The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

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Tha_Joker_GAmer: Aug 16, 2006

I recently upgraded my graphics card and memory. 550W Corsair PSU, from a 460 1GB to a 7950 and from 4GB to 8GB RAM (Corsair memory too, all the memory sticks are identical)

and now when I turn on my pc, it powers on for a second or two, then off, then powers on and works normally. I've googled this but just end up with a bunch of posts about serious issues and an endless cycle of off and on and off. But mine works fine. It's not a serious issue, or even an annoyance really, but is it something to be worried about?

You might be thinking "loving yes, obviously" But I had this issue when I first used this computer, and it just went away on it's own after a while.

# ? Feb 20, 2012 17:09

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# ? Jun 4, 2024 18:27

HalloKitty: Sep 30, 2005; Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

The one thing you haven't mentioned is the motherboard. In my experience, a handful of modern motherboards do exactly that, but they don't do it from a "warm-ish" start, where you still have DC applied to the motherboard.

For example, I had an ABIT IP35-E, and it did this, until a BIOS updated stopped it, as long as you left power to the board.
My old ASUS board also did this. It also had a weird problem where if it was too physically cold, it would sit there doing this for a while until it was warm, then would work fine.

Anecdotes aside, if you're not having any other problems with the machine, I wouldn't be concerned. Maybe check the manufacturer's site for a BIOS update (although my feeling with updates like this is often don't gently caress with it if it is working).

HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Feb 20, 2012

# ? Feb 20, 2012 17:20

Stump Truck: Nov 26, 2007; Why? Yes

Yeah, try googling your motherboard model and "restart on boot". I haven't had the problem myself but when I was building my PC and comparing motherboards I saw tons of reviews/message board posts mentioning this problem for a variety of different boards.

# ? Feb 20, 2012 17:25

Rukus: Mar 13, 2007; Hmph.

From my understanding it's a feature with overclocking-friendly motherboards. The board is supposed to start up for a few seconds to test the voltages and such to make sure everything's safe. After it gets the clear it will turn off then back on again. You can normally disable it in the BIOS; if you don't have the option then update like mentioned, it should be added by now.

Strange that it'd just start doing it after you switched out the memory and video card, but you should be fine.

# ? Feb 20, 2012 17:37

IOwnCalculus: Apr 2, 2003

My Intel DQ67SW board does that exact same thing, but overclocking friendly is not the word for it :v:

# ? Feb 20, 2012 18:36

Tha_Joker_GAmer: Aug 16, 2006

HalloKitty posted:

The one thing you haven't mentioned is the motherboard. In my experience, a handful of modern motherboards do exactly that, but they don't do it from a "warm-ish" start, where you still have DC applied to the motherboard.

For example, I had an ABIT IP35-E, and it did this, until a BIOS updated stopped it, as long as you left power to the board.
My old ASUS board also did this. It also had a weird problem where if it was too physically cold, it would sit there doing this for a while until it was warm, then would work fine.

Anecdotes aside, if you're not having any other problems with the machine, I wouldn't be concerned. Maybe check the manufacturer's site for a BIOS update (although my feeling with updates like this is often don't gently caress with it if it is working).

It's an Asus P7P55D-E, there have been numerous updates to the version I have but I too, am inclined to shy away from updating a BIOS for something as apparently unimportant as this. Thanks for the replies.

# ? Feb 21, 2012 11:23

JAY ZERO SUM GAME: Oct 18, 2005; Walter.
I know you know how to do this.
Get up.

I have a fairly old setup, a Core2 Duo (E8500) in an Antec Sonata case.

It works great and I have no desire to upgrade or anything. But I would like to make it quieter. Silent.

It's currently cooled with the OEM fan, no case fans (I know, should probably use one. I have one 120mm fan in the case but it's loud and I unplug it.), and an Antec Earthwatts PSU.

Anyone have advice experience on what heatsink/fan combo would work? The most noise seems to come from the CPU fan, the PSU seems pretty quiet.

# ? Feb 21, 2012 16:33

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:

I have a fairly old setup, a Core2 Duo (E8500) in an Antec Sonata case.

It works great and I have no desire to upgrade or anything. But I would like to make it quieter. Silent.

It's currently cooled with the OEM fan, no case fans (I know, should probably use one. I have one 120mm fan in the case but it's loud and I unplug it.), and an Antec Earthwatts PSU.

Anyone have advice experience on what heatsink/fan combo would work? The most noise seems to come from the CPU fan, the PSU seems pretty quiet.

Check the fan control options in your motherboard BIOS and/or the software for the board, you should be able to turn the fan speed down without too much impact on temperatures. If you have a videocard that might be a larger contributor to the noise however.

# ? Feb 21, 2012 17:46

other people: Jun 27, 2004; Associate Christ

JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:

I have a fairly old setup, a Core2 Duo (E8500) in an Antec Sonata case.

It works great and I have no desire to upgrade or anything. But I would like to make it quieter. Silent.

It's currently cooled with the OEM fan, no case fans (I know, should probably use one. I have one 120mm fan in the case but it's loud and I unplug it.), and an Antec Earthwatts PSU.

Anyone have advice experience on what heatsink/fan combo would work? The most noise seems to come from the CPU fan, the PSU seems pretty quiet.

Stock cpu coolers are usually loud, as are stock gpu coolers.

Check out the recommended coolers for your socket at silentpcreview.com .

While larger fans can move more air at lower rpms than a small fan, that is only helpful if the large fan is turning slowly. spr also rates specific fan models.

Tower CPU coolers are all the rage right now, using low rpm 120 or 140mm fans they can be near silent. Just make sure it will fit on your motherboard and in your case.

Also, standard operating procedure is to have at least one intake fan at the front of the case and an exhaust at the rear. If you really only have the psu fan which is blowing out, fresh air is not being brought into the case very effectively.

# ? Feb 21, 2012 20:52

modeski: Apr 21, 2005; Deceive, inveigle, obfuscate.

One of the drives in my Windows Home Server (v1) box poo poo itself the other day. I removed it from the storage pool, took it out, salvaged what data I could and am about to RMA it.

I bought all four storage drives (2Tb WD20 EARS) at the same time. Now the server is showing some of the same signs as it did before the drive died (not streaming properly, slow to respond), so I'm wondering if another hard drive is about to go. They're all showing us as 'Healthy' in the WHS console and the Disk Management console.

What test tools can I use to see if any of the drives will be on their way out soon?

# ? Feb 22, 2012 11:27

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

modeski posted:

One of the drives in my Windows Home Server (v1) box poo poo itself the other day. I removed it from the storage pool took it out, salvaged what data I could and about to RMA it.

I bought all four storage drives (2Tb WD20 EARS) at the same time. Now the server is showing some of the same signs as it did before the drive died, so I'm wondering if another hard drive is about to go. They're all showing us as 'Healthy' in the WHS console and the Disk Management console.

What test tools can I use to see if any of the drives will be on their way out soon?

Crystal Disk Info. Any drives showing Caution are bad.

# ? Feb 22, 2012 11:29

modeski: Apr 21, 2005; Deceive, inveigle, obfuscate.

Alereon posted:

Crystal Disk Info. Any drives showing Caution are bad.

Thanks, that did the trick. Another drive is indeed showing Caution. drat.

I guess on a related note, should I go for the exact same model of drive again when I get replacements? I got the WD20EARS Green drives for their power-saving qualities, but I'm wondering if it's a false economy.

EDIT: VVV Ah, good to know. First time I've ever had a drive die on me, so having two in quick succession is a bit unnerving. I'm going to power down the server until I replace the first drive and can grab the data of this new failing one.

modeski fucked around with this message at 11:41 on Feb 22, 2012

# ? Feb 22, 2012 11:35

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

Caviar Green drives really are the best option for storage drives (as opposed the system drives) because they're cheaper per GB and you do get reduced noise and power usage. They're no less reliable than any other type of drive.

# ? Feb 22, 2012 11:38

VodeAndreas: Apr 30, 2009

Alereon posted:

Caviar Green drives really are the best option for storage drives (as opposed the system drives) because they're cheaper per GB and you do get reduced noise and power usage. They're no less reliable than any other type of drive.

How do they go for 24/7 uptime... I am in literally the same situation as modeski and seeing that prompted me to check my drives.

I have had some stuttering on videos etc. checked out the status of the drives in my home server and sure enough the main one is at "Caution" and shows a lot of power on hours (30k) which I'm guessing doesn't help.

It was also more concerningly showing as SATA150 instead of SATA300/SATA2 - I checked the specs and the board definitely only has SATA2 ports, anything that might cause this? Don't tell my my mobo's failing too

VodeAndreas fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Feb 22, 2012

# ? Feb 22, 2012 14:00

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

VodeAndreas posted:

How do they go for 24/7 uptime... I am in literally the same situation as modeski and seeing that prompted me to check my drives.

I have had some stuttering on videos etc. checked out the status of the drives in my home server and sure enough the main one is at "Caution" and shows a lot of power on hours (30k) which I'm guessing doesn't help.

It was also more concerningly showing as SATA150 instead of SATA300/SATA2 - I checked the specs and the board definitely only has SATA2 ports, anything that might cause this? Don't tell my my mobo's failing too

The general rule is that hard drives will last up to 5 years and nothing you do will affect their lifespan (short of obviously bad things like dropping them or letting them seriously overheat, and once they begin to fail the more you use them the faster they die). To determine if your motherboard SATA controller is having issues, look at the "UDMA CRC Error Count" value, if it's greater than 0 you're seeing CRC errors on the SATA connection which are usually caused by loose/bad SATA cable, motherboard controller issue, or RAM issues (but could also be caused by a failing drive or anything else that corrupts data in-flight). A very small number of UDMA CRC Errors over a long time is probably not a cause for concern as long as the number isn't incrementing. UDMA CRC Errors also cause the system to slow down the transfer rate to reduce corruption. What motherboard do you have?

# ? Feb 22, 2012 14:41

VodeAndreas: Apr 30, 2009

It's the Intel D945GCLF board with the Atom 230 processor and 945GC chipset giving the SATA ports. Chosen for it's low profile and power use and works well.

Wikipedia reckons the mobile version of the ICH7 has SATA2 disabled but the GC version of the chipset looks to be desktop only so should be SATA2 as I thought it was.
I had a look through the manual http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d945gclf/sb/CS-029163.htm but all seems fine.

It's been going 24/7 since late 2008 so I'm just going to assume it's dying a natural death, a full system upgrade was on the way for it this year anyway so I guess I started budgeting at the right time.

Thanks for the answer.

# ? Feb 22, 2012 23:17

Alereon: Feb 6, 2004; Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed; College Slice

VodeAndreas posted:

It's the Intel D945GCLF board with the Atom 230 processor and 945GC chipset giving the SATA ports. Chosen for it's low profile and power use and works well.

Wikipedia reckons the mobile version of the ICH7 has SATA2 disabled but the GC version of the chipset looks to be desktop only so should be SATA2 as I thought it was.
I had a look through the manual http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d945gclf/sb/CS-029163.htm but all seems fine.

It's been going 24/7 since late 2008 so I'm just going to assume it's dying a natural death, a full system upgrade was on the way for it this year anyway so I guess I started budgeting at the right time.

Thanks for the answer.

SATA150/300 doesn't really make a performance difference (only the fastest drives can hit those speeds in sustained transfers), and unless you're actually having problems with the system (aside from those caused by the dead drive) I wouldn't worry about the difference. Anything with an Atom in it belongs in a dumpster though, so don't let me discourage you from upgrading.

# ? Feb 22, 2012 23:25

VodeAndreas: Apr 30, 2009

Alereon posted:

SATA150/300 doesn't really make a performance difference (only the fastest drives can hit those speeds in sustained transfers), and unless you're actually having problems with the system (aside from those caused by the dead drive) I wouldn't worry about the difference. Anything with an Atom in it belongs in a dumpster though, so don't let me discourage you from upgrading.

Without trying to stretch this out - what would be your CPU/Mobo suggestion then for a small 24/7 Windows based system using less power than a lightbulb if not something Atom based?

# ? Feb 23, 2012 00:00

Factory Factory: Mar 19, 2010; This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.

VodeAndreas posted:

Without trying to stretch this out - what would be your CPU/Mobo suggestion then for a small 24/7 Windows based system using less power than a lightbulb if not something Atom based?

AMD's E-series APUs work in the same thermal envelope (or smaller, considering the chipset) yet provide much better performance - much better CPU, and a GPU actually worth a drat. They're still nettop-class, but we're talking "nettop in 2011" standards rather than "nettop in the dark abyss of 2008" or whenever here.

There are tons of pre-put-together AMD E350 boards. Pick one from a nice manufacturer and drop it in (assuming Windows Vista or later and using AHCI SATA).

If you have more performance needs and more money to spend, you can go for an Intel Core i3-2100T (or its Ivy Bridge refresh coming in April), which has higher peak power but idles along fantastically, or Pentium G620T (less cache/no hyperthreading vs. 2100T)/Celeron G530T.

# ? Feb 23, 2012 01:29

VodeAndreas: Apr 30, 2009

Factory Factory posted:

AMD's E-series APUs work in the same thermal envelope (or smaller, considering the chipset) yet provide much better performance - much better CPU, and a GPU actually worth a drat. They're still nettop-class, but we're talking "nettop in 2011" standards rather than "nettop in the dark abyss of 2008" or whenever here.

There are tons of pre-put-together AMD E350 boards. Pick one from a nice manufacturer and drop it in (assuming Windows Vista or later and using AHCI SATA).

If you have more performance needs and more money to spend, you can go for an Intel Core i3-2100T (or its Ivy Bridge refresh coming in April), which has higher peak power but idles along fantastically, or Pentium G620T (less cache/no hyperthreading vs. 2100T)/Celeron G530T.

Those AMD Eseries look perfect, and very well priced, thanks.

# ? Feb 23, 2012 02:33

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

I remember recently seeing a USB stick that you could drop ISOs on and then it would emulate a USB CDROM and let you boot from it. Anyone know what that was called?

# ? Feb 23, 2012 17:48

Airbone Operation: Dec 22, 2007; Tosser

Friggin TX650 that I bought last month just died. My pc was sleeping, it wound up the fans for a second and shut off completely. Refused to turn on. The lights on the wireless card came on and the mouse when it was plugged in but power switch did nothing. gently caress.

# ? Feb 23, 2012 22:23

Space Gopher: Jul 31, 2006; BLITHERING IDIOT AND HARDCORE DURIAN APOLOGIST. LET ME TELL YOU WHY THIS SHIT DON'T STINK EVEN THOUGH WE ALL KNOW IT DOES BECAUSE I'M SUPER CULTURED.

Less Fat Luke posted:

I remember recently seeing a USB stick that you could drop ISOs on and then it would emulate a USB CDROM and let you boot from it. Anyone know what that was called?

If a computer can boot from a USB CD/DVD drive, it can boot from a regular USB stick. What are you doing that the normal methods of making a USB stick bootable won't work?

# ? Feb 24, 2012 01:09

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Space Gopher posted:

If a computer can boot from a USB CD/DVD drive, it can boot from a regular USB stick. What are you doing that the normal methods of making a USB stick bootable won't work?

Nothing, but I figured it'd be nice to drop a bunch of ISOs on there that I sometimes use seeing that nothing I have has an optical drive and using unetbootin and what not seems unnecessary if that device wasn't a figment of my imagination.

No big loss if it is though.

# ? Feb 24, 2012 01:19

Oddhair: Mar 21, 2004

Was it Sardu?

http://www.sarducd.it/

I have mentioned it in a few threads around here, and learned about it from here as well.

# ? Feb 24, 2012 01:25

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

Less Fat Luke posted:

Nothing, but I figured it'd be nice to drop a bunch of ISOs on there that I sometimes use seeing that nothing I have has an optical drive and using unetbootin and what not seems unnecessary if that device wasn't a figment of my imagination.

No big loss if it is though.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

YUMI now lets you create a USB stick that gives you a menu of different ISOs to boot from off a single USB stick.

With it, I now have a 16 GB USB stick that can boot any of these as needed:
1) Windows 7 Installer
2) Windows Vista Installer
3) Hiren's Boot CD
4) Backtrack 5
5) Knoppix
6) Kubuntu 11.10 (persistent storage live)

# ? Feb 24, 2012 01:54

Less Fat Luke: May 23, 2003; Exciting Lemon

Thanks guys, both of those look great!

# ? Feb 24, 2012 02:53

Bea Nanner: Oct 20, 2003; Je suis excité!

I'm in the market for a wireless headset.

Do I want the Turtle Beach PX5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...#scrollFullInfo

or

the Logitech G930?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...#scrollFullInfo

Or perhaps there is a better option, though these appear to be the front runners in this product category. From what I can tell, the Turtle Beach is a bit better quality, but seems to have more interference complaints. Logitech makes good stuff and has a better price point. However, both seem to have driver issues, with TB being perhaps worse.

Any advice here is appreciated.

e: Also, in snooping around for prices, it seems that the G930 is out of stock pretty much everywhere. Has it been discontinued? Newegg now has an F540, but that is both alphabetically and numerically less than G930, so I don't know what to think!

Bea Nanner fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Feb 24, 2012

# ? Feb 24, 2012 18:12

Matlock: Sep 12, 2004; Childs Play Charity 2011 Total: $1755

Finally, after getting in all the parts and installing everything:

Factory Factory posted:

Cloning is the best way. If that's not an option for whatever reason (including "it's too far above my comfort level"), then do this: On the HDD OS install, Start -> type "easy transfer".

Doesn't get all program settings, but it's pretty drat good. It'll stick everything in one easy file (either on an external, or just on the regular HDD). Then when you're booted off the SSD's Windows install, run the Easy Transfer tool again and select that file as a source.

This worked nearly perfectly for what I needed. Had to reinstall some programs, but it was definitely a fast process getting Easy Transfer done. I got a copy of Norton Ghost with the SSD and will set it up to throw a image of the SSD to the HDD once a week.

The system runs swimmingly, with only a couple deviations from what I posted earlier.

E2180 -> E6600
2GB DDR2 -> 4GB DDR2 (decided to go with higher clocked RAM and to wait and see how 4GB handled)
5400 500GB HDD -> 128GB SSD
nVidia GeForce 8600GT -> Asus HD 6450 Silence

I did step back with the videocard, but the reasoning was twofold:

1. When I built the unit, I built it to run Crysis (and it's not exactly needing that now).
2. The 8600GT is loud as heck on boot.
3. The 8600GT draws a not insignificant amount of power.

Overall, the upgrade was a rousing success.

*Total boot time of Win7 x64 is 40 seconds, including loading Trillian with three accounts. Firefox and Picasa load almost instantly, repopulating the Picasa library (of a few thousand pictures) took about a minute total.

*Noise levels are greatly reduced overall.

*Power consumption has dropped about 50W.

The whole kit should last well for the next 4 years for the users.

# ? Feb 26, 2012 01:02

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

I want a mic for gaming (TF2, L4D2, etc.). I'm not interested in using a headset as I have really nice speakers that I like, so I just want a standalone mic. The only mic I have right now is the lovely one built into my webcam, and it just sounds awful. What would you guys recommend?

# ? Feb 26, 2012 20:18

Dogen: May 5, 2002; Bury my body down by the highwayside, so that my old evil spirit can get a Greyhound bus and ride

Logitech USB desktop mic.

# ? Feb 26, 2012 21:18

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

Dogen posted:

Logitech USB desktop mic.

This guy?

# ? Feb 26, 2012 21:58

Dogen: May 5, 2002; Bury my body down by the highwayside, so that my old evil spirit can get a Greyhound bus and ride

That's the one. Someone else here recommended one to me and it's fantastic.

# ? Feb 26, 2012 22:04

Fangs404: Dec 20, 2004; I time bomb.

Dogen posted:

That's the one. Someone else here recommended one to me and it's fantastic.

Perfect. Thanks!

# ? Feb 26, 2012 22:23

SRQ: Nov 9, 2009

I keep around an older system for playing old games, since I don't like to crap up my desktop. I recently started messing with it to see what sort of performance I could dredge out of the ancient system. What I'm wondering is, what was the fastest AGP card released?

# ? Feb 26, 2012 22:57

TITTIEKISSER69: Mar 19, 2005; SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS

SRQ posted:

I keep around an older system for playing old games, since I don't like to crap up my desktop. I recently started messing with it to see what sort of performance I could dredge out of the ancient system. What I'm wondering is, what was the fastest AGP card released?

Probably either of these two:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=511&card2=629

# ? Feb 26, 2012 23:12

HalloKitty: Sep 30, 2005; Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

I have a 7800GT 512MB in my old Pentium 4 3.2 HT system (with 2GB RAM!), and even at that time it was really not worth buying, it was crazy expensive.

But the card itself will obviously be pretty decent, held back the CPU often.

Good luck finding one though, because I can't imagine they sold in large numbers.

HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Feb 26, 2012

# ? Feb 26, 2012 23:17

spoof: Jul 8, 2004

Was cleaning out my storage closet and found a bunch of generally older computer crap I have no use for. Heatsinsk, all sorts of cables (power, SATA, PATA, serial, etc), power supplies, ATA66/100 PCI cards, an old iPaq, RRoD'd 360, non-functional computer (Sempron-based) in an Antec SX1040 case. What do you guys do when you find a mostly-useless trove like this? Trash the whole lot? I just want it out of my apartment.

# ? Feb 26, 2012 23:36

SRQ: Nov 9, 2009

Go to SAMart, list it all, give it a week.
Throw out anything that doesn't sell.

# ? Feb 26, 2012 23:39

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# ? Jun 4, 2024 18:27

illectro: Mar 29, 2010; ROCKET SCIENCE

Hullo, I'm Scoot Moonbucks.
Please stop being surprised by this.

My wife has a compact, pre-built system that has room for a low-profile graphics card. It's bundled with a Geforce 6100 which can barely run portal on lowest settings, so I'm looking at trying to upgrade the graphics. The power supply is non standard and most likely isn't upgradeable, so I'm looking for the best low-power consumption graphics card that'll fit into this slot.

From what I can see the Radeon 5450 should draw less than 20 watts and give me quite a significant bump in performance, but the chipset is now 2 years old and I'm wondering if there's an equivalent low-power card that will be even better.

# ? Feb 27, 2012 22:13

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

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