Yep... my PC hates me. I've come to realise this recently. Like I don't treat it well? No... I look after it... it should like me. Why? Why shun me like this? I should cry really... but then again, that would be childish and I would lose any twinkling of respect that my PC might still have. Yes. Act strong. Be brave. Stiff upper lip!Anyway... enough of that nonsense!I have just rebuilt my system to this spec:AthlonXP 2100+SolteK KT400 board, with no chipset driver updates.512mb DDR RAMPNY GeForce Ti42007200rpm 40gb HD (forget the manufacturer, but not 'budget')SB Audigy PlatinumUSB mouse52x CD24x 4x 4x CDRW HP8100Alcatel USB ADSL ModemNorton AV 2002Folowing some serious system problems (hence the ramble above!), I have finally got things working. 8 installs of WindowsXP! Good lord! I used to have 2 Hard drives, but since I pulled my old system drive out and replaced it with my other disk on it's own, things seem to work. I guess it must have been that disk in the throes of death!?Anyone know why the disk might wanna die at precisely the same time that I upgrade my CPU and motherboard? Wierd.So... now I have one final thing to try and iron out... and finally the point of this post!I am getting some horrible screen stutter, both in games and on the desktop.The symptoms are seen with the HD light blinking on and off every second. So there's some activity going on. When this happens, the CPU usage alternates between 3% and 20% in time with the HD light.Also When this happens, the mouse stutters... so when the HD light is on, the sytem seems to freeze momentarily. This happens in-game too.It mostly occurs after the system has accessed lots of files, or when I close an application and go back to the desktop. It also happens in games and can be seen as a series of split second feezes, like a stutter.Maybe it's the swapfile, but why would that cause the system to stutter like that? And it seems strange that it might occur after I've closed an application which wouldn't need to use a swapfile anyway... I have 512mb RAM.I don't really know anything about cache files... so maybe it's something to do with that, but not sure where to look.I have examined my task manager for anything odd, but can't see anything out of the ordinary. I have disabled a bunch of stuff in the hope to stop this. All background Creative Labs tasks, nVidia driver helper, USB modem diagnostic tasks and tried disabling anti-virus with no effect.Of course, this is hardly a critical system error or anything, but it is mightily irritating, especially considering the cash I've just forked-out and considering the speed of the system, it annoys me that I should get silly HD read/write freezing! I'm beginning to think that I have a problem with the new motherboard.I'm a little scared to upgrade the VIA 4-in-1 drivers because last time I did that, it killed my system (strike 3 out of the 8 XP installs mentioned above) and If I don't need to mess with the chipset drivers, I'd rather not!So... any ideas you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated!Many thanks in advance,Simon.

You must have some kind of controller chip drivers or you will not be able to use AGP or many other graphic functions. What drivers were provided with the MOBO? It looks like you should be able to install the 4-in-1 unless you have some odd southbride/northbridge combination.SL-KT400 A4VIA - VT8367 NorthbridgeVIA - VT8235 SouthbridgeSL-KT400 RVIA - VT8377 NorthbridgeVIA - VT8235 SouthbridgeFar as I can see this is not odd, both are VIA and the VIAHyperion4in1445v.exe files should operate properly.

Thanks for the reply.I don't see any drivers listed anywhere for the MoBo chipset. It's just as it came straight from factory.The Graphics card is working very well without any updates, as is the rest of the system now... all except this strange jitter.Here is an edited SANDRA report on the MoBo:SiSoftware SandraComputer SystemManufacturer : SOLTEKModel : 75FRVVersion : 1.0System MainboardManufacturer : SOLTEKMP Support : NoModel : 75FRVVersion : 1.0BIOS ID : 62-2000-001136-00101111-040201-VIAMemory ControllerError Detection Method : 32-bit ECCError Correction Capability : 1-bitSupported/Current Memory Interleave : 1-way / 1-wayNumber of Memory Slots : 4Maximum Installable Memory : 4096MBMaximum Module Size : 1024MBSupported STD/FPM/(B)EDO Speeds : 70ns, 60nsSupported Memory Types : STD, FPM, EDO, Parity, ECC, SIMMSupported Memory Voltages : 3.3VPhysical/BIOS Memory BanksDIMM1 : EmptyDIMM2 : EmptyDIMM3 (RASL-5 RASL-4) : 512MB DIMM SDRAM double-bankDIMM4 : EmptySystem ChipsetModel : VIA Technologies Inc VT8377 Apollo KT400 CPU to PCI BridgeBus(es) : ISA AGP USB FireWire/1394 SMBus/i2c Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 133MHz (266MHz data rate)Max FSB Speed / Max Memory Speed : 2x 166MHz / 2x 200MHzIn Order Queue Depth : 4 req(s)Chipset Hub InterfaceType : V-LinkWidth : 8-bitFull Duplex : YesMultiplier : 1xSpeed : 8x 66MHz (528MHz data rate)Down / Up In Order Queue Depth : 9 / 9 req(s)Logical/Chipset Memory BanksBank 4 Setting : 256MB DDR-SDRAM 7-1-1-1R 4-1-1-1W 2.0-3-3CL 2CMDBank 5 Setting : 256MB DDR-SDRAM 7-1-1-1R 4-1-1-1W 2.0-3-3CL 2CMDBank Interleave : 4-waySpeed : 2x 133MHz (266MHz data rate)Multiplier : 1xPower Down Mode : NoFixed Hole Present : NoMemory Module(s)Memory Module 3 : 64MX64U-26A 011203C2 512MB 16x(32Mx8) DDR-SDRAM PC2100U-233-750 (CL2.5 upto 143MHz) (CL2 upto 133MHz)Environment Monitor 1Model : ITE IT8705/12 ISAMainboard Specific Support : NoEnvironment Monitor 2Model : NS LM83Version : 2.01Mainboard Specific Support : NoTemperature Sensor(s)Board Temperature : 36.0

Boy, do I know how you feel. It's a serious love-hate relationship with my computer!!Ask wsieffert, not a day goes by where I don't screw something up, or my computer just doesn't feel like working.Lobaeux

So what did this fancy programs report tell you to do about these:Performance TipsNotice 224 : SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate.Tip 2511 : Some memory slots are free so the memory can be easily upgraded.Warning 2545 : Large memory modules should be Registered/Buffered.Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.Warning 2518 : Mainboard temperature is too high.Tip 2513 : AGP Bus is unused or AGP card not fully AGP compatible.Tip 2525 : Current AGP data rate not optimal.Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.Most memory is not ECC anymore since memory has gotten quite good and doesn't need ECC/Parity checking.Tip 2513 gives me pause. Why is your AGP bus unused or AGP card not fully AGP compatible, plus tip 2525. Hmmm! I still would look to see if I had the following under System Devices in Device Manager:VIA CPU to AGP Controller - and what version drivers, WinXP or updated VIA

I have installed all the latest VIA hyperion drivers, EXCEPT the AGP driver... which causes the PC not to boot! With the AGP drivers installed, the PC will only boot after I have uninstalled the AGP card. Re-installing the card and drivers again after VIA updates reverts the bootup back to a crash! So I removed the VIA AGP drivers altogether and everything works fine, including the GeForce4 card. Odd!Yeah... the tips comments on the report are odd. Graphics card is installed fine. Temps really aren't that high... 40-55 degrees. AGP data rate 4x, which matches the card. Memory working fine. So I think everything is in order.To be honest, the system is now fully stable and works a treat... all except this odd choppiness during disk read/write! Bit annoying, that. So if you have any more ideas, I'd be grateful. Maybe I just need a higher quality HD!Temperature is fine. Games are to a graphical quality I would want with a GeForce 4 card so I'm not too bothered about not having the latest AGP drivers upgraded, unless it's going to provide me with superior performance. But then, if I can boot with the drivers installed, I don't see much choice in the matter.Having read a few forums, it seems that some of the VIA MoBos are a real pain in the rear! I must remember to avoid them in the future! I hear that nForce MBs are very good. Would anyone agree?Now my system has been stable for a week, I think I'll go ahead and install FS2002 now. When I got it working before, it was looking and performing with pizazz!! Can't wait to get all that Gary Summons scenery in and see what it's supposed to look like with the sliders turned up a bit! yay!I'm very grateful for your replies. Thanks very much.