Topic: New Project!!

[Adept]

Unless you absolutely have to Simon, put the HDD and CD-ROM on different IDE channels. That way they can both be jumpered as masters.

Are you sure the hdd has been detected correctly in the BIOS?

[Tony]

Well I'm up and running with W2K Pro Simon, it normally loads in 30 mins start to finish, it's not an iffy disk is it    

I loaded CD-Rom drivers from a floopy I have had since 1997. Which I got when I needed to reformat my week old PC, after my Big Brother naffed up my hard drive with Partition Magic. But don't let that put you off using PM Simon, it was the 'Barny Rubble' version back then in 97  

Anyway I created one partition, and exited, removed floppy and rebooted with the W2K CD in. It checked drive integrity, formated in NTFS and loaded.

I've sent you it in an email mate, that might help...who knows I sure as hell don't  

[Tony]

I had a bit of a problem, the Toshia DVD would not open, not even on my PC. So I opended it by using the recommended 'paper clip' realise method and it has worked ever since, must have been newness.

Mind you CCl did not put an audio cale in with either the DVD-CD or CD-RW drives. Audio cable supply with the drive seems to be a bit hit and miss with manufactures some how.

I year ago I got a audio cable with my Samsung DVD drive, but not with my Lite-On CD-RW drive but I got a R and RW disks with it.

Yet the AOpen CD-RW I got for my mates PC a fortnight ago had an audio cable and a CD-R and CD-RW disks, that was boxed. Both the Samsung CD-RW and Toshiba DVD for this new PC did not come boxed.

[Simon]

Well things just go from bad to worse.  Tried to install W2K last night, and it got to the formatting bit, then just stuck there.  Had to switch off in the end to go to bed.

Tried again this morning, same results.  Tried with XP disc, same result, although it did complete a 'quick' format this time.  Upon re-booting, however, **WARNING!!**  Save all data and change your hard drive immediately!!  Smart system... something or other... hard drive failure imminent!!

F***!!

Rang Watford Electronics, and the bloke told me to go to the Maxtor site and download the PowerMax diagnostic tool, which I did.  Ran the test, and found an error in the hard drive.  Rang Watford back and they said they would happily replace it.  Right, says I, so you'll send a new one right away?  Today?  Not a bloody chance.  Won't send new one till they get the old one back.  Not sure how I stand regarding the Sale Of Goods Act, but can't be arsed to find out.  Won't use them again, and will insist on a refund, not a repair of replacement.  :tony:

So now, I'm ringing round locally to see if I can get a hard drive for abour the same price, but not much luck as they're all retail versions, and cost about £30 more!  Don't want to have to wait till Monday or Tuesday to get one from Dabs, or wherever, so just going up to P...P...PC World!   ....



...Right, back from the depths of hell that is PC World with a new hard drive.  Unfortulately they didn't have any Maxtors (although I've lost a little faith in them), so I had to settle for a Western Digital, with the same spec as the Maxtor, but a tenner dearer!!

All in, up and running, and will be spending the evening loading it up with software.

Just a point, The motherboard came with a CD, but I haven't used it, and everything's running.  Apart from the sound drivers on it, do I need to inistall anything else?  Same goes for ATI Radeon Gphx Card.  XP has found the drivers, so do I still need to run the installation CD?  I'm sure I didn't run these CDs when I built my own machine last year.

[Sandra]

XP has a lot of drivers included Simon so you probably wont need the CD at all.
It may be an idea to check if there are any later drivers available on the ASUS site if anything isnt working just as it should,as the CD ones will be as old as the XP ones presumably.

I have heard of a few people having problems with new Maxtor drives Simon,admittedly they were OEM and not retail boxed ones but they dont seem as good as the Seagate and Western Digital from what I have heard  

[Tony]

F***!!

Yes it sure is FUN making PC's  

Seriously that S.M.A.R.T. is handy though, which reminds me. I said ASRock  bios setups don't support S.M.A.R.T. well I was wrong AGAIN   I found it under IDE controllers in the Bios, sooorrrrry.
 

Hey Sandra, my 60GB Maxtor is fine, but my CPU is running a bit hot   what temp is this new chip running at Simon with the Thermaltake Volcan ? I'm I right in thinking your own XP2000+ was running at 52C. ?

[Simon]

Don't know about the new one, Tony, until I connect it all up again tonight.

The CPU on my own machine seems quite hot though, according to VIA Hardware Monitor, it's running at 61C, and the system temp is 52C.  Changed slightly since I sent you the PM.

[Simon]

 Well, here it is.  If you thought this thread was entertaining, you should have seen some of the PMs flying back and forth between me and Tony!  

I hate the door on the case, but my mate wanted is to stop his untra inquisitive 1 year old from pressing the buttons!   A quick slap would do it for me...  

 

[Tony]

Hey Simon,

It looks rather Coooooooool in that blue mate, but I don't know about yours but I can nearly fry eggs on mine  

So yesterday I bought a Thermaltake 'Smart Case Fan' from the local PC referb and new build company. I bought that fan because that is the only fan they sell to punters  

Straight away I dispenced with the wide open chrome 'go faster' fan grill. I mean small birds like a wren could nip into the case while the fan was swiched off and build a nest. And besides I reckon Grandchildren always look better turned out with a full set of digits on both hands.

And when I bolted it onto the fan aperture in the back of the case, it sounded like a vacumm cleaner, so thats going back. I tried one of my case fans in it and it was fine [noise wise, still boody hot though] so I'm awaiting a couple of those, and some thermal conductivity pads from CCl.  

As Simon would say HO HUM  

[Simon]

It's not blue mate, it's black, but that cr@ppy little digital camera we bought is colour blind!    

I like the beige drives on the black - it looks a little different, but as Tony said, coool!!  8)

[Tony]

It's not blue mate, it's black, but that cr@ppy little digital camera we bought is colour blind!    

I like the beige drives on the black - it looks a little different, but as Tony said, coool!!  8)

Hey Simon,

we might both happen to have crap cameras from Novatech [I blame Rodders for that ]   but we certainly have two 'HOT' puters  

CCl emailed to say they are on their way, and a keyboard and mouse, co's I'm sick of sharing one keyboard and mouse betweeb two puters  

[Simon]

Mmm, CCL have not e-mailed to say the monitor is on the way, even after I phoned them and said I needed it tomorrow.  They said it was 'being picked' ready for dispatch.  What, do they grow on trees then?  I'll have to ring them again in the morning, but if they haven't sent it, they will have to have a damned good reason if they want me to use them again.

[Simon]

 I rang them this morning, and they said the monitor was still 'being picked', so I said sorry, but it's going to arrive too late now, and canceled the order.  Bloke said OK, they would refund my card.

Mate went round to local PC shop, and got a nice Philips 107Es, for the same price, give or take a quid, which has a lovely picture, and he's very happy.  Took rest of new PC round to install, and all went well.  Got home....

.... and there was a card on the mat from CitiLink, who had called to deliver the sodding monitor which was still supposedly 'being picked', and had been cancelled!   >

Got on the phone to the couriers and said don't try to deliver it again, send it back to where it came from.  I will not accept delivery.  Then rang CCL. :tony:  They said it must have been a 'software error', and it had shipped, without showing on my account.  Software error my arse!  Operator error more like!  Anyway, needless to say, CCL will be getting thier monitor back, and I would think they will be quite happy that I won't be dealing with them again!

[Adept]

It's fun making PCs isn't it Simon?

[Tony]

I would think they will be quite happy that I won't be dealing with them again!

I BET THEY BLOODY WILL    

Now me on the other hand ?.no problems at all, just order throw car keys into long grass at the bottom of the garden. Sit back patiently and wait for the nice man to deliver, easy pezzie, you should give it a try some time Simon.  

Mutter?mutter?.bloody Southerners, instant this instant that, I want it yesterday ?.and don?t give me this ?but you only ordered today sh*t?  it's not blooby relevent.

Get yerself some pigeons to pet  and a wippit to stroke, paint the outside loo?and you?ll live longer?mutter?.mutter?.mutter  


PS: I've a REALLY COOL computer