To Build a Second Home Puter [Archive]

leonardo

01-12-2002, 10:40 AM

Hey guys, I intend to build a second home machine. I will use some of the components of my present machine (see sig), and will purchase new or used components necessary to have two machines. Both machines must be high-end gaming systems - but not necessarily state of the art. As you can tell, one system will be a TB KT-133 system, and one system will be a DDR platform.

So, for upgrades and parts needed to turn what I've got into two systems, here's what I'll need:

-- ///Purchasing 1900, second hand, one-day old) CPU, AXP 1800+ or 1900+

-- ///Ordered 2 WD, Newegg//2 X HDD, at least 20GB ATA 100 each

-- ///Ordered from OCZstore -- crosses fingers///1 X Mobo, Iwill 333 RAID Rev. 2.1

-- ////Ordered Alpha 8045, $29.98!! from SVCompucycle///1 X CPU cooler, must be able to handle a TB1400@1600

-- ///ON ORDER from NewEgg////1X Case, Antec SX 1030 SOHO class (yeah, I saw the link for the Chieftec CT 1030 -- what a deal!)

-- ///Purchasing Twinmoss PC2700 second-hand///RAM, 512MB of PC 2400, preferable CL 2, CL2.5 OK if the RAM is known to be a decent OCer (Upgrade)

-- ///Thanks, James///Floppy drive

-- ///Gentleman Sir James has provided////CD ROM, 40-50X

-- ///Received from NewEgg, Radeon 8500 OEM////Vid Card, preferably Radeon 8500 (upgrade), don't need any TV stuff, OEM is perfectly acceptable --- RADEON is fast, and far superior graphics quality than my old GF2GTS

-- ///don't need, Iwill has onboard sound/// Sound card, please, no Creative stuff, would like Philips Acoustic edge or equivalent

-- ///Got a ViewSonic A90F flat CRT from BestBuy, very, very nice monitor for its price category///Monitor, 19" CRT, medium quality ($199 19" CTX at Sam's Club), higher quality if price is right!

---------Don't need anything more fellas; it's all ordered or promised.------

:dir: So, if you have something to unload, drop me a PM, or email me direct at lharder@charter.net. I am WILLING to TRAVEL to save money on shipping. I live about two hours east of Atlanta. A five or six-hour drive is not out of the question.

Let me know what you've got, fellas!8) Of course, I'm also interested 'new' deals, but they'd have to be very good to compete with used equipment, conisdering shipping costs for an online order. I would also consider a complete system, if the price is really competitive.

TANKU

Leonardo

ImaginAsian

01-12-2002, 11:08 AM

Hey Leo...sweet second system you building. While I don't have anything to offer for sale, I can tell you the onboard C-media on the IWILL is pretty good. If you aren't a hardcore gamer, it works great.

Not as good as the PAE but damn good nevertheless. That's what Im using now. 0-60 has my PAE :)

I would start with NewEgg first...they usually have the best deals when you factor in you can buy most of it at one place...their shipping isn't bad too.

leonardo

01-12-2002, 03:43 PM

Hey guys, just in case y'all misunderstood my thread, I AM looking for used components as well. So if you have anything that fits my specifications above, just shoot me a note and an offer.

IA, yes, I am definitely considering onboard sound. I am a very, very picky person when it comes to sound (I've performed quite a bit of classical music); if the sound ain't perfect, I'd just as soon as have something less than state-of-the-art, as I can't afford the best. I've never viewed a computer as a music platform anyway.

Open question for everybody here:

I found a 19" Mag Inovision monitor at Best Buy for $229. What the quality and performance of that machine? The default resolution on it is 1200 X abcd (forget) at 68 hertz. The color at BB on it was atrocious - possibly a faulty cable connection or something.

I also found a 21" IBM at a consolidator downtown for about $250. Unfortunately, the manufacturer's date stamp was 7/97. Seemed like it would be a rather risky purchase. I get a bit queezy about used/refurbished monitors.

leonardo

01-12-2002, 09:40 PM

Update:

Got the Chieftec (Antec) black CT1030 SOHO from NewEgg for $87 shipped!

Got the Radeon 8500 OEM from NewEgg for $184 shipped.

Come on guys, pile on. Bring out your suggestions for the other stuff I need. Or, if you've got what I need and want to upgrade your own system (I know you do!), sell me your stuff. :dir:

Leo:dir:

James

01-12-2002, 10:54 PM

i have a creative 52xmx cd-rom for ya,no charge send me an addy:Bday:

leonardo

01-12-2002, 11:48 PM

There really are nice, decent people in the world. James, you are a gentleman. Message on its way.

AmStoned

01-13-2002, 01:55 AM

Leo: Have you thought about getting a pair of Seagate Barracuda IV from NewEgg also? They're 75 each, for a total of 150 for RAID. Personally, I would not RAID anything bigger than 40GB total for a number of reasons, one of which is cost of larger HDs, and the amount of time to format.

Techvillage

01-13-2002, 05:21 AM

Damn - you got that Radeon 8500 cheap and case cheap - hell of a good price :) It makes ya feel good when you can pickup bargains likes that! If only we could have prices like that over here...

leonardo

01-13-2002, 08:23 AM

AmStoned -- I'll check out the Seagates. RAID will not be going in the family gaming/general use computer; but that computer will have a OS/applications drive and an image drive. (Imaged drives have saved my bacon SO MANY times.) I will retain RAID with this machine though. As I said, I will be swapping out parts - this machine will be the most updated.

TechVillage. Yes, I am very happy with the deals I found at NewEgg. BTW, the link for the Chieftec (SX 1030B) @ NewEgg did come from the Deals Forum here.

Hey guys, keep those suggestions coming. James is a hero - he's sending me a Creative 52X CDROM that he's not using.

What a bunch of guys!

Leo

leonardo

01-13-2002, 06:44 PM

Hey, fellers, this is what I've found so far:

- Iwill XP333 RAID, $111, Newegg

- DDR RAM, Kingmax "PC 2700", 2 X 256MB, $184, Newegg

- HDD, WD, 40GB, 7200/100, 86, Newegg

- HDD, Seagate 'Cuda IV 40GB 7200/100, $87, Newegg

- XP 1800+, $180, Newegg

- Monitor, 19", Mag Innovision, $229, Best Buy (Augusta, GA)

I've searched many, many sites. Newegg seems to clobber the competition, and thier shipping is very reasonable.

What do you think? I DON'T want accolades; need your honest opinions, or suggestions on better prices.

The Kingmax RAM. Hmm, I know that everyone seems to clamor for Corsair or Crucial. The Kingmax is consistently priced below the other name brands. I don't know about the '333', but the PC150 in my present rig is very good.

Again, I'm open to any and all suggestions!:p

Techvillage

01-13-2002, 06:54 PM

Looks fine - the skin flint in me wouldn't pay all that extra for the 2700 RAM, though. I would go for regular 2100.

What cpu heatsink and fan you going for?

leonardo

01-13-2002, 07:41 PM

Tech, you may be right about the RAM. My goal for the RAM is to have memory that will overclock well on the Iwill, but that doesn't have to be a 'top' performer. Perhaps I should relook PC 2100.

OK folks, let me have your opinion on the RAM.

Heatsink. Probably a Millenium Glaciator II or Alpha 8045 with mild fan. This will go on the second machine, the family's, which won't require as much OC potential as my machine. I'm running an 8045 now with a low noise Meachatronics 53cfm fan.

prod

01-14-2002, 03:33 AM

I would not get a Mag Innovision monitor. They look good on the outside, but the image quality isnt great, parts are fragile and cheap.
Take it from me, I have one :(
Tried to adjust the screen to the right and the damn button broke and went inside, now at 800x600 my display is shifted. Took a look inside and I have to remove the tube and pcb to get at the buttons.
Go for a Samsung instead, cheap and reasonable quality.

AmStoned

01-14-2002, 05:05 AM

Speak. Although Samsung mons are no match for Sony, you'll be throwing your money away by buying a no name Mag mon. I've tried Samsung, the quality's reasonable. But you can always try out the NEC/Mitsubishi monitor see here. (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.asp?TabPage=Overview&sku=603016-5&spagenum=1&category_id=207&keyword=&mnf=&prst=0&prEnd=0&mnfsku=&orderby=&searchtype=&customer_id=19&pageb4search=&page=productlisting.asp&instock=0&refurbished=)

Model: AccuSync 90 19"
Max Resolution: 1600 x 1200 / 76 Hz
Dot Pitch: 0.26 mm
Price: 225.95 + Free Shipping + No Tax = 225.95 Sw33t!

But you can always look at the full list here. (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productlisting.asp?category_id=207)

leonardo

01-14-2002, 06:50 AM

Gee fellers, y'all are great buddies. Just keep that advice pumping. I knew nothing at all about Mag Innovision. I'll steer clear. That Samsung looks like a good deal? You know, I think the local CompUSA and BestBuy have Samsung also. I'll check it out, both local and online. In the past, I've shied away from Korean electronics, as I've had premature death of Korean VCR and TV before. (Come to think of it though, the problem equipment wasn't Samsung.)

Keep the advice coming. I greatly appreciate it.:dir: :p

Edit: Stoner, I see, the monitor you linked is the NEC/Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi does have good reputation for electronics. That's an awesome price considering shipping is free. Thanks. It's now bookmarked.

leonardo

01-15-2002, 09:20 PM

Hey, I thought I had found the right DDR Ram at a good Price - Kingmax DDR 333 "PC2700" at $77/256MB. Newegg just increased the price to $95 (must have become a popular item).

I'm really looking for RAM that can take advantage of the Iwill's DDR 333 memory bus. I not going for any record books, but would like a decent overclock.

Any suggestions on bang for the buck?

Anyone tried OCZ under the new ownership? http://www.theoverclockerzstore.com/subcatmfgprod.asp?0=220&1=235&2=-1 (BAD memories from dealing with them before.)

ImaginAsian

01-15-2002, 11:27 PM

No IBM HD Leo?

Re Memory...Kingmax has very good reputation. I would go for it since you are going XP333. You don't wanna risk going Crucial since its a crapshoot if it will reach to 166 Bus speeds. As for OCZ, I have never had a problem with any of my OCZ memory, they all run over their rated PC150 but if I had a choice, I would choose Kingmax over them.

SamSung monitors are a good buy. My roommate has one and its pretty sharp. I personally have a Mitsu myself and love it.

leonardo

01-16-2002, 07:37 AM

Samsung: from what I'm seeing, it does appear to be the best quality and performance for the price.

Kingmax: I'm running Kingmax PC150 in my computer now. It's very good RAM. Kingmax versus OCZ. My concern with OCZ what not so much with the quality of their product, but the reliability of their store! I'm wondering if their customer service is still a 'crap shoot'. Thier high-end RAM though, is very modestly priced.

Zemuss

01-16-2002, 07:38 AM

Question: Whats wrong with Crucial memory.

"Z"

JohnnyBra

01-16-2002, 08:26 AM

Kingmax: It's all I use :) Very good quality. Never had a problem out of it. Highly reconmend it.

Never had any Crucial memory, so no idea about it.

AmStoned

01-16-2002, 11:12 AM

Nothing's wrong with Crucial RAM, IA's just saying it won't do insane FSB. But I figure it depends on what patch you got. Some people got theirs up real high. But 166 average is not bad at all. Mushkin has introduced their unofficial PC2700 RAM. I'm just waiting for Crucial to do the same.

Darksword

01-16-2002, 12:28 PM

I ordered a power supply from "the new" OCZ last week. Got confirmation email promptly and it didn't take very long to ship to me either. Looks like they finally have their act together.

If you can find something for the best price at OCZ ya might as well give 'em a shot. Seems like they're working hard to get redemption for the past.

Techvillage

01-16-2002, 04:15 PM

Hi Leo - if you are toying with the idea of Samsung monitors, they have their own range of shadow mask, manufactured by themselves which is very, very good compared to other manufacturers shadow mask models. The other Samsung model to look out for is the Syncmaster 900NF which uses a Mitsubushi aperature grille tube, I have 4x 900NFs and one 700NF, I personally think they are incredible value for money - having said that they are not cheap - equivalent in price to the Iiyama Pro range.

leonardo

01-16-2002, 04:49 PM

Let's hear it for Sir Gentleman James. Thank you James! It arrived.

Techvillage. I've seen one of those Samsung 900NF models at one of the stores. You are correct, it does have a very nice picture. It's a bit out of my budget for my project.

Keep those good suggestions coming guys!

Techvillage

01-16-2002, 05:00 PM

Yep, that was real kind of you James :)

ImaginAsian

01-16-2002, 10:35 PM

Hey James, I need an XP2000+, got any extra :D

Hehe...generous deed my friend, once again!

BTW what cooler u gonna use? Please say the magic word :)

AmStoned

01-16-2002, 11:16 PM

Alpha baby!!! ooops, thought you were asking me.:D

leonardo

01-19-2002, 04:30 PM

The topic is monitors. I'm looking seriously at three right now, please advise:

1. Samsung SyncMaster Dynaflat 955DF 19" Monitor
Monitors, 19" CRT Monitors (17.7" - 18.1" V.I.S.), 0.20 mm dot Pitch, 1600x1200 Maximum Resolution , Flat CRT, .20 dot pitch,
$289 from Dell, free shipping

2. SAMSUNG 950B 19IN 18VIS .26MM-16X12 68HZ INVAR SHADOW, $220 from Dell, free Shipping (expanded description says ".22 dot pitch)

3. View Sonic, 19", A90F, flat CRT, 1600X1200, .21 dot pitch, available locally, $299

ImaginAsian

01-19-2002, 04:50 PM

I can only vouch for the first one...its a damn good monitor for the money Leo. My roommate has it and its damn crisp even at 1280x1024!

Techvillage

01-19-2002, 07:07 PM

How about going option no.2 :-SAMSUNG 950B 19IN 18VIS .26MM-16X12 68HZ INVAR SHADOW, $220

With the money you save, you can upgrade your speakers - (what speakers do you currently have?) I'm hard of hearing, but even I can appreciate the difference a reasonable sounding set of dpeakers can make having good sound with a large monitor is a must... just a thought.

AmStoned

01-19-2002, 07:34 PM

Man, screw the speakers, just use your headphones. I gotta go with option 1 also. A good monitor will last your a long time.

Edit: I meant to say Samsung 900DF.

leonardo

01-19-2002, 10:25 PM

Thanks for the coaching guys, I really do appreciate it. I'm leaning towards option 1 with the monitor.

Hard drives: probalby go with 40 GB pair WD or Seagate from Newegg. I've been scouring the forums for used, but sellers seem to want 80-90% of the new price. Go figure.

Motherboard: Looks like the Mobo will be definitely be an Iwill XP-333 RAID. I'll make up my mind when I can verify a reliable vender who will ship revision 2.1 (10% over-voltage option on core voltage - yes!, no volt mod needed!)

Heatsink: Probably get another Alpha 8045. Only $31 at http://www.case-mod.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=38&PHPSESSID=cd507ba9afa13c33d5a55363d5d7fd4f for this excellent baby (bare heatsink).

RAM -- still looking for good PC2700. Was really interested in Kingmax PC2700 until they raised the price overnight.

Thanks for your help guys. Hope to have all parts within two weeks and machine built within three.:rollout:

leonardo

01-21-2002, 07:47 PM

Well, all is ordered is promised through private trades. (Thread starter is edited to show the ingrediants.)

I did purchase a Samsung 955df. I didn't even keep it 24 hours. Regardless of what combination of resolutions and drivers, the center of the screen was beautiful, but the margins, especially the left, looked like cheese cloth. BestBuy took it back today for a full refund, no hassles.

I purchased instead a ViewSonic A90F. I'm using it now. I am very impressed. This is a very nice monitor. I highly recommend to anyone searching for a 19" CRT in the $275-$325 price category.

Well gentlemen, my next big thread will be on networking. As soon as the next box is built, and this one upgraded, I'll be networking. I don't know beans about it. I'm looking forward to the learning experience. Should prove to be fun.

Again, thanks for all the advice that's been provided me!

Cheers,

Leo

ImaginAsian

01-22-2002, 10:21 PM

Kewl Leo, let us know how the rig turns out...all we ask in return for our help is that the rig joins Team PC :D

Re Monitor...it could have been damaged during shipping bro, why not just Get another one from Best Buy? Looks like they gave you no hassle right?

prod

01-22-2002, 11:19 PM

I think i saw one review that said the samsung was not good at the edges, but I have seen them in person and did not notice it.
Might be inconsistent quality of parts. Ah well, the A90 is ok, lower range, but Viewsonic is definitely a good brand name.

leonardo

01-26-2002, 05:31 PM

Kewl Leo, let us know how the rig turns out

Well, it hasn't exactly started off with a bang! First step was to upgrade HDDs in the present computer. (Still waiting on CPU for the new computer.)

Can't swap out Hard Drive under WinXP!
What the heck am I doing wrong? I tried to replace my image (3d drive on IDE 2, non-RAID) with a new larger volume drive. I "uninstalled" the old drive in device manager, hooked up the new drive to the same IDE, and attempted to reboot. Rebooting into Windows, wanting to format and partition the drive in Windows, under Paragon Partition Manager, I ran into problems at the login screen. At that point I got messages such as:
1) Windows could not load the locally stored profile...is now logging onto temperary profile...changes you make will not be saved. -- I selected OK
2) "Delayed disk write failed...Windows was unable to save data from C/Documents and Settings/temp/{computer name}.."

What do I do to allow WinXP to 'forget' about an older drive that was uninstalled, and to allow me to boot with a newer drive installed in the system?? (Newer drive is NOT the boot disk.)

This is weird. I tried MS XP site. Maybe I didn't know the right questions to ask.

muckshifter

01-26-2002, 05:53 PM

Usually that is a Hardware issue.

Sometimes you can work around that by going into the device manager and then into the HD's properties or whatever drive is giving you the error and UNcheck the box where it say "Write Cache Enabled".

You could run "chkdsk" from DOS to check out the HD as Sandisk will not work on XP. :(

leonardo

01-26-2002, 06:48 PM

That's gotta be it - write cacheing WAS enabled!:cry: I tried, and tried, so many times! I'm too tired now. I'll try again later. I had been thinking that I was a real dummy, not even able to upgrade the hard drives. Oh well, life is that way sometimes.

leonardo

01-26-2002, 07:03 PM

Since I had uninstalled the drive in Device Manager, and it wasn't even visible there any more, why would "write caching enabled" on a supposed non-existing disk cause Windows to do anything?

muckshifter

01-26-2002, 07:11 PM

I would have just taken the old drive out and put the new one in ... XP is pretty good at finding new stuff ...

I still say its a hardware problem ... can you check the drive with chkdsk?

Leo ... it's getting late ... catch tomorrow.

leonardo

01-26-2002, 07:18 PM

I did take the old drive out, and connected the new one. Windows threw a fit. That is when I reconnected the old drive, rebooted without problem, and uninstalled the old drive in Device Manager.

After the second (eighth, ninth...) reboot with the new driver back in the machine, Windows again wen bonkers at the login screen.

muckshifter

01-26-2002, 07:24 PM

Watch my lips ...

can you use " chkdsk /f " from DOS?

leonardo

01-26-2002, 07:45 PM

I haven't tried chekdsk in DOS, but I do have the instructions. I failed to mention perhaps that the problem I mentioned happened even if there was NO hard drive in the image drives IDE.

I guess I'm just dense this evening. Are you suggesting that I run check disk on the OS drive?

muckshifter

01-26-2002, 07:52 PM

No ... check the new drive.

Leo, which IDE are you connecting it to?

You have it "jumpered" correctly, yes?

leonardo

01-26-2002, 07:57 PM

IDE 2 (non-RAID), jumpered as single drive - "only drive in system". It's the only drive on that IDE (both the present drive there now, and how configured with the new drive).

muckshifter

01-27-2002, 04:36 AM

Sorry Leo, still confused here.
IDE 2 (non-RAID), jumper as single drive - "only drive in system". You’re using the Iwill XP333 R, yes?

you have...
IDE 1 blue
IDE 2 blue
IDE 3 yellow (raid)
IDE 4 yellow (raid)

What have you got connected to what and what are the jumpers on the HD's.

you should aim for something like this
IDE 1 = Primary master one HD jumper as master ... a CD drive on secondary as slave.
(NOTE jumper as master NOT cable select & NOT "single drive")

IDE 2 = CD re-writer as master & HD as slave ... you can put these the other way around, it does not really matter. However, set the jumpers accordingly.

I'll leave the Raid part for someone else. ;)

You may have to "reset-up" the system with what HD's & CD's you need in place and re-install XP. :(

OR

You may have to pop over here to get your answer. :(
http://www.amdmb.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=19

:(

leonardo

01-27-2002, 07:07 AM

Let's try this again. Sorry, I had about six hours of driving yesterday before I posted, and was more tired than I thought. I apologize for confusing you Mucks. Let's try this again:

I was merely prepping new hard drives for the computers I will build. The attempted formatting was being done in my present running system below, which is on the KT7A-R. I physically removed the image hard drive (3rd HDD) on IDE 2 (non-RAID). I installed the new HDD onto the IDE 2, jumpering it for "single drive". The OS at login screen gave me 'caching...temporary caching' error, and would not boot.

I reconnected the old drive, booted into windows successfully, and "uninstall"ed the drive in Device Manager. Shutdown, disabled IDE 2 in BIOS, and attempted to boot into Windows. Would not boot.

Connected new hard drive to IDE 2, enabled IDE 2 in BIOS, and again, computer would not reboot.

It's as if WindowsXP is in love with that backup drive and refuses to let it leave.

muckshifter

01-27-2002, 07:36 AM

Amazing what a new day will do. :D

Well after that, I'll stick to my original assumption and say ... you have a naff new HD.

However, I reconnected the old drive, booted into windows successfully, and "uninstalled” the drive in Device Manager. Shutdown, disabled IDE 2 in BIOS, and attempted to boot into Windows. Would not boot. has got me a little stumped. :confused: Why are you "uninstalling" in device mangler?

Do me this...
Disconnect ALL drive ribbon cables and only attach the new drive to IDE1 as master ... please, jumper this HD AS master. Now use a win98 boot disk and scandisk it, use a "thorough” scan. It has been formatted? Let me know?

Is there any other system you can "hang" the new HD off?

:confused:

leonardo

01-27-2002, 08:23 AM

OK, I'll do the boot disk chkdsk and fdisk. We'll see how it goes. I've also got another new drive I'll test. I'll get to it later today.

leonardo

02-13-2002, 11:27 AM

Received DOA hard drive (That first drive I mentioned above). Easy RMA through Newegg (I just love that vendor). RMA drive arrives. I format, partition, test, and image the entire system to the new drive. I remove the drive, and reformat all the other drives, including a new 30GB that serves as half of the new 60GB RAID 0. Reinstall WinXP and reconnect the freshly imaged new 40GB drive. Presto, no BIOS detection on the imaged drive. Dang. Try every trick in the book, including BIOS resets, switching cables, switching MOLEX connectors, switching IDE and VIA IDE ports, and using different jumper settings. Still, no BIOS detection, and no detection by the Western Digital tools set. Six years of data is trapped on that drive. It will spin up in POST and will light the HDD LED, but will not detect. OK, I cry big tears over lost data. My wife and daughter threaten to leave me (lots of school projects, reports, essays, et cetera were imaged to that drive).

Well, I manage to keep my daughter and save my marriage. I re-configure WinXP, configure my email and Internet connections, tweak the OS - system now runs great.

Water under the bridge. Let's work on the second computer. All parts are ready. Yes sir, I've got home networking fever. Oh great, the Iwill XP-333R motherboard will spin up the drives but nothing else. Waaaah! Return to Overclockerzstore on RMA over a week ago. Still waiting on status report from them. Their email links seem to be broken. I did call today, NOT toll free, and waited 45 minutes to talk to a human. I was promised a call back about the RMA status. (I ordered from OCZ against my better instincts. I had thought I would give them a second chance, as they are under new ownership. We'll see. So far, I am not inclined to give them any more business.)

Blessing in disquise? Now that I've sent back the Iwill, I am considering applying the credit from that purchase towards an Abit KR7A-R, assuming that OCZ confirms my assertion that the Iwill is broken. What do you guys think. I just can't get excited about all those Iwill motherboard jumpers, even if the board does have nice PCI dividers and amazing FSB overclock capability.

OK guys, it's comment time again!

Let's post the two system specs - as it will be when all RMA's are resolved:

System 1:

Iwill XP-333R (onboard sound)
(or Abit KR7A-R)
2X256MB Twinmoss PC2700
Philips Acoustic Edge sound (if Abit mobo)
ATI Radeon LE (LOVE this card!)
Athlon XP 1900+
RAID 0 (2 X WD Caviar, 30GB ea)
WDC 40GB - backup drive
CDROM
Floppy
3Com 3C905C-TX PCI ethernet

System 2:

Abit KT7A-R
Athlon TB (266) 1.4@1.66
2 X 256MB Kingmax PC150
20GB WDC primary drive
20GB WDC secondary (backup)
GeForce2 GTS 64
Philips Acoustic Edge
CDROM
Floppy
3Com 3C905C-TX ethernet

There, I feel better. Thanks for listening!

muckshifter

02-13-2002, 01:38 PM

So it was a bad HD? :sarcastic

Well at least you now have a system. :D

leonardo

02-13-2002, 06:21 PM

Two bad hard drives, both WDC 40GB 7200/100. One was DOA - would not be detected by BIOS or WD Toos - no way, no how.

Second drive formatted, partitioned, and accepted full system backup and testing. I disconnected it from the system. Upon reconnection, the BIOS would no longer detect the drive.

I called WD support and related all the tests (jumpers, cables, BIOS, IDE ports, et cetera). WD digital said it most likely is a bad drive.

catcorpse

02-13-2002, 07:24 PM

Ugg I didn't do it. Nice looking systems though, hope you get all the problems ironed out. Iwill giving you problems, that sucks but I don't know if I would go to Abit. I do hope that you get your board back soon and fast.

leonardo

02-13-2002, 08:01 PM

OCZ called (their service has improved). New Iwill XP-333R was shipped today.

lurch63

02-14-2002, 12:39 PM

AAH WD strikes again, i know we had the whole hd discussion. but i just don't trust that company, and ocz called you, i'm amazed. glad that your getting your systems together man. sinc. lurch

lurch63

02-14-2002, 12:56 PM

i just thought about what happened leo, i have a solution if you want it, its what i did and it worked out pretty well. I have a progy i got from tjm4fun its called filesplitter, its a progy origonally built to cut up big files and store them on floppy's and since they kept updating the program it will cut up programs into files as large as 200megs. Once its done it creates a bat file to reconnect them so you don't have to have the program on the destination machine now what i did was to take my image files , which i had so many of, all of the ones from people whom i've built pcs , so i took an image file, cut it up into 100 meg chunks, it goes to 200 but since cd's are 700 megs and they 7 is odd 100 megs fits better, then i just copied 7 of those files onto cd after cd till i was done. then what i did before i felt comfortable deleting some of the origonals was to take the md5sum creater program offered from linux, if you don't know its a program that creates a checksum of any program that you want, the sum is very long and the program is very accurate. so i create a sum of the origonal image file, then i take all of the file parts off of the cd's , recombine the image and take a checksum of that , if the two numbers match i know that the files were split properly and that they burned onto the cd's without error, at that point i erased the less significant ones and kept the major one so that i'd have protection while doing my bios update from yh to 3r which warns about raid array curruptions on updates. then should anything happen fixing all that would be a pain in the ass on dos, so i'd throw on a 2 second win 98, minimal install, use the gui to copy all of the image parts down recombine the image throw it on a different partition , put the image back on , and walla, its time consuming but until i get a dvd ram drive that will have to do :) hope it helps someone . sinc . lurch

ps , at a wopping 1.8megs for both progy's i'll be happy to email them to whoever wants them, and maybe bb will let me put them on the server. sinc. lurch

leonardo

02-14-2002, 09:17 PM

Lurch,

Thanks for your advice. I believe it to be a bit too complicated for me.

GOOD NEWS! Tex at Icrontic apparently has recovered most if not all the data on that bum image drive. I don't know yet how he did it. He sent me a message, telling me the directories on the disk, which I had not mentioned to him.

Lesson learned? Well yes. Next time I will need to proof any redundant drive before I destroy (format) data on the original storage. I really think the best setup would be a firewire external hard drive. They are expensive though! I backup/image too often for CDRWs to be practical. (You all are probably laughing, thinking that "Leo really hasn't learned his lesson!")

Concerning OCZ. I guess I would say that their customer service has improved from atrocious to merely mediocre. Good points: they treat me courteously and respectfully when I requested an RMA. They did act pretty fast upon receipt of the RMA'd mobo - checking it out and shipping a replacement. Bad points: each inquiry to OCZ took 45 minutes on a toll call. Email links dead or give no response. Credit where credit is due. I never would have considered OCZ for this purchase had it not been for change of ownership.

Case

02-14-2002, 10:39 PM

What an interesting thread - I think I like this forum - Glad you recovered your data leonardo - just that situation is why I networked 2 of my computers, so I can back them up to each other. Ugh! been through that losin' everything before - never again!

BTW, OCZ was started in Boise about a year and a half ago by Ryan Peterson, and grew through about April of last year with major customer service growing pains, then merged with a local PC parts store (http://rjmpc.com/) in Boise (a very good one) and formed a new company with them called AFASCO group. This gave them an actual retail location and working space. They had been operating out of a garage when I hooked up with them in January 2001. This arrangement with AFASCO worked quite well, and they were able to improve their customer service and their product line significantly, and then in Dec of last year, they sold the company (now called OCZ Tech) to another store (http://www.webuildpcs.com/store.asp) and moved lock, stock and barrel to Portage, Indiana, just a little south of Chicago. Ryan Peterson is the only employee that went there, all the others stayed in Boise . . .

leonardo

02-16-2002, 08:39 PM

It just can't be! Third 40GB WD 40BB tried today, with the same problem - BIOS won't detect, regardless of cable, IDE port, or jumper setting. I do not now believe that this is a Western Digital problem. This has got to be an Abit problem. The drive just would not detect, but would power on during POST and during the BIOS attempt at detection. It just will not register in the BIOS.

OK, I'm not even gonna try and RMA this one. What do you bet - it'll fire right up when I install it on the new Iwill XP333R tomorrow. (My Iwill RMA mobo arrived today from OCZ. Yippee!)

The more I think about, the more it makes since. As I recall, I've had HDD recognition problems before on the Highpoint IDE ports; so now it's the non-HPT ports.

So, what would cause the motherboard to not see HDDs over 30 GB? I've got two 30GB drives, and two 20GB drives all Western Digital Caviar BB series 7200/100. So it just doesn't like 40s. Hmm?

lurch63

02-16-2002, 09:11 PM

weird dude. that bites. well at least you'll get your stuff running together. i rem tex over at ic , cool guy. hey leo . what clock and multiplier are you running your system at. just wondering. and do you know how to work that 12above setting, i just didn't want to play with it, what happened to just plain old 12.5?, but good to hear about your system man. sinc. lurch

Case

02-16-2002, 09:17 PM

My wife had a KT7A-R with a 30GB Maxtor, till we upgraded her to an Iwill board. Never had a problem, but never had a 40GB HDD either. Hope you get it figured out, sorry I don't have an answer for you . . .

leonardo

02-16-2002, 10:02 PM

Could've bought a Dell, then wouldn't have to play with all this. NOT!

Lurch - multiplier is 11.5, FSB set to 133 + 10. Really don't need that 12.0 and above unless the RAM is poor or the board is starving from VMem.

Case - yeah, 30GB HDDs are no problem in this system. My
RAID 0 array is 2 X 30GB WD 7200/100. The 30's will work great in any IDE port on this board. Just can't figure out why the 40s won't detect! Oh well, if all goes well, by this time tomorrow there will be the same RAID 0 array and the 40GB WD serving as the image drive, all on the new Iwill XP-333 RAID. Hope this new RMA isn't DOA like the last one. When I get the 40GB image drive (the other one) back from TEX (IC), then I'll be able to copy back address books, and all other stuff. My family will still love me.....

This present board will be a non-RAID, 20GB main disk with 20GB image, same CPU, same sound, same RAM, GF2 GTS 64.

I'll definitely update you guys one both systems' performance and stability. I almost feel as if both of these computers will be Bitbenber family property, what with all the trials and tribulations we've shared!:beer:

Hmm, wonder if we could put together a Bitbender convention? Atlanta, or Savannah anyone?