Problem with DIY Computer Build


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Old 05-25-19, 01:54 AM
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Problem with DIY Computer Build

I have a computer I built for my wife. Specs are AMD Phenom II @320 Ghz, 16 GB Ram, and it has a Radeon HD4770 Video Card. (Donated Parts...) Win 7 Pro. and it has USB Wifi.

This is my wife's computer and it has a problem with what on the surface seems to be lag. She will get on the internet and it can sometimes take 20-30 seconds for a page to load. I created a new hard with just the OS and her browser and it still has the problem. I'm wondering if it is the video card. I loaded the ATI RAdeon software, after downloading the latest pack from the mfg wegsite, BUT made no adjustments to it.

Is there some setting on this software that may help?
 
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Old 05-25-19, 04:01 AM
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WOW, it's been years since I built my own computer. Does not seem worth the effort or cost.
About your problem...How long has the delay been happening? Does it have the same delay on other computers in you home? I don't remember the CPU specs, but I'm thinking the CPU is one of the problems. Are you using Ethernet or Wi-Fi? What browser are you using? Are they up to date?
 
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Old 05-25-19, 05:31 AM
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LIke Norm, I havent built a computer since around 2000... 20 years ago. So, my knowledge is now limited, but......

This is the order of things I would check.
1) Internet connection (does all of the preloaded software that doesnt use the internet, run/load ok?)

2) Processor (step 1 will help rule this out. If preloaded software that doesnt use an internet connection runs ok, then the processor is likely ok)

3) RAM (if you have a bad stick of RAM it wont load anything very fast. Remember, your RAM is only as fast as your slowest stick. if you have one bad stick, it will only access info at that speed.

Since you didn't mention other computers in your home running/loading info from the internet slowly, I am assuming its not the internet, but the hardware reading or processing the info.

I'd start here & see where I am at that point.
 
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Old 05-25-19, 05:45 AM
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LOL, I haven't had a STORE-BOUGHT desktop since about the mid 90's. But then I like tinkering with things. [I buy laptops, though]

What MB are you using? Nothing really springs to my mind beyond what Norm and Dixie have already mentioned.

Just for giggles, why not try an internet speed test to see what you get? This is the one I usually use:

https://www.speedtest.net/
 
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Old 05-25-19, 06:46 AM
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Is the lag all of the time? You make it seem like maybe not or, at a minimum, it can vary how slow it is.

Is it on wi-fi or wired? If the former, can you try the latter to see if that makes a difference? If the latter, what happens if you plug something else in the same place (like a laptop)?

My last work laptop had a similar problem and using the resources built in to the OS I was able to figure out the problem was my C drive - it was always the bottleneck compared to CPU and RAM. In that case, the only solution would have been installing the OS and programs to an SSD (which is what I did on my current home-built desktop).
 
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Old 05-25-19, 11:05 AM
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First of all, you don't mention which browser she's using but you mention installing it separately from the OS, which implies it's neither Windows Explorer nor M$ Edge. Regardless, it probably has a configuration setting "Enable hardware acceleration." Whatever it's set to now, try it the other way.

And do you see evidence that it's just the browser that's being doggy and not the OS? Does the cursor still move and can you minimize/maximize windows or start other applications while this is going on?

RE: the ATI Radeon software (utilities, accessory programs, etc), as a rule I consider anything other than the GPU drivers to be bloatware and avoid them. Since you've already burned it down and rebuilt it once, it's not too extreme to suggest you uninstall everything that came with the GPU except the drivers and see what that gets you.
 
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Old 05-29-19, 08:21 PM
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Norm, the delay happens daily. Just tonight we were watching a streaming program when the internet went out. (the router couldn't even find the service.) I'm beginning to think that it may be the router (doubtful since it's brand new) or the service itself. The outage happens for about 5 min, a couple of times a night.
 
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Old 05-30-19, 03:34 AM
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Agreed. I would try to find another router as a test. Then call service if t hat doesn't solve it.
 
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Old 06-07-19, 11:54 AM
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Things have finally been fixed, but I am at a loss as to why. LOL

The computer was not the problem. Over the last week we had techs out to the house with varying degrees of success. We had them report everything from a 'floating ground' on my house to "Nothing we can find..." Finally, they left me a router to use for testing and i agreed to test everything.

Here is what we found: I have 9 items attached to the router.
2 Desktop Computers
1 Laptop
2 phones
2 Nooks
1 Tivo Bolt
1 Kindle Fire Stick

I purchased a dual band adapter for my wife's computer just to make sure that was not the issue. Taking out items one at a time, we discovered that the borrowed router was not passing DNS properly, so I swapped it out with the router I had. This coupled with removal of the Kindle Fire Stick fixed all issues.
Not sure why, but thought I'd share this for others.
 
 

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