computer freeze often

I have a Dell studio slim. I love it. All the performance I need.
I had a hard drive that I use for my back up it's a "small" 160 gig.
Enough to store my music and my pictures. So I installed it last week,
since then my computer freeze often, programs will freeze for no
reason, the computer seem slower. I even format the hard drive this
morning. The computer is still slow and programs will freeze for no
reason.

Do you think the hard drive might be the problem?
So far I can't see anything else. I will probably take it off tomorrow
unless someone think of something here.


Thank you


Yvon

Yvon,

This is not normal behavior. Are you using this as an external USB
hard drive?

If USB, does the USB cable have an additional connector to plug into a
second USB port? For example one of my external USB hard drives
requires me to plug 2 USB connectors to get enough power. I have
several computers and on another computer I only need to plug in one
connector (the main). Different computers power their USB connectors
slightly differently so you need to play around with it. Hard drives
require more power than other devices so it may be a power problems.
A memory stick, or USB keyboard for example do not require a lot of
power from a USB.

If it is a power problem you could try connecting it to an external
USB hub that uses has an AC adapter.

Does it lockup when the drive is being accessed?

David

On 4 avr, 08:07, vbDavidC wrote:
Yvon,

This is not normal behavior. *Are you using this as an external USB
hard drive?

If USB, does the USB cable have an additional connector to plug into a
second USB port? *For example one of my external USB hard drives
requires me to plug 2 USB connectors to get enough power. *I have
several computers and on another computer I only need to plug in one
connector (the main). *Different computers power their USB connectors
slightly differently so you need to play around with it. *Hard drives
require more power than other devices so it may be a power problems.
A memory stick, or USB keyboard for example do not require a lot of
power from a USB.

If it is a power problem you could try connecting it to an external
USB hub that uses has an AC adapter.

Does it lockup when the drive is being accessed?

David

Hi David, the hard drive in an internal sata drive. I also suspect the
powersuply. it's only 250 watts.
I installed the OS on the 160 gig hard drive and the rest on my 640.
I might take it off today if I have the time to see if it help.


Yvon

Is the sata hard drive port turned on in the BIOS. Drives will often
function slowly (and unstably), but still function when attached to a port
that is turned off in the BIOS.

"Yvon" wrote in message
...
On 4 avr, 08:07, vbDavidC wrote:
Yvon,

This is not normal behavior. Are you using this as an external USB
hard drive?

If USB, does the USB cable have an additional connector to plug into a
second USB port? For example one of my external USB hard drives
requires me to plug 2 USB connectors to get enough power. I have
several computers and on another computer I only need to plug in one
connector (the main). Different computers power their USB connectors
slightly differently so you need to play around with it. Hard drives
require more power than other devices so it may be a power problems.
A memory stick, or USB keyboard for example do not require a lot of
power from a USB.

If it is a power problem you could try connecting it to an external
USB hub that uses has an AC adapter.

Does it lockup when the drive is being accessed?

David

Hi David, the hard drive in an internal sata drive. I also suspect the
powersuply. it's only 250 watts.
I installed the OS on the 160 gig hard drive and the rest on my 640.
I might take it off today if I have the time to see if it help.


Yvon

You may be right about the power supply.

I like smaller footprinted PCs and I don't have too much extra stuff
so I always try to get the lowest consuming PC (somewhat green). But
when I go shopping they always tell to get get something like 350
watts or more.

I just looked at your system type and noticed that it is a slim
machine. I guess you could get a different power supply that will fit
but it is not a standard ATX supply I take it.

Regarding the 160GB having your OS I am not sure why you transferred
your OS to that drive, unless the 640 is a drive you bought later.
You could buy a SATA USB enclosure for like $20 and use it
externally. Oops this is a 3.5 desktop hard drive. Maybe not, they
require a bigger enclosure. Having your OS on this older hard drive
seems like something you may want to consider if it is older than 3 or
4 years. Either way, make sure you backup your OS, create an image
for safe keeping.

David

Thanks guys,
I took the hard drive off tonight. I formated again and everything is
as fast as it was before. Somthing was wrong with the hard drive. I
don't know what exactly but something didn't work the way it should.