[J3Vr6]

Thanks to Maeglamor, I'm going to try to salvage my desktop that I mentioned in another thread.  My other thread was about my laptop, so I figured I wouldn't spam that one.  Since all of you are very computer savvy, I figured I'd ask you guys.

My desktop is an AMD 450 running Win 98SE, has 384 megs of memory (or there abouts), a Geforce 2 MMX 32 meg gfx card, a 4x HP CD burner (yes, it's slow...), a 36x CD player, and 2 HD's (one is a 40 gigger, the other is I think a 20 gigger).

Anyway, I know only so much about computers  I know at one point it used to all work like clock-work.  Then Win 2k had a coronary and I went to Win 98.  The computer starting doing crazy things.  Like if I opened Windows Media player, the computer would completely freeze while it tries to access my CD burner (regardless if a CD was in there or not).  It would spool the burner for like 5 minutes then go back to normal.  Then it got even wierder.  

It won't just do it with the media player now, but even when I open windows explorer (not internet explorer, but the one when u right click my computer).  When I open that, it will freeze again while it starts to spool up and down my CD burner (little light on the burner would go on and off too for a while) for like 5 minutes before it will let me use the computer again.

I tried re-installing my Burner, thinking that was the issue and that didn't help.

I tried re-installing Win 98SE and it still does it.   I think even tried Win 2k again but to no avail. So I gave up on trying to figure it out.  My brother in law even came over and he couldn't even figure out what was wrong (he's a tech for UM).

I don't have the money right now to get a new computer as I just moved, and I want to salvage the computer at least cuz it has a lot of things on the HDD I'd like to use again.  

If all else fails, I'll pull a Kazan and make you guys send me money for a new computer

So any help would be appreciated  Maeg said something about Optimisation?

[Kosh]

My guess is that a couple of components don't like eachother.....

[Odyssey]

Have you tried removing the CD burner from the BIOS (either that or disconnecting it entirely, but the first is easier), and running your computer without it? If so, was there any difference?

[J3Vr6]

Originally posted by J3Vr6
I know at one point it used to all work like clock-work.  

It used to run like a beauty before, though.  I was able to burn, play games, do everything on it.  I thought it was also components not liking each other, but why did it work before and not anymore?

[Odyssey]

Simple answer: Because computers are like that. Especially when they're running an OS and programmes that don't clear up after themselves (i.e. anything made by Microsoft).
You could try a registry cleaner, but they're fairly ineffective. When you say you re-installed windows, are you referring to a complete low-level format or just an installation over the existing one?

[Razor]

Did it happen after you installed something? Here's my suggestion. Goggle for Tune Up utilities 2003 and download it. Run alll diagnostics and see what happnes. The program will tell you which conflicts and problems you have and it will probably fix em. Try it!

EDIT: Heres the link. http://www.tune-up.net/ God speed!

[Stryke 9]

Win98 is nice for compatibility, but in every other way it's basically 95's retarded cousin. This sounds rather typical of the OS, really- you might wanna try doing ME (which is basically 98 without the utter incompetence and most of the severe memory leaks plugged).

Also, if you've got Office XP installed on there, that'd be it. XP apps and 98 work together like a gay hippie and a Bircher stranded on a desert island with enough food for one. And enough heavy artillery just sitting around to make the Germans look like Belgium. And XP apps are practically viruses in the first place, so...

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
Win98 is nice for compatibility, but in every other way it's basically 95's retarded cousin. This sounds rather typical of the OS, really- you might wanna try doing ME (which is basically 98 without the utter incompetence and most of the severe memory leaks plugged).

I don't know if I could possibly disagree with you more, Stryke. ME is worse on most systems than 98, unless it was shipped from the factory with ME installed. The only real differences between 98 and ME are cosmetic. There's a few tweaks to some of the of the IO routines, but the class buffer-overrun-becomes-bluescreen buggs are still there (and haven't been patched since win95!).

The thing to do is definately to format the hard drive and start over with Win98SE or Win2k (preferably, the latter).

[Razor]

DO NOT RUN MILENIUM
It drains ressources like amd and concidering you have that kind of machine (which is similar to mine 450 amd k63 and 128 ram) you will have lots of problems later. I know that from personal experience.

And XP apps are practically viruses

Yeah sure.

EDIT I see that mik beat me to it.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]If you have ICQ I might be able to help you out in a more sharpish manner.
[/color]

[Martinus]

Originally posted by mikhael
The thing to do is definately to format the hard drive and start over with Win98SE or Win2k (preferably, the latter).

[color=66ff00]That's my standard approach; remove all software related errors by formatting and then add one thing at a time testing as you add. That usually identifies the cause of the error (if it's a systematic error) if not then it was probably due to an accumulation of smaller glitches (I get the feeling those little b@st@rds work together sometimes ).
[/color]

[Razor]

Use the tune up utilities program i mentioned in the other thread. It does all automatically for you and its U63R ez 2 u53

[J3Vr6]

Razor:  Thanks, I'll try that utility program although you lost me for a full 5 minutes with what you put at the end  I don't know how u guys can read that

Odyssey:  Come to think of it,  I think when Win 2k crashed I had reformated and did Win 98.  When it was first having problems I tried to install over the existing copy but no luck.  Maybe that's where I went wrong.  Hmmm...

Stryke:  I have ME on my laptop and I wouldn't wish that OS on anybody.  I honestly hate it, but it came with the laptop and didn't want to mess w/ installing a different OS on it.

I didn't have Office XP installed on my system, I have nothing of XP on that system.

Maeglamor and Mikhael:  I'll try the re-format approach and do it all from scratch.   I'd really like to use Win 2k but someone once told me that for games it wasn't good to use Win 2k cuz my computer was too slow (being a 450mhz).

Now the downside of all this:  I don't have win2k or win98 CD's anymore.  They were a friends and we don't share things anymore  I hope I have a copy somewhere.  Cuz I know he's not gonna get me one.

Thanks again guys for your suggestions

[kode]

Originally posted by J3Vr6
Razor:  Thanks, I'll try that utility program although you lost me for a full 5 minutes with what you put at the end  I don't know how u guys can read that
 

we can't. razor wrote it.

[Stryke 9]

Mik: Possibly different experiences, eh? I've had multiple computers that ran absolutely hideously on 98 and had no serious problems with ME at all. Besides which, stability isn't the issue at hand here- you don't think problems with the IO setup might have anything to do with it on a computer that's chronically slow and scans for disks that aren't there? To me, it's sounding more and more like that's exactly the problem.

J3: A computer that dated probably won't run most modern games anyway- the actual hardware requirements for pretty much all games has gone up exponentially since XP and the Pentium III came out (same happened, as I recall, with 95). Hence, something pre-2k'd be ideal, yes, because anything not running on the NT kernel will support practically any software developed for Microsoft, period. That'll come in handy, seeing as you'll be playing a lot of DOS games. However, anything pre-Win2K is also pretty unstable- you'll be able to fix the speed issues more or less, but it'll still crash about as much as the computer does now. So, basically your options come down to speed, stability, or just saying "**** it" and getting a new processor and graphics card.

If it's running extremely slowly, and even does so after you reformat and reinstall, keep in mind that it might also be hardware. I had an old computer burn out an I/O controller a few months back, had very much the same symptoms described here. But that's a secondary resort.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
J3: A computer that dated probably won't run most modern games anyway

[color=66ff00]Good point, I was merely thinking in terms of getting the bugger up and running at a decent speed, a 450 can be used for something like counterstrike but you can forget about running anything up to date on it.
[/color]

[J3Vr6]

Yeah, I wasn't planning on using it for today's games.  It hasn't been able to play a released game since... *thinks* ... I think Red Faction.  I mostly used to use it to play system shock 2, fs2, the sims (for my girlfriend), things like that.

I have it mostly as my music station, with my 2 HD's crammed w/ music.  Problem is, I can't burn anymore cuz of that accessing problem.  I might just pull the HD and USB or firewire (whatever it's called on the sony laptops) it to my laptop.

The whole issue is money.  If I had the money I wouldn't be asking how to fix such an old computer.  I know for like $200 I could get a good processor and motherboard.  The thing is that I rather spend those $200 on my car or going out on the weekend

[kasperl]

well, first, try running Knoppix Linux to see if the problems are windows related, Knoppix won't fubar anything, it's only 700MB to dl, and it costs you on CD, one floppy, and about 5 minutes to boot it, and it won't touch your HD untill you tell it to do so.

[Razor]

Originally posted by kode


we can't. razor wrote it.

Razor: Thanks, I'll try that utility program

No problem. It should help you out. I use it very often and I noticed that my machine works better after tweaking.
Oh and don't pay any attention to kode. He has serious issues. And by the way kode...the beginning of a new sentence starts with a capital letter. They usually teach people that in the first class of elementary school in case you missed it.

[kode]

Originally posted by Razor


Oh and don't pay any attention to kode. He has serious issues. And by the way kode...the beginning of a new sentence starts with a capital letter. They usually teach people that in the first class of elementary school in case you missed it.

geeh, thanks for telling me that. let me be the first to direct you to a grammar book, then. they usually teach that too in elementary school.