Spec R

Wednesday 8/8/07 - I order from NewEgg: Zalman CPU cooler, Zalman GPU cooler, Rosewill 450w power supply. - I want to make my computer quieter.

Issue 1:
30 minutes after the first order, upon further research, i find that the Zalman CPU cooler i ordered was incompatible with my MSI K7n2 motherboard.

I have an online chat session with a newegg rep and make a new order with a Thermaltake CPU cooler thats supposedly compatible with socket 462 cpu's.

Thursday 8/9/07 - in preparation for the new GPU cooler, i take out my ATi Radeon 9700 video card of my computer so i can start disassembling the ATi heatsink/fan assembly. So i get the fan and plastic pins out. but the heatsink is on there pretty good. so i'm trying to gently pull off the heatsink.

Issue 2: the heatsink pops off, but there is so much hardened thermal paste, that it takes a couple of GPU resistors with it. (i'll post pics after the computer is together)

So that puts me on the hunt for another video card.

Issue 3: My shit is outdated, so finding a worthy new AGP card is kind of hard.

Friday 8/10/07 - the packages from newegg come in while i'm at work, but i go to the gf's house right after. Grifter says he has an 9800 pro AGP card for sale with a Zalman already pre-installed. (thanks dude)

Saturday 8/11/07 - So i have some roscoe's chicken and waffles for lunch with my friends and we find out we're groomsmen in his wedding. sweet. I go to Grifter's place to pick up the 9800 pro. after being in traffic for about 1.5 hours, i get home to my packages.

Issue 4: The Thermaltake CPU fan doesnt fit either. FTL.

So I put in Grifter's 9800 pro, the Rosewill powersupply, and hook everything up. My computer runs! I decide to hook up the fan controller that came with the Zalman GPU cooler to my CPU fan. Holy cow its quiet!

Issue 5: After a couple restarts, my computer hangs at boot up. the bios screen doesnt even load.

So now i'm on the search of a phantom problem. Luckily my Dad's computer is just an older version of my hardware, and i quickly swap CPUs (dad = my old athlon 1800+, mine is athlon 2400+), and the 2400 works. whew at least i didnt fry the cpu.

i find another radeon lying around to see if i fried the 9800 pro. no go there either. i later install the 9800 pro in my dad's computer to find that is still functional.

i hook up my old power supply thinking it might be the new rosewill power supply. no go there either.

i didnt bother switching hard drives because the computer didnt even go into the bios menu.

the only thing i didnt do was swap RAM, but i didnt think it was an issue...

so it pretty much points to my motherboard - which has LED indicators indicating "CPU error"

Issue 6: No one carries socket A motherboards that take 184 pin ddr RAM with AGP slots.

Sunday 8/12/07 - I dont really have much desire or time to look further into the issue.

Monday 8/13/07 - I find that Fry's has a Socket 754 motherboard and Athlon 64 3000+ still in their catalog. I'll still get to reuse my 184pin ddr RAM as well as the AGP slot. ATX form factor. I order them. They're on their way.

In the meantime, I install the GPU cooler that I ordered onto my dad's 9700 pro, with nary a glitch. The thermaltake cpu cooler is supposed to fit the socket 754 that the new board has.

We'll see how it goes when the new stuff comes in.
Sorry for the nerdy boring story.

sherwood

buy a new computer already, that thing is ancient

k3ifers

im formatting tomorrow :nervous:

Spec R

yeah its ancient, but spending the exta 600-800 for a new tower just isnt worthwhile.

useless

dead battery?

Spec R

hmm, havent tried it. i doubt it though. i did try clearing the cmos and starting in bios safe mode via jumpers.

sherwood

if it's dual channel ram try taking the sticks out of parallel

LABARINTH

I hear ya...right now I am a little annoyed with my computer too...PC-cillin (specifically PcScnSrv.exe) and Spy Sweeper combined are eating 95% of my CPU...not sure why but they are each taking 40%-50%. The computer still runs fast and I don't really notice a difference....it just annoys me knowing it's happening.

LABARINTH

I had that same problem on a computer I was building...the computer wouldn't even post...I took one stick of RAM and and it booted right up..then I just went into bios and set the RAM timings and all was good.

Spec R

why would the RAM timing change????!? if it was never a problem before?

blah, if that solves the problem i'm going to be a mad man.