running as possible.

Xiaou2 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 02, 2009, 06:07:55 pm »

Your USB devices may be eating too much power. And or one of them is faulty.

The USB onboard controller may also be faulty.

Try different USB ports as well.

Try updating and reloading the latest drivers for all hardware.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #39 on:** July 02, 2009, 06:51:15 pm »

All drivers are up to date. I've tried playing with no USB devices attached and used PS/2 keyboard and mouse instead.

I'm starting to think it is not input related. I think it just took a few moments before the problem showed up. (in the Ghostbusters instance)


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