Computer ups and downs.

So, I finally got to the point where I could update my oh so old PC.  I needed something new, and fast.  I’ll give you quick rundown of the old system:

  • Athlon XP 2400
  • 1.5 GB RAM
  • Soyo  KT333 Dragon Plus mobo
  • Nvidia GeForce 6600GT AGP vid card
  • Lite-On DVD-RW
  • Lite-On DVD-ROM
  • WD 250GB HDD
  • Thermaltake CPU cooler, and various case fans

So yeah, old.  The newest part on that list is the hard drive because it was just replaced about two months ago due to the original 120GB drive going bad.  Anyway, I finally got the money to order all new stuff, got on Newegg, did a little research, compiled a list of components, and placed my order.  Here’s what I ended up with:

  • Coolermaster Cosmos case
  • MSI K9n2 Diamond mobo
  • AMD Phenom II X4 940 CPU
  • 6GB Corsair Dominator RAM DDR2
  • BFG Nvidia GTX 285 [x2] in SLI
  • Lite-On DVD-RW [x2]
  • WD Velociraptor 300GB HDD
  • WD Cavalier 640GB HDD [x2]
  • Antec TruPower 1000 watt PSU
  • Coolermaster V8 CPU cooler

Overall, I thought it to be a very nice set-up.  Plus, I hopefully wouldn’t have to really upgrade anything for quite some time.  It has plenty of processing power, and graphics power.  The storage was nice too, since I have quite a bit of music and videos.  I was very happy with what I had picked out, and all the parts had great reviews on Newegg.

So, it all finally gets here, and like a kid on Christmas, I tear into the boxes.  I set everything out and start getting things ready.  After about 2 hours I have everything put together and I’m ready for the first power up.  That’s where it all goes down hill.  I turn it on, and I hear the first POST beep, a pause, another beep, a pause, and another beep.  Then nothing.  No video on the monitor, or anything.  I did a little checking online, and talked to some friends, and the general consensus was to start all over again.  A friend of mine who builds a lot of computers said that often he will build one, forget something small, and catch it when he tears it down and starts over again.  So, that’s what I did.  Three hours later, I power it up, and the same thing happens.  Lots of profanity spews forth.  Lots.

Sadly, I haven’t really solved the problem yet.  I’m currnetly trying to work it out with MSI’s tech support.  Everything is online so it hasn’t exactly been the easiest thing in the world.  I only have the one monitor so everytime I want to try the new rig, I have to unhook everthing from my current computer, and hook it up to the new one.  Ugh!

Well, I just needed to vent a bit, and now I’m off to try and figure out the problem.  If any of you tech gurus out there have any suggestions, I’m listening.

2009
03/15
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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  • Comments (8)

  1. are there any interesting messages that appear during boot?

  2. I actually figured it out. Turns out that the problem is that I’m a giant bonehead. I have the cards in SLI, and I was plugging my monitor into the top card, but as it turns out I should have been plugging it into the bottom card. Problem solved. I’ve got Vista installed, and now all I have to do is get all the drivers and software installed and I’m set. Oh, but I do have to flash the bios. Never done that before so that should be interesting.

  3. Glad you had an easy fix! let me know if you’re interested in some multiplayer, like UT3.

  4. Yeah, that one was an easy fix, but now I’ve run into some other probs. For some reason, only one of my optical drives is being recognized, and I can’t get my two storage hdds to show up in the My Computer screen.

  5. Okay, got the HDDs to show up, now to fix the problem with the second optical drive. I wonder if the SATA cable is bad. I’ll have to try switching it out with the extra one in the box.

  6. Just out of curiosity … what are you doing with the old parts … and do they still work?

  7. Well, due to a motherboard problem, I’m currently still using the old computer. Hopefully that will be remedied soon. I was planning on keeping it around and maybe turning it into a media server, (gotta read up on how to do that, LOL) but I’m not positive yet. Another possibility is to keep it just so my wife can use it to access the internet and check emails without bugging me to stop playing one of my games. Women, sheesh. lol

  8. Oh well … didn’t hurt to ask. I currently have my 40 Gig HD hooked up to a very old pc (made for Win98 … and I have XP on my HD). The one I took the HD from needs a “mobo” (I like the way you said that … so I stole it … lol).

    I’ll send ya a list of what I have (like you have the Nvidia GeForce 6600GT AGP vid card … I have the 6200) and I will be sooo happy when I can finally get back to my old one … cause this POS EMachine is driving me NUTS LOL

    “Women, sheesh. lol” Yeah … but ya wouldn’t change her for nuttin’ … heehee

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