How-To Geek Forums Topic: (Solved)

How-To Geek Forums Topic: (Solved) - First time builder http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ How-To Geek Forums Topic: (Solved) - First time builder en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:27:10 +0000 ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder/page/2#post-97885 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:18:42 +0000 ScottW 97885@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ An <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314859/">F6 disk</a> refers to a diskette containing device drivers that are required to install XP, but are not included on the XP install CD. During install there is a message at the bottom of the screen to "Press F6 to install drivers" or some such. This is when you would put in the diskette to load your SATA drivers because the XP install CD does not contain SATA drivers. I guess I just assumed that you had done this or your hard drive should not have shown up at all. My bad for assuming. You know, this might be key to the whole LBA business. By disabling LBA mode in the BIOS, that allowed XP to see the drive but it still wouldn't know that it is SATA and couldn't communicate with it properly. Hence the "disk read" error. The Windows 7 installer does have SATA drivers, so there are no problems with it. AHCI is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface">Advanced Host Controller Interface</a> which is part of the SATA spec and the type usually assigned to SATA device drivers. ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder/page/2#post-97873 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:25:31 +0000 ptseet 97873@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Okay, watchaucallit? Lolz I have no idea what an F6 disk is, and just got a gist of this AHCI thing. -delete- Okay. Soz =) ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder/page/2#post-97868 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:12:37 +0000 ScottW 97868@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ ptseet, congratulations, you built a computer! Thank you for the kind words and you are welcome for the help. I just went to the Asus website to look for the manual. When I select "Downloads" for the P5Q SE2, it asks which operating system, and XP is on the list along with many others. I can't think of any reason for compatibility issues with XP. Say, did you have an F6 disk with AHCI drivers on it? ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder/page/2#post-97839 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:15:26 +0000 ptseet 97839@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Okay, I think its considered "solved" for now I installed Windows 7 RC. It works like a breeze. No errors whatsoever. Is there some compatibility issues with XP or something? Ill bump up this thread if anything arises once again. Again, Thanks alot. Especially you ScottW. You are an asset to this website and I thank you for your guidance. I have now succeeded in building my first computer =) Cheers! and thanks again! ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97831 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:50:31 +0000 ptseet 97831@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Just finished the long test using SeaTools. Long test PASSED To explain what I did, refer to the link I had post above: Here is the link again, <a href="http://whocares.de/error-loading-operating-system/" rel="nofollow">http://whocares.de/error-loading-operating-system/</a> I encountered something so similar, I assumed that I can try the same solution. "Change the translation method used to access the hard drive from the default setting “Auto” to “Large” (not LBA, not CHS!)." I tried looking at the translation method: found a "LBA/Large" option and the only options I were given were auto/disabled. As I can recall, Auto mentions that it by defaults sets it at LBA. So I tried disable instead. Anyway, I landed up with that disk read error. Improvement or not Im not sure, Im getting different errors though =) -edit- After the scanning by Seatool, I cant find that option anymore. Goodness, where did it dissapear -edit edit- Tried updating my BIOS. Gave me an error. UNABLE TO UPDATE BIOS DUE TO AN INTERNAL ERROR. HEelllllppp!! -editeditedit- Hmm, found the option again. For some reason, my SATA slots were not listed out in the main just now when I couldnt find it. Thats weird... ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97824 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:25:55 +0000 ScottW 97824@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ If the track you're on is to use ASUS EZ Flash to backup and flash up the BIOS, that sounds right to me. You should be able to read and write the BIOS to a USB flash drive. I have done this on another Asus board and I would expect this one to be similar. As for the LBA thing, as far as I know, all modern hard drives use <a href="http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/modesLBA-c.html">Logical Block Addressing</a> (LBA). You will have to check the manual for the motherboard, but what does it mean if you disable LBA/Large Mode? ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97820 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:52:12 +0000 ptseet 97820@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ -edit- I think I got it, looked at the images in that link and saw a [B]ackup button i can press. Still waiting for the LOOOOONG HDD test from Seagate after passing the short one. Going to update my bios to version 0601 after the test if my HD has no problem <a href="http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=URA00A6u0GrUqHiH&content=overview" rel="nofollow">http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=URA00A6u0GrUqHiH&content=overview</a> Am I on the right track? Question though, why am i getting disk read error if my hdd has no problems? It seems like a common problem with those who disable the LBA/Large feature thing. Thx ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97816 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:18:29 +0000 ptseet 97816@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Alright ran Seatools, ran the basic short test, and it went through the thing error free. Now running the long test, just to be sure. Any other ideas? Should I proceed with updating the bios? How do I save the existing BIOS to my pendrive? Ive been reading this guide and it doesnt really show how to store it in the pendrive: <a href="http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20070215223109668&board_id=1&model=P5B+Deluxe%2FWiFi-AP&SLanguage=en-us&page=1" rel="nofollow">http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20070215223109668&board_id=1&model=P5B+Deluxe%2FWiFi-AP&SLanguage=en-us&page=1</a> ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97812 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:42:30 +0000 ScottW 97812@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Since the drive is saying "read error", you should give it a checkup with <a href="http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/">Seagate's SeaTools</a> diagnostics. If you can't boot into Windows to install the Windows version, the DOS version can be written to a bootable diskette or CD. ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97807 Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:34:47 +0000 ptseet 97807@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ And it seems that it wasnt really harmful in a way. So, dudes. What bout my current problem T_T Okay, by looking at the thread. Im gonna have a go with updating my BIOS first. Any other suggestions? -edit- Also, it still seems like his problem isn't solved. So is it something to do with the requirement of needing an IDE or something? Gosh, i got everything SATA thinking IDE is probably going to be a little obsolute ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97772 Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:57:21 +0000 ScottW 97772@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ For the message from the Marvell ATA controller, that is something that a lot of ASUS boards do. We just saw this <a href="http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/new-system-wont-boot-from-cd-cant-install-windows#post-95568">recently in another thread</a>. You can leave the Marvell controller on, but disable the boot option and it won't spit out a "no hard drive found" message. ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97730 Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:16:29 +0000 ptseet 97730@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Okay, I went ahead and just went and bought everything. Yes, that was stupid. But I was pretty sure I got my basics right, Here is what I have: MB: Asus P5Q SE2 (sorry, site is down at time of posting, so couldnt post the link) Ram: Kingston DDR2 800 4Gb (2 x 2Gb) Case: Some generic case. PSU: Coolermaster Extreme + 500W ( Has 70+ efficiency) HD: Seagate Barracuda GT7200.11 1Tb GPU: Radeon HD4850 Okay here are my probs so far: GPU turned out to be a monster, so had to do some destruction to my case to fit it in. Solved there. I got a rough idea that everything seems to be assembled properly Problem: Cant get OS installed First error I got was that my harddisk cannot be detected. (Not really an error, as the installation of windows continues on smoothly) Solved with this link: <a href="http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-251476_12_0.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-251476_12_0.html</a> Fixed it by disabling the Marvel IDE, but i suppose it wasnt necessary as it doesnt affect anything. Please correct me and enlighten me if you see any discrepancies. So yea, I proceed with installing Windows XP, formats the partition I need. Then proceeds to restart. Then an error comes out "Error loading operating system" when I DO NOT hit any key when they ask "Hit any key to boot from CD" I then proceeded with this solution: <a href="http://whocares.de/error-loading-operating-system/" rel="nofollow">http://whocares.de/error-loading-operating-system/</a> By changing the settings of my SATA Hdd: LBA/Large Mode to disabled. (There is only auto and disabled) Then by doing that, I reformatted my drive again, and this time an error "A disk read error occurred, Press CrtlAltDelete to restart" Someone in the previous link had this problem, the the topic starter stated it could be the problem with the harddisk. Considering that it is also happening to me, and quite a number of people. I dont think its my harddisk. Here is what you need to know about my harddisk: 1. Its not brand new, its taken from an external hdd casing 2. It doesnt have any OS installed in it, use it for data storage 3. Has three partitions, before chucking it into my computer, had one partition cleaned out to make way for the new OS As of now, I assumed that it was my OS that has problems maybe XP isnt compatible or something. So I am downloading Windows 7 RC right now. Going to try it later while I wait for replies. Anything that may help me? And any info you need, please ask. Thanks yebellz on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97413 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:14:55 +0000 yebellz 97413@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ I building a PC as well. I found a cheaper DVD/CD RW Drive Samsung DVD/CD RW w/ LightScribe ($28) Item= N82E16827151173 It's good that you changed your RAM choice. I'm getting much better RAM, CORSAIR 6GB DDR3 1600 (Item= N82E16820145236), for the same price ($125) JH on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97396 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:57:12 +0000 JH 97396@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Although it is best to run a PSU at between 50 and 75% load as that is where it is most energy efficient. There's no point buying 1000W just because you think that it will be efficient unloaded. ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97319 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:10:17 +0000 ScottW 97319@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ That's not a dumb question, it's a good one and we get it a lot. The answer is no, there really is no such thing as a PSU with too many watts. Wattage is a product of voltage and amperage. In a PC power supply, the voltages are fixed. There are 3.3V rails, 5V rails, 12V rails and so on (V = volts). It is the devices that have a large current draw (or suck a lot of juice!) that require more amperage. A PSU with a high wattage number is able to provide lots of current (amperage) at those fixed voltages to any device that should need it. Having the extra current *available*, even if it is never used, is not harmful. ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-97316 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:50:43 +0000 ptseet 97316@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Okay, Im still looking around. Got a dumb question to ask Is there such thing as like having 'too much' power for the PSU when you have like barely anything that sucks power from the motherboard? Would anything be like fried if the wattage is like too high? THanks ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-96828 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:42:24 +0000 ScottW 96828@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ 2) Antec, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, Rosewill. However, if the reviews at Newegg are good, you shouldn't worry too much about a well-known brand. Try the "Advanced Search" option at Newegg which lets you specify options, prices, ratings and so on. For example, <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010090007%204026%201295819209%201087008026&page=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&Order=RATING">here is a search that I did</a> on cases with 2 x 120mm fans, no built-in PSU, and $50-$75 US, sorted by rating. 3) 450 W minimum with an 80% efficiency rating. Here again, the Advanced Search will help you. 4) First of all, the Biostar motherboard you have chosen has only 1 PCI-E x16 slot, so it's not able to run two graphics adapters in a CrossFireX or SLI configuration. As for the limitation on CrossFireX or SLI with a motherboard that can take two cards, it is not the slots but the chipset. The Intel P45 chipset used on the Biostar mobo supports CrossFireX but does not officially support SLI. Any boards with Nvidia nForce chipsets support SLI, but not CrossFireX. There are some chipsets that can handle both. ptseet on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-96826 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:52:47 +0000 ptseet 96826@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ Okay, Ill do more hunting later after my exam paper. =p 1. Changing the ram, that should be easy. Made a careless mistake. 2. What brands of casings are well-known? 3. How much wattage in the PSU should I be looking for? 4. Oh yea, I didnt really ask this previously. When choosing a motherboard, does the PCI-e slots differ between ATI and Nvidia? I read somewhere where this can be different when you decide to run SLi or Crossfirex. ScottW on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-96787 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:43:03 +0000 ScottW 96787@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ ptseet, hello. First, you have chosen DDR2 400 memory, but this speed is not supported by that motherboard. According to <a href="http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/t-series/introduction.php?S_ID=368">Biostar</a>, the memory spec is: "Support Dual Channel DDR2 667/800/1066(OC) MHz". Step up to DDR2 667, at least. I don't like the case. It comes with exactly one fan -- a 120mm top exhaust. That's not enough cooling for my tastes. The power supply, which is apparently at the front of the case, doesn't even have a fan. They say you can add a side 120mm fan, and a rear and bottom 80mm fan. None of that impresses me. Also, you are getting a 350 W integrated PSU rather than a well-known, quality brand of higher wattage. From Cooler Master's website, this PSU only has a 70% efficiency rating. Not good. I can't find a power supply specification for the PowerColor graphics card with the Radeon 4770 in it. However, you did say that you want the potential to upgrade in the future. Not with that wimpy power supply, you won't. I recommend that you get a good PSU now because even if you never upgrade the system, it will be more stable if fed plenty of good clean power. CompCrash on "(Solved) - First time builder" http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/first-time-builder#post-96778 Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:51:06 +0000 CompCrash 96778@http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/ I haven't checked you hardware yet, I will soon. I can answer your question though; 1. The DDR5 is only used by the video card and thats it so you don't need anything special for it. 2. As for the motherboard is just what you want in it. You need the right CPU socket, which you know and form factor, ATX, mini ATX or BTX, to fit the case. PCIe 2.0 16x slots, SATA ports, max memory supported, and type of RAM supported is all based on what you want to have and can afford. 3. ATX is still most popular. BTX never really took off. ATX is going to be easiest to find and there isn't any real reason to get another form factor (as for as I know).