Jump to content

Stupid Computer


Flitterkill

Recommended Posts

Yeah, so...

 

Sleep at 2am, computer on and happy.

 

Check it at 8am this morning, screen saver (blank) not going away.

 

Lights on, yeah, fans running, yeah...

 

Alright, fine. Hold the power button down to force off.

 

Odd, I don't hear the hd's clicking off...

 

Turn it back on.

 

Lights up, fans on...

 

Uh oh.

 

Zilch - nada - deadarino... No hd's spinning up, just hte light show with the fans in the case.

 

Apart if comes. Let's try the MB on the media machine downstairs with, ya know, guaranteed working power supply and the like.

 

Oh hai Mr. CPU fan! You seem to be spinning weirdly (sputter, sputter).

 

Even stranger, on the force off, the moment the power cuts the fan bursts to life for a second...

 

So, yeah, this is with everything pulled (minus CPU of course).

 

Even weirder, I let the whole thing sit for a while, pulled the battery to reset bios, and let it rip again on the media machine power supply. Hey hey! CPU fan is spinning fine now. Could it be just some weird humidity thing was going on. Let's turn it off and plug the system speaker stuff in and see if I can get a beep.

 

And back to the stuttering CPU fan again... Just not my day.

 

So what am I left with?

 

Board is almost certainly well and truly ######. Could the CPU be bummed as well? Don't know. I could swap it onto the media machine's board but honestly I really would rather not. Power supply is almost certainly fine (Nvidia 8800 GTS fan always spun up when I was testing this all out before pulling the board) and I can't imagine the hard drives got hurt (I should check that out...)

 

Replace micro C2D board, low end, is gonna run me a NewEgg 44 shipped. Got a guy locally hawking a AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 Brisbane 2.7GHz and a Jet Way board for $100 but I'd only offer $70 tops, and that would be if it came with CPU fan.

 

This was a 2008 (Fall 2007???) build, I could upgrade but right now for the I5 bump (that makes the most sense if you game) we are talking 180 for the CPU, another 70+ minimum for a decent board and whatever on top for new sticks of memory (DDR2 is not DDR3 unfortunately). So I'm thinking $320 minimum that route.

 

The case against the I5 route is that right now, I wouldn't be getting a new Vid Card - nothing on the immediate horizon that is gonna leave me in the lurch (Mass Effect 3 will play fine, I suspect D3 will be good to go, the Fallout games are perfectly ok...) So I could just lay off the tech leap and wait for Sandy Bridge to get established and cheaper and go from there.

 

Meh - sucky day.

 

BTW, I used this opportunity to check the heatsink on the C2D. Remember kids that silicone paste will dry out! I'll post the picture later. If you game heavily and have a mchine for longer than 2 years, at the 2 year mark it would probably be wise to pull the fan and redo the heat paste.

 

-FK

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And indeed mine is as well - bit the work bullet and did the swap into the media machine. The CPU is a happy camper so I'm 95% confident its the MB now. Still a tiny tiny chance of the powersuppy but it would be a very odd problem if it were. Now I have decisions to make...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just upgraded to a i5 2500K over the weekend, um, but my stuff didn't die on me. Was running a intel E5200 dual core but clocked all the way up to 3.9~4.0 Mhz. I can tell no kind of Win7 performance difference, the E5200 along with a GTX 460 was pretty darn snappy.

 

Gaming? I really can't tell a difference here either, course I don't know if I have any games that can make use of the I5s quad cores. Even 3dMark numbers video numbers are nearly identical, seems the GTX 460 is the bottle neck. CPU be damned. Don't think the new fancy DDR3 makes much of a difference either.

 

I would be disappointed with these results considering the I blew $485 on the upgrade, but I sold my old stuff plus a couple more old parts and recouped $325.

 

My recommendation? Just get another (good) motherboard, check out some overclocking and maybe drop in a better video card. Or AMD has Quads at $100 and DDR3 is dirt cheap right now. I picked up 8gb of upper end for $100.

 

GL HF!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, just gonna get a 40-50 buck board from NewEgg and just slum it on my notebook for the next couple days.

 

Still blows though...

 

EDIT: That doesn't mean I'm not looking. I5, MB (both Sandy, sata 3, usb3), and 4 gig DDR3: 298 shipped at the egg.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sucks about the motherboard, I hate testing faults and finding that to be the problem. Certainly doesn't sound like a PSU problem if you tried the MB with the other setup.

 

I have been doing a LOT of research recently though on the sandy bridge stuff and it is pretty darned impressive. Pair one of those k processors with a p67 motherboard and they will overclock for days! Of course, if it was me, I would also probably be talking myself into a GPU upgrade as well. You know, because I was already spending the money on MB, CPU and RAM. It's, like, required.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's no way a card upgrade would happen now - it would take a major new game release that demands it for me to drop dime.

 

That $300 price I quoted above wouldn't be the overclocker path. Not a P board. Lowest on of those on NewEgg right now is 108 shipped. And hell, the memory I chose was probably not SB OC ready either...

 

EDIT: Meh. Cheap G31 board on the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently upgraded from a C2D clocked at 3.1 ghz to an i7 1366 chip. I just got a ridiculously high end motherboard (ASUS Rampage III) and the new i7, plus 6 GB of DDR3. Man, the system flies. I notice a difference in both Windows 7 and gaming, and I didn't change out my 8800 GTX. The difference in gaming isn't massive, but it's definitely there. For instance, I now run CS:S at 299 fps no matter what's going on, whereas, before, I'd run it at 70 to 160. Crysis plays a bit better, and the system loads faster.

 

Most of the cost was in Christmas gift cards though, so that's the only reason I bought an (at the time) $300 motherboard (actually, my father-in-law bought me the motherboard straight out). :shrug03:

 

For gaming, right now, the 1366 chipset is actually a hair better than Sandy Bridge...that being said, Sandy Bridge is better in just about every other category--but last I checked, 1366 was about the same price as an i5 SB setup, and a 1366 i7 is likely better (for gaming) than an SB i5. Just some food for thought. :peace:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neat joint - have to keep an eye on that place. Like I posted, I just went ahead and grabbed a G31 board to get back up to speed, 3 day UPS but since NE ships out of NJ I got a small chance of getting back in the game sometime Thursday (tomorrow) otherwise I'll be back at it on Friday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Freaking hilarious.

 

1) So, I lose one sata port (which I would like to keep) as I forgot to take into account my 8800GTS. Nice.

 

2) Even better. Motherboard *AND* Power Supply (which is 7 months out of warranty)

 

Naturally there is nothing avail local except a 400 watt Dynex at BestBuy.

 

Keeps getting better...

 

EDIT: And indeed it does. Startup loop, unrepairable by startup repair, probably some motherboard drivers, no way to slip them in as far as I can tell, so I have to reinstall. Not a big deal unless of course you do not have 8 gig free on the drive...'

 

And around and around I go...

 

I can save the SATA slot I lose by swapping the IDE DVD burner from the media machine for the SATA one I have in there now. - That's pretty much the extent of the good news. I'd actually consider getting that Dynex tonight and be done with it except for the fact that online its like half the price. Looks like I'm playing swap the PS the next couple days...

 

EDIT PART DEUX: Cheap donkey Corsair PS on the way - will use the OCZ that is not dead in the main machine and the Corsair in the media box.

 

I have also quenched my thirst for vengeance by the most American of ways. By dropping dime on WD 1.5 gig drive (because I apparently need space) and by grabbing a new notebook computer as I am now quite terrified that my HP from November 2007 is the next to give me the middle finger.

 

Poll: I'm going to send OCZ a note. The PS is 6-7 months out of warranty. Care to guess as to their response?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OCZ600EVOSLI

OCZ720EVOSLI

 

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-evostream-power-supply-eol.html

 

I'm months out of warranty however OCZ will give me my choice of the above if I pay shipping (and I send back my dead one)

 

Which one should I choose? Same model, diff watts. Both roll in the 77% efficiency range. And unfortunately, skew on the load side...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great out of warranty service from OCZ. Seems like, after asking, that they can make it more better good happen. A direct replacement for my 700 Gamestream with another 700 Gamestream since the PS is now out of production and they do have have some refurbed units around. The units I mentioned above have a noise rep, great supplies, but noisy.

 

All and all, this still sucked, but can't complain with the out of warranty service. Probably enough to make OCZ first choice from here on out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ULTRA PS service is also awesome. I had a 500 watt PS go bad and they sent me the newer 550 watt one as a replacement. No charge on shipping. Currently I have a 1000 watt HEC by compucase because it came with my case for $50 but it's always good to hear about who backs up their stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

And just over two years later the replacement MB has bit it. I imagine I should have paid attention to the clues...

 

- Ethernet port that needed to be "kicked" (change the speed settings in Device Manager) after booting or it would create a phantom network and not connect to the internet at all. That started maybe five months ago.

 

- Increasing memory freak out blue screens...

 

- One of the front fans would not spin up on start up. It would eventually get there - hour or two later perhaps...

 

- And then a couple days ago, printer on USB port would not actually be able to get the data to print. 64k down the line and then it would freeze up - the port that is.

 

And today, watching the NHL draft online - memory freakout blue screen and then.... Freeze on bios brand screen; can slowly get to bios settings (crawls getting there) and the one time I decided to save some changes to see if it was just a corrupted bios... well that was that. No bios screen at all anymore.

 

Deaderino :(

 

Anyone have a Intel Dual Core MB laying around for stupid cheap?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...I punched my eBay ticket last night for a $28 mb.

 

Lol - save as much money as possible on the single most critical component for your PC. Get the cheapest possible!

 

BRILLIANT! ;)

Edited by Baloosh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's be fair now... A Fall 2007 Core 2 Duo system. I need to keep it going but I'm not dropping $50+ for a MB on a six year old system. Also the pickings for C2D MB's at this point - new - are pretty much non-existent.

 

I actually gave thought, briefly, to eating a couple of hundred bucks and getting a cheap/refurbed i3 system and I would have if I had to eat more than fifty for a replacement MB. I do most of my work now on this (currently typing on) HP i5 laptop but that C2D system houses a ton of data (and most of my music). I'm more ticked off now that I lost an 45 minutes of Illustrator work in the crash (dual monitor setup with a 24" 1900x1200 display as primary I like to use for long Illustrator sessions)

 

Someday I'll join the New World and grab a i5 and upgrade ye' long-in-the-tooth 8800GTS 640 video card... someday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's be fair now. I need to keep it going but I'm not dropping $50+ for a MB

 

Bunch of crap about Adobesuck programs

 

 

Need to keep it going.

 

Spends $28 for a motherboard. Spending another $22 on top of that is OUT OF THE QUESTION

 

Runs Adobe Illustrator.

 

Saves less often than at least every 45 minutes.

 

 

You got 99 problems, son... but the need for a new PC ain't one. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tell me about it. The thing about saving is I *know* to save often.

 

But I had the NHL draft on the second screen and was distracted enough not to :(

 

And yes, there is a point where X to keep something going vs. Y better spent on a whole new system is hit. Especially when, as pointed out by Preach, I can get whole refurbed/used C2D systems for sub-100.

 

$30 to keep it going? Sure, why not. But more than that? Nah. No different than my other half's car. 1997 Mazda Protege - will not die - super low miles (like 55 thousand), still good gas mileage. There is absolutely value in slapping on tires and brakes and routine maintenance. The second some thing "big" happens? Thats pretty much it, no matter how much value remains in the car. Such is life...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, well, keep on giving me a hard time. My luck continues. Motherboard replacement has a toasted keyboard controller. Wireless usb, usb, and old-style purple PS/2 plug - nothing is recognized or even given power for that matter.

 

Good times...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...