I work for a Community MAR (Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher). We recently built a system with an Asus P4B266C motherboard that had major issues running Windows XP Professional (we buy licenses of XP Pro as a part of the Community MAR program).
Typically you'd expect slowness from spyware/viruses or a bad hard drive, so before these are commented on I'll note that:
a) Legitimate license, fresh install of Windows XP.
b) We used manufacturers tools to test the hard drive in the system.
c) We replaced the hard drive even though it tested okay, with the same results.
d) We checked the power supply with a tester that has a LED display that not only shows voltages, but fluctuations in voltages.
e) We tested the memory with Memtest86+ and it passed 42 times (we let it run overnight) with no errors.
f) We replaced the power supply anyway
g) We even replaced the CPU in case it was flaky
h) The system didn't appear to be overheating, we let it sit overnight and the CPU didn't go higher than 45 degrees celcius.
i) We replaced a few bad capacitors on the motherboard with new capacitors.
Rather than go any further we decided to simply replace the system with something similar (the advantage of being a community computer refurbisher - the license is reasonable enough that we can do it).
I was just wondering if anyone had experienced fresh installs of Windows XP (legal) that ran slow as molasses? Sorry I don't have the Everest settings, the system is long gone, but the problem still bothers me because it's about the only time we haven't been able to solve an issue like this.
I suspect that because we had to replace some bad caps that there was a trace or something else that was bad which we couldn't test for.
That leads me to another question. I'm wondering if others are using software to test motherboards (preferably software that doesn't rely on Windows, e.g. bootable).
Cheers and thanks a mint!
Typically you'd expect slowness from spyware/viruses or a bad hard drive, so before these are commented on I'll note that:
a) Legitimate license, fresh install of Windows XP.
b) We used manufacturers tools to test the hard drive in the system.
c) We replaced the hard drive even though it tested okay, with the same results.
d) We checked the power supply with a tester that has a LED display that not only shows voltages, but fluctuations in voltages.
e) We tested the memory with Memtest86+ and it passed 42 times (we let it run overnight) with no errors.
f) We replaced the power supply anyway
g) We even replaced the CPU in case it was flaky
h) The system didn't appear to be overheating, we let it sit overnight and the CPU didn't go higher than 45 degrees celcius.
i) We replaced a few bad capacitors on the motherboard with new capacitors.
Rather than go any further we decided to simply replace the system with something similar (the advantage of being a community computer refurbisher - the license is reasonable enough that we can do it).
I was just wondering if anyone had experienced fresh installs of Windows XP (legal) that ran slow as molasses? Sorry I don't have the Everest settings, the system is long gone, but the problem still bothers me because it's about the only time we haven't been able to solve an issue like this.
I suspect that because we had to replace some bad caps that there was a trace or something else that was bad which we couldn't test for.
That leads me to another question. I'm wondering if others are using software to test motherboards (preferably software that doesn't rely on Windows, e.g. bootable).
Cheers and thanks a mint!
