[Huz]

Did you say the disk is making its 'normal noise', Sam? That's a bit odd, as usually when HDs kill themselves they stop running altogether - so perhaps there is hope in fiddling with its location on the IDE chain.

Oh, and if the BIOS won't auto-detect it when you start your PC, you can always try inputting the details manually, though I don't know why that would help - just something to try. The heads/cylinders info you need should be on a label on the drive itself.

Finally, if you're not going to bother taking it to a HD recovery specialist, try hitting it against the desk when it's turned on, or shaking it. Seriously.

[bysmitty]

^ Is right, I forgot to mention that last part. As a last resort, you can sometimes eak out a few hours of life from a hard drive by giving it a slight jolt. You can try taps on the desk or dropping it from a few inches up. Sometimes works, sometimes just kills drive more. Again, as a last resort.

...bysmitty

[samIamsad]

You're poking fun at me, aren't you?

[rlpw]

Originally Posted by samIamsad

You're poking fun at me, aren't you?

No there not Sam, you would be surprised sometimes what works

[Aj_]

My old grandmother used to say anything mechanical, give it a good bashing.*

*quote from a good film

[samIamsad]

Amazing. I kind of thought jolting could have gotten me into trouble in the first place. Too much moving around in the last couple of years, and maybe hard drives don't really like car driving all that much...

How about harsh language? Stupid bitch gotta work!

Originally Posted by bysmitty

There are 2 40gig drives but only 1 doesn't work? Which drive is the OS on? Does it show up in bios at all?

It was the one with the OS on it. I had to install the OS on the other drive to get my system functional again... Bios doesn't show a thing, I'll try some of the stuff you guys mentioned in here in the next couple of days. Muchas gracias.

I know what you are going through;

May I ... phone you? Heheh, seriously let's form the club of anynomous hard drive thwackers.

[Aj_]

Just to be clear, as much as hitting a mechanical thing can jolt things back into place, or remove an obstructing object, it can damage the more delicate things, or jolt things out of place. Don't want anyone applying this logic in general.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by Aj_

Don't want anyone applying this logic in general.

Even though it worked on my brother, with my DVD drive it never did, so you need not worry.

[rlpw]

Dear Bysmitty,

I was wondering if you had an answer to this. Recently Windows has been shutting down any game that requires a high level of graphics acceleration. I was wondering if this might be due to the fact that my power source is to small. I am running an ATI 9600 that is well in the paramiters of all the games I play and have even swapped out Vid cards to see if that helped to no avail.

The message I get is that it is because of some unknown driver. since I am running a 200 power source and my AGP card, processor, HD, memory, all check okay it's the only option I can think of. I have already rewritten the HD and this did not help.

[bysmitty]

@ rlp: First off, can you post as detailed specs of your hardware as you can. Also, please expand on the issue a little. Does it fully crash the computer or just the program? Is there any sort of specific error message? Can you think of any sort of hardware or software changes that occurred around the time that this started happening?

The first thing I would try would be to search out the latest drivers for both the video card and soundcard. Also, make sure you try a known working video card in the computer and see if the problem persists before we rule out a bad video card.

As for the power supply, generally speaking, 200w should be able to handle your card, depending on your other hardware, though it will be pretty close to being maxed out. Each power supply company rates their wattage differently so 200w may be a high or low estimate compared to real world use. I can't say if the power supply is the culprit yet or not. If you want to pick up a new one just to find out for certain, this one offers plenty of power, is reliable, and cheap. Replacing a power supply can be intimidating but is generally fairly simply to do. You open up the case, unplug the existing power supply from all the devices, pull it out, pop in the new one, connect up all the devices again, tuck the extra cables out of the way, and boot ‘er back up.

…bysmitty

[rlpw]

Bysmitty asked
First off, can you post as detailed specs of your hardware as you can.

Okay here we go with the specs

E-machines w3080

Processor: AMD Athalon 3000
Motherboard:MSI MS-6734 with VIA KM400 Chipset
Memory: DDR 3200 1024 MB
HD: 80GB Maxtor 5400
Graphics card: ATI 9600 128MB
Case: Mini ATX with 200 watt power supply

Then he asked
Also, please expand on the issue a little. Does it fully crash the computer or just the program? Is there any sort of specific error message?

I get a window that says Windows has encountered a problem and has to shut down the game (NWN, SWKOTOR, ETC) then it asks to send an error report and when I check with microsoft it give the 'unknown device driver' as the culprit.

And next
The first thing I would try would be to search out the latest drivers for both the video card and soundcard. Also, make sure you try a known working video card in the computer and see if the problem persists before we rule out a bad video card.

Been there done that on all accounts. I have the same card in my kids PC. switched them out and same problem. I have updated all card, MOBO drivers and updated my BIOS (Which was hilarious because Windows decided that my computer's registration code was wrong and I had to put the one in from off the side of the box). Then I tried cleaning my registry, running all diagnostic programs I could find, nothing. I also made sure all my fans were running properly and cleaned out all the heat sinks in case it was an overheating issue.

Then he said
As for the power supply, generally speaking, 200w should be able to handle your card, depending on your other hardware, though it will be pretty close to being maxed out. Each power supply company rates their wattage differently so 200w may be a high or low estimate compared to real world use. I can't say if the power supply is the culprit yet or not. If you want to pick up a new one just to find out for certain, this one offers plenty of power, is reliable, and cheap. Replacing a power supply can be intimidating but is generally fairly simply to do. You open up the case, unplug the existing power supply from all the devices, pull it out, pop in the new one, connect up all the devices again, tuck the extra cables out of the way, and boot ‘er back up.

Wel I have a MiniATX case so the one you have shown won't work. I have found another one though Here that will fit. I have used this supplier before and haven't gotten anything bad from them yet. I just wanted a second opinion because the only thing I have left that could be a problem is the motherboard. And do not worry about intimidation, I had my first PC apart 2 weeks after I bought it (Warrenty? We don need no stinkin warrenty) thanks for your time!

[samIamsad]

rlpw, I had problems with my old 200W power supply when I switched from a 650Mhz Duron to a 1200 Mhz Athlon yeeears ago, and you're running an Athlon XP with a more power hungry graphics card than those that were available at that point in time?

Computers are weird.

Hm, could you borrow a power supply from somewhere to try?

[rlpw]

Originally Posted by samIamsad

rlpw, I had problems with my old 200W power supply when I switched from a 650Mhz Duron to an 1200 Athlon yeeears ago, and you're running an Athlon XP with a more power hungry graphics card than those that were available at that point in time?

Computers are weird.

Hm, could you borrow a power supply from somewhere to try?

DAMMIT!! Wtf didn't I think of that!! And I just ordered the power supply! The girls power supply will slide right in!!!

[bysmitty]

200w definitly sounds low for that hardware. I'm not familiar with the brand you purchased but from what I can tell, it should be fine. Let me know what the outcome is.

...bysmitty

[vivasawadee]

Hey bysmitty!

Is now a good time to upgrade to Dual Core or should I wait for Vista?

[bysmitty]

It is a great time to buy a dual core processor. The AMD's x2 line is dirt cheap yet still competent and Intel's new king of the processor hill, the Core 2 Duo line, is smashing up every record in the books. Right now there is solid and tested tech on the table and I don't see any major advancements coming up soon besides quad core. Quad core CPUs should be released by the end of the year from Intel but I don't see much reason to jump on these anytime soon since we're just starting to see programs take advantage of dual core let alone quad. Plus the first quads out will be hot, buggy, expensive, and have very limited software and hardware support. Also, there is no reason to wait for Vista's release to upgrade to dual core. There are mutually exclusive techs and you should have a nice stable machine before testing out MS's new OS anyway.

As a side note though… it really is not a very good time to buy memory. DDR2 prices have almost doubled in the past few months due to high demand. AMD moved over to a new socket type, AM2, over the summer, which needs DDR2. Add to that all the people jumping on Intel's new speed demons and you wind up with a lot of people building new rigs right now, meaning high memory prices. I wouldn’t let this stop you from building a new machine, I just wanted to give you the heads up.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

…bysmitty

[vivasawadee]

Cheers bysmitty, a few more:

* what is the best graphics card now for under $300?

* what is 19" or 20" widescreen LCD would you buy today?

[rlpw]

Here's a nice one
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?key=VC-156-105

[bysmitty]

^ Not a bad card by any means but it is out performed by both the cheaper 7900gto and x1900xt. The 7900gto is the exact same hardware as the $400 7900gtx only with the memory speed down-clocked a bit. At stock speeds these things are blazing but with a little bit of very simple overclocking, you can turn the GTO into a GTX for even more punch. It is simply an amazing card for the price.

Keep in mind that DirectX 10 compatible G80 cards are only a month or two away though personally, I would still go with the GTO. G80 cards, like most new hardware, will be expensive and unpolished at first.

For a monitor, I'm no LCD expert so get a few other opinions before placing an order. My first pick would be a Dell 2007fpw. LCDs are about the only Dell product I don't mind recommending. I personally have a Dell 2405 and it is amazing. Next, I would go with the ViewSonic VX2025WM. Or if you want to save a few $, the BenQ FP202W is a great deal. I wouldn't pinch too many pennies when picking out a screen. Unlike a video card which will be outdated in a year or two, this is something you will be staring out for years and years to come. I thought I was getting the deal of a lifetime when I bought an Acer AL2017BMD for $200 off of TigerDirect and boy was I wrong... and sorry. A dead pixel, crap resolution, fuzzy picture, and terrible input toggle are just a few of my gripes with it. Lastly, don't believe any marketing bull about response times. They mean squat when it comes to the quality of a screen.

...bysmitty

[SoccerDude28]

Dear bysmitty:

Is a 750 watts power supply enough for a dual core Intel 1.8 GHz system, with 2 Gigs of Dual channel DDR2 SDRAM and Dual 512MB X1950XTX Crossfire setup?