Search results

  1. J

    Dual Ethernet Question

    OK, this may sound like a strange/stupid question. I have two PC's with onboard ethernet (10/100) and PCI Gigabit ethernet cards. Since I'm a moron, I got Gigabit cards without Wake On LAN support. My question is: Can I use both cards on the same network, the Gigabit for the speed and...
  2. J

    Help with Laptop Problems

    My wife's laptop has had trouble booting for a few weeks. If it decides to boot, it takes 5-10 minutes to get to the logon screen. I tried chkdsk, but it looked like it was going to take about a week to finish. I tried to repair Windows (XP Pro) and it helped some. Now it at least boots, but...
  3. J

    Help, WHS just died

    I just converted the wife's old PC to a Windows Home Server machine and it worked fine for a few weeks. The other day I noticed that it was "offline" from my other PCs. It was still powered up, lights on, fans running, HD running, but no network connection and no video (from onboard vga). I...
  4. J

    Updating to Wireless N

    I'm getting a new wireless N router and will have one laptop with a N card, but another laptop with a G card. I've heard that N routers don't perform well in mixed mode, so should I set the N as the router in N mode only and use the old G router as an access point? Any tricks to doing this?
  5. J

    PC Shutdowns/Reboots

    I built a PC for a friend and he has a lot of random reboots. This sounds like overheating to me, but now the PC will only boot into safe mode. The fact that it wont boot into windows at all makes me think maybe bad hard drive sectors. Does it make sense that in safe mode it would not reboot...
  6. J

    20" Monitor Questions

    I'm thinking of getting a couple 20" WS monitors for the GF and I. A couple questions. I have a BFG Geforce 6800 OC video card. Will it support 1680x1050? I don't see it as an option when I go to display properties. Do I need the driver for the monitor installed before that resolution will...
  7. J

    Buy or Build

    I'm debating on weather to build or buy for a friend. I always build my own, but I'm seriously thinking about having him just buy. The budget is around $500 w/o monitor or around $700 with monitor. He is NOT computer savy, and lives a few hours away from me, so giving him any tech support is...
  8. J

    New build MB questions

    I'm looking at building a new PC for a friend of mine. Looking to go pretty cheap. I'm thinking about using onboard video, either the 6100 or 6150 chipset. I have an old GF Ti4200. Is this worth using? Is the onboard just as good? Any recommendations for a motherboard in the $60-70 range.
  9. J

    NF7-S problems

    About a week ago my onboard ethernet stopped working. I tried to put in a PCI network card, but it doesn't work either. Does this make sense if the northbridge chipset (or southbridge) failed? Anything else I can try? If I have to replace it, is there a better choice or should I just get...
  10. J

    Dead Ethernet on Abit NF7-S

    About a week ago my onboard ethernet stopped working. I tried to put in a PCI network card, but it doesn't work either. Does this make sense if the northbridge chipset (or southbridge) failed? Anything else I can try?
  11. J

    Floppy drive question

    I've built probably a dozen PC's, but I've never used a case that looks like the floppy drive is built in (see below). How do they work? Does a normal floppy drive just fit in behind it or is there a special type of drive to use? Look at me
  12. J

    HELP - Laptop replacement hard drive questions.

    My laptop's (Dell Inspiron 8000) hard drive just died. Are all laptop hard drives interchangeable these days? Can you update to a faster rpm drive? Mine was 4200 rpm, but it looks like most of them are 5400 rpm or faster now. Anything else I should know?
  13. J

    Strange HD Problems??

    My HD has been acting strange lately. It is a WD 200 GB SATA drive, and is my secondary drive. When I navigate through folders on the drive, it acts fine. When I delete any files or right click (to rename, look at properties, etc.) there is about a 5 second delay and the MS hourglass shows up...
  14. J

    Biostar M7NCG 400 Questions

    I'm thinking of using this MB for my girlfriends computer, but I had a couple of questions. It is rated for PC2700. Can I use PC3200 memory at 333 fsb? I always thought that you could, but I've heard that the M7NCG 400 is very picky about memory and wont work with PC3200. Is this true, or...
  15. J

    What is the best software for backing up cd/dvds?

    What does everone use to make backups of game cd's or dvd's? I tried nero 6 to backup my Call of Duty, but I get a Copyright Error.
  16. J

    I need to get past Windows NT Login

    I need to get into a former employees computer running Windows NT, but I have no idea what the password is. Is there a way around this?
  17. J

    I need some motherboard suggestions

    I am updating my girlfriends PC and need some MB suggestions. My plan is to use a XP2400M processor and probably 512MB of PC3200. I would like a motherboard that has everything built in if possible (LAN, Audio, & Video). If I could get it to run at 11x200 I would be pretty happy. I was...
  18. J

    Onboard or AGP Graphics card

    I'm piecing together another system for a friend. I have an Athlon 1700 and an older (3-4 years) MB (cant remember what kind off the top of my head) but the video card is ancient. It came with my origional P2-300 system!!! (I think its a 4MB Rage128 AGP card). Anyway, since I need to replace...
  19. J

    Possible dumb question

    Is there a way to look at the IRQ settings in Windows? Or do I have to check during boot up? OK, I found it already. If you go to device manager and view by connection, you can see all of the device IRQ's. Now for the next question. My Santa Cruz, SATA controller, and USB host controller...
  20. J

    Slow boot times

    My boot times are extremely slow when my secondary hard drive is connected. My primary HD is a SATA 80gig WD. I'm using the NF7-S SATA controller. My secondary drive is an 80gig IDE WD. With just the primary connected, everything seems fine. I was using the Serillel adapter on my secondary...
  21. J

    Now I need a Mid Range card

    Thanks everyone for the input on my previous post about a cheap video card. Since I waited until the last minute, I think that I will have to give my friend my Gainward GF4 Ti4200, and then buy myself a new card (never a bad thing!!). So, the new challenge is to find the best one. Are any of...
  22. J

    Best DIRT CHEAP video card

    I am building a PC for a friend of mine, and I have everything but a video card. The PC will have a Athlon XP2000+, 512 PC2700, 80 Gig HD, CDR and DVD. He is about as computer literate as my dog, so it doesnt really matter what I get for him, but I'm sure he would like to play as many games as...
  23. J

    Anyone else have problems with the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz?

    After I install the drivers, it works ok, but as soon as I make another change - hardware and/or driver, the magical BSOD re-appears. I have tried both the 4161s and 4193 drivers. I keep getting stop code 0x0000008E and then it calls out tbcwdm.sys as the problem.
  24. J

    Where can I download updates for Win XP pro

    Is there a place where I can download all of the updates for win xp instead of using automatic updates. I would like to make a cd where i can have sp1 and the current updates????
  25. J

    Hard Drive Questions

    I can't seem to get my Serillel adapter to work. I have a WD 80 gig SATA drive running as my primary drive. My secondary drive is a WD 80 gig SE IDE drive. It works fine when I connect it with the IDE cable, but my system doesn't seem to recognize it when I use the Serillel adapter. Any...
  26. J

    Stupid quesiton

    All of the sys tray icons are gone. When I go to the taskbar properties, the "Hide inactive icons" box is unchecked and grayed out. I've never seen this before.
  27. J

    More XP Crashes! Please help!

    I thought all of my troubles were behind me, but I was sadly mistaken. I was having problems with my OCZ PC-3500 memory not being able to run even at PC3200 speed, so I replaced it with some Mushkin. Same problems. I tried replacing the motherboard (NF7-S). I replaced the Power Supply -Antec...
  28. J

    Monitor Suggestions

    My 19" Viewsonic died an untimely death this week. So young, so full of life, then they're just gone.......WHY!!!!! Any suggestions on a (black/silver) CRT? Should I consider a 17" LCD instead. Gaming is definetly a consideration. I really don't want to spend a whole lot of money but its...
  29. J

    And the fun continues: Who to blame

    Afer putting my system together last week I started having all kinds of problems. Constant BSOD after booting. Ran memtest86 and got tons of errors at anything much over 166 FSB even with low multipliers (x10). I was running 2x 512 MB OCZ PC3500 in a Abit NF7-S v2. I tried the sticks...
  30. J

    Testing memory

    How certain can I be that my OCZ PC3500 Performance Series (2x512) memory is bad if it fails memtest86? It ran OK at 166 mhz, but generated 1000's of errors at 185 and 200. I tried each stick by itself, but both generate errors and eventually lock up memtest86. Even though I think the memory...
  31. J

    HELP! Where do I start with this mess!

    OK, I finished putting my new system together. Now the fun starts. I have the following; Abit NF7-S v2.0 XP 2600+ Mobile 2x512 OCZ PC 3500 Performance Series 80 Gig WD SATA HD Gainward GF4 Ti4200 After strugling with the SATA drivers, I finally got windows xp installed. I started updating...
  32. J

    Fresh XP install

    Once upon a time there was a post or a link which listed all the goodies to install after a fresh install of xp. Anyone know where to find it??
  33. J

    Help with Hard Drive recommendations

    I need a new SATA hard drive for my new system. I don't necessarily need a ton of space as I still have another drive for mp3's etc. This new drive will run my OS. I am thinking 80-120 GB. I have had both WD and Maxtor with good results in the past. Any opinions?
  34. J

    OCZ Memory?

    Any opinions on OCZ Performance Series PC-3500 Link? I was going to go with the Mushkin Level One Dual Pack, but it went from $215 yesterday to $265 today at Monarch Computers. It will be used with a NF7-S and Mobile 2500+
  35. J

    Video Card Suggestions

    I'm building a new PC for a friend of mine and I can't decide if I should get him a cheap video card (<$50) or sell him mine (GF4-Ti4200) and get myself a new one. I don't want to spend much ($150-$175). Any suggestions?
  36. J

    Mobile XP 2500 or 2600?????

    Is it worth the extra $9 for the 2600? Do the mobiles use standard XP heatsinks? ie Thermaltake SLK900A?
  37. J

    Qustion on Antec 3700bqe

    Anyone know how long of IDE cables i will need to connect one hard drive and optical drive to each ide channel. 18", 24", 36"??
  38. J

    92mm fan

    Any suggestions on a 92mm fan to use with a thermalright SLK-900A? It will be used with a OC'd 2500+ at 3200+ speeds (hopefully).
  39. J

    OK, the million dollar question.

    What is the best memory to use with a Abit NF7-S and XP 2500+. I am hoping to OC to 200 FSB. If I can get that I will be a happy camper, so DDR3200 should be good enough. I'm thinking of getting 2 x 512MB and run dual channel. I would like to spend ~$85 or so (each). Thanks, J
  40. J

    Need some fan reccommendations

    Need a 120mm case fan for an Antec SLK-3700-BQE. Also need a CPU fan to be used with a Thermalright SLK900A heatsink. I will have an XP 2500+ OC'ed to 3200+, but I would like to keep it quiet as possible. I plan on using a fan speed controller (Sunbeam) for the case fans. J