Hi,

I have a system comprising of 600MHz Athlon processor, 128MB PC100SDRAM. I've had it since early 1999 and never had any real probs with it. It came with a 26GB hard drive which was reaching capacity due to multimedia files.

I've installed a 2nd hard drive, 30GB Maxtor DiamondMax, made it slave and transferred most of my multimedia files on to it.

The problem I now have is my system seems slightly slower, for example when backspacing to delete characters the flashing cursor moves backs quicker than the characters disappear, (if you know what I mean!), and when typing the characters appear slightly later than when typed.

The main problem however is the multimedia files, e.g. video clips. When I play one it just freezes almost immediately, sometimes it'll move on to a newer frame, but usually just stays frozen at one. The audio of the clip plays okay.

What I've noticed is if I open 'system monitor', processor usage is sitting at acceptable levels, (between 20% - 60% useage.) System resources sit at around 50% - 60% free. As soon as I open one of the clips, processor usage jumps to 100% and stays there. System resources free drops, but only to 45% free, which I feel is okay. It doesn't matter which player I use, (Windows Media, GDiVX, Real etc.)

What I'm hoping is installing more RAM will solve my probs. In your opinion will it or is it my processor / motherboard that isn't coping? I'm intending to buy another 128MB PC100 SDRAM, making a total of 256MB. Do you reckon this will solve the problem? Can I buy a PC133 DDR module to go with the existing PC100 SDRAM one or do I need to stick to PC00 SDRAM?

Let me know if you think a RAM increase from 128 to 256 will solve this problem. I'm puzzled how adding a 2nd drive has caused my system to slow up and stopped it from playing video clips.

Help!

Dave

Hard to say what the problem is. I doubt it is the new hard drive itself. Your power supply may be too low, slowing down your processor and graphics card.

If that is in fact the problem, there may be a simple and relatively inexpensive solution. You could remove both of those small hard drives and install a single average-size drive, say 60-80 GB.

If you do that, I recommend dividing the drive into two primary partitions, one for the operating system and software, and the second for your media/personal files.

More RAM is rarely a bad idea...

Best Luck,
Bob

Or it may be getting too hot in there. In which case add another fan.

-Bob

Funnily enough I opened the case earlier to check cabling etc and the two drives themselves were pretty hot .... but then I'm not sure how hot hard drives usually get?

The only thing is, I've just spent the cash on the 30 Gig, so don't really want to have to buy another 60 Gig drive, although if I'd known I was going to have this hassle I would have just bought one bigger drive to accomodate everything instead of going for a 2nd drive option.

Would it being too hot in there be an explanation for all my PC probs as listed in the first message though?

Hopefully someone else will post to add to this. I don't realy know how hot a computer can get before it fails. I wouldn't think it should be hot to the touch though. And overheating can permanently damage the hardware, i.e. your brand new hard drive.

It could be the thermostat or some controller for the fan has gone bad. Or it could be that the factory thermostat just isn't powerful enough.

If your existing fan is merely insufficient for the new configuration, there are many ways to add a second fan. You may even need to open up the box to allow more circulation.

The first thing I would do is to find out if your existing cooling sytstem is functional. Does the fan come on when you start the computer?

Yeah, everything with the PC works fine, always has. It's just since I added the 2nd drive yesterday that I've had probs, so it's obviously the adding of it that's caused the probs. I'm hoping more RAM will solve it but I have my doubts.

And yes, the symptoms of an overheated machine are exactly what I would expect from a hot system. Interesting clue:

"The main problem however is the multimedia files, e.g. video clips."... "The audio of the clip plays okay."

Graphics cards are easily affected by overheating.

I guess you're reading/posting at the same time I am...

Check the online computer part shops for extra coooling options. If it doesn't have one, you might want to get a cooler that attaches to the graphics card. Or there are ones that simply clip inside the case anywhere. Or ones that go in an unused drive bay...

It's hard to believe that adding just another hard drive would overheat the system so badly by itself. I think it's likely the machine was running too warm before too.

Adding extra RAM won't affect the temp one way or the other very much. But you might want to upgrade anyway.

To eliminate overheating as the problem, open the case and place a fan next to it. Run the pc. If it works ok, you have a heat problem. Invest in a case fan or drive bay fan.

If it is a heat problem, the cables from the hdd may be blocking airflow in your machine. Did you bundle them out of the way as best you could?