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manders01 · 12:40 PM

Hello,

This is my first post and I'm sure it will be long winded. When It comes to PC's, I'm like a babe in the woods. I can turn it on and I can read from the spec. sheets all day long, just don't ask me what any of it means. Let me give you my rig's spec's, then I'll get into the problems.

MOBO: Abit AN8 32X socket 939 NVidia NFroce 4 slix16 atx-amd

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ san diego 2.2 GHZ 939 processor

Power Supply: ATX-as 500W-gn ATX dual 12v sli compliant

Ram: OCZ preformance series 2GB (4x512mb) 184 pin DDR SDRAM DDR400 (PC3200)

Video card: BFG Tech GeForce 7800GT 256mb GDDR3 pci expressx16

Hard drive: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB 7200rpm IDE Ultra ata133

X-tra Cooling: Thermaltake big typhoon 120mm cooling fan w/heatsink

Operating System: Windows XP Pro

Don't ask me what all that means, I just know it cost me a few bucks...lol This system was assembled from all new parts in March of '06. It spends most of it's time as my gaming platform. When it's working, it works quite well.

Back in June I had what appeared to be an operating system crash. I'd played Battlefield 2 for about 4 hours the previous night, when I started the system up in the morning I got the black screen of death and an error message talking about a "system32" problem. Long story short, I had to reformat and re-install XP. After re-installing ALL of my drivers, things seemed fine. Fast forward to 4 weeks ago. Same senario. Started the system up and there is that black screen with the same error message. My xp disc was destroyed in a car wreck (Don't ask). SO, I borrow my dads xp disk and commence to re-installing.

After 3 attempts at re-installing, it finally takes and things look ok. Re-install all if my drivers, still looking good. Set up my internet connection (3mbps broadband) but it won't connect. Can't find the ethernet conection set-up anywhere. So I fight with this for about a week when out of nowhere, the whole system starts running REAL slow. 25 minutes to log into windows, 5 minutes to get into my control panel.......mmmmmm.....this aint right.

I've had people tell me that my hard drive is getting ready to die. That I've got a bad memory stick, Maxtor is the problem......ect....ect After looking at the Xp disk I borrowed, It says in fine print "for use with Dell computers ONLY". Frankly, I'm at my wits end with this thing. What it comes down to is that I've got a $1400 paperweight sitting on my desk.

Can someone please, in plain english, tell me what is wrong with this thing. If you need more info, please ask. It may take me a bit to get back to you, but I will reply.

Thank you,
Sean

GaRHaR

Hi Sean, welcome to PCHF!

First of all - nice PC

better then alot of peoples out there.
Second of all...I edited your post slightly as there was some things that should have been there.
Thirdly - When you reinstall windows, the process should be (for best performance)

1) Windows
2) Chipset Drivers
3) Video card drivers
4) everything else

manders01

Thanks GaRHaR, I see upgrades in the future, but it definatly got me onto the playing field...lol. Not sure what you edited, but thats fine with me.

Let me get this straight. Install windows.....install MOBO drivers.....install NVidia drivers.....Then install anything else that's left over....hope thats right.

Could the "Dell only" disk be a problem? I ask because I've got a friend driving 75 miles one way today to bring me a brand new, still in the wrapper Windows XP/PRO software set.

After I get this thing back on it's feet, I want to squeeze every byte...er..bit of preformance out of it that's possible. Sound's like you guys are the ones to talk to!!!!!!

AND...... does this sound like software or hardware?

Thanks for the reply, I hope you don't mind me picking your brain for info.

Thanks
Sean

GaRHaR

It may cause some issueS (the dell cd) but i doubt it...best to get that new copy from 75miles away.

You got the order right.
And check out my system (just under my name)...very similar to yours, except i spent a fair amount more money

So far, I figure i've spent around $5500 (AU)...and only more is going to be spent on it too...let me know when you get that cd, and we'll see if we can get your pc up and running again.

manders01

I should have that CD by this time tuesday morning. I'll try to re-install everything in that order and see where it gets me. Luckily I can post with one computer and work on the other.

I'm not sure what the conversion is for dollars to AU, but I bet that rig flat smokes! I'll get there......bit by bit......lol

My buddy that built this rig has always said that it just did'nt seem to be "behaving" right. It's been....well...twitchy. With any luck, we'll get her back up and running right.

Thanks again.
Sean

PS: I'll be away from the internet for a while, gotta go home and get some sleep sooner or later.

manders01

Sleep, who can sleep when their rig is down? lol I'm trying to re-format/re-install XP right now and it's telling me that "Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged.......yada....yada....yada You must select a different partition for windows XP......"

ummmm ok, now what?

thanks,
Sean

GaRHaR

Ok, with "twitchy" computers, you'll probably find your answers with the 64 bit version of windows xp....
mine was never "just right" until i upgraded to that.

That being said...it's not the best support for games at the moment, but my computer is powerful enough for me not to care about that for now.

With the partition...try deleting the partition and recreating it again...follow the prompts in the setup screen and you'll be figure it out easy enough

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