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Wednesday, 9 August 2006
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| To Raid or not to Raid Bh2 18:25:38 |
| | Hi,
I have just build a new computer with Three hard drives, 1 x Ide and 2 x
Sata. I have an epox 9NDA3J Mobo which supports raid, is it worth putting
raid on my computer and what would the ad and disadvantages be.
Thanks for your advice
Regards
Bob
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| |  7 answers | Add comment |
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| Now that the dust has settled... will Steve find the PC of his dreams? Steve 13:23:52 |
| | I've been limping along on two Socket-A machines for a couple years,
watching the technology unfold and eager to finally get a nice new
computer or two. Now that July 2006 has come and gone, there are plenty
of new processors to choose from. Surely, this is the day I get my new
computer...
I started by checking out the new Conroe boxes from Intel. Time is
worth money, and I didn't necessarily want to build a box from scratch.
The case never fits together perfectly and they always seem too noisy.
First stop HP. Now, they have a Conroe box, but it'll cost me about
$1200. I'd love to get a Dell but all they have is a bunch of tired old
Pentium-D boxes, yuck. Oh, they have some Conroe boxes, the XPS-410,
but you have to buy a monitor bundled with it, and its about $1600 and
up. Lenovo? Nope. How about Gateway? Even more expensive, more like
$2000 and up!
I have to give credit to the marketing department at Intel. After years
of advocating hot chips with high, easily marketed GHz, that you can
fry an egg on, after screwing up on dual-core (duct-tape to the
rescue), and on 64 bit... and after admitting that AMD had made the
right move all along on all 3 counts, and winning the world
backpedalling championship, they finally did something clever. They
brought back high prices. Yes, the Conroe is powerful, but boy is it
expensive. And the rest of the stuff, including the stock of
combination-space-heater-intel-pentium-D, they want to fob that off on
us too. Prices are high. The days of the $300 Dell 400SC are long gone.
Next idea was that AMD had lowered prices on the X2 4800+ and 5000+.
Back to the HP, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, and Lenovo web sites. A nice
Athlon X2 5000+ in an AM2 socket, with a price that reflects AMD's
sweet new low prices, that will solve my problem. Oops. Nope. Nothing
even close. Best I can do is a 4400+ from HP at a fairly steep price.
Sadly, as of August 2006, it is still the case that you cannot buy a
turnkey AMD X2 4800+ or 5000+ AM2 from a major manufacturer at a
reasonable price. (HP has one old model that is your only bet). It
seems like I've wanted this for a year. So while I'm excited about the
4x4 systems later this year, I have a feeling the result will be the
same: no AMD boxes from major manufacturers, and Intel 4x4 boxes piled
on top at the high end of the price curve. I know AMD is saying I can
get a 4x4 later this year for $1000. Even though I've been
disappointed, I will wait for that, though I bet it will be a pile of
boxes that require assembly under my xmas tree, and not a Dell...
Last idea, maybe I can do some building... build a server while I wait
for my 4x4 workstation. Supermicro has some nice boxes (hidden under
thier aplus website) that support 6 or 8 SATA hot swap drives. However,
they don't have any AM2 boxes yet! And AMD didn't lower their price one
cent on their Opterons! (Apparently Intel does not have a monopoly on
clever marketing folk). They do have some Intel Woodcrest boxes but,
hmmm, a bit costly, and, maybe a bit unproven. The reasoning is: if I
have to spend $1500, and do some assembly, I could get a massive box
with 8 hot-swap SATA drives in front. Rather than some HP or Dell box
with some tiny 80GB drive in it and lots of over-priced accessories.
Dear AMD and Intel. Read my lips: MAJOR MANUFACTURER. UNDER $1000. In
the mean time, I'll slog along on my Socket-A boxes, and... waiting...
If anyone can correct any factual errors, or knows of a something I
missed or some new devlopment, please advise! All I can think of doing
now is to check out Supermicro Woodcrests (only 6 SATA drives, not 8,
sorry), or wait until HP introduces their new xw4400 workstation. Or
see what the Supermicro rep has to tell me about any AM2 box with 8
SATA drives (don't see any yet...) Sigh.
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| | 41 answer | Add comment |
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| DDR high and low density? Job 11:06:03 |
| | What's this about?I see this on low end DDR.Both have 64x64.What's the deal?
I'm aware of this on PC 100 SDRAM but not DDR.
http://www.pcprogress.com/products.asp?orderid=43846721220905703306197&cat=2
77&pg=4
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| | 4 answer | Add comment |
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| Dell XPS 600 nVidia nForce4 SLI mobo and proprietary power connector Guest 10:12:28 |
| | Hi
I have been feebly trying to determine whether or not the nVidia
nForce4 SLI X 16 motherboard on my Dell XPS 600 has some kind of
proprietary power supply connector on it. I want to bet a power supply
with more Watts but have been told that dell does funky things with
power supplies and motherboards. Can anyone help?
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| | 3 answer | Add comment |
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| SATAII drive not assigned drive letter after MB change Guest 09:07:33 |
| | Ok... got some confusion and a some frustration brewing here....
I have two SATAII drives an 80 GIG and a 400 GIG.
80 is my OS and 400 GIG is my data.
I changed to a dual proc motherboard and one that supported SATAII,
reformated the 80 GIG and thought life would be good.
Why do I not see the 400 GIG... Its there, see it on post and see it
under XP in disk manager, but it will not assign a drive letter to it.
Of course lots of sublte changes - northbridge chipset, 4 sata slots
instead of 2 (tried them all).
Originally it was a basic disk - my only option is to change it to a
dynamic disk.
I have a box of IDE drives here, can drop anyone of them in and they
will get assigned a drive letter.
Oh, whats the big deal here? The 400 GIG is filled with data, thats
the deal.
1) Why do I not see my 400 GIG and any way I can see it without having
to convert it to a dynamic disk?
2) I think the answer is no, but will I lose any data by converting it
to a dynamic disk ? ( i know going back to a basic disk will lose
data).
Fine, I am an id10t and obviously did something wrong.
Thanks
Scott
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| | 4 answer | Add comment |
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| DVD-speler leest geen enkele DVD Bas 08:14:10 |
| | Help!!!!
Ik heb een Acer Aspire 1501LMi laptop met daarin een DVD-brander (Pioneer
DVR-K12D). Sinds korte tijd leest de DVD-brander geen enkele CD of DVD meer.
Ik heb al geprobeerd via de helpdesk van Acer. Deze adviseren mij om de
computer op te sturen. Helaas is dit niet de bedoeling. Ik ben de computer
dan 2 weken kwijt en waarschijnlijk is het probleem dan niet opgelost,
immers volgens de helpdesk is de desbetreffende DVD-brander niet meer
leverbaar. Het enige wat de Servicedesk van Acer in dit geval kan doen is de
DVD-brander reinigen.
Is dit aan te raden om dat zelf te doen met een reinigings CD?
Heeft iemand daar ervaringen mee?
Alvast bedankt,
Bas.
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| | 2 answer | Add comment |
|
| Thinkpad Synaptics driver YKhan 08:00:45 |
| | Thinkpads with both the touchpad and joybutton can't seem to use the
standard Synaptics driver (which seems to be meant for touchpad-only
systems). If you put the standard Synaptics driver in, then the
joybutton features get degraded. The reason for upgrading to the
Synaptics standard drivers would be to fix some of the well known
scrolling problems that the touchpad has, the newer Synaptics drivers
completely solve those. But then you may find that your joybutton
buttons don't all work (for example the middle scroll button on the
joybutton controls will stop functioning). I tend to use the touchpad
and joybutton interchangeably -- certain things the touchpad is better
at, while other times the joybutton wins out.
Has anyone found a solution to this? The standard Thinkpad drivers seem
to be a hacked up old version of the Synaptics driver.
Yousuf Khan
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| | Add comment |
|
| two beeps Guest 07:08:52 |
| | I keep getting two beeps on my CAP810 motherboard.
I think the manual says this means:
Parity cannot be reset
What does this mean?
|
| | 3 answer | Add comment |
|
| Trick to getting screws out of 2.5 inch HDDs? News.Rcn.Com 07:03:04 |
| | Anyone know a trick to getting those star screws out of laptop hard drives
please? I specifically bought the correct star screwdriver and one of them
(usually at the top by the pins) always seems to burr over. However careful
I am. I once even had one burr over when I had taken it out before and put
it back in loose 'cos I knew I would have to take it out again sometime to
try replacing the PCB
Is there a trick or a way of getting a burred over star screw out? Dunno the
size but it is the one for the PCB
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| | 23 answer | Add comment |
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| Opteron - single dual core vs two single cores CharlesBlackstone 04:14:29 |
| | Hi, I'm about to buy a workstation, and wonder what the functional
difference would be between getting a machine with two single-core
processors, and a machine with one dual-core processor? Is it
essentially the same thing, or are the two single-cores more
independent in terms of function, memory access, etc. that would affect
overall performance?
Thanks very much......
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| | 12 answers | Add comment |
|
| IDE hard drive -- changing the card? Fabien LE LEZ 03:25:18 |
| | Hello,
I've got a Seagate ST3300831A (Barracuda 7200.8 300 GB).
The electronic card seems busted (there's a component that looks
burnt, and none of my three IDE controllers detect the disk).
Seagate does offer a warranty service, but they won't repair the disk
-- they'll just give me a new, blank, disk.
Is there a way to change that card, so that I can get my data back[*]?
I've thought about buying another hard drive of the same model,
exchanging the cards while I copy the data to another disk, and then
put the busted card back.
Will that work?
Is there a risk that the warranty will be voided?
Thanks a lot in advance for your advice.
[*] Note : it's not really important data (the important data is
backuped regurarly), but it'd be nice to get it back.
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| | 14 answers | Add comment |
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| Won't most ATX cases accept micro ATX boards? Larc 02:58:47 |
| | There are a lot of screw holes drilled in the motherboard base on both of my
computer cases. Some appear to line up with configurations I see on micro ATX
boards. Aren't the metal forms that snap into the case for rear plugins the
same @ 6 1/4" x 1 3/4" size for ATX and micro ATX boards?
Thanks for your help.
Larc
§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§
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| | 3 answer | Add comment |
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| Need prog. to prevent hdd going into idle (such as a perdiodic access?) Louis Grant 00:49:17 |
| |
Hello,
regarding my laptop hardddrive Fujitsu MHV2060AT - there seems to be no
way to change the APM settings, and these are set at going into active
idle after a few seconds and a few seconds thereafter going into idle
with parked heads. The result is that when using Word for example, the
hdd clicks and clicks because the hdd keeps changing states. According
to Fujitsu there is nothing I can do.
a) Is Fujitsu telling the truth? ;)
b) What about a programm that reads any odd bit from my hdd at 1 second
intervals? or sends some sort of wakeup command? so that the hdd doesnt
get the chance to go into idle....
thanks,
Louis
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| | 27 answers | Add comment |
|
| Windows 2000 and big-hard-drive weird problem Fabien LE LEZ 00:24:35 |
| | Hello,
A few days ago, I formated a 250 GB PATA hard drive (one partition
taking the whole disk) on my Windows 2000 box, and put some files on
it.
Now Windows sees it as an unformated/broken 31.5 GB partition, while
all's fine under Linux (i.e. I can read the files).
OTOH, I've got a 320 GB partition on another disk, which works
perfectly under Windows.
Any idea about where the problem is and how I can fix it?
Thanks in advance...
|
| | 23 answer | Add comment |
|
| Serial port of MSI RS480M2-IL motherboard. Guest 00:24:01 |
| | Has anyone here tried to use the serial port of the MSI
RS480M2-IL motherboard ? I assembled several computers
based on this mobo last year, but neither I nor,
apparently, any of my customers/clients have had reason
to use the serial port until now.
I tried to install an external dial-up modem for a friend
today, but Windows could not detect it. To make a long
story short, it turned out that the culprit was a mismatch
between the mobo serial port header and the supplied
internal cable.
The cable is wired according to the usual pin ordering
convention, but the header pins on the mobo are *not*
numbered in the usual order. AFAIK, such double-row header
pins are usually numbered like this -
2 4 6 8 ....
1 3 5 7 ....
but the serial port headers on this mobo are numbered
like this -
6 7 8 9 x
1 2 3 4 5
The numbering by itself wouldn't matter except that each
pin number serves the same function as it would in a more
conventional layout. That is -
1 - DCD
2 - S-IN
3 - S-OUT
etc etc
I can't change the pin layout on the mobo of course. I
solved the problem by desoldering the wires at the back
of the D-sub connector and resoldered them in the
required order.
If there's anyone out there who's been having problems
trying to get the serial port of this mobo working, I
hope this helps. However, it's possible that not all
production batches are shipped with this mismatched
cable.
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| | 1 answer | Add comment |
Tuesday, 8 August 2006
|
| Re: At this point, your best bet may be to drill off the remainder of the screw head News.Rcn.Com 22:53:31 |
| | Set the drive solidly on your workbench, with the troublesome screwhead>> facing upward. Look straight down at the screwhead. Using a fine,>> sharp, square-edge file, and working from the top of the screwhead>> straight down toward the drive case, file away the left 25% of the screw>> head. Now file away the right 25% of the screw head. If you have>> worked carefully, you now have two parallel vertical "walls", one on>> each side of the socket in the center of the screwhead.>> Now, working from the top (not the side), and using a pair of pliers>> with jaws that are solid, parallel, and very square-ended, you can can>> grip the walls, and turn the screw. Getting this right can be tricky,>> and you'll probably get only one chance. If you squeeze the pliers too>> tight, you'll squash the remainder of the screw head. If you don't>> squeeze tight enough, you'll round off the head again as you try to turn>> it. If you grip it properly but twist it at an angle, the pliers will>> slip off, taking a chunk of screw head metal with them. In each case,>> there is insufficient metal left to reshape and try again. At this>> point, your best bet may be to drill off the remainder of the screw head.>> Small angled wired cutters have always worked for me. Put on point> inside the hole and the other point outside. Squeeze until the metal> crushes then turn it. The screw head comes off one way or another 
My real problem is that I cant get enough purchase on the side of the screw
to do either of these without potentially damaging the thin green pcb! The
problem with these Torx screws in HDDs seems to be that they are incredibly
tight in the first place and are designed not to come out easily or at all
for the reasons mentioned.
The best bet may be to file off the head and hope it doesn't leave too much
flange which would prevent the pcb from coming off.
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| | 1 answer | Add comment |
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| SATA drive on a PATA motherboard Crouchinho 22:22:48 |
| | I'm getting an adaptor so that my Serial ATA hdd will plug into my Parallel
ATA motherboard but was wondering about the jumper settings. The hdd
manufacturer website says that jumper settings don't need to be set with
SATA drives but do they need to be if put through an adaptor?
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| | 7 answers | Add comment |
|
| Network Card settings disappear when cable unplugged dreamsoul620 via HWKB.com 22:12:28 |
| | Hi all! I've been messing around with this problem about a week now and I'm
completely confused. I have two laptops, a Dell Inspiron 600M and the other
a Dell Latitude D610. The network cards are the same in both (Broadcom 440X
10/100 Integrated Controller). I used the Latitude to connect to cameras on
a machine. These cameras require me to change my automatic IP setting to a
static IP. This works great if I use the Inspiron. However, sometimes when
I unhook the ethernet cable from my laptop, the card completely disappears in
Network Settings. I cannot even try to change the settings. When I plug the
required crossover cable in, sometimes the card reappears, sometimes it takes
several restarts. I have uninstalled and re-installed the drivers. The card
also disappears when unhooking the crossover and going back to the straight
network cable. Basically, when I unhook a cable, it's a toss up of whether
my card will still be recognize in the Network Settings. Dell does not have
a solution and since the card works, they do not see this as a reason to
replace the card. Changing the IP on the Inspiron results in a lot of
downtime for my other applications while it's recording the images from the
cameras. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how I might fix this
problem? Any help is greatly appreciated.
--
To be the best, you have to first give up everything.
Message posted via http://www.hwkb.com
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| | 1 answer | Add comment |
|
| AMD or Intel? Tochiro 22:10:06 |
| | Hello,
I do not want to start a processor war here. THe truth is that I do not
know the first thing about processors. There has always been Intel
processors in my PCs up to now. I am now thinking of buying an AMD
system because somebody suggested the processor remains cooler than
Intel's and I am looking for a PC as much silent as possible.
My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is
there any risk of malfunction with AMD?
Thank you for your help
Tochiro
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| | 77 answers | Add comment |
|
| Painting a CRT & Brightness Problem Travis King 19:27:26 |
| | I'm thinking about painting a CRT that I have black to match my computer as
the picture quality is great but the beige looks horrible. It's a Compaq
P110 21" and I picked it up for $10. My Proview 19" that I have is black
and matches my computer, but I think the gamma went out or something in it
because the screen is always dark even on 100% brightness - I have to use
the software on my video card to adjust the brightness. (And it so happened
that the screen lost its brightness when I went to increase its brightness.)
Anyway, back to the Compaq P110. I've heard most CRTs have a cage over the
bad stuff that can kill you, but I don't think I really want to tear in it
if it's not certain. Also, how do you open up the casing on this monitor?
If I would be better off not tearing into the monitor, is there a way that I
can cover all the ventilation holes? (The holes on the side are rounded and
the holes on the top are strips, which would probably be easier to cover.)
If I were to fix the Proview, would it really be worth it? Thanks.
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| | 67 answers | Add comment |
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| broken screen on gateway solo 5350 notebook Yazee 14:57:07 |
| | Help
My laptop fell down and landed my printer..now the screen is all
scratched and I cannot see anything on the screen .....
how can I transfer the data to a another laptop or to another desktop?
please help
thank you so much
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| | 2 answer | Add comment |
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| AMD's 939 production halt sends prices tumbling SpamBox 11:40:59 |
| | I saw this: -
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32603
and now I'm really miffed. I bought an Asrock 939Dual-Sata2, an Ath64 3000
and top spec RAM with the thought that in a year or two, I would be able to
pick up a better 939 as the prices would have dropped. Now it turns out that
AMD have stopped production of skt939 CPUs. What a bummer. I know that with
this mobo I have the AM2 upgrade path, but that wasn't quite what I had in
mind.
Bugger.
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| | 13 answers | Add comment |
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