One issue resolved: Sudden system slowdown

Discussion in 'Windows' started by ranold, Sep 11, 2008.

  1. ranold

    ranold

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    Hi all,
    I bought my Aspire One [1/120/6cell/Xp] two weeks ago and it has worked great, until yesterday when there was a SUDDEN system slowdown. I noticed it as it was booting up[taking longer] and as it got into Windows, the Windows Xp wav file was playing choppy. I knew something wasn't right, so I checked to see what was booting/loading up, looking at the processes and verifying that wasn't anything out of the ordinary going on....there wasn't.
    I immediately got thinking of bad ram or HD etc, so I got a local computer store tech to check it out and he immediately found my problem....
    The Harddrive somehow switched itself over from Ultra DMA mode 5 to PIO....which was causing the slowness.
    You can check this setting in Device Manager, IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, Primary IDE channel, Advanced settings tab... current transfer mode displays the current setting.
    He basically deleted the primary ide channel in device manager, rebooted and it changed itself back to ULTRA DMA Mode 5.
    If any of you experience a sudden slowdown, see if your HD is running in PIO mode.

    /shout out to the guys at mcxtronix.
     
    ranold, Sep 11, 2008
    #1
  2. ranold

    amatasu_zero

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    Hey that's good to know. I had that exact same problem, but I just reloaded windows. Thanks.
     
    amatasu_zero, Sep 12, 2008
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  3. ranold

    BLAZETIGER

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    Did he explain what caused the switch? Is this something we have to do periodically?
     
    BLAZETIGER, Dec 25, 2008
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  4. ranold

    ranold

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    He said basically when some machines run on battery mode, certain drivers try to go in energy efficient modes, such as display, wireless etc and that it was likely that the machine somehow went into PIO mode[as it is much slower than UDm5]. :?:
     
    ranold, Dec 27, 2008
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  5. ranold

    goofball

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    that's not really an accurate description of why windows will revert to PIO from DMA mode. Windows puts it into PIO mode if during bootup, the controller does not respond in a timely manner, and it doesn't respond over several bootups. PIO is a fallback mode for a controller that doesn't appear to "work" or "respond" as expected according to Windows.
     
    goofball, Dec 27, 2008
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  6. ranold

    ranold

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    Well if that is the case, then that is what must of put my AoA150 in PIO mode then.
    Either way, that was how he fixed the issue.
     
    ranold, Dec 27, 2008
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  7. ranold

    bfoster

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    Oh my! I've been getting angry about this darn issue! THANK YOU! (I even tried calling Acer... but wouldn't you know it, they don't seem to really care about support by telephone! i.e. it was closed!)

    I think I had several BSOD caused by ftdisk and a whole pile of timeout errors in the event log before I think Windows said 'screw it, PIO time"! When I ran Windows it would work great but slowly the performance would degrade. Finally the stutter that would get worse over time, then a BSOD. Recently it kept PIO mode on all the time...

    Very interesting... I wonder if there's a larger issue here. I ran some disk diagnostics that show the disk is fine. If the explanation here as to why windows uses PIO (plus my logs) are any indication, this is a disk controller issue and we need some new drivers or something to correct the issue for the long term.

    Anyhow... great! Slingbox will play again!
     
    bfoster, Jan 10, 2009
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  8. ranold

    jackluo923

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    First of all... DMA mode (Direct Memory Access) is more efficient than PIO mode thus when AAO is on battery, it should cause Windows to switch to PIO. PIO is only switched if the DMA mode fail to load some how like the users above said.

    I believe this problem is caused by errors and hardware failure caused by AAO's powersupply.
    While on battery mode and high power drain situations, these symptoms always appear:
    wifi mess up
    screen goes blank or solid color (black, green, yellow, orange blue...etc )
    screen flickering
    screen brightness unstable
    system slow down
    system hang
    audio lagging
    BSOD
    or a combination of the above symptoms

    These symptoms do not appear when the AAO is pluged in.
     
    jackluo923, Jan 10, 2009
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  9. ranold

    bfoster

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    really?

    I wonder if it's simply a matter of providing a better power input (higher rated AC adapter). Can anybody reliably demonstrate this power issue?
     
    bfoster, Jan 10, 2009
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  10. ranold

    jackluo923

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    sure...loop a mp3 at max volume ( through speaker) for like half an hour on battery when the battery is less than half full. Then browse the internet for some time.

    If i do that, my AAO will lock up or lag about 50% of the time. E.G. the audio will lag and internet will get disconnected
     
    jackluo923, Jan 11, 2009
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  11. ranold

    bfoster

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    Eeek... I misread the original claim. I get these problems when plugged in.

    Anyhow have you talked to acer at all? What do they have to say? (I was not impressed when I found out support is not available during reasonable hours!)
     
    bfoster, Jan 12, 2009
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  12. ranold

    jinx022

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    This is an old XP problem but maybe it is back on the AA1 version.

    See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472

    There are some registry changes near the bottom of the article which help prevent this problem.
     
    jinx022, Jan 22, 2009
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  13. ranold

    kcblakely

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    New user here. I had an identical issue with my daughter's Aspire One, and this fix solved it. Well done - Props to the OP!
     
    kcblakely, Feb 1, 2009
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  14. ranold

    kc7rad

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    I just wanted to send a Thank You to Ranold and the folks at mcxtronix.

    Just when I was ready to have someone else look at my computer, here is the answer! If you come to Vegas, I owe you a beverage of of your choice!

    -Ken
     
    kc7rad, Feb 26, 2009
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  15. ranold

    Tamrac

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    Windows will fall back to PIO whenever it's experiencing alot of drive access errors.... here's the most common reason, this based on my experience setting up and installing windows on literally hundreds of PC's/Laptops.... a faulty(ex dirty or lots of scratches) CD/DVD disk. Whether it's while installing software, watching movies or copying files. Repeated read errors will cause the AAO's controller to fall back to PIO. The solution given by the OP is the best way to fix the problem. I hope this sheds a bit of light on the subject. Cheers. ;)
     
    Tamrac, Mar 2, 2009
    #15
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