Dimension 9200 HD problems -- problem found

As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other drives,
either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it for
a larger, different brand and the problem remained.

BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
drive useless for TV recording.

Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video card
came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
shouldn't matter.

But it does.

Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system memory)
or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular, the
7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.

Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
problem for the 7300LE!

So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.

I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
believe, since it is a flaw in the system.

Comments welcome.

Tom

Not that this will worry me (as I don't record tv) but in my case my
9200 came with 2 gigs ram so my problem is solved thanks to you !! I
had to have a FAST trigger finger watching the outlet store when
this particular 9200 w/ 2gigs ram came up because its price was just a
tad above the others which only had 1 gig. I already priced ram
elsewhere so I knew this system was well priced and decided to opt for
2 gigs based on things I read about Vista earlier. It does pay to
read ahead, plan ahead and have a fast trigger finger <g>. Actually
you and Barry also get some of the credit for swaying me to go for the
2 gigs of memory as well as my outside reading. Thanks because this
9200 is a nice pc. I have NO regrets.






On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 10:13:53 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
wrote:

>As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
>drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other drives,
>either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it for
>a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>
>BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
>every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
>drive useless for TV recording.
>
>Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video card
>came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
>machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
>shouldn't matter.
>
>But it does.
>
>Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system memory)
>or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular, the
>7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>
>Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
>problem for the 7300LE!
>
>So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>
>I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
>believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>
>Comments welcome.
>
>Tom
>

Tom,

Congratulations. Since you now know the components that interact, are
there any experiments you can do with configurations to see if you can
narrow it down... something from either the video properties or BIOS.

-Bruno

"Tom Scales" <> wrote:

>As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
>drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other drives,
>either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it for
>a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>
>BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
>every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
>drive useless for TV recording.
>
>Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video card
>came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
>machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
>shouldn't matter.
>
>But it does.
>
>Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system memory)
>or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular, the
>7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>
>Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
>problem for the 7300LE!
>
>So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>
>I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
>believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>
>Comments welcome.
>
>Tom
>

You won't. Great machines. I shouldn't need 2Gb for the application I am
running. Shouldn't need anything beyond a 32mb video card either.

Be interesting to see Dell's response
<RnR> wrote in message news:...
> Not that this will worry me (as I don't record tv) but in my case my
> 9200 came with 2 gigs ram so my problem is solved thanks to you !! I
> had to have a FAST trigger finger watching the outlet store when
> this particular 9200 w/ 2gigs ram came up because its price was just a
> tad above the others which only had 1 gig. I already priced ram
> elsewhere so I knew this system was well priced and decided to opt for
> 2 gigs based on things I read about Vista earlier. It does pay to
> read ahead, plan ahead and have a fast trigger finger <g>. Actually
> you and Barry also get some of the credit for swaying me to go for the
> 2 gigs of memory as well as my outside reading. Thanks because this
> 9200 is a nice pc. I have NO regrets.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 10:13:53 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
> wrote:
>
>>As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
>>drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other drives,
>>either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it
>>for
>>a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>>
>>BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>>BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
>>every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
>>drive useless for TV recording.
>>
>>Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video
>>card
>>came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
>>machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
>>shouldn't matter.
>>
>>But it does.
>>
>>Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system
>>memory)
>>or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular,
>>the
>>7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>>
>>Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
>>problem for the 7300LE!
>>
>>So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>>
>>I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>>today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>>nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
>>believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>>
>>Comments welcome.
>>
>>Tom
>>
>

Simpler solution.

Dell replaces the video cards or ups the memory.
"Bruno" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Tom,
>
> Congratulations. Since you now know the components that interact, are
> there any experiments you can do with configurations to see if you can
> narrow it down... something from either the video properties or BIOS.
>
> -Bruno
>
> "Tom Scales" <> wrote:
>
>>As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
>>drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other drives,
>>either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it
>>for
>>a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>>
>>BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>>BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
>>every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
>>drive useless for TV recording.
>>
>>Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video
>>card
>>came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
>>machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
>>shouldn't matter.
>>
>>But it does.
>>
>>Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system
>>memory)
>>or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular,
>>the
>>7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>>
>>Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
>>problem for the 7300LE!
>>
>>So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>>
>>I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>>today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>>nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
>>believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>>
>>Comments welcome.
>>
>>Tom
>>
>

Great dectective work Tom.

I've never been a fan of anybodies video card that shares system ram in part
because it can be very misleading for new people buying a video card.

But who would have thought that there would be some sort of
interaction/conflict between HD performance and a particular video
card/system ram combination.

Perhaps Dell will take your findings into consideration next time they have
a BIOS upgrade.

"Tom Scales" <> wrote in message
news:45c5f7ec$0$29703$...
> As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
> drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other drives,
> either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it
> for a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>
> BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
> BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
> every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
> drive useless for TV recording.
>
> Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video
> card came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
> machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
> shouldn't matter.
>
> But it does.
>
> Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system
> memory) or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In
> particular, the 7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>
> Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
> problem for the 7300LE!
>
> So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>
> I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
> today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
> nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
> believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>
> Comments welcome.
>
> Tom
>

I agree, but since these two machines are servers sitting under a table in
my office, it shouldn't matter.

But it does!
"HDRDTD" <> wrote in message
news: ...
> Great dectective work Tom.
>
> I've never been a fan of anybodies video card that shares system ram in
> part because it can be very misleading for new people buying a video card.
>
> But who would have thought that there would be some sort of
> interaction/conflict between HD performance and a particular video
> card/system ram combination.
>
> Perhaps Dell will take your findings into consideration next time they
> have a BIOS upgrade.
>
> "Tom Scales" <> wrote in message
> news:45c5f7ec$0$29703$...
>> As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
>> drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other
>> drives, either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I
>> swapped it for a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>>
>> BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>> BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
>> every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
>> drive useless for TV recording.
>>
>> Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video
>> card came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory.
>> The machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so
>> it shouldn't matter.
>>
>> But it does.
>>
>> Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system
>> memory) or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In
>> particular, the 7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>>
>> Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
>> problem for the 7300LE!
>>
>> So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>>
>> I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>> today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>> nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
>> believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>>
>> Comments welcome.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>
>

Since you are probably more familiar with the internal specs than
myself, I need to get back to you and tell you the bios I have (stock)
and the hdtune findings. I won't forget but I still need to take
care of a few things on my 9200 (technically xps410 but you know what
I mean) and so it will be a while before I get back to you on this.
I just thought it might be of interest to you but if I'm wrong, just
tell me to forget about it <g>.

Oh, forgot to say earlier congrats in solving your problem and maybe
ours later on !!




On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 11:27:01 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
wrote:

>You won't. Great machines. I shouldn't need 2Gb for the application I am
>running. Shouldn't need anything beyond a 32mb video card either.
>
>Be interesting to see Dell's response
><RnR> wrote in message news:...
>> Not that this will worry me (as I don't record tv) but in my case my
>> 9200 came with 2 gigs ram so my problem is solved thanks to you !! I
>> had to have a FAST trigger finger watching the outlet store when
>> this particular 9200 w/ 2gigs ram came up because its price was just a
>> tad above the others which only had 1 gig. I already priced ram
>> elsewhere so I knew this system was well priced and decided to opt for
>> 2 gigs based on things I read about Vista earlier. It does pay to
>> read ahead, plan ahead and have a fast trigger finger <g>. Actually
>> you and Barry also get some of the credit for swaying me to go for the
>> 2 gigs of memory as well as my outside reading. Thanks because this
>> 9200 is a nice pc. I have NO regrets.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 10:13:53 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the boot
>>>drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other drives,
>>>either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it
>>>for
>>>a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>>>
>>>BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>>>BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
>>>every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make the
>>>drive useless for TV recording.
>>>
>>>Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video
>>>card
>>>came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
>>>machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
>>>shouldn't matter.
>>>
>>>But it does.
>>>
>>>Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system
>>>memory)
>>>or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular,
>>>the
>>>7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>>>
>>>Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves the
>>>problem for the 7300LE!
>>>
>>>So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>>>
>>>I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>>>today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>>>nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
>>>believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>>>
>>>Comments welcome.
>>>
>>>Tom
>>>
>>
>

It would be interesting, but I have results from a 1/2 dozen people.

For those that sent me your results, does anyone have the nVidia 7300LE?


<RnR> wrote in message news:...
> Since you are probably more familiar with the internal specs than
> myself, I need to get back to you and tell you the bios I have (stock)
> and the hdtune findings. I won't forget but I still need to take
> care of a few things on my 9200 (technically xps410 but you know what
> I mean) and so it will be a while before I get back to you on this.
> I just thought it might be of interest to you but if I'm wrong, just
> tell me to forget about it <g>.
>
> Oh, forgot to say earlier congrats in solving your problem and maybe
> ours later on !!
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 11:27:01 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
> wrote:
>
>>You won't. Great machines. I shouldn't need 2Gb for the application I am
>>running. Shouldn't need anything beyond a 32mb video card either.
>>
>>Be interesting to see Dell's response
>><RnR> wrote in message news:...
>>> Not that this will worry me (as I don't record tv) but in my case my
>>> 9200 came with 2 gigs ram so my problem is solved thanks to you !! I
>>> had to have a FAST trigger finger watching the outlet store when
>>> this particular 9200 w/ 2gigs ram came up because its price was just a
>>> tad above the others which only had 1 gig. I already priced ram
>>> elsewhere so I knew this system was well priced and decided to opt for
>>> 2 gigs based on things I read about Vista earlier. It does pay to
>>> read ahead, plan ahead and have a fast trigger finger <g>. Actually
>>> you and Barry also get some of the credit for swaying me to go for the
>>> 2 gigs of memory as well as my outside reading. Thanks because this
>>> 9200 is a nice pc. I have NO regrets.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 10:13:53 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the
>>>>boot
>>>>drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other
>>>>drives,
>>>>either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it
>>>>for
>>>>a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>>>>
>>>>BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>>>>BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost Zero
>>>>every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make
>>>>the
>>>>drive useless for TV recording.
>>>>
>>>>Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video
>>>>card
>>>>came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
>>>>machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so it
>>>>shouldn't matter.
>>>>
>>>>But it does.
>>>>
>>>>Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system
>>>>memory)
>>>>or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular,
>>>>the
>>>>7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>>>>
>>>>Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves
>>>>the
>>>>problem for the 7300LE!
>>>>
>>>>So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>>>>
>>>>I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>>>>today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>>>>nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions, I
>>>>believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>>>>
>>>>Comments welcome.
>>>>
>>>>Tom
>>>>
>>>
>>
>

Not me Tom, sorry. 8800GTS here.

"Tom Scales" <> wrote in message
news:45c6233a$0$19034$...
> It would be interesting, but I have results from a 1/2 dozen people.
>
> For those that sent me your results, does anyone have the nVidia 7300LE?
>
>
> <RnR> wrote in message news:...
>> Since you are probably more familiar with the internal specs than
>> myself, I need to get back to you and tell you the bios I have (stock)
>> and the hdtune findings. I won't forget but I still need to take
>> care of a few things on my 9200 (technically xps410 but you know what
>> I mean) and so it will be a while before I get back to you on this.
>> I just thought it might be of interest to you but if I'm wrong, just
>> tell me to forget about it <g>.
>>
>> Oh, forgot to say earlier congrats in solving your problem and maybe
>> ours later on !!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 11:27:01 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>You won't. Great machines. I shouldn't need 2Gb for the application I
>>>am
>>>running. Shouldn't need anything beyond a 32mb video card either.
>>>
>>>Be interesting to see Dell's response
>>><RnR> wrote in message news:...
>>>> Not that this will worry me (as I don't record tv) but in my case my
>>>> 9200 came with 2 gigs ram so my problem is solved thanks to you !! I
>>>> had to have a FAST trigger finger watching the outlet store when
>>>> this particular 9200 w/ 2gigs ram came up because its price was just a
>>>> tad above the others which only had 1 gig. I already priced ram
>>>> elsewhere so I knew this system was well priced and decided to opt for
>>>> 2 gigs based on things I read about Vista earlier. It does pay to
>>>> read ahead, plan ahead and have a fast trigger finger <g>. Actually
>>>> you and Barry also get some of the credit for swaying me to go for the
>>>> 2 gigs of memory as well as my outside reading. Thanks because this
>>>> 9200 is a nice pc. I have NO regrets.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 10:13:53 -0500, "Tom Scales" <>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>As some of you know, I've had hard drive performance problems on the
>>>>>boot
>>>>>drive of my new Dimension 9200. I do not see the problem on other
>>>>>drives,
>>>>>either SATA or IDE. It is not the physical hard drive, as I swapped it
>>>>>for
>>>>>a larger, different brand and the problem remained.
>>>>>
>>>>>BIOS 1.0.3 work OK, but with some performance problems
>>>>>BIOS 2.x.x is unusable. The hard drive performance drops to almost
>>>>>Zero
>>>>>every few seconds -- or sometimes less frequently, but enough to make
>>>>>the
>>>>>drive useless for TV recording.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thought I'd try some different variations. For some reason, the video
>>>>>card
>>>>>came to mind, as it is an nVidia 7300LE that uses system memory. The
>>>>>machines have 1GB and I'm not doing anything video card intensive, so
>>>>>it
>>>>>shouldn't matter.
>>>>>
>>>>>But it does.
>>>>>
>>>>>Swapping the 7300LE for either an ATI X300SE (which also uses system
>>>>>memory)
>>>>>or an nVidia 7600GS (which doesn't) solves the problem. In particular,
>>>>>the
>>>>>7600GS results in absolutely smooth graphs in HDTune.
>>>>>
>>>>>Upping the memory to 2GB (stealing the 1GB from my other 9200) solves
>>>>>the
>>>>>problem for the 7300LE!
>>>>>
>>>>>So the problem is related to the nVidia 7300LE.
>>>>>
>>>>>I've sent the information to Dell (although I don't expect a response
>>>>>today). I've asked that they resolve the problem, either with a better
>>>>>nVidia card (don't want an ATI) or more memory. Reasonable solutions,
>>>>>I
>>>>>believe, since it is a flaw in the system.
>>>>>
>>>>>Comments welcome.
>>>>>
>>>>>Tom
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>