New Computer Build HELP!
Friday, December 19, 2003 by kona0197 | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Need some help to all you computer experts.
I am currently building a new system for a friend. He went on Ebay and purchased a New PC Chips motherboard (new in the box even) along with a new case and a 400 watt power supply.
The board runs socket 370 processors as in Pentium 2 and Celeron but this one CAME with a VIA Giga Pro 600 mhz chip and a stick of 64 mb SD RAM.
I added out of my own pocket a 540 meg gig hard drive and a 32x CD ROM.
I hooked everything up and tried to load windows 98 (my friend says that windows 98 will work until he gets a stick of 256 SD RAM and a 40 gig Hard Drive) but windows did not want to load all the way. It keep having problems right at the detecting hardware phase.
I tracked down the problem to the stick of 64 meg SD RAM. Bad stick. So I gave a stick from my own system to him. (I am down to 128 for XP >
)
I proceed to load 98 and it worked and was stable.
I then got him a 1 gig drive and am now trying to load 98 and ME but both will not take.
Any ideas? What Am I doing wrong?
I am currently building a new system for a friend. He went on Ebay and purchased a New PC Chips motherboard (new in the box even) along with a new case and a 400 watt power supply.
The board runs socket 370 processors as in Pentium 2 and Celeron but this one CAME with a VIA Giga Pro 600 mhz chip and a stick of 64 mb SD RAM.
I added out of my own pocket a 540 meg gig hard drive and a 32x CD ROM.
I hooked everything up and tried to load windows 98 (my friend says that windows 98 will work until he gets a stick of 256 SD RAM and a 40 gig Hard Drive) but windows did not want to load all the way. It keep having problems right at the detecting hardware phase.
I tracked down the problem to the stick of 64 meg SD RAM. Bad stick. So I gave a stick from my own system to him. (I am down to 128 for XP >
)I proceed to load 98 and it worked and was stable.
I then got him a 1 gig drive and am now trying to load 98 and ME but both will not take.
Any ideas? What Am I doing wrong?
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voo
Reply #42 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:27 PM
Yes, true but research is a good bit of knowledge than panicking as soon as the problem has arisen than completely loosing the head and expecting 100 replies in 30 seconds like you see in most forums.
How many people ever read manuals... or FAQ's or most importantly "Read Me" files.
I dont know how many times ive seen "only n00bs read manuals"
Reply #42 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:27 PM
| #40 by Orion - 12/20/2003 8:18:13 PM No matter how good you are or how long you've been at it (almost 25 years for me) we all run into a stumper every now and then. I still believe that computers throw obstacles in your way just to test you. |
Yes, true but research is a good bit of knowledge than panicking as soon as the problem has arisen than completely loosing the head and expecting 100 replies in 30 seconds like you see in most forums.
How many people ever read manuals... or FAQ's or most importantly "Read Me" files.
I dont know how many times ive seen "only n00bs read manuals"
kona0197
Reply #43 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:36 PM
Reply #43 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:36 PM
Voodoo -
I spent 2 days working on this machine with only little amounts of sleep. Coming here to ask for help was a LAST DITCH effort to fix it.
I only ask for help here at WC with computers when all other avenues of help are exausted.
I love reading manuals. I read them all when I buy new hardware.
I spent 2 days working on this machine with only little amounts of sleep. Coming here to ask for help was a LAST DITCH effort to fix it.
I only ask for help here at WC with computers when all other avenues of help are exausted.
I love reading manuals. I read them all when I buy new hardware.
Tech-Cat
Reply #44 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:36 PM
Reply #44 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:36 PM
I feel it is best to read the manual first, and if it doesn't solve your problem or you don't understand it, then ask for help.
Apocalypse_67
Reply #45 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:50 PM
Yrag, Im afraid I'm gonna need a 'little' more input
Reply #45 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:50 PM
| Power cycle it... |
Yrag, Im afraid I'm gonna need a 'little' more input
XX
Reply #48 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:31 PM
I had someone come to me with that problem. I tapped the spot on top where axis of disk's spin is, sometimes it works, but that guy's HD was being stuck repeatly, if you got same problem, install 2nd drive and backup whatever you wanna keep, and when it stalls, tap that spot repeatly til it spins again.
But then it may be stuck for good. Only HD drive specialists can recover that hard drive by transferring internal discs into new drive. I certainly cannot do that.
Reply #48 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:31 PM
| My cousin bought a hard disk (WD Caviar 40 GB) about 8 months and all of the sudden it got stuck. Is there any way to get a stuck disk to run again, other than smashing it against the floor? |
I had someone come to me with that problem. I tapped the spot on top where axis of disk's spin is, sometimes it works, but that guy's HD was being stuck repeatly, if you got same problem, install 2nd drive and backup whatever you wanna keep, and when it stalls, tap that spot repeatly til it spins again.
But then it may be stuck for good. Only HD drive specialists can recover that hard drive by transferring internal discs into new drive. I certainly cannot do that.
bakerstreet
Reply #50 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:50 PM
Kona: If I had to suggest anything, it would be to remove everything but the video card, do the install, and then see if it works. If it does, then add each card/part until you find the one that it is coughing up during hardware detection. If the install on the old drive was successful, have you thought of taking the smaller drive and just moving the install to the new drive?
Have you checked the bios for anything screwy?
**
The golden rules of building a machine for someone you know.
1. Before you buy parts, visit the tech support sites for every piece of hardware you plan to buy. Go through their FAQs and messageboards if they have them, and write down any conflicts or common complaints. You can revise conflicting hardware choices before you buy
2. Before you buy parts, get a feel for what kind of games/software the person is gonna run, then go to their support sites and repeat step 1. If they don't know exactly, assume the worst. Some games won't work with some flavors of hardware at all... go look at the Everquest forums =/ .
3. Once you have bought the hardware, try to use an OS that is network capable in safe mode, and then ignore the stock drivers that come with the hardware. Go to the sites, make sure there aren't new drivers, and only then install the ones that come in the box. That stuff sits around so long before it is shipped that even cutting-edge stuff has had driver revisions before it hits the shelves.
4. When you get it all running nicely, and before they start dumping their software and games on it, make a stock, plain-Jane drive image on a small, separate partition. This means that at any time when they monkey something up, you can always revert back to the stock, non-screwed state without having to repeat step 3. I can't tell you how much headache this will save. The stock install isn't usually a 1/20th of the average drive size, so the 'wasted' space is negligible.
Reply #50 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:50 PM
Kona: If I had to suggest anything, it would be to remove everything but the video card, do the install, and then see if it works. If it does, then add each card/part until you find the one that it is coughing up during hardware detection. If the install on the old drive was successful, have you thought of taking the smaller drive and just moving the install to the new drive?
Have you checked the bios for anything screwy?
**
The golden rules of building a machine for someone you know.
1. Before you buy parts, visit the tech support sites for every piece of hardware you plan to buy. Go through their FAQs and messageboards if they have them, and write down any conflicts or common complaints. You can revise conflicting hardware choices before you buy
2. Before you buy parts, get a feel for what kind of games/software the person is gonna run, then go to their support sites and repeat step 1. If they don't know exactly, assume the worst. Some games won't work with some flavors of hardware at all... go look at the Everquest forums =/ .
3. Once you have bought the hardware, try to use an OS that is network capable in safe mode, and then ignore the stock drivers that come with the hardware. Go to the sites, make sure there aren't new drivers, and only then install the ones that come in the box. That stuff sits around so long before it is shipped that even cutting-edge stuff has had driver revisions before it hits the shelves.
4. When you get it all running nicely, and before they start dumping their software and games on it, make a stock, plain-Jane drive image on a small, separate partition. This means that at any time when they monkey something up, you can always revert back to the stock, non-screwed state without having to repeat step 3. I can't tell you how much headache this will save. The stock install isn't usually a 1/20th of the average drive size, so the 'wasted' space is negligible.
yrag
Reply #51 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:51 PM
Sorry Nan..I dozed off...Two ways to do it 1- turn off computer and unplug hard drive, count to ten and plug it back in. Restart 'puter. 2- Start computer and as soon as post appears hit the pause key. Do the same thing with the plug. Hit enter and see if 'puter continues to boot. My guess is that it's running on a stock 300W power supply...might be underpowered. You could try unpluging your CD and floppy and anything else and see if that starts it. If this doesn't work, let me know and we'll try the 'frig' routine...
...China ...only you would think that sounded like fun..
Reply #51 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:51 PM
| #45 by JourneyMan Apocalypse_67 - 12/20/2003 8:50:32 PM Power cycle it... Yrag, Im afraid I'm gonna need a 'little' more input |
Sorry Nan..I dozed off...Two ways to do it 1- turn off computer and unplug hard drive, count to ten and plug it back in. Restart 'puter. 2- Start computer and as soon as post appears hit the pause key. Do the same thing with the plug. Hit enter and see if 'puter continues to boot. My guess is that it's running on a stock 300W power supply...might be underpowered. You could try unpluging your CD and floppy and anything else and see if that starts it. If this doesn't work, let me know and we'll try the 'frig' routine...
...China ...only you would think that sounded like fun..
Apocalypse_67
Reply #52 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:55 PM
Reply #52 Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:55 PM
Thankx Yrag. I'll ask my cousin to bring me the disk and give it a shot. I'll let you know if it worked. 
You took the words out of my keyboard
[Message Edited]
| China ...only you would think that sounded like fun.. |
You took the words out of my keyboard
[Message Edited]
kona0197
Reply #53 Saturday, December 20, 2003 10:24 PM
NOT POSSIBLE. Onboard Video.
I would like to flash the bios but I am unable to find a update on the mobo manufactuers site.
Reply #53 Saturday, December 20, 2003 10:24 PM
| Kona: If I had to suggest anything, it would be to remove everything but the video card, |
NOT POSSIBLE. Onboard Video.
I would like to flash the bios but I am unable to find a update on the mobo manufactuers site.
Stockholm Syndrome
Reply #54 Saturday, December 20, 2003 11:35 PM
Reply #54 Saturday, December 20, 2003 11:35 PM
Is the machine working now or what? 
bakerstreet
Reply #55 Saturday, December 20, 2003 11:35 PM
Reply #55 Saturday, December 20, 2003 11:35 PM
No, no. Please don't flash the bios...
You didn't read what I said. You would have a hard time installing the OS without video, wouldn't you? What I said was "Remove everything but the video card. If it has onboard sound, the motherboard manual will tell you how to disable it, or you'll have a setting to do so in the bios.
You can also turn off the onboard video with a jumper setting or in the bios on 99.9% of all motherboards. That is the only way to reduce conflicts when you use a better AGP or PCI card.
Once you have everything removed/turned off besides the video, then install your OS. If it works, then add your network card, sound card, etc. one at a time and let the new windows install detect them. When you get to one that causes it to freeze, you've found your culprit.
You didn't read what I said. You would have a hard time installing the OS without video, wouldn't you? What I said was "Remove everything but the video card. If it has onboard sound, the motherboard manual will tell you how to disable it, or you'll have a setting to do so in the bios.
You can also turn off the onboard video with a jumper setting or in the bios on 99.9% of all motherboards. That is the only way to reduce conflicts when you use a better AGP or PCI card.
Once you have everything removed/turned off besides the video, then install your OS. If it works, then add your network card, sound card, etc. one at a time and let the new windows install detect them. When you get to one that causes it to freeze, you've found your culprit.
Orion
Reply #56 Sunday, December 21, 2003 8:37 AM
Reply #56 Sunday, December 21, 2003 8:37 AM
I agree with BakerStreet 100%. If you still don't have any luck, try another video card if you have one. Most mobos these days with onboard video will detect if another video card is installed and use that one instead of the on-board.
Also, being that PC-Chips mobos are an abomination to both God and man (my experience), do not mess with flashing the bios.
Also, being that PC-Chips mobos are an abomination to both God and man (my experience), do not mess with flashing the bios.
kona0197
Reply #57 Sunday, December 21, 2003 10:08 AM
yes it is working fine.
Reply #57 Sunday, December 21, 2003 10:08 AM
| Is the machine working now or what? |
yes it is working fine.
mrtee
Reply #58 Sunday, December 21, 2003 4:48 PM
Reply #58 Sunday, December 21, 2003 4:48 PM
Kona,
To have Windows 98 and Me on the same computer you need a boot loader.
I use OS Selector 8 from www.acronis.com, check it out.
To have Windows 98 and Me on the same computer you need a boot loader.
I use OS Selector 8 from www.acronis.com, check it out.
kona0197
Reply #59 Sunday, December 21, 2003 6:09 PM
I am ONLY using 98. but thanks for the tip, the machine runs fine, thanks everyone.
Reply #59 Sunday, December 21, 2003 6:09 PM
| To have Windows 98 and Me on the same computer you need a boot loader. |
I am ONLY using 98. but thanks for the tip, the machine runs fine, thanks everyone.
mrtee
Reply #60 Sunday, December 21, 2003 9:55 PM
From your original post, that is why I mentioned a bootloader.
Glad it's working.
Reply #60 Sunday, December 21, 2003 9:55 PM
| I then got him a 1 gig drive and am now trying to load 98 and ME but both will not take.Any ideas? What Am I doing wrong? |
From your original post, that is why I mentioned a bootloader.
Glad it's working.
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Reply #41 Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:23 PM
I believe that sums it up.