Too Ironic

[2JSC]

(Writing this to you on my sister's computer)

Ok - on Wednesday I got my new CPu to start building my PC... and on thursday morning I noticed the power light on my eMachines was on, but it wasn't running. So i turned it on. Everything started up... but it didn't make the usual noises. Turn the monitor on and it says "check connection". :angry: Crack it open and see whats up... when powered back up the optical drives don't even open up like they are getting no power. So I swap in the 350watt PSU that came with my X-Dreamer case and see if thats the problem... nope, samething... everything powers up(CPU((atleast the fan does)), rear fan, and sounds like the HDD does but I'm not sure). So I'm thinking its the motherboard. Now this PC was going to go to my parents once mine was running and this one got formatted and the rest. So you think its the MB too? I'm also hoping to be able to recover all the data on the 60giger thats inside because I have a lot of important files/videos/music on it... think its salvagable with some software after my new one is up and running? Currently fighting with it to be able to format the 80gb hdd.So I've been :duh: for the past 2 days trying to think of what I can do. Still want to give the eMachines to my parents, even if I have to replace the MB... but you think the CPU died too? If so - looks like a cheap barebones system or a cheap s753 Sempron upgrade.

Back to tearing it apart...

[Fibbles]

Go the cheap 754 route if you have to. There's surprising quality there. 754 CPU's will still be around for a year or so, a little longer than 939's according to that AM2 pricing article. That way you could add a nice 2.4 to 2.8ghz CPU down the road and make it into a decent whatever system.

[2JSC]

it'll be mainly for my dad - he knows how to turn it on, and get on the net... thats about it - a 1.8Ghz Sempron will suffice ^_^ - I got XP installed on my 80gig hdd, so it ain't dead... know is there a good software I could dl for free or one that you recommend for purchase to transfer everything from my old hdd to my new one?

[2JSC]

ok XP is loaded in my new PC... and for some reason its taking 5min to boot up fully? :huh: And it won't recognize my USB mouse or USB keyboard... Anyone?

[GodsUnicorn]

I once had a duff opticl drive that made my whole system slow to a crawl.
And a USB card reader that stopped it from booting.

[2JSC]

Ok - for some oddly reason when it boots, its wanting to boot into Windows from the CD-rom only... even in the BIOS its told to boot from the HardDisk twice and CD-rom lastly. Still doesn't recognize my USB mouse or keyboard, so I have to steal my dads PS/2 Keyboard and mouse lol. I'm gonna try and flash the bios to the newer version with my USB jump drive and see what I can do - but anyone got anything else I might want to try?

[2JSC]

ok - went and bought a floppy drive for $10 and flashed the bios to a newer version, used FDISK to partition and format the hdd and have yet to try installing windows again... but when the pc turns on, the POST takes like 5min... before it wants to boot into anything. I can't completly figure this one out, can some one gimme a hand here?

[AWACS]

check all your connections and try resetting cmos... after that it's just to give it a go again and then if it doesn't work it's time to bang head into walls... but I'm wondering what mobo you have

[fivecheebs]

Try removing everything you dont need, opticals, slave HDs etc and see if that helps POST quicker. If it does its a question of putting one thing back at a time until you see a problem again. Also worth trying some differnt IDE cables too mate.

[2JSC]

using a Gigabyte K8NS-Pro w/ s754 3000+ Venice, and only have 1 cd-rom, floppy, and 1 hdd hooked up. And the bios is updated to most current... thanks AWACS & cheebs... I'll try those tonight.

[lbreevesii]

yeah you never know what will keep a system from booting. Optical drives, hard drives, bad cables, reset the bios, unplug the mobo from the psu for a few hours and pull all pci cards.

[2JSC]

:duh: You will never guess what it was that was causing all of my problems! NEVER OVERLOOK THE HDD JUMPERS! The 80gb drive that I'm using was a slave in the previous machine, and I never moved the jumper to "Master"... :duh::duh::duh: I feel sooo stupid. And after reading my manual a little, and configuring a few things, Windows boots in about 10-15sec. Thanks for your help guys, I appreciate it!

But I'm still having problems with my USB mouse & Keyboard... I've installed the drivers for the mouse(keyboard is a genaric USB board without a driver CD)... the mouse seems to work, but the laser doesn't come on... is it dead? How does that happen? And Windows can't even find a driver for the keyboard to make it work. Uhg - solve one thing and something else happens(still happening)

[2JSC]

ok - tomorrow I'm heading to the valley(taking mom to doctor)... and am going to swing buy BestBuy to pick up a new mouse an keyboard(they were gonna get trashed at some point ^_^ - but the big thing is, I'm getting my first payday after the raise I got.... and am looking at spending $300 of it on a new component, rest is bills and other expences(damn gas hog of a Jeep - and @ $2.69/gal, it sucks!). So, should I get a new LCD monitor, or a 6800GS vid card? I'm torn... Leaning heavily twords the monitor though, a Hyundai L90D+

Anyway - I'm going to be tearing the pannels off and rewiring it for that cleaner look that never happened. Also, I never got around to sleeving the PSU and donno if I will, but maybe some of the smaller items will get sleeves.

Off to bed - been up since 3am today so I'm going on 20hrs awake.. night.

[2JSC]

Ok - I had to take my mom & dad down to the valley today because my mom had a doctors appointment, and my dad realy shouldn't be driving. SO I took them. And on our way home we were going by a CompUSA, and they said, "Hey go in there, we need a new printer" and they did, because the old one puked ink all over a paper it was printing and then had seezed up and didn't want to do anything - so we were looking around and they said... "Don't you need a new mouse and keyboard? THe old ones don't work with your new pc right? Go pick out new ones and well get them for you" SO... sweet!

I got myself a new Logitech Media Elite Keyboard(really nice and soft) & a new Microsoft LaserMouse 6000(really sweet!)... and browsing around the store some more my mom said "Arn't you looking at a new LCD too?" Yep... which one were you looking at?" They don't have it here "Well wich one here would you get?".... and guess what?! They got me a new Samsung 930B monitor! They say its a "Thanks for being a good kid and helping us out gift" Got to love my parents!!!! :woot: And now with my PC up and running strong, and with a new monitor - I'm in total love with this thing(bright screen takes some getting used to but I love it!).... I think I'm going to order that 6800GS this weekend, and then I think I'll really be set for a while!

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

and they say nice guys comes last. :D