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Lots of Hard Drive access when doing nothing in WinXP (1 Viewer)

AndyVX

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
804
Hey all,

I've lucked out yesterday as my old Dell computer wasn't functioning properly and they sent me a replacement computer. What is lucky about this, is that my old computer was a P3 500MHz and this new one is a P4 1.6GHz.

Anyways, I have a few questions. First, there is a lot of hard drive activity going on, even while just sitting here typing this, or reading a webpage. I don't see what is going on that the OS would need to access the hard drive constantly. Well, it seems to happen more while I'm typing then just letting it sit though.

Just so you know, this computer is running off of Windows XP.

Second, why does this computer use PC133-SDRAM? I thought P4's only used RDRAM? And some other boards with chips from VIA and the like were capable of using DDR-SDRAM. I'm sure that not using RD or DDR is certainly hindering the performance of the computer. To add to this, there aren't any Rambus Ram slots on the motherboard either, so I'm stuck using PC133.

All in all though, I can't complain in the slightest, as this computer was totally free..along with the matching black monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse. I'm using my optical mouse instead though.

Thanks.

P.s Do you think I would be better off killing this install of WinXP and putting Win2K on the machine?
 

Shayne Lebrun

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 17, 1999
Messages
1,086
YOU might be doing nothing, but XP is doing alot of things. Pretty much any modern OS has all sorts of stuff running in the background.

As for the RAM, a lot of people decided they didn't like RAMBUS, so Intel hacked their chips to run SDRAM, which is 1/4th the speed of RDRAM.
 

Todd Hochard

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 24, 1999
Messages
2,312
I don't have a lot of disc access with my setup (PIII-667, 512MB, WinXP), so I don't think it's the OS. Try Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up the task manager, and see what's running for applications and processes. If you find some "fluff," get rid of it.

Todd
 

Arthur Legardo

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 21, 1999
Messages
441
Real Name
ArthurL
First, there is a lot of hard drive activity going on, even while just sitting here typing this, or reading a webpage
Windows XP might be running some sort of indexing program that will let it find files much faster on your hard drive. Check out some WindowsXP tweaking sites around the internet to remove this feature (I did it and several other tweaks and WindowsXP Pro runs quite nicely).
TweakXP
XP-erience.org
 

AndyVX

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
804
Oh man, do I feel like an idiot right now. After paying attention more closely, I realized that it wasn't the hard drive that was being accessed...the noise I was hearing was the noise from one of the fans inside the case.

Sheesh, I guess I should have realized that if the HDD light wasn't being lit, the hard drive wasn't being accessed.

Oh well. At least that problem is solved. I'm still kind of peeved off about the PC133 SD-Ram...though I guess I'll just have to deal with it.
 

Carlo_M

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 31, 1997
Messages
13,385
P4s now have boards that support RDRAM, SDRAM and just relased this month: DDRAM.

That's why I prefer to build my own PCs - you know what you're putting into it. Dell and others sometimes rely on people missing the small print (or assuming as you did that P4s all used RDRAM) to use lower quality parts. They probably used a 423 pin P4 instead of a 478 pin version in there.
 

AndyVX

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
804
I didn't miss any small print. This computer was free from Dell as a replacement to my P3 500. If I were to have actually bought the thing, and I saw that it only used SDRam, I would have moved up to a higher model.
 

AndyVX

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
804
Well, we were having a ton of problems with the old computer. After getting a replacement hard drive, ram, videocard it was decided that it was the motherboard that was the problem. So, I new motherboard was going to be sent to us.

Now, 7 and 1/2 weeks later and around 50 angry calls(and an email to the President) to Dell the motherboard finally showed up. Old computer is now working fine.

Then, 4 days after the motherboard showed up, Purolator showed up and my doorstep with 3 boxes from Dell. Within these boxes was a Dell Dimension 4300, a new monitor, and speakers.

My parents and I were totally dumbfounded as we weren't expecting this at all, especially since the new motherboard had just arrived a few days prior.

My guess is that the email we sent to the president had something to do with it(this is just a guess though).

I love the new black colour of equipment that Dell is now using...such a sleeker look to everything.

So, that's how we ended up with a brand new computer from Dell. I guess luck was on our side after having waiting so long for replacement parts.
 

Jeff Williams

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jul 21, 2000
Messages
59
Wow, Dell really came through for you. I guess they really do have the best customer service in the business. Sounds like you went through about of hassle to get to where you are now, so I guess you've rightfully earned it. Good luck with the old computer, but it sounds like that’s fixed now too.

Jeff
 

AndyVX

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
804
Yea, the old computer is fixed, but we have to send it back to Dell(shipping already payed for) otherwise we will be charged for the new computer. :frowning:
Oh well... at least we got a new computer out of it.
 

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