Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
10 Posts
0
16271
Precision 690 Slow
I have a Precision 690 that's just over 2 years old. Last year, if not earlier, i noticed it getting very slow. I did my bi-annual "wipe" everything and reinstalled all drivers/OS, etc. from the ground up. It seemed nice and peppy for just about a few weeks but that was short lived. My patience has run out and 6 months later, i'm back again with a painfully slow system. Most of the time, it appears to be something with the disks, as it will spend a ton of time continuously hitting the hard drive(s) Sometimes, for no appearant reason. Other times in the middle of doing things. Also, most of the time when shutting down/rebooting, it takes about 60-90 seconds to even start the windows shut down process, after pinging the hard drive that whole time. I literally hit shut down . . then go pack my bags . .then come back to the "confirm" popup. I've tried other things like completely removing McAfee as i though it may be culprit, nothing.
This is my current setup:
- Precision 690, Dell Bios A08 (just upgraded a few weeks ago)
- Intel Xeon 5110 CPU @ 1.60Ghz
- Windows XP Professional SP3
- 4 Gb DDR 2 ECC SDRAM @ 667 MHz, 4x1GB sticks
- NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT video (I just upgraded this last month, thinking it would help - nope)
- Dell SAS 5/iR Integrated Controller
- Controller: Intel 631xESB/632xESB SATA AHCI Controller
- Disk 0: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM
- Disk 1: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (Perpendicular Recording)
- Disk 2: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM
Disk 0 was the original install. Disk 1 and 2 were add-on's. I've got operating system and all programs on Disk0. Disk 1 is Data that I access alot, including a shared partition for "company data" on a simple Workgroup and Disk 2 is mostly "resources" that i don't access much, if at all during a day.
EDIT: I should note that these symptoms even appear without my small network being active. While i thought it maybe merely the fact that i have some folders shared and accessible, it still happens when my other machines are completely shut off, NOT accessing data (not even capable of)
I've read some old (1.5-2 years) posts talking about the SATA controllers and the like, but i'm not sure if they relate. I'm not sure i have things setup properly, or if there's even room for different setup or improvement.
I do know that I'm about at the end of my rope with this system (similar to other posters on similar topic) I have 4+ year old Dimension machines running XP Home and Office 2000 that seem quicker.
Thanks in advance,
Blake
Blake Miller (P
10 Posts
0
September 10th, 2009 09:00
Bump. I know this *was* a problem based on old posts. Anyone out there can help?
Blake Miller (P
10 Posts
0
September 13th, 2009 16:00
I return to these forums as i await my $2300 machine to get done chugging the hard drive . . .been 50 seconds and counting.
The problem is increased during file DELETE functions, and when shutting down. Shutting down now takes 2-3 minutes . . . for which about 95% of it is the hard drive getting pinged the entire time.
I'm not happy with a recent Inspiron 15 that i just bought . . . and the fact that these forums are becoming less helpful . . . has me wondering if it's time to ditch my 14 yr relationship with Dell?
Dev Mgr
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
9.3K Posts
0
September 13th, 2009 21:00
If a format and reinstall fixes the problem (even if just for a few months), the problem is with the software you use/install.
Blake Miller (P
10 Posts
0
September 14th, 2009 10:00
I'll be sure to call Bill Gates and a few others. :emotion-4:
Honestly though, i have nothing different/special than almost every other machine in my office (i have 3 work stations all running similar setups) Those are older Precision machines. I have the latest service packs, drivers, BIOS flashes, dell drivers, etc. I run clean, typical, licensed software and drivers and programs. I'm not a hack or otherwise doing anyhting outside the norm with this machine.
My guess is the "peppiness" that i experienced for a bit was merely to to the fresh install of everything - which almost ALWAYS happens with any system, whether healthy or not. It was now 9 months ago so i don't recall specifics on what "fixed" what.
The thing is, my problems almost mirror this post, too bad from a few years ago when the 690 first came out.
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/18033566/18158488.aspx
Currently, the two most noticeable delays are deleting a file or files from within Explorer and Shutting down. Yesterday, system got hung on deleting a simple 2 Mb file . . . for about 2.5 minutes . . .literally. Hard drive light on 100% continuous activity. Shutting down takes anywhere from 60-120 seconds. Shall I call Microsoft? Many times, opening regular files takes a long time. Other "typical" actions just seem to crawl, when opening the same files on a Precision 4600 machine running same software is a more typical experience.