Sluggish during unpacking/installing

[KMHSC]

Hey everyone,

I recently built this PC (AMD 2000, 512 RAM, GF3 Ti200, Maxtor 40gig) and everything is fine except for the slow-down/mouse choppyness that occurs always when I unzip/unpack files, and also when I install programs (depends really, some programs I experience no choppyness/slowdown, on the other hand some I do). Also applications run from the CD-ROM are extremely slow (but I think its the CD-ROM thats at fault and I will be replacing it soon).

Does anyone have any ideas/clues on whats going on? It's really a pain in the neck, to have a brand new system and have something annoying like this happen.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[dakota81]

What motherboard did you put in the machine? What OS? You do have the harddrive & cdrom on separate IDE channels, right?

 

[Bozz]

Use the Task Manager (W2K or XP) to look at your CPU usage when these things are going on. I suspect that its at 100%, that is the Zip or install is not releasing the CPU for other tasks. Keeping in mind that most install programs suggest that you shut all other programs while they install, there shouldn't be too much to do with the mouse anyway. Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd

 

[KMHSC]

I'm using Win98SE, with Asus 87N8X MB. I'm not sure how to go about seeing if thier on the same IDE channels or not, this is my first PC built. That may be the problem though, how do I go about seeing if their on seperate IDE's?

Bozz, it effects my mouse movement while doing it. Most of the time decreasing in sensitivity and becoming very choppy.

 

[ANFPS26]

McAfee virus scan can cause this. Disable your anti-virus program and see it that is it. It will definitely do it if you are scanning all files. Also, MS Find Fast needs to be disabled if it's running. Do a Ctl-Alt-Del and see what is running in the background. You may need to uncheck some stuff in msconfig. Jim

Please come back and let us know if your
problem is fixed and what fixed it!!

 

[Stealer]

Having that much memory with a WIndows machine can also cause all sorts of strange problems. I would remove 256mb of ram and see if the problem is still there.

 

[Bozz]

Your question about IDE channels. They are on different channels if they are on separate ribbon cables. Nowadays the HDD sould be on the ultra ATA fine ribbon cable, for the CD the older coarse one is OK. Also, make sure that the HDD is set on cable select with the ultra cable and the CD on slave or master on the other cable.

About the memory, don't take out 256Mb, get Windows 2000 or XP Pro. I resisted for ages but going over to W2K was the best move I've made for years. I'm not too fussed about whistles and bells, as a programer give me stability any day. My 3 kids are all using XP pro on their PC's and we've had few problems. Don't forget, Windows 98 is 5 odd years old now, things have moved on. Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd