Ok, I thought I was pretty good but...HELP!!!

I removed the Geforce 250 GTS for the previous install and tested the HDD using HD Tune and the random access test ran just fine. Reinstalled the card without the drivers and the test ran fine again. Going to install the drivers and test again.

Installed the drivers for the Geforce 250 GTS and test came back clean again. Running Windows Updates now and will test again when all up to date. If that works, I'll post what I believe to be the solution, although I find it hard to believe that anyone will ever run into this same scenario ever again :)

Windows updates installed and back to the same situation...

Adrian said:

BUMP

Thanks for the bump :)

I'm updateless again and all seems ok. Going to do some testing quickly and then try and do each update individually to see if I can find out what's going on...

Adrian said:

Motherboard Intel G33 express chipset
What is your MOBO make and model?
What is it chip socket?

As best as I can tell, it's a Gateway rebranded Intel G33M05G1 motherboard. I've already done the stripped down install straight from the disk but just to be clear, you're telling me to do an upgrade from Windows 7 and do a clean install, correct?

Here's the information that I could get:

1394
VIA 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (6/21/2006)


CD and DVD Drives
ATAPI DVD A DH16A6S ATA Device (6/21/2006)


Hard Drive Controllers
ATA Channel 0 (6/21/2006)
ATA Channel 1 (6/21/2006)
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller (6/21/2006)
ATA Channel 0 (6/21/2006)


Hard Drives
IOI CF/MicroDrive USB Device (6/21/2006)
IOI MS/MsPro USB Device (6/21/2006)
IOI SD/MMC USB Device (6/21/2006)
IOI SM/xD-Picture USB Device (6/21/2006)
Seagate FreeAgent USB Device (6/21/2006)


Hidclass
Microsoft HID-compliant consumer control device (6/21/2006)
USB Input Device (6/21/2006)
USB Input Device (6/21/2006)
HID-compliant device (6/21/2006)
USB Input Device (6/21/2006)
USB Input Device (6/21/2006)
HID-compliant device (6/21/2006)
HID-compliant device (6/21/2006)
USB Input Device (6/21/2006)


Input Devices
Microsoft HID-compliant mouse (6/21/2006)
HID Keyboard Device (6/21/2006)
HID Keyboard Device (6/21/2006)


System
Intel ICH9 Family SMBus Controller - 2930 (6/21/2006)
Intel 82802 Firmware Hub Device (6/21/2006)
Intel G33/G31/P35/P31 Express Chipset Processor to I/O Controller - 29C0 (6/21/2006)
Intel 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E (6/21/2006)
Intel G33/G31/P35/P31 Express Chipset PCI Express Root Port - 29C1 (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9DH LPC Interface Controller - 2912 (6/21/2006)
Microsoft File as Volume Driver (6/21/2006)
Microsoft Composite Bus Enumerator (6/21/2006)
Microsoft High Definition Audio Controller (7/13/2009)
Microsoft UMBus Enumerator (6/21/2006)
Microsoft UMBus Enumerator (6/21/2006)
Microsoft UMBus Root Bus Enumerator (6/21/2006)
ACPI x64-based PC (6/21/2006)
Microsoft System Management BIOS Driver (6/21/2006)
High precision event timer (6/21/2006)
Microsoft Virtual Drive Enumerator Driver (6/21/2006)
ACPI Thermal Zone (6/21/2006)


Universal Serial Bus (USB)
(USB Hub) Generic USB Hub (6/21/2006)
Compatible USB storage device USB Mass Storage Device (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293C (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2934 (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2935 (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2936 (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2937 (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2938 (6/21/2006)
Intel ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2939 (6/21/2006)
USB Root Hub (6/21/2006)
USB Root Hub (6/21/2006)
USB Root Hub (6/21/2006)
USB Composite Device (6/21/2006)
USB Composite Device (6/21/2006)
USB Root Hub (6/21/2006)
USB Root Hub (6/21/2006)


Unknown
Multimedia Video Controller


Video
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 (Microsoft - WDDM v1.1) (5/14/2009)


Volumesnapshot
Microsoft Generic volume shadow copy (6/21/2006)


Wpd
IOI G:\ (6/21/2006)
IOI J:\ (6/21/2006)
IOI I:\ (6/21/2006)
IOI H:\ (6/21/2006)


Display: Generic PnP Monitor
Size: 27-inch diagonal (55mm x 34mm viewable)
Max. Resolution: 1600 x 1200 pixels
Serial Number: 1415000630
Manufactured: 10/2008