I´m the owner of an IBM Aptiva 2138-E83, s/n: AEAA11G, BIOS
version V65DA1S, 300MHZ equipped with 2x 32MB SDRAM / PC66MHZ (non-partia) for 168 pins DIMM. The machine can be upgraded to max 3x 128MB RAM, and 127GB Hard disk according to IBM.
Chipset is obviously Intel 440LX on system board V65XA-1,
but from what I can read on the chips themselves, they are called 82443 and 82371 (Intel).
Running WIN95 upgraded to WIN98.

Got a couple of problems, which I would like to have solved with your help.

1)
I would like to upgrade the machine, as it has become so slow, despite several scandiscs and defragmentations.
Guess more memory is more appropriate than new processor.
Thought of adding 1x 128MB.
A hardware store recommended TRANSCEND TS128MIB0072 (SDRAM PC66), but i guess some PC100 or 133 would be as good and also cheaper.

What RAM is recommendable, size / type?
If processor, what size / type?

2)
I also thought a bigger (50% now in use of the 8GB) and faster hard disk would speed things up.
Present hard disk is a Quantum Bigfoot TX08A351 8GB, Rev 2--n A040V. I find it extremely noisy. Like having a woodpicker inside the cabinet. Another reason for replacing it.
I believe the interface is an ultra DMA 33,3MHZ. Connection to motherboard is via IDE, 40 core ribbon cable.

Which criteria must a new hard disk meet. Does it have to be ATA33, or are ATA100 / ATA133 compatible?
(Thought of MAxtor Diamond Max Plus 5120 20GB 7.200RPM 512KB ATA33 or Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 8 30GB 7.200RPM 2MB ATA133)

3)
Finally, when no other programs are running ( as far as I can see), what could then be wrong if neither Scandisc nor defragmentation is able to run? Keeps on restarting process'

rgd's
BFE

Finally, when no other programs are running ( as far as I can see), what could then be wrong if neither Scandisc nor defragmentation is able to run?
Try disabling a sleep mode feature or any screensavers (set it to 'none').

Also any modern HDD will help your system but you might need a BIOS flash to gain more performance from the HDD. I'd pick the 2MB cache one myself and max out your RAM with pc133 type as it is the cheapest and backwards compatible. Pay attention to the maximum RAM that each slot can handle.

You can get 128 RAM for as little as $8 after rebate and brand is probably not important. RAM and HDs are downward compatible, so faster stuff will work, it just won't run at full speed on your system. A 72,000 RPM HD will be faster than what you have, but it won't run at that speed. You can buy an add-on controller card to get closer to posted speed on the HD, but the limitations of your system will still slow things down.

You may want to check for what is running in the background and either disable or remove some things. That could be the cause of much of your slowdown. Check out the list at:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm

or

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

to get an idea of what is needed or not. Also, you may want to run a spyware scan to make sure you don't have some unwanted guests slowing things down.

Budfred

Hey, Budfred! Where can I buy one of these 72,000 RPM hard drives? That would give a real boost to access times! :D


David

Dave,

They're as common as fleas now. Just look where you normally go to get HDD's and look at the specs. They can be had new and used by now.

I'm using one with 2MB cache but have already bought one of those 8MB Special Edition one's but haven't set it up yet. I started to but huntin' season got in the way... http://www.beenzeria.com/nuovismiles/classiche2/cannone.gif

Seagate, Maxtor, others too (well rumours ARE there's others...) :D

Access times are quite similar in the specs between 72,000 ones and the slightly older 54,000 rpm ones though, usually both around 8 to 8.5ns if I remmember correctly.

Just pick your supplier of choice, online or otherwise...

Edit: OOOPS!!!
One extra zero here! S-e-v-e-n-t-y t-w-o h-u-n-d-r-e-d NOT thousand... You got us BOTH on that one... :o

A 72,000 RPM HD will be faster than what you have, but it won't run at that speed.
As far as i know, this is the inner working speed of the HD (the speed at which the internal platters spin), so it would spin at 7200rpm no matter in which machine it's in.
The problem comes by another front, by the UDMA (ATA) side.
If the motherboard supports ATA33 or 66, the drive will indeed be working slower than it's capacity (i think this relates more to the access time).
But that isn't a problem at all, my m/b supports ATA100 max and yesterday i bought a ATA133 7200rpm 60GB HD which is working VERY fine at ATA100.
i had previously an ATA100 5400rpm 10GB one and the rpm difference is VERY noticeable.
If you're looking for a new HD, all the limitations come by the motherboard and it's BIOS capabilities. You probably have to flash it.
Also you will need to use an 80 wires ribbon cable from ATA66 and upwards.

Forgot to say my new HD is VERY quiet. (Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9 if you are interested)

May I say in all sincerity: oops and oops again....

Budfred:o

Finally, when no other programs are running ( as far as I can see), what could then be wrong if neither Scandisc nor defragmentation is able to run? Keeps on restarting process'

Usually, the three-finger-salute, [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] will shut everything down, you need Explorer and Systray running. In some cases I've seen defrag still restart, with a message saying "Disk contents have changed etc" even with it all shut down and I can't figure out what is still accessing the hard drive.

When that happens, I reboot into Safe Mode and run scandisk and/or defrag, usually it works great.