NB needs HELP....what the hell

[djrazr]

Hey fellas

Im new to the whole dvd burning gig and i've done some research.
my pc is an older pentium 3 gateway
i use dvd decrypter and dvd shrink
i installed service pack 1 for xp to support usb 2.0
i puchased an external 180 harddrive that hooks up the the usb 2.0 card
i purchased a usb 2.0 card
my dma settings are good

First day i ripped an xxx movie to my hd as iso, then too dvd shrink to compress and encode then burn with encrypter. Ripping was fast 10-15 minutes. Encode and compression took almost 4 hours for a 2hr movie. i did not burn the movie yet

next day i went to defrag my pc to see if that may have been the problem for the 4 hour encode, compression time bfore i went to work. I came home later that day to see my pc had froze on me. i had to shutdown my pc and when i turned it back on, xp would not load. it was just the black xp screen with the blue bar not moving. it froze on me

day after that i took it to a tech who was a referral. he ended up reloading xp on my pc including service pack 2. scanned for viruses.after all that he turned on the pc and it froze at desktop. he then removed the usb 2.0 card (belkin) and restarted and the pc did not freeze. He put it back in again and it froze. It was back and fourth. he told me it the card is either bad or not compatible or my power supply which is 250 w (ati all in wonder, dvd rom, dvd burner)..

I went back to compusa and switched out the card with a compusa brand. I installed it into my pc and had no problems freezing. so now the test.......i opened up a file in shrink dvd and it froze on me at about 10-15% during encode, not once but also 2 other times including just recently.

Anyone here have an idea on what i should do? It all was fine when i encoded and compressed with the belkin 2.0 card. Everything went wrong when i went to defrag because that's when it started freezing. Now with this other card, im freezing again during encode and compress with dvd shrink. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

[djrazr]

well looks my pc just froze on me just watching a movie! Now im all confused! I have ran avg, trend micro, and kaspersky, bazooka, spybot and spydoctor and found nothing all tonite.

[redwudz]

Please use a more descriptive title in your posts. "NB needs HELP....what the hell" is not descriptive. 'USB card problems-computer freezing' or similar would be much better.

For your problem, could be a lot of things. If it never has the problem with the USB card removed, then it would seem to have something to do with the card. Have you tried the card in a different PCI slot? Generally avoid the one directly under the AGP slot.

Have you upgraded your motherboard drivers to the latest available? It could also be a problem with your RAM memory. Can you substitute RAM? Does it have the problem with encoding in general?

Have you checked the Task Manager to see what processes are running? And how much CPU % is used. (Although when encoding, it should be near 100%) How much memory is being used?

With a new XP install, there shouldn't be a problem with the OS or your installed programs. It would instead point to a hardware problem.

[djrazr]

i apologize for the topic......and i dont know much about pc's

I've tried the card in a different pci slot and same thing. no i have not upgraded mother board. i have 448 ram and i have 78% unused. i just checked task manager to see how many process are running and its 26 and cpu usage % is from 1-8.

When i use dvd shrink, i turn off all all other programs, virus, spyware etc..

It ran fine and i was able to encode. everything went wrong after i went to defrag my pc

[redwudz]

Task Manager info is about normal. Does it have the problem at all with the USB card removed? It could still be a RAM problem, though. But it would do that with any CPU intensive operation like encoding.

Also check Control Panel>System>Hardware>Universal Serial Bus Controllers. You should see some 'Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controllers'. Those are the USB 2.0 controllers. You may not learn anything there, but take a look.

[djrazr]

i just tried a minute ago to reply but my pc shut off with some blue screen

it said windows was shut down to prevent damage to my pc, and to remove hardware and drivers and some other things and it told me to restart so i did.

I tried removing the card just a while ago, and i started the pc up and could'nt get a screen. I put it back in and started it up and i got a screen. this is so confusing so it sounds like something else

@Also check Control Panel>System>Hardware>Universal Serial Bus Controllers. You should see some 'Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controllers'. Those are the USB 2.0 controllers. You may not learn anything there, but take a look.@

Yes i have them

[jimmalenko]

IMHO it's gotta be hardware, and the first places I'd look are mobo and power supply. As a test, can you put the card in a friend's machine (who uses his/her PC for the same tasks you do) for a couple of days ?

[Bjs]

Two item's to look at are :

1: It's an addon usb2 card in a pci slot ?

You will never get the full benefit's from the usb2 card because of the inherited restriction's of the parent device ... it's in a pci slot which work's at slower speed .

2: Lockup's - two part's :

Check the electrical consumption of the usb unit v/a (the actual drive connected to the usb).

Your pc may not beable to supply enough voltage/amp's as required to fully power the device , this is due to the pci restriction's as the power for the device is drawn from your system's pci buss .

Most common , external dvd burner's can draw a maximum of 2 amp's of current when in burn mode ... something to be on the look out for ... as not many new pc's supply more than 2 amp's via onboard usb2 chipset .

The pci buss is unable to supply anywhere near this .

Xp protection's .

Should you overload the usb by drawing the maximum available current ... xp will reset the device , and either warn you this action has occured ... or in your case , the blue screen warning .

The blue screen warning is common with pc's where usb via pci is involved .

It's xp's way of protecting the system to prevent further damage ... you may also notice poorer performance from the device the next time it is used ... the device should be considered partially defective .

I have seen a few pc's where such card's have been installed , and the motherboard's actually destroyed upon first use of any connected device .

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For older system's I would recommend if they are unable to upgrade the internal's of the pc because of cost consideration's ... then consider buying a powered usb hub to supply all the power need's of the device connected ... this would take the power drain away from the pc and should prevent these problem's from occuring .

[RDS1955]

Step 1. Buy a New PC, time to upgrade..
Step 2. Take the old one and recycle it into an external Firewall device..

Sounds to me like it's either the Power supply casuing problems or your PC may be getting to the point where it getting old, wearing down and starting to get over heated on you..I had a similiar problem on one of my older systems..Turned out it was getting over heated after many useful years of tasking and finally just got worn out, started to overheat and shut down on me when I started to do some video work, play games or use a program which caused the PC to really work..

[djrazr]

@Check the electrical consumption of the usb unit v/a (the actual drive connected to the usb).@ - dont know how?

And yes the usb 2.0 card is in a pci slot and i installed the driver for it

So maybe it could be the power supply? Im just trying to see if this can be fixed without buying a new pc

[djrazr]

well after my last post just recently without the usb 2.0 card installed, my pc just shut off on me ........i could not get windows to load without the card installed.... the card is in while im typing

looks like i'll be looking at another pc than fix this one?
thanx for your help guys

[RDS1955]

It's inevitable..Go out and give yourself a treat.. New PC's (depending on what you want in it and what it is to do..) are'nt all that too expensive now a days..You're gonna get a New PC someday, so why not make it today?..

[djrazr]

dam this sucks!

Any ideas where to buy? Im thinking fry's?
Im not a gamer at all. I just browse, download alot and just got into burning dvd's
I have a new dvd rom, new dvd burner, ati card so i dont need these already.
i'll be looking for one with an already usb 2 so i can return this card

thanx guys

now i just gotta figure out how to transfer all my files from this pc to my external hd ( think i got the room), then to the new pc

[ROF]

If you have the knowledge and wherewithall I'd recommend building your own PC. With your existing parts and your current demands as you've listed it would cost you roughly <$300 to build a new tower. You are going to want to look for a cheap mid-tower with a power supply included. A Socket T or 939 board and an appropriate low processor. I'd recommend 939 as they are cheaper and all the processors are hyperthreaded. Next you might need some RAM and that about covers your new construction. Just add your drives/expansion cards and you have a new PC.

[djrazr]

If you have the knowledge and wherewithall I'd recommend building your own PC. With your existing parts and your current demands as you've listed it would cost you roughly <$200 to build a new tower. You are going to want to look for a cheap mid-tower with a power supply included. A Socket T or 939 board and an appropriate low processor. I'd recommend 939 as they are cheaper and all the processors are hyperthreaded. Next you might need some RAM and that about covers your new construction. Just add your drives/expansion cards and you have a new PC.



this sounds very good. I can get a tower with a power supply for around $100 and cheaper. So your saying the tower, a 939 board and ram like a 512, + a low processor - how low i have no idea? are u saying the 939 has the low processor?
what about the main hd?

thank u thank u

[ROF]

A quick visit to NewEgg.com can build:

JPAC 411 Black Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail

TUL AX480A-GF Socket 939 ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BPBOX - Retail

pqi POWER Series 512MB (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)

for $295.00 shipped to my house on Monday.

[RDS1955]

Go to Techspot.com... they have a buying guide section on their site for all different kinds of budgets and systems..

http://www.techspot.com/guides-buying.shtml

Can give you some ideas and some hardware you might want to try in a price range you're looking for..

If you're gonna buy online, I'd recommend as one-stop shopping sites...
newegg.com
zipzoomfly.com
monarchcomputers.com

or you could go to pricewatch.com and search through all the sites they have for each individual part you're looking for..You can get some really good bargain through Pricewatch merchant listing but Buyer beware, make certain you check out the feedback for each merchant listed..

[ROF]

Pricewatch is a great hardware deal location site.

In addition to the seller beware warning a general warning to all system builders: When you choose a processor make sure the seller includes a heatsink and fan combo(retail box) or at a minimum you purchase the cheapest heatsink/fan combo they sell. Even if you plan to buy a better cooling system elsewhere it's always a good idea to have a heatsink/fan on your invoice. It will make returning a DOA chip much easier.