[bysmitty]

As seen in the Broken Sword 4 threads, apparently there a many people out there trying in vain to run new games on antiquated hardware. Since this really does pain me to see, I am offering my computer knowledge to anyone looking to upgrade/tweak their existing computer or build/buy a new one. Just post your computer specs and what the issue is and I (and I’m sure the other computer nerds here) will help out in any way possible.

...bysmitty


*edit: thx for the move mods*

[Intrepid Homoludens]

< former AG mod > Shouldn't this be in Hint Requests and Technical Problems instead? < /former AG mod >

[bysmitty]

I'd rather it be under chit chat since I mean for it to be more of a general advice thread instead of troubleshooting very specific problems. I'm hoping for questions more along the lines of 'My GeForce 4 won't cut it for games anymore, what are my upgrade options?' rather than 'I get error X when installing game Y'. We'll see what gets asked though.

...bysmitty

[Lucien21]

Oh Wise bysmitty.

Why do they put the memory chip sockets directly under the drive bays on my PC, with all the power cables stretched over them, making it physically impossible to add memory without dismantling the entire PC.

Yours Peeved off

Lucien21

[samIamsad]

Dear bysmitty,

I got a brand new computer recently.
I type Load"*",8
I push play on tape.
I wait and I wait and I wait.
And do wait some more.

What might be taking my computer so long?


With love,
sam

[kuze]

What's more efficient in C, setting UDP sockets on non-blocking and running a queue process or giving each socket it's own thread?

Oh wait, I have another question (this one for real): should I uninstall old gfx drivers each time I want to upgrade them?

[bysmitty]

@ Lucien: Sounds like you just got unlucky with your motherboard layout and the reach of your power supply cables. Most setups don't have that problem. If you post a pic of the innards, I can see if I can give any advice on how to get around it. Chances are you just need to disassemble half of the computer to rearrange the cables to allow for better access to the dimm slots.

@samIamsad: Hmmm, I think the little yellow people that operate the switchboards inside your machine might be sleeping on the job. Hook your computer up to a car battery to give the buggers a little jolt. If that still doesn't work, place some roach foggers around the computer to kill them off and upgrade to the hamster in a hamster wheel.

@ Kuze: Ahhh, a programmer I see. My hat is off to you and your patience man. Coding is above and beyond my mental capacity. *shudders at the memory of C++* It is best practice to remove the old drivers before installing new ones. Just uninstall the drivers using add/remove programs. It is a good idea to use a program like driver clean afterwards to get all the extra files left behind too. All that being said, it is not that big of a deal to apply the new drivers directly over old ones. Neither way is really wrong but one way is more thorough than the other.

...bysmitty

[SakSquash]

Who died and made you king?!

[kuze]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

It is best practice to remove the old drivers before installing new ones. Just uninstall the drivers using add/remove programs. It is a good idea to use a program like driver clean afterwards to get all the extra files left behind too. All that being said, it is not that big of a deal to apply the new drivers directly over old ones. Neither way is really wrong but one way is more thorough than the other.

Thanks for the link, and as a matter of fact, it seems to be a big deal as I found out just a few hours ago; switching from the 2 years old W1zzard ATI drivers to recent Omega resulted in a BSOD on startup.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Oh wise and great smittsie...

Does my HP Compaq laptop make me look fat?

Yours truly,
Trep

[bulldog]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Oh wise and great smittsie...

Does my HP Compaq laptop make me look fat?

Yours truly,
Trep

I dont think it does, matter of fact I think it brings out your eyes among other things teehee

Dear great and omnipresent bysmitty,
I am having trouble with my graphics in call of duty. I've been killing most of my enemies with no problem, but I always end up dying and have never figured out why. Do I need to turn my monitor on?

Yours frustrated,
Roman

[simpson_yellow]

Thanks for the offer of advice, smitty.

This isn't so much a performance tweaking question as a lame n00b question, but anyway...

A couple of months ago, I thought my hard disk had died, so I bought a replacement 120GB SATA drive. As it turned out, my existing HDD was OK, so I could carry on using it.

Rather than waste the perfectly good new hard drive, I thought I'd just install as an additional drive, since I could do with some extra storage.

Anyway, I turned everything off, left my existing drive plugged into the SATA1 port on my mobo, and plugged the new drive into the SATA2 port (just plain SATA ports - I'm not using the RAID connections). I turned my PC back on, expecting to have to go through some configuration etc, but instead got an error message (complete with exclamation marks and nonsensical grammar):

Hardware Initiate failed, Please Check Device!!!
The Bios does not to be installed. Press <g> to continue!

If I press <g>, it starts scanning IDE drives and then generates another error message:

NO Hard Disk Drive Detected
Press F1 to Resume

Pressing F1 just sets off more errors and the whole cycle begins again.

I've tried hitting <Del> to get into setup, but it won't let me go there, and always comes up with the 'Hardware Initiate' error instead.

Any advice? Am I doing something dumb? Thanks in advance.

[Edit: Relevant specs:
Asus A8V Deluxe Mobo
1 x Used SATA-I 120GB WD HDD
1 x Dusty and Unloved SATA-I 120GB WD HDD]

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by bulldog

I dont think it does, matter of fact I think it brings out your eyes among other things teehee

Awww, that's so sweet! And to think I was gonna shove this laptop in the back of my closet.

Originally Posted by Roman5

Dear great and omnipresent bysmitty,
I am having trouble with my graphics in call of duty. I've been killing most of my enemies with no problem, but I always end up dying and have never figured out why. Do I need to turn my monitor on?

Yours frustrated,
Roman

LMAO!!!

Roman5

[bysmitty]

@ Kuze: Sorry to hear about the driver disaster man. I never tried applying new drivers over ones that old before. It has worked fine for the smaller incremental driver upgrades. Did you get it resolved yet? It should be as simple as booting into safe mode and rolling back your video driver.

@ Trep: That will depend on the color of the laptop and your birth sign.

@ Roman: What, you can't play Call of Duty without your monitor on? What are you, some kind of gaming noob? I beat the game twice without even having my computer on. I totalley 0wn3d those n00bz with my 1337 $ki11$... ... ...okay, I admit it. I got nuthin'.

@ Simpson_Yellow: That is a strange one. So the computer boots fine and normal in its original configuration but plugging the new 2nd drive in causes the error on bootup... hmmm.

1.) Plug the older system drive into SATA port 2 without the newer storage drive installed at all. If you still boot into windows fine, then we will know if the port is good.

2.) If both ports are good, leave the system drive in SATA port 2, plug the newer storage drive into SATA port 1, and boot.

3.) a. If it still is not working, unplug the system drive all together and install the storage drive only (either port). See if you can boot into your windows XP CD.
b. If you still get the error, then it is likely that you got a bad drive, return it for a new one. If you don't get the message and can boot into the windows XP CD, try initiate an XP install for the drive.
c. If the installer says that no drives are found, you likely got a bad drive, return it. If it does find the drive, make sure to tell it to give the drive a full NTFS format. Watch the format complete, when it is done and it starts copying windows setup files, eject the CD and quit the installer without finishing. This gives us a known good partition for the drive. Plug the older system drive back into port 1 and put the storage drive on 2 and try booting again.

4.) If it still is not working, update your motherboard’s bios.

5.) If it still won't work, return the drive for a different one.

Post or PM with any questions. Good luck.

...bysmitty

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

LMAO!!!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Roman5

How did you know that's exactly what I do first thing in the morning when I get up and see myself in the bathroom mirror?!!

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

How did you know that's exactly what I do first thing in the morning when I get up and see myself in the bathroom mirror?!!

Lucky guess. Funnily enough, I do the same! It's the head bashing that knocks me out though
mirror > < me

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by bysmitty

Hmmm, I think the little yellow people that operate the switchboards inside your machine might be sleeping on the job. Hook your computer up to a car battery to give the buggers a little jolt. If that still doesn't work, place some roach foggers around the computer to kill them off and upgrade to the hamster in a hamster wheel.

Dearest bysmitty,

All things went rather well, until my little rodent reached puberty and started to get interested in nibbling all day long...





Yours sincerely,
sam

[simpson_yellow]

Thanks heaps for the advice, smitty.

Originally Posted by bysmitty

1.) Plug the older system drive into SATA port 2 without the newer storage drive installed at all.

With the new drive disconnected, the old drive works fine in both SATA ports, so both of those seem to be functioning.

2.) ... leave the system drive in SATA port 2, plug the newer storage drive into SATA port 1, and boot.

Tried that, got the same error message, and was unable to enter any setup menus. Power off or reboot are again the only options.

Forgot to try Step 3 while I had the rig apart, and my gf will be needing the PC for the rest of the night so I'll give it a go tomorrow.

So far though, things aren't looking good for the new drive, and I'm guessing a phonecall to the vendor will most likely be in order (although I'm not optimistic since it's been a few months since purchase).

Thanks again. Really appreciate it