Weird XP problem...any thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[Josh Campbell]

I recently have been having a problem with my computer and was hoping someone might know of a solution. I have a dell desktop with a 2.8 GHz Intel processor 1 gig RAM, an 80 gig primary drive, a 200gig internal secondary drive, and 2 250gig external drives attached via USB cable. Approx 5 weeks ago, all of a sudden whenever the comp starts to run slow with too many processes, the desktop appearance goes from XP style to classis style and back again, but now my sound doesn't work...it removes the device(SoundBlaster 5.1 card) from the list of hardware devices completely and only the modem device is listed. A reboot fixes the problem, but it is a big hassle to reboot all the time. One example is I will open a media player, then try to search for a file from within...this causes the appearance to change and then no sound, so I have to reboot to have sound on the file I was trying to open. I have used MSconfig and startup manager to only startup what I think are essential files, and have not changed anything that I know of when the problem started.

Any ideas?

 

[Paul Padilla]

I can't say I've seen anything quite like that, but I would start with the basics.

1. Full virus scan with up to date virus definitions.

2. (not likely culprit, but) Spyware scan, same as above.

Can you tell if anything specific sets it off? Printing...accessing files on one drive vs. the others, especially the externals?

Anything changed 5 weeks ago when you first noticed the problem? New programs installed...new hardware, etc.

 

[DaveJJ]

Hi Josh!

This sounds like a power supply problem to me! What is the power supply rated..?? Josh, try removing the two USB external hard drives to see if trouble clears up. You may need a higher rated power supply. Let me know Josh.

Good Luck
DaveJJ

 

[James Wis]

Josh bring up the task manager (ctlr+alt+del)and see what the cpu usage is.
I had a problem with my computer running very very slow and checked cpu usage to find the spools.exe was using 90-100% cpu. If you find that is whats happening I have a fix.
I didn't have all the other craziness your experiencing but its a shot.

 

[Mark Giles]

some other things to try....

Try uninstalling the sound drivers and software that comes along with the 5.1 and reinstalling it. Try disabling the sound card and doing a search within a media player to see if windows changes back to classic...