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Geek Culture / Hard drive problem?

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Izzy545
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 11:39
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So, I have this computer, that I think has a hard drive problem. Here's the symptoms.

XP claims that hard drive has 10 GB on it, and that only 2 GB are free... I can't find 8 gigs of files on this thing, maybe 1 gig if I'm lucky. Assuming XP takes up 2 gigs, that leavs 7 missing gigabytes.

Games don't work, well, mostly. They freeze up at random points, and sometimes won't even start. Running DXDiag shows nothing, except that DirectX is working fine.

Comuputer is very slow. Granted, it's only 500 mhz, but still, it used to be able to run Battlefield 1942 with no problems. It takes forever to do even simple tasks.

Spyware scans show nothing, as do virus scans...

SO, hard drive problem?

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Zone Chicken
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 11:55
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You say the hd has 10 gbs and you can't find 8 gbs what exactly do you mean? When you look at the hd properties does it say capacity 10gb / used 3 gb / free 0 gb ? I don't think xp takes 2 gbs but not exactly sure on that one. Have you tried to run a error check on the drive?

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Izzy545
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 11:57
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No, it says Capacity 10 gb / used 8 gb / free 2 gb... Yet there are DEFINITELY not 8 gigs of files on there. XP ran an error check, and didn't find anything...

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Zone Chicken
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 12:22 Edited at: 12th Jun 2005 12:22
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I know this is not exactly for this situation but you could try this prog it takes a image of your hd and shows exactly what is using hd space for comparing what is using the space later, You might be able to determine exactly what is using the space if something is. Im sure there is something better you could use just the first prog that popped in my mind.

[href]www.fliptech.net/doppler/#download[/href]

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Ian T
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 12:24
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Defragment your drive, the OS screwed up somewhere and wrote a bad piece of info

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Izzy545
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 12:27
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Hmm... Looks like there IS 7 gigs being used. 3700 by windows, the rest by various things...

Any idea what could be causing the problems described above then?

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Zone Chicken
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 12:39
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If the drive is only 10gbs and 7 are used for programs then you may only have 1 gb free i don't think that image inclueds things like virtual ram and such. See how much virtual ram is assigned to your hd if its 1500 or so then you may be getting close to locking up the drive. I would try defrag like mouse said, then start cleaning house. I don't know if that program shows ms restore files you could dump them up to today if you haven't done so already since they hog up a lot of space.

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Izzy545
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 14:01
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Are the restore files what show up as "System Volume Information" in the doppler program?

I'm defragging right now... How do I check how much virtual ram is assigned?

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Zone Chicken
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 15:39
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Quote: "Are the restore files what show up as "System Volume Information" in the doppler program?
"


yes

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/sysprop_to_change_the_size_of_the_virtual_memory_paging_file.mspx

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Dark Flame
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Posted: 12th Jun 2005 18:19
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I would either check the HDD on disk management or just format and start from scratch.

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Izzy545
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Posted: 13th Jun 2005 01:51
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Hmm... After thinking about this a lot, I've come to the conclusion that maybe it's NOT a hard drive problem.

Maybe my RAM is corrupted... I mean, games are memory intensive programs, and they won't run... My computer runs REALLY slow when I have only a few programs running... Whaddaya think?

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Ian T
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Posted: 13th Jun 2005 01:58
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Maybe your computer just isn't powerful enough to run the games you want to play? Do you compare minimum system requirements?

And how old is your computer?

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Izzy545
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Posted: 13th Jun 2005 02:32
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Mouse> Well, considering the "games" I'm talking about consist of a spinning cube program I wrote in darkbasic, and the examples that come with darkbasic, I don't think it's that my computer isn't powerful enough.

It's a few years old, 500 MHZ, Geforce 2 32 mb, 392(or some such number megs of ram, a 256 stick and a 128 stick) basically just to run some older games on. It used to be able to run BF1942 without any problems whatsoever.

Thanks for the suggestions.

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Ian T
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Posted: 13th Jun 2005 03:03
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Well I'd get your RAM looked at then-- either that or your battery if it's a laptop

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<Kecco`> Mouse asked, "is Raven gay". Here is what I say, Yes.
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Izzy545
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Posted: 13th Jun 2005 03:22
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Okay, I think I actually found the problem now. I think my graphics card is shot.

I can't even change the resolution without it freezing up the computer. So, I'm thinking new graphics card?

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DBAlex
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Posted: 13th Jun 2005 05:16
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Yup... I just had a graphics card replaced in my other PC... a Geforce 4 MX 440 64MB will set you back about £20-30, Not too much of a shabby card either (what I have in my old PC)

Or maybe you dont have the drivers installed?


AMD 64 3000 + 512mb RAM + 80GB HD + Radeon 9600se 128mb
http://www.dbastudios.cjb.net
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