Defective microphone probably screwed up my motherboard
3 replies, posted
My computer has always been very fast since I formatted and reinstalled Windows 8 x64. Yesterday I did some things - the result is that my computer became VERY slow.
Game performance is greatly decreased - even Doom 2 stutters.
CPU and disk performance is greatly decreased - compiling my C++ projects takes 3x the time it took before
Applications and explorer generally feel slower and sluggish
So, what did I do yesterday?
I bought a new microphone, and plugged it in
When I plugged the microphone in, I moved the case around (gently)
I installed Windows 8 x64 on my old laptop, logged in with my Microsoft account, and the setting synced between my desktop and my laptop. This is when I noticed the slowdown. I used system restore in order to go back to 28 February - this restored the original theme I had on my desktop. I disabled syncing on my desktop. Slowdown was still present. I cleaned the computer using CCleaner and Glary Utilities. Slowdown was still present. I booted in safe mode, cleaned Startup applications, Automatic services and unused drivers in the Device manager. I updated my video card drivers to the latest version. I ran Windows Update. Slowdown was still present.
Went to bed.
Today, I turned off the computer, unplugged all cables, opened the case, cleaned up the inside, checked if any cable was not connected properly. I plugged everything back in. Slowdown was still present.
I don't know what happened, and I don't want to format my computer again - there has to be a solution to the problem.
[B]Specs[/B]
OS: Windows 8 Enterprise x64
CPU: i7 2700k @ 3.50GHz (Sandy Bridge 32nm)
Ram: 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3
Mobo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
GFX: GeForce GTX275
SSD: OCZ-OCTANE 128GB
[B]Reports[/B]
DxDiag: [URL]http://pastebin.com/JYY5gJ5t[/URL]
CPU-Z: [URL]http://pastebin.com/bL81GSUd[/URL]
Speccy: [URL]http://pastebin.com/Mm7pXRg3[/URL]
[HR][/HR]I noticed RAM frequency (MHz) was way lower than expected. It should be 1600MHz, but it barely reaches 600MHz. I tried removing 1 stick of RAM, changing places, checking BIOS information. Still a lower frequency.
I tried a completely different stick of RAM (taken from another computer), that should be 1333MHz. It barely reached 500MHz.
Is it possible that an hypothetical electrical shock generated when I plugged in the microphone screwed up the motherboard? The microphone wasn't working right at first - I had to open it up and touch the cables to get it to work.
I also tried manually setting RAM parameters (voltage, etc), but it still runs at 500MHz.
[HR][/HR]Is there anything I can do? Do I have to get a new mobo?
Your memory speed showing as 500/600mHz is perfectly normal.
[img]http://puu.sh/2bXHq[/img]
DDR stands for "Double Data Rate"
"The name "double data rate" refers to the fact that a DDR SDRAM with a certain clock frequency achieves nearly twice the bandwidth of a SDR SDRAM running at the same clock frequency..."
Therefore DDR3-1333 is actually running at 666-667mHz. But if it had been old SDR RAM, it would have needed to be 1333mHz.
Doesn't sound like a bad motherboard, it sounds like a software problem, or weird BIOS settings.
For example my GTX 280 loves to underclock itself to its 2D speeds and then get stuck until reboot, which i have yet to figure out.
Do you have teamviewer?
Yes I do have Teamviewer. I'll PM you my data
I don't think the microphone is the problem. Sounds like a HDD issue. Check resource monitor to see if anything's constantly reading/writing (Java broke on my brothers PC and would constantly read, slowing the PC to a crawl since everything waited for it) and check your HDD's health with HD Tune or something.
[editline]4th March 2013[/editline]
you moving the PC might have just loosened a SATA cable or something. I'd replace your HDD's sata cable, too, I've had odd things happen and replacing it fixed it.
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