Slight Problems

[Duffman]

Been having some problems with the box these last few weeks. Everything has been going unbearably slow, for about 2 weeks my ping to google, when I didn't sumbit to the 75% packet loss was roughly 4 seconds, and I was having the same problems in windows too. I have been really busy with work and stuff though so I haven't had time to mess around with shit. The internet problem has taken care of itself, so I guess it was a problem in the area. However, the slow loading, and semi freezing in windows hasn't really stopped. This box is nearing 5 years old now, so I think its safer and easier to rule out hardware problems first.

So first I need to know what part that could be failing would cause this, and any diagnostic tips, i have enough spare parts to test that way too.

And secondly, any recomended spy, ad, virus away crap that is free, and you guys can say works well would be cool.

My last thoughts is that there is the possibility of a virus, so if anyone has a good site with a list of windows processes and what they do that would be cool too.

Im running an amd 2500+ @ 3200+ which has been stable for as long as I can remeber. I have a gig of generic, kingmax, I think ram, 2 x 512. I have an abit NF7 S2G running too. The hard drives that hold the os are raptors in raid for striping. And a 9800 pro for graphics.

The motherboard died several times for no reason a year or too ago, so it is relativley new. The hard drives too, I can pretty much rule them out. So if it is a hardware problem, its most likeley the ram.

So any help or advice would be awesome, I know I can probobally do this on google, but I'm so fucking busy with work, I thought I'd take a shot here first, so thanks for anything you can give.

[Duffman]

I just had a thought, its been a few months since i've done a full format, and I've been steadily reaching 30+ day uptimes, could that have an effect?

[zapjb]

Imo yes. Warning! My favorite hardware question to follow. Do you have a pos PSU or 1 of just a few good PSU brands?

[Chewie]

For adware, get XsoftSpy (see the newsgroup NZB section) and I'd recommend Kaspersky or NOD32 to check for viruses (they have an online checker if you don't want to install)..
Other things to do... defrag your drives, clean out your internet cache and if you have Windows XP empty the prefetch folder.

A reformat is only a last resort IMO.

[peat moss]

Two bad mobo's , did you check you PSU ? Try an online scan as Chewie suggests Trend micro is good . Maybe try HijackThis also , updated your drivers lately ?

Boy were to start eh ?

[clocker]

Run MemTest to check your RAM.

If it passes, try lowering your overclock.
Just because your CPU has been stable for "as long as you can remember" doesn't mean it will continue to perform at that level indefinitely.

[Damnatory]

Run MemTest to check your RAM.

If it passes, try lowering your overclock.
Just because your CPU has been stable for "as long as you can remember" doesn't mean it will continue to perform at that level indefinitely.

That app looks rather handy, I was wondering if you know of a program similar to that, that tests on 64-bit systems?

[Virtualbody1234]

Run MemTest to check your RAM.

If it passes, try lowering your overclock.
Just because your CPU has been stable for "as long as you can remember" doesn't mean it will continue to perform at that level indefinitely.

That app looks rather handy, I was wondering if you know of a program similar to that, that tests on 64-bit systems?

Memtest86 will work with 64bit systems. The CPU supports the x86 instruction set.

[Duffman]

Ok, I've got some work to do, i'm off tomarrow, so Ill let you guys know the results soon.

[clocker]

We await results with bated breath.