Three problems. Two about startup and one about graphics.

[catattack]

Hey guys. Anyways, my first 2 questions consist of when I start my computer up. When I start my computer, it either stop's at "Primary IDE Channel no 80 conductor cable installed" or go's passed that to do this "verifying DMI Pool data......" Now I have to ctrl, alt, delete to restart the computer maybe once or twice to get it to get into windows but still those 2 are making me mad. What's going on and how can I fix those?

The third question is, I just bought guild wars and I have nothing on my entire computer overclocked yet I am still getting stupid artifacts everywhere in this game. Not in the beginning but after awhile you start to see them. This has also happend in game's like Counter Strike Source and I think Far Cry but i'm not sure. Why? Is this a driver problem? I'm running a radeon 9800 pro 128mb.

Thanks for the help guys.

[alterion]

umm my computer "verifying DMI Pool data..... happens every time as part of the start up ... system specs would help w diagnsoes of any problems.. as for the gfx corruption.. 2 likely cuases are- 1) either your card's fan is not running proper;y and your card is running too hot or
2) AND MOR LILKLEY- driver conflicts.. downalod the ;atsest cats of the ati site and then
follow this http://www.drivercleaner.net/.. hope these help

[ANZAC_ELITE]

The first two sound like a dodgy cable, or dying hdd. Check that all plugs are securely seated, try changing the cable for a another one, also go to the hhd makers site and get hdd diagnostic tools and run those to check the disk.
Artifacts are usually bought on by running a card at higher frequencies than it is designed for thus overloading/overheating the gpu, as you state no overclocking then heat may be your enemy, I'm not familiar with that particular card, does it have a fan?? if so check for dust bunnies in the fan. What temperatures does the card reach when under load?
What are the general temps like in your pc? cpu/gpu at load/idle?
I presume you are using the latest Catalyst drivers.

[Agent]

Cable thing : http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=43715

[catattack]

System Specs:

AMD Athlon 2400XP CPU
NF7-S v.2 Motherboard
Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
1GB corsair 3200 memory
60GB 7200rpm 2mb Western Digital?
Windows XP Pro
True Blue antec 430w psu

Now another couple questions. I'm about to upgrade my CPU and Hard drive. A) would a 2800XP Barton show a lot more performance seeing how i'm running 333fsb memory or whatever? B) My hard drive is a 2mb cache, when I get my new Hard drive and it's going to have 8mb cache, will that be that much of an increase in performance? I've heard it can increase up to 25% performance.

Thanks for the help.

[catattack]

Ok, on my radeon 9800, theres 2 extra connectors. One I have connected which looks just like a power cord input like any other hard drive, cd drive ect... Though theres another connector that WASNT connected. It looks somewhat of a little tiny 4 pronged connector. I think it goes where I connected the usb cables. Any Clue?

[russ0r!]

Check your manual. Who manufactured the 9800? I've not heard of one that requires two power inputs before, so I don't think this could be a problem...

As far as I'm aware, drivers do NOT cause artifacts. They cause just about every other problem under the sun, but not artifacts What sort of artifacts are you seeing? Is it dancing polygons and stuff or is it like a 'checkboard' effect?
The first is nearly always caused by either overheating/overclocking or a damaged GPU,
like anzac elite said.
The latter is usually a broken pipe (also a damaged GPU).
There's also a possibility your PSU could be causing the artifacts. Antec PSUs are generally pretty damn good. But get hold of an app like Motherboard Monitor and check your +5V and +12V rails are running at the right voltage, just to be sure.

Hope this helps. Lemme know how you get on.

Russ.