Slave harddrive = choppy video

Comments

jaydeeee wrote on 3/30/2006, 10:33 AM
Jrazz - please, if this kind of reply isn't part of his learning to fix, I dunno what is. Giving specific system info IS THE FIRST THING HE NEEDS TO LEARN.
We're now to this point - AND WE STILL HAVE NO SPECIFIC MOBO MODEL, HD MODEL STATED?
Knowing your own system details is that important (in saving repair $ down the road).
We're on a forum man, having that info could have solved it by now...not having that could screw up his system even worse.

>>>Sorry Jaydee. I will do any thing at this point. I have been to 2 different computer shops with this problem, and I still have the same problem. i am not trying to waste anybodys time, I just want to fix my problem<<<

Ski, look...I've said it a few times now. Look at all these posts and we still don't have even the basic system info from you. What motherboard (exactly), what hd model is it?
I'm sorry but you're bringing these replies on yourself.

I doubt "system restore" is going to help. Again, you're not actively attacking the problem - you'd be going in circles.
And btw, one of the first rules of a daw system - TURN OFF THAT SYSTEM RESTORE (especially with an older system). Yes it takes the feature away, but performance is gained with it off.

You've brought it to TWO places...? and what did they say?
Nothing? I doubt it. I bet they said "this mobo is too old, you've been due for a re-install at least for years, your new hd (and old 40 gig) are pretty dang old". Did they charge you $ to say NOTHING? Did they check your cabling/setup?...makle sure it's properly setup?
I bet they suggested a system upgrade - and I do too at this point.
Heck, maybe it ISN'T AN OLD SYSTEM...we don't know..we need a model # and brand.

You have either bios, or ctrlr issues right now - and that's motherboard related (gee I wish i knew which mobo it was). Could be the new hd...but we don't know what hd that is...(hello?).

If you are near and dear to this old mobo/system....then get yourself a cheap ide ctrlr card, disable the mobo onboard ide ctrlr and try that.
Really though, it could be as simple as a BIOS update, ide driver update, or an adjustment in the bios (again - need to know the exact mobo model).
Have you even accessed the BIOS to re-recognize the hd's?

Until then, you could stumble around and you might fix it somehow, or maybe...it's time for an upgrade.
And don't buy an 80gig hd (i wonder what hd that is btw?, much less the model of the 40 gigger) as an upgrade for a 2nd hd - not these days.
unless you're just replacing an os/app drive (c:) then your $ is better spent on a larger 2nd hd.

Are you really doing a lot of a/v system work...really? If so, I think you might be spending better $ on a upgraded system (even a moderate upgrade replacement). Backup all the files and move fwd.

BTW: even with a moderately old mobo/system, there shouldn't be a need to keep optical drives on one channel and hd's on the other. Most ctrls on mobos handle each device at it's rated dma just fine.
Unless...this mobo is pretty dang old and the bios is just as old. Who knows?

bw wrote on 3/30/2006, 2:29 PM
This post may not be solving Ski's problem but it is the most informative one for me.
Am going to print it in big letters and carry with me everywhere. :)
So far no one has suggested that Ski buiys a ATA drive card to give him 2 more IDE ports. That way he can have a drive on each cable and expand to more drives as required.
At present I have a40g for OS (Dual boot), 2 opticals, 2 120s, a30g and a zip drive as well as an external 250g in a USB case. No probs. But I am going to use Johnmyers post carefully to see if it can be improved.
Brian.
jaydeeee wrote on 3/30/2006, 3:22 PM
Yes, it has been mentioned.

>>>If you are near and dear to this old mobo/system....then get yourself a cheap ide ctrlr card, disable the mobo onboard ide ctrlr and try that.

Really though, it could be as simple as a BIOS update, ide driver update, or an adjustment in the bios (again - need to know the exact mobo model).
Have you even accessed the BIOS to re-recognize the hd's?<<<<
johnmeyer wrote on 3/30/2006, 3:33 PM
But I am going to use John Meyer's post carefully to see if it can be improved.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That said, out of all the stuff I told him to do, the DMA is 1000% more important than anything else. Without DMA, your computer won't do anything fast, and will be useless for video.

The indexing is a pain in the neck, but the way I told him to deal with it was to turn it off at the drive level. It is even more effective to just plain turn it off by disabling the indexing service entirely (it is used by MS Office, and no one I know ever actually uses it). You can do this by clicking Start -> Run and then typing "services.msc" in the Run dialog. In the dialog that appears, you will find "Indexing Service." Normally, this is set to Automatic or Manual. You want to set it to disabled. After you reboot, it will never start again. Doing it this way means you don't have to remember to disable it every time you connect an external drive.

Some people get obsessed with this services dialog, once they see how many useless things are running in the background. There used to be a site run by a guy named "Black Viper" that gave you suggestions on which ones you could disable. I spent a lot of time playing around with various settings, but eventually -- usually 4-5 weeks later after I forgot I did anything, something that used to work wouldn't. You can certainly change things from Automatic to Manual so they don't load at boot time, but changing them to Disable can cause problems. Thus, if you do decide to experiment with this, write down the names of the ones you disable, and post it on a yellow sticky on your monitor for about three months until you're sure you didn't cause a problem.

Disabling indexing, however, won't cause any problem unless you are using the Microsoft Office search function.

Steve Mann wrote on 3/30/2006, 11:46 PM
"So far no one has suggested that Ski buiys a ATA drive card to give him 2 more IDE ports. "

That's because if his computer is so old that the main drive is 40Gb, it's probably too old to have a SATA controller.