i've done some google searches for a motherboard diagnostic (specifically, asus k7m), but i have been unsuccessful.

i ask because lately i've had some problems with my pc: it was making noises, performing much too slowly and not detecting the secondary ide slot. i dismantled everything and cleaned all fans and heatsinks, etc. of dust. now it's not making the noises so much, but the speed is still rather low and the ide is still not detecting. i checked for bad capacitors, but all of the ones in evidence appear to be properly formed (ie. not bulging, discoloring or leaking).

so: i'd like to run some sort of diagnostic on the mobo, but i'm not sure if this is possible. i don't know if mobo diagnostics even exist. do they?

Please post your system specs and OS - particularly what is connected to the two IDE cables.

I would start with the secondary IDE first.

1) Disconnect and reconnect the IDE connectors at both the drive end and the motherboard end to make sure the connections are good.

2) Try a different IDE cable.

3) The drive(s) on the secondary cable may be bad. Try that drive on the primary cable to see if it is working.

Slowing of the computer is usually a software problem. You may need to reinstall Windows, especially if your current installation is old.

found this,



http://mbprobe.livewiredev.com/download.html

and this

http://www.sofotex.com/Motherboard-Monitor-download_L15737.html

looks interesting.......,

http://www.sysopt.com/post.html

don't know if any use

1st, reinstalling Windows is always a last resort only. Don't even think about it until you've exhausted all other options.

It's not common for IDE controllers to go bad, so I would think either a cable or a drive is the problem. Switching the drive to the primary channel as mentioned, or testing it on a known working motherboard would be a good idea, and try another cable.

At what point is the drive not recognized? Is it BIOS or Windows and do you see a specific error message? Often the error message can tell you a lot about what's actually wrong.

Download and run Hijack This available Here (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html) then copy and paste the log to this thread, DON'T FIX ANYTHING YET...let us look at it first. That will probably fix a lot of the problems slowing the machine down.

Pete said: “- - reinstalling Windows is always a last resort only. Don't even think about it until you've exhausted all other options."

Trying to track down things that have slowed a PC can take hours, usually doesn’t work, and may damage the operating system. I have found it easier to just go ahead and reinstall Windows, knowing that it will get rid of accumulated debris and that it will always return the PC to the original fast state.

I keep my OS and programs on C:. All data is kept on D: along with a folder of downloads of useful programs and the latest drivers for that PC. With this configuration, I can reformat C: without losing anything, then reinstall Windows, load the drivers, and reinstall programs. The whole process takes 1 ½ to 2 hours. Reinstallation can be much faster if you keep a restore disk.

I have over the years taken care of about 20 computers (8 currently) and have reinstalled Windows dozens of times. There is a definite learning curve, but everyone that owns a computer should learn how to do it. It is very much like spring cleaning. It clears out all the crap so that you can make a fresh start.

I last reinstalled Windows on my computer 2 years ago. It still operates pretty fast but is starting to crash occasionally, so it is probably due. My sons’ computers require reinstallation every few months because of the kinds of stuff that they download, but they are both quite adept at doing that themselves. Many of the gamers that I know will reinstall their OS’s on a regular basis to keep their PC’s in peak condition.

Anyway, this post is just my personal philosophy, and I know there are other options.

specs:

mobo: asus k7m (slot a)
cpu: amd athlon 800 mhz
ram: 128mb sdram
ide primary master: maxtor 40 gig
ide primary slave: western digital 80 gig
ide secondary master: (currently) asus 50x cdrom (was) acer 4x4x32 writer (apparently kaput; i now boot with no problems, no weird sounds, no ide problems)
os: win2kpro

i tried the writer on both the secondary master and slave positions, and neither helped. the system honked at me and decided that it just didn't want to detect the writer. it was doing this on the initial black w/ white text boot up screen where it lists primary ide drives and then secondary ide drives. it would emit a series of beeps (two and then one about a second later) as soon as it was done detecting the harddrives and began trying to detect the cd drives. the beeps would be followed by a message that the writer was not being detected. it would then ask me to press F1 to continue with the startup. i've removed the writer entirely, and that seems to have counteracted the problems i was having on bootup, but the system still runs really slow and crashes entirely when i am running ram intensive operations.

incidentally, i follow gwallen's system of keeping the os on the first drive, and all valuable data as well as necessary programs and drivers, etc. on the second one.

Ummm. I keep all programs on C: not D: because when you reinstall Windows, you have to reinstall programs as well. So you want to get rid of all the old installations when you format C:. Only data should be kept on D:

But this is just how I do it.