Performance dramatically drops after installing etherne...

[Guest macc1966]

Hi, all!My apologies if this may seem a little off-topic, but maybe someone has experienced similar issue.After tuning my PC the best I could, I left installed both FS9 and FSX. In the startup situations I've chosen for each sim, I got 25+ fps on FS9 and 12 fps for FSX (not brilliant, but flyable especially FS9).Last weekend I've installed a PCI ethernet adapter, for ADSL access to the internet. WinXP detected it with no problem, and installed the drivers.As the phone line is not available yet, I left the adapter disabled.But, for my big surprise, when I launched FS9 in the default startup situation, FPS dropped from 25+ to 7.5, and when launched FSX, FPS had also a significant drop in fps (12 to 4.5).I got the latest driver for the ethernet adapter, from Intel website, installed it sucessfully, and tried the sims again.No results - FS9 now maintains a steady 7.5 fps (25+ before) and FSX a steady 4.5 (around 12 before).Curiously, besides this dramatic drop in performance, it seems that joystick has lost its force feedback, although it remains functional.Any ideas about this strange behaviour, would be kindly appreciated.Thanks and regards to all,Macc1966

[Guest]

I remember reading something about major loss of performance if a serial joystick with force feedback was used. Try unplugging your joystick and launching the game to see if performance has returned. There's no reason why a NIC would cause your machine to slow down though unless the driver is bad. Go to task manager and see if there are any processes eating up CPU cycles.

[Guest macc1966]

Well, when was getting 25+ fps on FS9 and 12 on FSX, I had already the joystick connected to the sound card (has always been there).I also took a look on Task Manager and saw no processes "eating" CPU or memory resources.I guess I will have to remove the NIC, and connect to the ADSL Modem via USB port (they say it's slower, that's why I preferred the ethernet connection...).I will try to read carefully the Motherboard Manual, may be there's something about the BIOS parameters which needs to be changed.Thank you anyway, for your reply.Best regards,Macc1966

[Paul J 349]

"I guess I will have to remove the NIC, and connect to the ADSL Modem via USB port (they say it's slower, that's why I preferred the ethernet connection...)."Just stick with USB, Mac; it's fine; "they" are full of it. Whereas ethernet 10/100/1000 is the lan standard worldwide, USB is ideal for our purposes when connecting to a dsl modem - and just as fast. Check this link if you wish:-http://www.intel.com/technology/usb/Also - AstroDave is right. A normal, good NIC loaded properly should have nothing to do with FS performance. regards,pj

[Guest macc1966]

Yes, I guess you're right. I will connect to the DSL modem, via USB.Thanks for the link.Best regards,Macc1966

[McCrash 3]

>Hi, all!>>My apologies if this may seem a little off-topic, but maybe>someone has experienced similar issue.>>After tuning my PC the best I could, I left installed both FS9>and FSX. In the startup situations I've chosen for each sim, I>got 25+ fps on FS9 and 12 fps for FSX (not brilliant, but>flyable especially FS9).>>Last weekend I've installed a PCI ethernet adapter, for ADSL>access to the internet. WinXP detected it with no problem, and>installed the drivers.>>As the phone line is not available yet, I left the adapter>disabled.>>But, for my big surprise, when I launched FS9 in the default>startup situation, FPS dropped from 25+ to 7.5, and when>launched FSX, FPS had also a significant drop in fps (12 to>4.5).>>I got the latest driver for the ethernet adapter, from Intel>website, installed it sucessfully, and tried the sims again.>>No results - FS9 now maintains a steady 7.5 fps (25+ before)>and FSX a steady 4.5 (around 12 before).Curiously, besides>this dramatic drop in performance, it seems that joystick has>lost its force feedback, although it remains functional.>>Any ideas about this strange behaviour, would be kindly>appreciated.>>>>Thanks and regards to all,>Macc1966>Temporarily disable you Internet connection.

[Guest macc1966]

OK, I have now the DSL connection available and also believe that the NIC is not the cause. As stated by Astrodave, I'm really beginning to suspect of the joystick - I remember that, after I installed the NIC, in the subsequent reboot of the PC, I was forced to go to the BIOS because system was not detecting the HDD's (strange behaviour, anyway I forced the detection of HDD and the issue was resolved). But I don't know if some BIOS parameters were, at that time, reset to defaults and can be causing the "noise" that, apparently exists between the onboard AC97 sound ship (which is disabled) and the PCI sound card, to which the joystick is connected.Another consequence - before, everytime I logged in to XP I could see below "Human Interface Devices" in device manager, the joystick correctly detected - now, when I logon, and take a look at Device Manager, the item "Human Interface Devices" isn't even there.Never mind this long story - just for letting you know and sharing my experience. May be this is just a "simple" plug and play issue. I think I will have still some hours of testing configurations, before I can retrive my "old" FS9 with 25+ FPS.Happy flying,Macc1966

[Guest]

I would try a modern usb joystick. Microsoft sidewinder precision pro or saiteks are great and are what i have used for chopper flying. You could at least unplug the joystick to see if your frame rate increases when you launch the game to test it. Hope you fix it.

[FlyingsCool 3]

It sounds to me like your ethernet card took an irq that the hard drives were using. Then when you forced the hard drives to work, they took an irq that something else was using, and so and so on, and now your system is buggered up.I haven't played with IRQ's in years and years, but, given that your joystick is serial based, this sounds like the most likely explanation based on your symptoms. Best solution is, remove the ethernet card and try to figure out what your IRQ's used to be for every device that needs them, or - get a USB joystick. They really are so much easier to maintain. Problem is, not all DOS games support them. Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[Guest macc1966]

Thank you, Thomas,Last night I figured it out. There were 2 additional settings on the BIOS concerning the Onboard Audio and MIDI devices, which were still enabled. By disabling them, everything is now working and the friendly FPS are back to both FS9 and FSX.Anyway I'm tempted to follow your sugestion and get myself a USB Joystick (after Christmas, to allow sometime to prices drop... ;-)).Happy flying,Macc1966