Help! Slow Windows XP SP1 in AMD64!

[GricX]

Hello everybody... I need help, I have asked my tech support and they doesn't seem to have a solution... :eek: I've bought a PC with an AMD 64 bits processor and a serial ATA hard disk, Windows XP SP1 installed. The problem is that most of the times it takes like a minute to start windows, and recently it has happened that sometimes it stays slow for a while, even for running other programs. I reset windows once or twice and just then ,while the start up is still slow, at least the rest of the programs run normal. I have heard it could be a problem with the motherboard, the serial ATA driver or the hard disk... but I don't know.

Already checked virus and spyware, it's clean. I've also unchecked the unnecesary programs with msconfig. It worked, but the next day I turned the PC on the problem was back... slow again... :(

So, is there a way to know if the hard disk has any problem or failure? Would it be a good idea to reinstall Windows XP (SP1)? I have re-installed Windows XP before on pentium and AMD, but I don't have experience with 64 bits or serial ATA drives (this would be my first). Please any help will be more than welcome! :!:

The PC is:
AMD Athlon 64 +3000 socket 754
Motherboard MSI K8T800 Neo-V with s-ATA support
Memory: 2 Specteck 512Kb bus 400
Video GeForce MX4000 128Kb
HD Seagate 120Gb. 7200rpm serial ATA
LG DVD supermulti rewriter
D-Link 10/100 ethernet card
Windows XP Professional SP1

[Cain]

AMDs are most suceptable to overheating.. if dust is present or a cooling fan fails you
will see a drastic performance decrease very quickly.

I would crack the case and inspect these items to ensure serviceability first.

[GricX]

Hey, thanks for replying. I send the machine back to tech support and it turned out it was the hard drive. They put it in another PC and there was the same problem. It has a warranty so they changed it and now it works fine.

[Zachery]

I highly suggest upgrading to SP2 as SP1 won't take full advantage of the AMD64 chip :)