«

PROBLEM: It takes 20min. for Internet explorer to bring up CNN or Fox
or even Google!

MY SYSTEM:
My dial-up speed is approx 37,000 bps(where I live now - was faster at
my parent's).

The machine has a 1.2gHz AMD Athlon Processor. It had originally
128mB RAM - I doubled it in 2002 - a year after I bought it.

I clicked on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System
Monitor, and here are the vitals I chose to monitor and their levels:

Kernel Processor(%): steady 100% - even when I'm not touching the
mouse!

Dial-Up Adaptor Connection Speed: 37,700

Memory Manager: Swapfile In Use: 35mB

Unused Physical Memory: 20mB

I'm running ZoneLabs' ZoneAlarm and am virus and spyware free, up to
date.

I did once have the "Swen" virus 3 years ago after letting my
antivirus subscription lapse for 11 months. I downloaded a cleaning
patch for it but still it takes me a half hour to download and read my
e-mail in Yahoo - a task which used to take only 5 minutes - even with
dial-up!

What else am I missing here?

thanks,

-ChrisCoaster

Your streaming media problem is connection speed and memory.
If the pipe downloading mulitmedia from the internet is too small it will
take longer for the data to squeeze through.
Enough of the file has to be stored in memory, or buffered, before it can
begin to play.
If you can upgrade to 1gb of RAM and get a faster internet connection you
will see a big improvement.
While your CPU is ancient by current standards the CPU is not your problem.
While ME was unfairly maligned (it is better in every way than Vista) it
should run well on a system like yours.
Your system slowdown suggests there are background programs running of which
you are not aware. That may be also why it takes so long to accomplish
anything.
First defragment your hard drive-sometimes that is all it takes to get an
old system back up to speed. Use the Windows applet.
You can try downloading and running antispyware and anti-rootkit programs.
However the best way to get your system back to where it was would be to
reformat your hard drive and reinstall your OS and programs. Make sure you
have back-up copies of important files (documents and the like) and scan
those for viruses et al before copying them back to your hard drive.

ChrisCoaster wrote:

> PROBLEM: It takes 20min. for Internet explorer to bring up CNN or Fox
> or even Google!
>
> MY SYSTEM:
> My dial-up speed is approx 37,000 bps(where I live now - was faster at
> my parent's).
>
> The machine has a 1.2gHz AMD Athlon Processor. It had originally
> 128mB RAM - I doubled it in 2002 - a year after I bought it.
>
> I clicked on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System
> Monitor, and here are the vitals I chose to monitor and their levels:
>
> Kernel Processor(%): steady 100% - even when I'm not touching the
> mouse!
>
> Dial-Up Adaptor Connection Speed: 37,700
>
> Memory Manager: Swapfile In Use: 35mB
>
> Unused Physical Memory: 20mB
>
> I'm running ZoneLabs' ZoneAlarm and am virus and spyware free, up to
> date.

You only think that you are virus and spyware free. The chances are
that you have stuff running on your machine that you don't know about.

> I did once have the "Swen" virus 3 years ago after letting my
> antivirus subscription lapse for 11 months. I downloaded a cleaning
> patch for it but still it takes me a half hour to download and read my
> e-mail in Yahoo - a task which used to take only 5 minutes - even with
> dial-up!
>
> What else am I missing here?
>
> thanks,
>
> -ChrisCoaster

If I were you I would backup anything that I didn't want to loose and do
a re-install or restore. You will be surprised at the difference it
will make.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

On Mar 7, 3:01*pm, Baron <baron.nos...@linuxmainiac.nospam.net> wrote:
> ChrisCoaster wrote:
> > PROBLEM: *It takes 20min. for Internet explorer to bring up CNN or Fox
> > or even Google!
>
> > MY SYSTEM:
> > My dial-up speed is approx 37,000 bps(where I live now - was faster at
> > my parent's).
>
> > The machine has a 1.2gHz AMD Athlon Processor. *It had originally
> > 128mB RAM - I doubled it in 2002 - a year after I bought it.
>
> > I clicked on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System
> > Monitor, and here are the vitals I chose to monitor and their levels:
>
> > Kernel Processor(%): steady 100% - even when I'm not touching the
> > mouse!
>
> > Dial-Up Adaptor Connection Speed: 37,700
>
> > Memory Manager: Swapfile In Use: 35mB
>
> > Unused Physical Memory: 20mB
>
> > I'm running ZoneLabs' ZoneAlarm and am virus and spyware free, up to
> > date.
>
> You only think that you are virus and spyware free. *The chances are
> that you have stuff running on your machine that you don't know about.
>
> > I did once have the "Swen" virus 3 years ago after letting my
> > antivirus subscription lapse for 11 months. *I downloaded a cleaning
> > patch for it but still it takes me a half hour to download and read my
> > e-mail in Yahoo - a task which used to take only 5 minutes - even with
> > dial-up!
>
> > What else am I missing here?
>
> > thanks,
>
> > -ChrisCoaster
>
> If I were you I would backup anything that I didn't want to loose and do
> a re-install or restore. *You will be surprised at the difference it
> will make.
>
> --
> Best Regards:
> * * * * * * * * * * *Baron.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
________________

I performed a Restore back to last May.

No longer does the Swap File in use read so high in System Monitor.
It comes on occassionally and only 4-6mB at that.

Unfortunately the CPU %Use is still flat-lining - at 100%!! It's not
like I'm gaming, IMing, and designing websites simultaneously here;
I'm just checking my e-mail on Yahoo and chatting with folks like you
on alt.computer.

Secondly, I typed ' msconfig ' in the Run window and didn't see
anything weird in the .ini or startup sections.

So what I need to know is: How can something install and run itself on
the computer without Windows(or ZoneAlarm or Norton, etc) knowing
about it?

-CC

ChrisCoaster wrote:

>
> I performed a Restore back to last May.
>
> No longer does the Swap File in use read so high in System Monitor.
> It comes on occassionally and only 4-6mB at that.
>
> Unfortunately the CPU %Use is still flat-lining - at 100%!! It's not
> like I'm gaming, IMing, and designing websites simultaneously here;
> I'm just checking my e-mail on Yahoo and chatting with folks like you
> on alt.computer.
>
> Secondly, I typed ' msconfig ' in the Run window and didn't see
> anything weird in the .ini or startup sections.
>
> So what I need to know is: How can something install and run itself on
> the computer without Windows(or ZoneAlarm or Norton, etc) knowing
> about it?
>
> -CC

Not all malware is the same quality. At one time, with the distribution
of SDKs, a lot of the malware was coming from unskilled people, people
who were barely able to use the SDK. When there is a profit motive,
as with password or credit card stealing, then more effort may be
put into making the malware stealthy.

I was reading a bit about the Sony root kit, that Sony put on some of
their music CDs. It prepended $sys$ to some of its file names, which
apparently causes the files to be invisible. It is also possible, for
someone to write malware, that modifies the normal tools we use to
check for added processes and the like. (Like run their own
Task Manager, for example.)

It really depends on what the malware is for, as to how good
it will be.

*******
What I like to do with potential hardware problems, is boot
alternate OSes, and study the hardware to see if the strangeness
remains. For example, when my oldest motherboard was freezing after a
RAM upgrade, I'd assumed it was the fault of Win98. A year later,
when I booted Knoppix or Ubuntu, I was surprised to find my freezing
problem was present there also, and happened in a matter of seconds.
I concluded from that, that I had a hardware problem. All OSes were
flaky in the same way.

Knoppix and Ubuntu are 700MB downloads, and you need a CD burner that
can handle a 700MB CD (at the time, my old one could not do it).
Knopper.net and Ubuntu.com can give more info.

What I cannot tell you right off hand, is the RAM requirement for those
distros. I assume they can run on vapor, but if you're concerned,
better to check the system requirements, before wasting
time on a download. A 700MB ISO9660 file, is not something you want
to download over dialup. The distros are internally compressed, which
means the compression protocol used in dialup, won't accelerate the
download.

Puppylinux is a smaller distro, but I have no experience with it.
I don't know what kind of applications are bundled with that one.
The 700MB ones, include a lot of cruft you might not be interested
in. (I suppose you could buy the CD from an online vendor, with
Knoppix or Ubuntu already burned into it, which is another option.
I purchased online for my first FreeBSD install, as the whole set
for that had 8 or 9 CDs and included source.)

Paul

Paul wrote:

> ChrisCoaster wrote:
>
>>
>> I performed a Restore back to last May.
>>
>> No longer does the Swap File in use read so high in System Monitor.
>> It comes on occassionally and only 4-6mB at that.
>>
>> Unfortunately the CPU %Use is still flat-lining - at 100%!! It's not
>> like I'm gaming, IMing, and designing websites simultaneously here;
>> I'm just checking my e-mail on Yahoo and chatting with folks like you
>> on alt.computer.
>>
>> Secondly, I typed ' msconfig ' in the Run window and didn't see
>> anything weird in the .ini or startup sections.
>>
>> So what I need to know is: How can something install and run itself
>> on the computer without Windows(or ZoneAlarm or Norton, etc) knowing
>> about it?
>>
>> -CC
>
> Not all malware is the same quality. At one time, with the
> distribution of SDKs, a lot of the malware was coming from unskilled
> people, people who were barely able to use the SDK. When there is a
> profit motive, as with password or credit card stealing, then more
> effort may be put into making the malware stealthy.
>
> I was reading a bit about the Sony root kit, that Sony put on some of
> their music CDs. It prepended $sys$ to some of its file names, which
> apparently causes the files to be invisible. It is also possible, for
> someone to write malware, that modifies the normal tools we use to
> check for added processes and the like. (Like run their own
> Task Manager, for example.)
>
> It really depends on what the malware is for, as to how good
> it will be.
>
> *******
> What I like to do with potential hardware problems, is boot
> alternate OSes, and study the hardware to see if the strangeness
> remains. For example, when my oldest motherboard was freezing after a
> RAM upgrade, I'd assumed it was the fault of Win98. A year later,
> when I booted Knoppix or Ubuntu, I was surprised to find my freezing
> problem was present there also, and happened in a matter of seconds.
> I concluded from that, that I had a hardware problem. All OSes were
> flaky in the same way.
>
> Knoppix and Ubuntu are 700MB downloads, and you need a CD burner that
> can handle a 700MB CD (at the time, my old one could not do it).
> Knopper.net and Ubuntu.com can give more info.
>
> What I cannot tell you right off hand, is the RAM requirement for
> those distros. I assume they can run on vapor, but if you're
> concerned, better to check the system requirements, before wasting
> time on a download. A 700MB ISO9660 file, is not something you want
> to download over dialup. The distros are internally compressed, which
> means the compression protocol used in dialup, won't accelerate the
> download.
>
> Puppylinux is a smaller distro, but I have no experience with it.
> I don't know what kind of applications are bundled with that one.
> The 700MB ones, include a lot of cruft you might not be interested
> in. (I suppose you could buy the CD from an online vendor, with
> Knoppix or Ubuntu already burned into it, which is another option.
> I purchased online for my first FreeBSD install, as the whole set
> for that had 8 or 9 CDs and included source.)
>
> Paul

Some good advice in there. A live CD would be a good way to test the
hardware. As Paul says check with the live CD to see if you have
enough RAM etc to run. For instance the Open SuSE 10.3 Live CD
requires 512Mb RAM to run.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

On Mar 8, 7:07*am, Baron <baron.nos...@linuxmainiac.nospam.net> wrote:
> Paul wrote:
> > ChrisCoaster wrote:
>
> >> I performed a Restore back to last May.
>
> >> No longer does the Swap File in use read so high in System Monitor.
> >> It comes on occassionally and only 4-6mB at that.
>
> >> Unfortunately the CPU %Use is still flat-lining - at 100%!! *It's not
> >> like I'm gaming, IMing, and designing websites simultaneously here;
> >> I'm just checking my e-mail on Yahoo and chatting with folks like you
> >> on alt.computer.
>
> >> Secondly, I typed ' msconfig ' in the Run window and didn't see
> >> anything weird in the .ini or startup sections.
>
> >> So what I need to know is: How can something install and run itself
> >> on the computer without Windows(or ZoneAlarm or Norton, etc) knowing
> >> about it?
>
> >> -CC
>
> > Not all malware is the same quality. At one time, with the
> > distribution of SDKs, a lot of the malware was coming from unskilled
> > people, people who were barely able to use the SDK. When there is a
> > profit motive, as with password or credit card stealing, then more
> > effort may be put into making the malware stealthy.
>
> > I was reading a bit about the Sony root kit, that Sony put on some of
> > their music CDs. It prepended $sys$ to some of its file names, which
> > apparently causes the files to be invisible. It is also possible, for
> > someone to write malware, that modifies the normal tools we use to
> > check for added processes and the like. (Like run their own
> > Task Manager, for example.)
>
> > It really depends on what the malware is for, as to how good
> > it will be.
>
> > *******
> > What I like to do with potential hardware problems, is boot
> > alternate OSes, and study the hardware to see if the strangeness
> > remains. For example, when my oldest motherboard was freezing after a
> > RAM upgrade, I'd assumed it was the fault of Win98. A year later,
> > when I booted Knoppix or Ubuntu, I was surprised to find my freezing
> > problem was present there also, and happened in a matter of seconds.
> > I concluded from that, that I had a hardware problem. All OSes were
> > flaky in the same way.
>
> > Knoppix and Ubuntu are 700MB downloads, and you need a CD burner that
> > can handle a 700MB CD (at the time, my old one could not do it).
> > Knopper.net and Ubuntu.com can give more info.
>
> > What I cannot tell you right off hand, is the RAM requirement for
> > those distros. I assume they can run on vapor, but if you're
> > concerned, better to check the system requirements, before wasting
> > time on a download. A 700MB ISO9660 file, is not something you want
> > to download over dialup. The distros are internally compressed, which
> > means the compression protocol used in dialup, won't accelerate the
> > download.
>
> > Puppylinux is a smaller distro, but I have no experience with it.
> > I don't know what kind of applications are bundled with that one.
> > The 700MB ones, include a lot of cruft you might not be interested
> > in. (I suppose you could buy the CD from an online vendor, with
> > Knoppix or Ubuntu already burned into it, which is another option.
> > I purchased online for my first FreeBSD install, as the whole set
> > for that had 8 or 9 CDs and included source.)
>
> > * * Paul
>
> Some good advice in there. *A live CD would be a good way to test the
> hardware. *As Paul says check with the live CD to see if you have
> enough RAM etc to run. *For instance the Open SuSE 10.3 Live CD
> requires 512Mb RAM to run.
>
> --
> Best Regards:
> * * * * * * * * * * *Baron.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
_______________________
A little back history here for you folks:

I purchased the Gateway 1200 Select in 2001. It shipped with 128 mB
RAM.

In 2002 I doubled that to 256 RAM.

I was living at my parents' at that time and typical dialup speeds
between 47-49k baud.

In 2004 I moved the PC to where I live with my wife. During that year
I let my AV subscript. expire for a year. Typical dialup speeds
during that time were around 37k baud, in my perception only a little
slower than the old location.

In 2005 I learned that I had contracted Swen - and how knwhos what
else! I downloaded Symantec Norton - which slowed down the machine
considerably. So I removed that and found out about ZoneAlarm, which
did the same thing with half the RAM. I also downloaded and ran,
repeatedly, some Swen cleaners to get that out.

Since 2006 I have been running ZoneAlarm and conduct Microsoft
maintenance features(ScanDisk and Disk Defrag) almost every month.
When doing so, I shut down everything that doesn't need to be running
- INCLUDING ZoneAlarm A.V.

Still, I am religous in renewing the A.V. from Zonealarm.

Last Thursday, I did a system restore back to May of '07. That seemed
to help with the swapfile and the 100% processor - for a day or two.
On Friday I ran numerous free virus/spyware removal tools(freeware)
all came back negative for everything.

NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT: The 100% kernel processor indication in system
monitor occurs ONLY during internet usage. Otherwise it reads between
20 - 40%, 70% in spikes(like when opening Media Player or a game. The
swap file usage remains low, and there is more unused physical RAM acc
to Sys Mon.

So something is going on with that AMD Athlon processor when I'm on-
line, because as I said a few paragraphs back - in 2004 to 2005 it
did not take TEN MINUTES to display a webpage or process Yahoo! Mail.

In addition last year I noticed the CPU and it's cooling fan were
mighty dusty. In the process of removing the fan and cleaning both
the CPU cooling fins and the fan, I broke one of the fan blades. The
fan is now slightly imbalanced and buzzes all the time. Could all
this trouble, and the high kernel %age be caused by less than optimal
cooling of the CPU?

Please weigh in.

-CC

ChrisCoaster wrote:

> On Mar 8, 7:07Â*am, Baron <baron.nos...@linuxmainiac.nospam.net> wrote:
>> Paul wrote:
>> > ChrisCoaster wrote:
>>
>> >> I performed a Restore back to last May.
>>
>> >> No longer does the Swap File in use read so high in System
>> >> Monitor. It comes on occassionally and only 4-6mB at that.
>>
>> >> Unfortunately the CPU %Use is still flat-lining - at 100%!! Â*It's
>> >> not like I'm gaming, IMing, and designing websites simultaneously
>> >> here; I'm just checking my e-mail on Yahoo and chatting with folks
>> >> like you on alt.computer.
>>
>> >> Secondly, I typed ' msconfig ' in the Run window and didn't see
>> >> anything weird in the .ini or startup sections.
>>
>> >> So what I need to know is: How can something install and run
>> >> itself on the computer without Windows(or ZoneAlarm or Norton,
>> >> etc) knowing about it?
>>
>> >> -CC
>>
>> > Not all malware is the same quality. At one time, with the
>> > distribution of SDKs, a lot of the malware was coming from
>> > unskilled people, people who were barely able to use the SDK. When
>> > there is a profit motive, as with password or credit card stealing,
>> > then more effort may be put into making the malware stealthy.
>>
>> > I was reading a bit about the Sony root kit, that Sony put on some
>> > of their music CDs. It prepended $sys$ to some of its file names,
>> > which apparently causes the files to be invisible. It is also
>> > possible, for someone to write malware, that modifies the normal
>> > tools we use to check for added processes and the like. (Like run
>> > their own Task Manager, for example.)
>>
>> > It really depends on what the malware is for, as to how good
>> > it will be.
>>
>> > *******
>> > What I like to do with potential hardware problems, is boot
>> > alternate OSes, and study the hardware to see if the strangeness
>> > remains. For example, when my oldest motherboard was freezing after
>> > a RAM upgrade, I'd assumed it was the fault of Win98. A year later,
>> > when I booted Knoppix or Ubuntu, I was surprised to find my
>> > freezing problem was present there also, and happened in a matter
>> > of seconds. I concluded from that, that I had a hardware problem.
>> > All OSes were flaky in the same way.
>>
>> > Knoppix and Ubuntu are 700MB downloads, and you need a CD burner
>> > that can handle a 700MB CD (at the time, my old one could not do
>> > it). Knopper.net and Ubuntu.com can give more info.
>>
>> > What I cannot tell you right off hand, is the RAM requirement for
>> > those distros. I assume they can run on vapor, but if you're
>> > concerned, better to check the system requirements, before wasting
>> > time on a download. A 700MB ISO9660 file, is not something you want
>> > to download over dialup. The distros are internally compressed,
>> > which means the compression protocol used in dialup, won't
>> > accelerate the download.
>>
>> > Puppylinux is a smaller distro, but I have no experience with it.
>> > I don't know what kind of applications are bundled with that one.
>> > The 700MB ones, include a lot of cruft you might not be interested
>> > in. (I suppose you could buy the CD from an online vendor, with
>> > Knoppix or Ubuntu already burned into it, which is another option.
>> > I purchased online for my first FreeBSD install, as the whole set
>> > for that had 8 or 9 CDs and included source.)
>>
>> > Paul
>>
>> Some good advice in there. Â*A live CD would be a good way to test the
>> hardware. Â*As Paul says check with the live CD to see if you have
>> enough RAM etc to run. Â*For instance the Open SuSE 10.3 Live CD
>> requires 512Mb RAM to run.
>>
>> --
>> Best Regards:
>> Baron.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
> _______________________
> A little back history here for you folks:
>
> I purchased the Gateway 1200 Select in 2001. It shipped with 128 mB
> RAM.
>
> In 2002 I doubled that to 256 RAM.
>
> I was living at my parents' at that time and typical dialup speeds
> between 47-49k baud.
>
> In 2004 I moved the PC to where I live with my wife. During that year
> I let my AV subscript. expire for a year. Typical dialup speeds
> during that time were around 37k baud, in my perception only a little
> slower than the old location.
>
> In 2005 I learned that I had contracted Swen - and how knwhos what
> else! I downloaded Symantec Norton - which slowed down the machine
> considerably. So I removed that and found out about ZoneAlarm, which
> did the same thing with half the RAM. I also downloaded and ran,
> repeatedly, some Swen cleaners to get that out.
>
> Since 2006 I have been running ZoneAlarm and conduct Microsoft
> maintenance features(ScanDisk and Disk Defrag) almost every month.
> When doing so, I shut down everything that doesn't need to be running
> - INCLUDING ZoneAlarm A.V.
>
> Still, I am religous in renewing the A.V. from Zonealarm.
>
> Last Thursday, I did a system restore back to May of '07. That seemed
> to help with the swapfile and the 100% processor - for a day or two.
> On Friday I ran numerous free virus/spyware removal tools(freeware)
> all came back negative for everything.
>
> NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT: The 100% kernel processor indication in system
> monitor occurs ONLY during internet usage. Otherwise it reads between
> 20 - 40%, 70% in spikes(like when opening Media Player or a game. The
> swap file usage remains low, and there is more unused physical RAM acc
> to Sys Mon.
>
> So something is going on with that AMD Athlon processor when I'm on-
> line, because as I said a few paragraphs back - in 2004 to 2005 it
> did not take TEN MINUTES to display a webpage or process Yahoo! Mail.
>
> In addition last year I noticed the CPU and it's cooling fan were
> mighty dusty. In the process of removing the fan and cleaning both
> the CPU cooling fins and the fan, I broke one of the fan blades. The
> fan is now slightly imbalanced and buzzes all the time. Could all
> this trouble, and the high kernel %age be caused by less than optimal
> cooling of the CPU?
>
> Please weigh in.
>
> -CC
Hi Chris,

Lack of cooling can cause the sort of problems you are having, but why
it should be more apparent when connected to the internet, I don't
know.

For the sake of a few pounds/dollars, get a new heatsink and fan unit.
If you know how to clean and replace the heatsink compound properly
then just a new fan. AMD CPU don't like to get overheated at all.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.

ChrisCoaster wrote:

> A little back history here for you folks:
>
> I purchased the Gateway 1200 Select in 2001. It shipped with 128 mB
> RAM.
>
> In 2002 I doubled that to 256 RAM.
>
> I was living at my parents' at that time and typical dialup speeds
> between 47-49k baud.
>
> In 2004 I moved the PC to where I live with my wife. During that year
> I let my AV subscript. expire for a year. Typical dialup speeds
> during that time were around 37k baud, in my perception only a little
> slower than the old location.
>
> In 2005 I learned that I had contracted Swen - and how knwhos what
> else! I downloaded Symantec Norton - which slowed down the machine
> considerably. So I removed that and found out about ZoneAlarm, which
> did the same thing with half the RAM. I also downloaded and ran,
> repeatedly, some Swen cleaners to get that out.
>
> Since 2006 I have been running ZoneAlarm and conduct Microsoft
> maintenance features(ScanDisk and Disk Defrag) almost every month.
> When doing so, I shut down everything that doesn't need to be running
> - INCLUDING ZoneAlarm A.V.
>
> Still, I am religous in renewing the A.V. from Zonealarm.
>
> Last Thursday, I did a system restore back to May of '07. That seemed
> to help with the swapfile and the 100% processor - for a day or two.
> On Friday I ran numerous free virus/spyware removal tools(freeware)
> all came back negative for everything.
>
> NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT: The 100% kernel processor indication in system
> monitor occurs ONLY during internet usage. Otherwise it reads between
> 20 - 40%, 70% in spikes(like when opening Media Player or a game. The
> swap file usage remains low, and there is more unused physical RAM acc
> to Sys Mon.
>
> So something is going on with that AMD Athlon processor when I'm on-
> line, because as I said a few paragraphs back - in 2004 to 2005 it
> did not take TEN MINUTES to display a webpage or process Yahoo! Mail.
>
> In addition last year I noticed the CPU and it's cooling fan were
> mighty dusty. In the process of removing the fan and cleaning both
> the CPU cooling fins and the fan, I broke one of the fan blades. The
> fan is now slightly imbalanced and buzzes all the time. Could all
> this trouble, and the high kernel %age be caused by less than optimal
> cooling of the CPU?
>
> Please weigh in.
>
> -CC

There are different kinds of modems. A modem with datapump, like my old
USR Courier, does all of the "heavy lifting" during dialup, inside the
modem.

A Winmodem PCI card, by comparison, is 1/7th the price of my old Courier.
A Winmodem is simplified, in that it takes voltage readings from the
phone line, and converts them to digital values. All of the other
intelligence, converting those voltages back into the original
data, is done by the Winmodem driver.

The Winmodem driver uses DSP or digital signal processing. It uses
algorithms like FFT (fast fourier transform), to move between the
time domain and the frequency domain.

A Winmodem driver may need a minimum amount of processing power, to
do the necessary DSP for a dialup session. Sometimes, the code is
written in assembler, and takes advantage of SSE if it is available.
(I.e. Some specialized instructions on the processor, make the job
easier for it.)

I would not have expected a Winmodem driver, to have sucked the life
from a 1GHz Athlon. It almost seems like a bug in the Winmodem
driver, like it is stuck in a loop.

What other reasons could account for it ?

If the cache was disabled, that might do it. Say the cache was disabled
part way through a computing session for example. If the cache is missing,
that translates into a drop in effective computing rate.

To test the performance of your processor, try SuperPI.

http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/super_pi_mod-1.5.zip

If I run SuperPI on my computer, and ask it to computer PI to 1 million
digits, it currently takes about 50 seconds. It will take a few minutes on
your processor, assuming it is fully functional. Mine is a P4 processor
running at 3.1GHz.

How would you use SuperPI ?

When you first use your computer, and before going online, benchmark
with SuperPI. Quit SuperPI, do an online session. If the CPU is pegged
at 100%, disconnect from your online session. Quit your copy of
Firefox and other online tools. That will free up enough memory
for a SuperPI run. Repeat the benchmark effort. Does the benchmark
take the same amount of time, or a longer time to complete ? If
it takes a lot longer, then perhaps a cache has become disabled.

Athlon processors need good and effective cooling. Some of the
older motherboards, don't have working overheat protection. (Mine
has a separate 8 pin chip, that monitors the temperature, and
will shut off the PSU instantly if the threshold temp is surpassed.)
If your fan is damaged, and missing a blade, then if it was my
machine, I'd find a replacement. When I built my AthlonXP
machine, I used a Zalman CNPS7000 series cooler, to give it
good cooling. That won't fit all motherboards, due to its
size. Since S462 boards haven't been made for a while, finding
a good cooler may be more difficult now. A replacement fan
though, should still be available, especially if it just bolts
to the top of the heatsink. Fans come in standard sizes, and
the ones on a desktop computer, use 12VDC for power. You can
see some examples here.

http://www.circuittest.com/English/C...Div_37_120.asp

This is the one that cools the back of my computer. You cannot
connect this one to a fan header, because it draws too much
current. Your CPU cooler will be smaller than this, because
it likely needs to bolt to the heatsink.

http://www.circuittest.com/English/C...A1212038MS.asp

You can compare a couple of coolers here.

Dynatron with 60 x 60 x 25mm fan on top.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835114012

Dynatron with 60 x 60 x 10mm fan on top.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835114011

The 60 x 60 x 10 moves less than half the cooling air of the
other one. But people claim the noise level is about the
same as the stock AMD fan. The 25mm fan is loud by comparison.

When fitting the heatsink on an Athlon processor, be careful
not to tilt the heatsink during installation. The processor
may have a shim or some "rubber bumpers" on top, and their
purpose is to prevent the heatsink from tilting. If the
heatsink tilts and rests on the edge of the silicon die
of the processor, it can crack the die. The heatsink
should sit flat.

When removing and reinstalling a heatsink, you should reapply
a thin layer of some thermal paste. There are many to
choose from. Read the reviews for each one, before
buying. One of the "ceramic" ones should suffice,
and the main component will be something like boron
nitride. Use alcohol for cleanup. Don't get
it all over the place. Only a "grain of rice"
quantity is needed. I still have my original tube
of paste, so if you don't waste it, it lasts a long
time.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...ompound-Grease

Paul

Paul wrote:

> Athlon processors need good and effective cooling. Some of the
> older motherboards, don't have working overheat protection. (Mine
> has a separate 8 pin chip, that monitors the temperature, and
> will shut off the PSU instantly if the threshold temp is surpassed.)
> If your fan is damaged, and missing a blade, then if it was my
> machine, I'd find a replacement. When I built my AthlonXP
> machine, I used a Zalman CNPS7000 series cooler, to give it
> good cooling. That won't fit all motherboards, due to its
> size. Since S462 boards haven't been made for a while, finding
> a good cooler may be more difficult now. A replacement fan
> though, should still be available, especially if it just bolts
> to the top of the heatsink. Fans come in standard sizes, and
> the ones on a desktop computer, use 12VDC for power. You can
> see some examples here.
>
> http://www.circuittest.com/English/C...Div_37_120.asp
>
> This is the one that cools the back of my computer. You cannot
> connect this one to a fan header, because it draws too much
> current. Your CPU cooler will be smaller than this, because
> it likely needs to bolt to the heatsink.
>
> http://www.circuittest.com/English/C...A1212038MS.asp
>
> You can compare a couple of coolers here.
>
> Dynatron with 60 x 60 x 25mm fan on top.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835114012
>
> Dynatron with 60 x 60 x 10mm fan on top.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835114011
>
> The 60 x 60 x 10 moves less than half the cooling air of the
> other one. But people claim the noise level is about the
> same as the stock AMD fan. The 25mm fan is loud by comparison.
>
> When fitting the heatsink on an Athlon processor, be careful
> not to tilt the heatsink during installation. The processor
> may have a shim or some "rubber bumpers" on top, and their
> purpose is to prevent the heatsink from tilting. If the
> heatsink tilts and rests on the edge of the silicon die
> of the processor, it can crack the die. The heatsink
> should sit flat.

I would emphasise that "It must sit flat" !
I have seen some expensive heatsinks that have not had an absolutely
flat face fitted to some machines with disastrous results.

> When removing and reinstalling a heatsink, you should reapply
> a thin layer of some thermal paste. There are many to
> choose from. Read the reviews for each one, before
> buying. One of the "ceramic" ones should suffice,
> and the main component will be something like boron
> nitride. Use alcohol for cleanup. Don't get
> it all over the place. Only a "grain of rice"
> quantity is needed. I still have my original tube
> of paste, so if you don't waste it, it lasts a long
> time.
>
>
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...ompound-Grease
>
> Paul

I use "Artic Silver" whenever I need to replace the thermal compound.
It doesn't boil and doesn't set, although there are some that bond to
the CPU. I don't use those.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.