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Factory Factory posted:I'm building a new computer in January and I have put together a box for real backup now, so I'm feeling adventurous, but I need advice about how to express it. By the looks of your options (other than #5) you want both speed and redundancy. I'd go with #4, raid 5. Raid 5 will be faster than a raid 0+1 (or 1+0) and will provide you with more usable disk space. It's best to use identical drives when making a raid 5 array though, so hopefully your drive combination won't stump your controller/array. If you're not 100% keen on requiring a single drive for everything, you also have this option: Take your two faster drives and make a raid 0 with them, and take the other two drives and make a raid 1 out of 'em.
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Dec 2, 2010 22:52
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Just put together a computer. I think I have everything connected properly, but maybe not. I plugged it in, turned it on, the case and cpu fans work, and there's a blue light on the motherboard. My monitor is plugged into the back, but nothing is showing up on the screen. I tried a lot of the tips I could find via Google, anybody have any suggestions before I bring it to the shop tomorrow to have a pro put it together correctly? *Also, I'm certain I plugged the front panel stuff into the mobo correctly, but those lights aren't coming on. Well, I'm losing my mind here. First time computer builder, here's what I'm working with: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006 AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185 MSI 880GM-E43 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130293 Also, this video card, which I pulled out, just for troubleshooting. I figure I should get the basics working first, then put in the card: SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908&cm_re=sapphire_6850-_-14-102-908-_-Product edit: Should I start a thread on this? I'm truly hoping there's some tip that computer builders know that I don't, that will magically make my computer work.
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Dec 2, 2010 23:34
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particle409 posted:Just put together a computer. I think I have everything connected properly, but maybe not. I plugged it in, turned it on, the case and cpu fans work, and there's a blue light on the motherboard. My monitor is plugged into the back, but nothing is showing up on the screen. I tried a lot of the tips I could find via Google, anybody have any suggestions before I bring it to the shop tomorrow to have a pro put it together correctly? The motherboard should beep when it comes on. One single beep is a good sign. If it beeps multiple times or has a long beep or more (long beep would be like 2 seconds long) you need to look in your motherboard manual for POST codes, and see what it says. Otherwise, i'd double check that the cpu and memory are seated correctly, the motherboard has it's main power and 4pin cpu power fully connected, and that the VGA card is fully seated as well. Edit: Also, you don't need anything except the following to ensure basic functionality: mobo, cpu, memory, and power supply. If you hear just a single beep, and shutdown, and put in the video card. If you hear just 1 beep again but nothing shows up on the screen then you have either a bad or incompatible video card. If you narrow it down to the video card, do you have another card to try temporarily? Or, you can try resetting the CMOS on the motherboard (there's instructions how to do this online, just search for it). If try my suggestions (or already have), and no one else here suggests something i've forgotten you may have to take it in for someone to have a look at. The advantage a computer shop has is they can isolate which part is broken, by swapping with known working components. arroze fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Dec 2, 2010 |
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Dec 2, 2010 23:45
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Take it out of the case, put it on a box, then do all the narrowing down stuff. Forgetting to screw in standoffs can lead to symptoms like that.
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Dec 2, 2010 23:58
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arroze posted:The motherboard should beep when it comes on. One single beep is a good sign. No beeps, but a blue light on the mobo comes on, and case/cpu fans operate, and the dvd drive has power. I'll try resetting the CMOS. I forgot to add, I have this RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311 Any reason why that wouldn't be compatible with my mobo? (this one): MSI 880GM-E43 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813130293 edit: Also, my mobo has built in video, so I took out the separate video card I have, just make working in it easier at the moment. Plugged the monitor straight into the port attached to the mobo. edit 2: I can't find the 3 pin BIOS reset thing, so I just took out the battery, I'll update in 10 minutes I guess. particle409 fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Dec 3, 2010 |
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Dec 3, 2010 00:06
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Well, took the battery out of the mobo for 10+ minutes, put it back in, turned it on. Same deal. Fans work, blue light comes on the mobo, but there are no beeps. Time to take it into a shop?
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Dec 3, 2010 01:33
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Does anyone know how feasible it is to buy a vanilla Alienware M11X and at some later point upgrade the RAM myself to 4GB? The Dell site lists the RAM as being DDR3 800. Newegg only has DDR3 down to 1066. Would the machine accept 1006 without issues? I'd expect it would just downclock the RAM to 800 or possibly actually run at 1066, but I'm not sure and can't find a lot of information. I'd hate to assume it would be fine and have the whole thing backfire. It's not like it's cheaper to get 4GB separate as opposed to factory installed (approximately the same price really) but I'm just cheap and would rather upgrade later and have a lower entry cost.
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Dec 3, 2010 01:38
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Not A Gay Name posted:Does anyone know how feasible it is to buy a vanilla Alienware M11X and at some later point upgrade the RAM myself to 4GB? It will downclock no problem. If that's your only concern, don't worry about it.  arroze posted:By the looks of your options (other than #5) you want both speed and redundancy. I mostly just don't want one drive to lie idle, and I don't really care about them because they will be replaced in the new build. Right now I have OS, data, backup and image of the first two, and an empty drive I haven't even mounted. As soon as I'm done copying a pair of images to the backup box, I'll see how well nVidia's live migration works. Factory Factory fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Dec 3, 2010 |
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Dec 3, 2010 01:41
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particle409 posted:Well, took the battery out of the mobo for 10+ minutes, put it back in, turned it on. Same deal. Fans work, blue light comes on the mobo, but there are no beeps. Time to take it into a shop? What Srebrenica Surprise recommended is actually a common next step. Most motherboard support departments will tell you to take this step. Place the motherboard on top of a cardboard box, with nothing except the cpu, memory and power plugged in. Hopefully, the mobo has a button for power and/or reset, that you can use to turn it on. Otherwise, the two pins that you usually connect the wire for the case's power button can be short-circuited (connected) with a screwdriver to turn the mobo on. This, unfortunately means taking your computer apart, but you'll probably have to do this anyways if you're going to return a mobo to the manufacturer. Which leads me to... you're probably having a motherboard problem if you're never hearing any beeps. You may want to get in contact with your mobo's support dept and see what steps they recommend with your particular board.
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Dec 3, 2010 01:45
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Factory Factory posted:It will downclock no problem. If that's your only concern, don't worry about it. Wonderful, and thank you.
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Dec 3, 2010 01:47
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I need a wifi usb adapter for my desktop PC to pick up my neighbor's (he gave me permission) signal.....However I'm confused as to which one I need, will a basic cheaper one be fine, or should I just go for broke and get the dual band 300Mbps 75 dollar adapter. Is there a big difference in performance with these?
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Dec 3, 2010 02:00
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arroze posted:What Srebrenica Surprise recommended is actually a common next step. Most motherboard support departments will tell you to take this step. Ok, thanks. I ended up finding the CMOS BIOS reset thing. Just to clarify, the manual says: quote:You can clear CMOS by shorting pin 2-3 while the system is off. Then return to 1-2 position. Avoid clearing the CMOS while the system is on; it will damage the mainboard. I had the computer unplugged, moved the plastic jumper thing to pins 2-3, waited 20 seconds, then moved it back to 1-2, comp still unplugged. They don't mean that I'm supposed to plug it in after moving to 2-3, correct? And that I'm only not supposed to move the pins while plugged in. edit: Either way, I'll pull everything out except the basics. edit2: I may possibly be a moron. After moving the pins to the clear data position, do I turn it on, or just move the pins back to the "keep data" position? Not sure if it works off the battery or external power, online forums are giving me unclear info. particle409 fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Dec 3, 2010 |
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Dec 3, 2010 02:08
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leica posted:I need a wifi usb adapter for my desktop PC to pick up my neighbor's (he gave me permission) signal.....However I'm confused as to which one I need, will a basic cheaper one be fine, or should I just go for broke and get the dual band 300Mbps 75 dollar adapter. Is there a big difference in performance with these? How far away is your neighbor?
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Dec 3, 2010 02:10
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enotnert posted:How far away is your neighbor? I'd say from my computer to his router is about 50 yards
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Dec 3, 2010 02:26
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Srebrenica Surprise posted:Take it out of the case, put it on a box, then do all the narrowing down stuff. Forgetting to screw in standoffs can lead to symptoms like that. I realized I missed two screws for the standoffs. Put in one that came with the case for it, and another with slightly narrower threading as the mobo was slightly off and the case ones didn't screw in straight. Only things plugged into the power supply: the mobo, and the case fan to test it. Well, now it seems that the power supply decided to stop working. I don't know what happened, it just doesn't provide power anymore. I guess it's time to let a pro look at it.
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Dec 3, 2010 07:03
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leica posted:I'd say from my computer to his router is about 50 yards Id honestly double check signal testing with a phone/laptop. . . generally speaking any old wifi adapter will work, provided you're not looking to hammer the torrents or get sick pings while gaming. Otherwise, I'd tell you to say gently caress a USB adapter, and pick up something by ubiquiti, and setup a quick bridged network. I've got a ubiquiti in my attic connecting to some people a good 1/4 mile away, and provided it's just a normal day I keep a 54/36 connection to them, while the nanostation only ran like 40-50 bucks.
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Dec 3, 2010 08:51
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I have a really strange problem with my two-year-old HP Pavilion 9743 laptop. It appears the connection between the monitor and the video card has gone bad - the screen just suddenly went black. However, when I plug in an external monitor using the port on the video card, it works fine. Can I and should I open up the laptop to fix it? It seems like it would be a simple fix. Or should I just buy a new laptop? NOTE: When I heat the video card by, say, firing up Starcraft 2, it makes contact and the LCD starts working again. Then when it cools down the screen goes dark once more.
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Dec 3, 2010 09:12
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Tarezax posted:I have a really strange problem with my two-year-old HP Pavilion 9743 laptop. It appears the connection between the monitor and the video card has gone bad - the screen just suddenly went black. However, when I plug in an external monitor using the port on the video card, it works fine. The backlight might have went out, there are often repair kits to replace it but I can't estimate how much that'd be without looking. If you take a flashlight to it from an angle can you see a hint of the desktop / windows with the light?
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Dec 3, 2010 09:15
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Sniep posted:The backlight might have went out, there are often repair kits to replace it but I can't estimate how much that'd be without looking. If you take a flashlight to it from an angle can you see a hint of the desktop / windows with the light? I'm pretty sure the backlight is still working, because I can change the brightness of the screen using keyboard hotkeys and it still has a visible effect.
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Dec 3, 2010 09:20
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Tarezax posted:I have a really strange problem with my two-year-old HP Pavilion 9743 laptop. It appears the connection between the monitor and the video card has gone bad - the screen just suddenly went black. However, when I plug in an external monitor using the port on the video card, it works fine. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3333416 Yours doesn't sound like total video hardware failure though, maybe just display cable issues. Underneath the battery are around 6 screws. Remove those and you should be able to take the button panel behind the keyboard off. Once that's removed, unplug the display cable, wiggle it around a bit, and plug it back in. A word of caution: don't do any of this while the laptop is on. Those display cable connectors carry power over some of the pins. I actually melted a connector this way slightly when the laptop turned on accidentally while plugging the cable in (strangely, no functional damage though). Zorilla fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Dec 3, 2010 |
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Dec 3, 2010 14:38
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Thanks, but it seems to have fixed itself overnight.  If it goes out again I'll know what to do.
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Dec 3, 2010 19:44
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I would like to boot a box with a evga 650i MB without the video card - is this possible and do I need to change anything in the bios?
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Dec 3, 2010 22:13
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Quick question. What would anyone consider to be the best defragging software currently available? As in power and/or speed.
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Dec 4, 2010 00:51
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I'm having a problem with one of the drives in my openindiana server. After I scrub (which takes days) it'll keep finding errors on a single drive in the raidz-1 pool. I'm assuming this is most likely a hardware failure... So do I just bring the pool offline, pop the broken drive out, and replace it with a new one? I don't know if there's anything else ZFS will require of me. Also, it's a WD Caviar Green 1TB, and it's been less than a year that I've owned it, will they do RMAs at this point? A new drive is cheap from newegg, so maybe I'll just buy one for now and RMA later.
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Dec 4, 2010 02:11
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Imapanda posted:Quick question. For Windows XP I'm assuming? You'll want JKDefrag: http://kessels.com/jkdefrag/ If you're using Vista or Windows 7 don't bother with any defragging software. Vista/Win7 handle defragging much better than any program could.
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Dec 4, 2010 02:23
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Ruklo Burosee posted:For Windows XP I'm assuming? You'll want JKDefrag: http://kessels.com/jkdefrag/ Vista/7 is supposed to handle OS updates and defragmentation on its own, but that doesn't stop me from seeing computers with no service packs installed at all and 40% fragmentation on a regular basis. I want to trust Windows to defrag itself, but I just can't yet. For now, I'd recommend Defraggler.
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Dec 4, 2010 03:06
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Zorilla posted:Vista/7 is supposed to handle OS updates and defragmentation on its own, but that doesn't stop me from seeing computers with no service packs installed at all and 40% fragmentation on a regular basis.
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Dec 4, 2010 03:12
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tboneDX posted:I'm having a problem with one of the drives in my openindiana server. After I scrub (which takes days) it'll keep finding errors on a single drive in the raidz-1 pool. I'm assuming this is most likely a hardware failure... I just removed the problem drive and will give WD a call next week. Apparently they have an 'upgrade' plan for in-warranty drives, so maybe I can pay a small fee and get a 2TB one (not that it would help in my current setup). Also, while I was testing out which drive was down, I accidentally knocked the e-sata cable loose from another drive. I spent the next 10 minutes freaking out about completely losing my data since it wouldn't let me re-import the pool... fake edit: ugh, looks like I'd have to pay near newegg price to 'upgrade' my drive to the same model.
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Dec 4, 2010 04:35
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Zorilla posted:Vista/7 is supposed to handle OS updates and defragmentation on its own, but that doesn't stop me from seeing computers with no service packs installed at all and 40% fragmentation on a regular basis. You see computers with heavy fragmentation because the users have the hard drives filled nearly to the brim so you can't efficiently defragment.
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Dec 4, 2010 06:35
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fishmech posted:You see computers with heavy fragmentation because the users have the hard drives filled nearly to the brim so you can't efficiently defragment. I see that users rarely fill more than a third of the drive's available space. My guess is that most of these computers are laptops and spend most of their time in standby when not in use, so the defrag scheduled to take place early in the morning never happens (unless Windows knows to run it as soon as it's turned back on or something). Zorilla fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 07:00
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I can't speak for 7, but Vista's defragger is a useless piece of poo poo that has actually made my Harddrive more fragmented. It's extremely slow, and when you set it to defrag daily at a certain time, it doesn't. I like to use SmartDefrag. It's free and quick and seems to work.
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Dec 4, 2010 08:17
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Is sticking 2 drives on the same IDE cable a stupid idea, assuming it's a Pentium 4 system with the ultra-ata 133 setup? I can't seem to get a straight answer on if only one drive can do anything at any given time. Would I be better off sticking the second drive on the other channel?
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Dec 5, 2010 07:03
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Bob Morales posted:Is sticking 2 drives on the same IDE cable a stupid idea, assuming it's a Pentium 4 system with the ultra-ata 133 setup? Yes, put the drives on separate channels. Otherwise, only one will be able to communicate at a time.
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Dec 5, 2010 07:07
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Bob Morales posted:Is sticking 2 drives on the same IDE cable a stupid idea, assuming it's a Pentium 4 system with the ultra-ata 133 setup? In practice, it really doesn't matter unless you're mass copying files, and even then, since PATA drives can't really fill the 133mb/s capacity of the interface, except maybe in bursts. Though it definitely wouldn't hurt to put them on separate ports.
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Dec 5, 2010 12:18
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Don't use "Cable Select" but jumper one to master and one to slave and you will be OK in most circumstances.
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Dec 5, 2010 12:25
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I'm looking for an affordable new graphics card, I don't know much about this stuff so I'm coming to you guys. I'm from South Africa, so a direct price comparison isn't going to work, but if I'm looking at anything under R2000, a rough estimate would be anything up to just under $300 or around 200 Euros. I have a 19inch LCD, which might be upgraded sometime soon so something that can perform well on an increased screen size up to about 22inch would be great. Have any ideas?
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Dec 5, 2010 17:09
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Mr_Biggs posted:I'm looking for an affordable new graphics card, I don't know much about this stuff so I'm coming to you guys. I'm from South Africa, so a direct price comparison isn't going to work, but if I'm looking at anything under R2000, a rough estimate would be anything up to just under $300 or around 200 Euros. I have a 19inch LCD, which might be upgraded sometime soon so something that can perform well on an increased screen size up to about 22inch would be great. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512 This cards pretty zef and within your price range.
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Dec 5, 2010 17:15
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I second enotnert's suggestion of the GTX 460. It's a top performer in the mainstream segment and excellent for the price.
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Dec 5, 2010 18:52
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enotnert posted:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512 Not A Gay Name posted:I second enotnert's suggestion of the GTX 460. It's a top performer in the mainstream segment and excellent for the price. Just out of interest, how does that card compare to something like the Radeon hd4850? I think the Radeon is probably a bit older, correct me if I am wrong, like I said I know nothing about this stuff, its just that I have heard a lot of good things about it.
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Dec 5, 2010 20:33
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It completely trounces the 4850. A couple years ago the 4850 was a well priced and performing card sitting in the same segment as the 460 does now. However, not really knowing the pricing scheme of things in South Africa. If the 460 is too high and the 4850 is priced more closely to what you want, it could still suit your needs. It can play the latest games, but not as well and it's getting long in the tooth. Here is a somewhat basic comparison of framerates from Tomshardware. Those are at the 1680x1050 resolution which is common for 22" monitors.
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Dec 5, 2010 20:47
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