PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Windows notices the hardware change and wants to be reactivated, you can do this a few times without any problems (usually), after that you have to call them and ask for a new verification code.

[EiZei 0]

All of my new components have arrived, and yep I went with the ECS mobo for cost reasons- hope I don't regret it

My last worry was losing Windows, so I called my current manufacturer who said Windows is partitioned on my HD thereby replacing the motherboard won't effect it.

Can anyone verify this?

The obvious question here is are you using an OEM version of Windows?

Personally, I have yet to see a windows installation survive a mobo change without breaking apart completely or partially.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Personally, I have yet to see a windows installation survive a mobo change without breaking apart completely or partially.

*shows his windows installation*

Changed the mobo, CPU and videocard and it didnt give any problems (except the reactivation stuff..)

[baddo 0]

Hi,

it is possible to break Windows XP installation by changing motherboard, I will quote myself from a couple of pages ago:

Quote[/b] ]Well some time ago I changed motherboard to a different make and model due to a failure in the old motherboard. The computer has both Windows XP and Debian GNU/Linux installed. Windows XP gave me Blue Screen of Death in reboot. Debian gave me a nice startup, everything worked fine except hard disk drives were working in a slower PIO-mode instead of faster UDMA-mode (that I got corrected, forgot how). So a motherboard change can indeed make booting into Windows much harder... I think it's because Windows expects to see the same chipset in the motherboard that was there at the time of installation of Windows, and if it is not there, problems will arise. But a Linux with a generic kernel (not compiled for a certain chipset only) will detect the chipset when booting and thus has less problems, if any. This is only speculation about Windows, I don't know for sure if it will detect new chipsets or not, but it certainly didn't do it with my computer.

So, in my case reinstallation of Windows XP was necessary. It did not work at all after changing motherboard. You might be luckier though.

If you have partitioned your hard disk drive wisely, so that all your data is not on the same partition as Windows, then it is relatively easy to reinstall since you won't need to touch your data partitions. It just takes time and nerves to go through it all (again).

[froggyluv 2136]

Sorry I don't know what OEM means, but basically Compaq said Windows is on a seperate 'recovery drive' and the Windows XP keycode is on the side of the case. Also a friend err, lent me a copy of XP to assist with the re-boot.

Also the ECS Mobo order got snagged with Tiger Direct so they sent me An Intel DG965RYCK, which I'm generally hearing pretty much sucks do to no OC'ing ability and no SLI

Oh well, I'll be ecstatic just to see that Windows insignia appear after the change-up... Scalpel?

[Guest Ti0n3r]

I've got a little (BIG) problem here. Hope someone can help =/

Last night windows just froze. When I rebooted I found that my PC was unable to find the SATA drive (my primary HDD, windows xp etc). I have checked all the cables, and there still heat coming from the HDD so I guess it's still conected. But it's just not showing up =/

So, does anyone around here know anything about this kind of issue? Any help would be --->

[blackdog~ 0]

I'm aboot to install PHP on my Win2K3 dedicated server and I have noticed that most seem to prefer installing it manually rather than with the executable. Can anyone point me to a good tutorial with the best way to set it up? There are a lot of tutorials out there, but I want to do it right the first time...

Ti0n3r have you checked to see if the hard drive is showing up in your BIOS?

[j w 0]

I'm aboot to install PHP on my Win2K3 dedicated server and I have noticed that most seem to prefer installing it manually rather than with the executable. Can anyone point me to a good tutorial with the best way to set it up? There are a lot of tutorials out there, but I want to do it right the first time...

What program are you using?

I use WAMP, it lets you choose the most stuff for yourself, even if it's an exe-file.

[Balschoiw 0]

Heya hardware gurus !

If run into some problems when messing around with my neighbours PC. It´s a 3.4 Ghz Athlon with onboard ATI X700 Gfx and 1 Gig DDR Ram fresh out of the box. He installed some games like Sims deluxe, Zoo Tycoon, all not demanding on hardware, but after a certain time ingame (about 5 minutes) the computer freezes and has to be hardresetted to be brought to life again. I have already updated the gfx drivers but no sucess so far. Should he go for an additional gfx card or where can the error be ?

[j w 0]

Sounds like overheating problems.

Start the comp and enter BIOS. Somewhere you should find system temperature.

Then open the case and see if all fans are running (ie, CPU fan and GFX fan).

If you cant spot any problems, download some testprogram, wich checks the CPU, HDD, GFX and ram.

Hope I helped

JW

[EddyBoy 0]

Sounds more like it's either a heat or a power problem. Mine used to crap out on me when i'd played games for 5-10mins due to the fan on my graphics card getting filthy. Try giving the fan a good clean or use a system monitoring tool to check power or heat levels. Could of course also be the CPU overheating.

[j w 0]

I've finished my webpage, and I wonder what you think about it?

Find it here

JW

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Ti0n3r have you checked to see if the hard drive is showing up in your BIOS?

Yepp, and it's not showing up there =/

And the system temperature is fine. around 58 celsius.

[dm 9]

Ti0n3r have you checked to see if the hard drive is showing up in your BIOS?

Yepp, and it's not showing up there =/

I had a similar problem about a year ago. You dont happen to be using an Abit IC-7 motherboard do you?

Either way, what solved it for me was resetting the CMOS with the jumper on the mobo. Yes it means you have to re-do all your BIOS settings, but it does mean the PC functions again.

I had to do it every time I booted/rebooted for about a month (thankfully for me I leave my PC on 24/7 so it wasnt THAT bad), and then the problem just went away...

[Guest RKSL-Rock]

I had a similar problem about a year ago. You dont happen to be using an Abit IC-7 motherboard do you?

Either way, what solved it for me was resetting the CMOS with the jumper on the mobo. Yes it means you have to re-do all your BIOS settings, but it does mean the PC functions again.

I had to do it every time I booted/rebooted for about a month (thankfully for me I leave my PC on 24/7 so it wasnt THAT bad), and then the problem just went away...

If thats happening to you you might want to consider replacing the BIOS backup battery on the mainboard. They look like a smallish coin (18mm dia) and only cost a few quid.

[dm 9]

If thats happening to you you might want to consider replacing the BIOS backup battery on the mainboard. They look like a smallish coin (18mm dia) and only cost a few quid.

Indeed, tho I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, since it went away and hasnt reared its silly head since. (One would assume that if it was the battery it would be a reccouring problem until the battery was replaced. The PC has since been switched off without power - i.e. unplugged - for 1 or 2 days at a time, and still no problems)

New BIOS batteries might indeed be the answer, but it works now, so if it aint broke, dont fix it

[Balschoiw 0]

The system monitoring tool sounds like a plan to me. I will check. Thx for the hint.

[VictorTroska 0]

I've finished my webpage, and I wonder what you think about it?

Find it here

JW

Hmm...link/page doesnt work.. (maybe just 4 me   )

Can u check it JW ?  Maybe html thing in address..

[j w 0]

I've finished my webpage, and I wonder what you think about it?

Find it here

JW

Hmm...link/page doesnt work.. (maybe just 4 me )

Can u check it JW ? Maybe html thing in address..

Server painfully slow atm, got some uploading/downloading of big files. Basicly we're moving big files over the server, so that's why it's slow, occupying both upload and download XD

[VictorTroska 0]

O.K. ,tnx for the info JW ...will check it out later

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Quote[/b] ]I had a similar problem about a year ago. You dont happen to be using an Abit IC-7 motherboard do you?

Either way, what solved it for me was resetting the CMOS with the jumper on the mobo. Yes it means you have to re-do all your BIOS settings, but it does mean the PC functions again.

Nah, the motherboard is a ASUS P5GD1.

How do I reset "the CMOS with the jumper on the mobo."? Never did that before.

[Factor 0]

hello, ive havent really played much arma, cause of the performance of the game, however, i thought if i overclocked my system it may work a little better.

thing is, ive never overclocked before. so i need some advice if you may. ive been experimenting w/ some settings, but want some tips.

ok, first my specs:

AM2 AMD Athlon 64 3800+ (single core)

K9N SLI Platinum MoBo

2048 RAM

Nvidia 7900 GTX 512mb (93.71 driver)

system is watercooled, and i have dials on my case to speed fans up on my card and my cpu. it never gets above 25 C degrees, and thats with the fan running about 75%. so i think i have efficient cooling systems.

ok, here we go, in the nvidia control panel, under performance, manual tuning, there is a button for mobo settings, and gpu settings

under mobo settings, there is a box that says system clocks. in that box, there is a slider for reference clock(HTT). one side has 100MHz, the other side has 250MHz. when i slide that, the CPU core frequency changes from the stock 2400MHz.

my question here is, how far can i push this over, i tried all the way over till the CPU frequency was over to 3000MHz, this crashed the system as soon as i pushed the apply button, so thats too much. right now i have it to 2500MHz, but am asking here for advice so i dont risk frying my processor. there is a slider for reference clock (PCi-E) that has 100MHz on one side of the slider, and 120MHz on the other. there is an adjustable number there now that reads 2750MHz. can someone explain what this is for.

next question is about overclocking the gpu. im using the find optimal button right now. with that, that is giving me about 15 extra frames, and with this game, 15 more is a HUGE! difference. i was running at around 15 to 40. now, im getting about 30 to 70. (medium detail). anyway, i want to see if i can push it more, to enable some more eye candy with little impact on performance.

right now, i have the core bus at 687Mhz, and the Memory bus and 891Mhz. how far do you think i can push this, again, w/o frying my gpu that was oh so expensive last summer.

anyway, thanks in advance for any tips anyone can give me. i have read a little on this stuff, but i think that some advice from the everyday person will help me more.

on a side note, does anyone else think that PC games in general are becoming less and less these days. right now, there is nothing, and i mean nothing that has my intrest. not even a title on the horizon. the only game im looking forward too is Rogue Warrior. isnt that sad. anyway, if anyone would like to recommend anything to me, im all ears. i like playing war sims, and racing sims. notice the word, sim. ive played recently brothers in arms, both copies, (not a sim, but an awesome game to say the least). im playin also at the moment gtr2 (not much, tho, im lazy to drive the wheel and pedals) and slient hunter III w/ the GWX mod. never played the OFP series, and i see its up for download on the main page of the ARMA site. ive been close to downloading it, but just havent yet. anyone care to change my mind?

Factor.

[Potatomasher 0]

Erhm. At first may i ask why is your system watercooled if you haven't OCed it ?

And this kind of questions belong to totally different forums i think.

[EiZei 0]

Quote[/b] ]I had a similar problem about a year ago. You dont happen to be using an Abit IC-7 motherboard do you?

Either way, what solved it for me was resetting the CMOS with the jumper on the mobo. Yes it means you have to re-do all your BIOS settings, but it does mean the PC functions again.

Nah, the motherboard is a ASUS P5GD1.

How do I reset "the CMOS with the jumper on the mobo."? Never did that before.

Just find the CMOS jumper on your motherboard (there should be a reference picture in your manual) and short the two metal leads with a screwdriver for a second.

[dm 9]

Consult the manual for the relevant jumper and whether it has to be powered on or off before performing the operation.

(Pay special attention to the power - it is possible to short the mobo if you do it wrong. But as long as you follow the instructions you will be safe)