The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Estuansis,
Going is the least scary part. I remember when I had the first heart attack 9 years ago, and I wasn't conscious of anything. Just a blackness that was unlike any blackness I had ever seen in life. When I finally came to in a Reno Hospital, I was shocked to know that my heart had stopped beating for about 22 minutes. All I had going for me was CPR and an Ambu Bag for those 22 minutes. Most people don't survive that long, but I did! You just never know!

I knew a young man who went into a coma at 20, for no reason anyone could find out, and was finally removed from life support. He hung on for 20 years like that, and one day he sat up and opened his eyes. There sat his mother, just stunned. His first words were, "Ma, you sure did get old looking, what happened to you"? He didn't have a clue that 20 years had passed. How is that possible? But it happened! He lives a normal life today. You just never know, so I don't let it bother me!

Thanks again, My Friend,
Russ

 

OK! To get back on topic. I'm having a problem with my PC! I had slowed it down because I was going to move it into the front room and see how the temps did without AC. I set the bios to default settings, and when I restarted it, the windows screen started to fade in, the way it does, and hung. I hit the reset button and it booted right up after selecting "Start Windows Normally"! If I just shut it down, but don't switch off the PSU, it will boot. I always turn off the PSU, and it always worked properly.

I pulled the battery and unplugged the PSU for 10 minutes, and started over from scratch. I have it running at 3.6GHz at the moment at 1.376v, and it runs great, but still won't start past the first fade in of the windows screen. I have to press the reset, and select "Start Windows Normally" every time! It's even more confusing because some places, including AMD's own forum insist that the max voltage is 1.50v, while others list it as 1.40v, which is what my motherboard sets it to at on auto. Rick gave me some World Clock thing the other day, and I've been having problems ever since. I have gotten at least one Blue screen every day since. I can stress test it for a few hours and no problems. I can run 15 passes of Linpac and it passes every time. If I talk to someone on WLM, it crashes, but I can talk to the same person on Yahoo Messenger and there's no problem. Anyone got any ideas?

Russ

 

Probably just being paranoid, but it reeks of M$. Windows 7 or XP???

 

Russ

Can you do a System Restore? but set your system back default settings b4 hand that's crazy you just moved it to one room to another and it started acting like that?

 

Will,
I think I found the problem. It's the AD-7240! I happened to notice the green light was on when the windows screen was starting up. It hung, so I reached up and hit the eject button, and it continued. I got to thinking that when you restart the computer after the boot fails, it comes up to the menu that gives you boot options, like Safe Mode, or Boot Windows Normally. Then the drive light does not come on, and it boots. I removed the DVD from the drive, and it's worked fine ever since! Must be the AD-7240's final act of defiance! I haven't been able to order the ASUS DRW-24B1ST yet because the money hasn't come for that Phenom II x2 550 build I'm building yet. Fran ran into a couple of unexpected expenses, so I have to wait a few weeks, as I haven't had much work lately.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Glad that one was easy enough to figure out wondering why the AD-7240 held you back from booting up normally.I think it was trying to boot from the Rom like a fresh install

 

That's weird russ. Never had that one happen. Had all sorts of discs in during boot up too. As you said though, the 7240 may be screwing with you

 

I've had bad drives that do exactly that, but usually they do it regardless of whether a disc is in the drive :S

 

So as far as I can tell the win 7 wont recognize an unformatted HDD which hopefully today I will be able to format on a friends computer unless theres someway to format via BIOS which I wouldn't imagine there being

 

You can format any drive in windows 7. Type "disk management" in the start bar, and click enter. You should see your drive in the window. Right click, tell it to format. Done You can manage all sorts of things from this windows xD

 

Windows setup can format fresh drives.

 

3kJodo,
The drive is probably not mounted. It's there in Disk management, but it hasn't been activated. It should say Active Healthy in the box for the drive after it's mounted.

Russ

 

not mine it says hmm see if I can remember I'm at work and can't look directly at it
but basically when I click on the format c drive it says something like its not connected properly or you need a driver blah blah will check again when I get home


Check to see that the disk and drive are connected properly, make sure that the disk is not read only and then try again. For more info blah blah blah

 

Anybody recommend a good BLACK external enclosure for optical drive? I'm gonna put my LH-20A1S in it, because I generally use it the least. I want my 7241S back in my tower

 

Well, you could always put it in my case! ROFLMSOAO!! That's a great BLACK external enclosure!

JRS

 

That's dang funny right there!!! ROFLMAO

 

GM,

Maybe he'll sell it to me. I have a space, and the need for a good Optical Drive! LOL!!

Russ

 

I'd look at one of these but make sure you get a SATA version for the LH-20A1S.

enclosures for ODD's

Dang it... I didn't see the BLACK part til I read it again. LOL. Well the Vantec Sata will work ok.. I have a great enclosure but it's a Galaxy Metal Gear of which they don't seem to have any 5.25" enclosures right now.

 

No no, I wouldn't sell that one. Lite-on drives are Precious to me LOL! My precious!

GM, I think I like the Vantec 530S2. Good reviews, Sata, cooling fan, and it's sharp looking. Thanks. I don't like seeing my 7241S sit. Optiarcs are excellent burners, and this one hasn't seen that much. My 7200S and 7200A's have seen a great deal of discs. No telling when they'll quit. I swear, they have to be going for some kind of record!

 

Well.I'm liking the new look of the HAF a few changes to the 922 to make it a X now! like the they did with CM690...

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=18&product_id=2988