Computer Problems/Upgrades/Info

[Iceburgs]

Here's a conundrum I have been trying to figure out. My computer at work freezes at the same point in booting up every morning. Just before switching from the black windows loading screen to the blue windows login screen, some command is sent to the keyboard which makes the three keyboard lights flash then go off, and then the lights don't come back on and the computer stops loading. I then have to manually power cycle, select to start windows normally, and when it gets to the same place in loading it goes to the windows checkdisk screen instead of freezing.

The fact that this only happens on a cold boot, makes me think that it is hardware-related; however, it happens at the exact same point in loading, so I'm pretty sure it's software-related. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[TAZTG]

One of the Start Up files is probably corrupted or located in a bad sector on the Hard Drive. When this happens here at work they just re-burn the hard drive. Make sure you back up all your work files and call in a Trouble Ticket.

 

[Bonecrusher]

Yeah... if its a work computer it shouldn't be your issue to resolve should it?

 

[Iceburgs]

Well, seeing as we have 9 employees, and the majority of the computers are MACs, and I am the resident PC expert, it IS my problem. So any suggestions y'all can make would surely be helpful. It happens to be a Dell, so if I have to restore to factory settings I will—I am just trying to avoid doing that for quite a few reasons. I've let it run scan disk on the HDD and it doesn't find any errors or bad sectors, so I am not sure that is the issue, TAZ. Anyone know if there is a log from scandisk and where I can find it?

 

[TAZTG]

Still sounds like a corrupt startup file.
I was having an error that popped up everytime I logged on. When I restarted Scan Disk would run and it started fine. It eventually got worse and I had to have them reburn the hard drive. I forget the Message but it had the $ symbol as a file..

 

[Iceburgs]

Still sounds like a corrupt startup file.
I was having an error that popped up everytime I logged on. When I restarted Scan Disk would run and it started fine. It eventually got worse and I had to have them reburn the hard drive. I forget the Message but it had the $ symbol as a file..

I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I am not getting an error—the hdd stops being accessed and Windows just stops loading. As I mentioned earlier, the problem occurs right at the point where the loading screen would switch to the login screen. It's actually at that same point that it will kick over to scan disk the next time around. I tried tinkering with the BIOS today. We'll see if it did anything tomorrow.

 

[Bonecrusher]

I'd still say its either the hard drive going bad or bad memory. I don't think a lock-up during boot is software related. Start swapping out hardware with another machine and see what turns up.

Hell if they're all the same type (Dell... most companies buy in bulk), just pull out the HD and put it in another and see if it boots ok.

 

[Iceburgs]

BeeCee, that's a great idea. Sadly, it will have to wait till some day when I am the only one there. I don't think the boss would take too kindly to my lobotomizing the PCs.

 

[TAZTG]

Tell the Boss to invest some money and upgrade the systems. LOL

 

[Iceburgs]

Well, it looks like the bios tinkering may have done the trick. (Fingers crossed!) I think it may have been some weird conflict between the bios and Windows. Basically, I had the bios configured to have the numlock key be on at post, while I also had configured every occurrence in the registry to have numlock on. (I was having some crazy problem where most times when I logged on, numlock wasn't on--but not always.) So, I switched numlock to off at post, as well as tinkered with a few other things that I don't remember and shouldn't have been the cause anyway (but you never know). We'll see tomorrow if it still works.

 

[«BuA»Lurker_71]

Ok guys, I'm looking at $300 to spend in upgrades, and while I know that won't get me over to Intel, here's a couple of things I'd like your opinion on.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.258111
Now my mobo should cover the the same socket as this mobo, but it's not PCIe 2, like this one is... and yes, I saw that it comes with an 8 series onboard Nvidia vid chipset.
EDIT: Another reason I chose this mobo was because it will use my current RAM (800).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130469
I believe this is a pretty good price for a 250, but as I said before; I wanted your opinions.
I know I can stick this card in my mobo and it'll run, so if you think I should hold out on the mobo til I can get something better, I'll do it.

If I remember correctly; someone said XP will only recognize 3 gig of RAM, or was it 2?

 

[Iceburgs]

Welps, the computer has been working right off the bat for 4 days running, so it's obvious that it was a bios setting problem. I am pretty sure it was the numlock setting, but since it works, I'm not going to try to change back anything else I switched. Thanks for all your input, guys!

 

[Shattered_Steel]

Good work, Ice.

Lurk - yes, it is 3 Gigs of RAM max for XP.

 

[TAZTG]

Ok guys, I'm looking at $300 to spend in upgrades, and while I know that won't get me over to Intel, here's a couple of things I'd like your opinion on.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.258111
Now my mobo should cover the the same socket as this mobo, but it's not PCIe 2, like this one is... and yes, I saw that it comes with an 8 series onboard Nvidia vid chipset.
EDIT: Another reason I chose this mobo was because it will use my current RAM (800).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130469
I believe this is a pretty good price for a 250, but as I said before; I wanted your opinions.
I know I can stick this card in my mobo and it'll run, so if you think I should hold out on the mobo til I can get something better, I'll do it.

If I remember correctly; someone said XP will only recognize 3 gig of RAM, or was it 2?

Why not go with Quad Core?

AMD CPU: Phenom X4 9750 (2.4 GHz) OEM
Current Cost: $96

Given that AMD has lowered Phenom X4 price levels significantly since our previous guide, it's a foregone conclusion that we're moving to a quad core CPU. The 2.4-2.6 GHz Phenom X4 models also outpace the fastest Athlon 64 X2 in terms of single-thread gaming speed, and with multi-threading becoming more prevalent everyday, there is no reason not to make the jump.

The Phenom X4 9750 features a true quad core design with 512K of L2 cache per core (2MB per CPU) and 2MB of shared L3 cache. This is a 65nm processor, featuring an onboard 128-bit dual-channel DDR2 memory controller, with support up to DDR2-1066. It runs at a 2.4 GHz clock speed at a TDP of 125W, and with a $164 price tag, this makes it a perfect fit for our budget.

I read good things about the AMD 790 Chipsets.

AMD Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 (AMD 790X)

Current Cost: $109

Socket AM2+ is the AMD platform through 2008, and it really comes down the choice of individual chipset. We've had great luck with the AMD 7 Series, specifically the 790FX, 790GX and 790X. These will support all the features of the newest Phenom processors, while remaining backward compatible with existing Socket AM2 Athlon 64
X2 models. Due to our budget, we going to save a few bucks and go with the less expensive AMD 790X, which still supports dual PCI-E 2.0 x16 CrossFireX (the AMD 790FX doubles that to Quad CrossFireX) and has all the high-end features of the 790FX. For an entry-level system, there is absolutely no downside to the less expensive AMD 790X.

Yea, a little more expensive but a better upgrade.

 

[«BuA»Lurker_71]

Why not go with Quad Core?

I read good things about the AMD 790 Chipsets.

Yea, a little more expensive but a better upgrade.

Only problem I have with this is it cuts out the vid card in lieu of buying new ram... but with the change in price, I couldn't get the 250 anyway.

 

[TAZTG]

That motherboard supports your current Ram. DDR2

 

[Bonecrusher]

Dave is right, the motherboard he suggested supports DDR2 1066. The only issue I see is that its no longer available via newegg

9 times out of 10 combo deals are places like newegg throwing the crap that isn't that great together and throwing a "too good to be true" pricetag on it. Even though I'd be worried about a quad core thats under 100 bucks... it still looks like an upgrade that'll last a bit longer.

It really depends how much stuff you do that can utilize four cores. The lower clock speed may come back and bite you in the ass if you're only using half the processor. If thats the case, your original choice would be more suitable.

Hey Dave... how often do you use all four of your cores?

 

[TAZTG]

Hey Dave... how often do you use all four of your cores?

Lets see, I played L4D and used one. Then checked Email and saw another one fire up. I surfed some Porn (Streaming) and used the third. I forgot about L4D and started up GW. I suppose that didn't really need a core but it was there if it did. LOL

I suppose its not if you use all of them, its probably helps with certain apps. For Gamers its really all about the GPU, RAM and Bandwidth..

 

[Devastator]

I use all 4 while rendering stuff in 3ds max

 

[«BuA»Lurker_71]

That motherboard supports your current Ram. DDR2

Dave is right, the motherboard he suggested supports DDR2 1066.

I'm not using 1066, I'm using 800.

Also; is the GTX or GTS series of cards better?

I've got a 600watt PS, where can I find out if it's going to be enough to run the new hardware?