On 18 Dec 2006 18:34:03 -0800, "laniik" <laniik@yahoo.com> wrote:

>> I had the same problem with a Seagate SATA 150, ran the diagnostic test
>> and was advised that the errors were acceptable but the drive was
>> taking 30 minutes to unrar a DVD, when it usually takes two minutes.
>> Didn't contact Seagate for an RMA because the drive was purchased from
>> a shop that went out of business.
>>
>> The weird part about this incident is that O&O Defrag and Window's was
>> not able to defrag the partitions. This happened a couple months ago
>> and I can't remember the exact error message.
>
>
>Hm interesting. actually, I found the error, and its tremendously
>anticlimactic. In trying to remember what had changed on my system
>since the slowdown, I found out that the problem actually came from an
>installation of winamp 5.32. For some my computer had a huge allergic
>reaction to the new winamp, even when *not* currently running. Even
>with the winamp monitor (startup thing) off it was still slow.
>
>I cant explain it, but after removing the program entirely and
>downgrading to 2.9, my computer is running smooth again.
>
>thanks for the help!
>
>oliver

Thanks for posting the solution. Lots of times no one ever hears the
outcome. I was going to suggest you take a look at your device
manager and DMA settings. I had a similar slowdown because my
computer/disk drives didn't get along well and I would configure to
Ultra DMA but after a few days it would cough and switch to PIO. I
changed cables and it finally stopped doing it.