Installing my rig

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 13:06

Hi guys,
I'm in the process of installing my computer with all of it's components...this is the first time I've built a computer so I'm a bit confused and nervous just in case I mess up.

Anyway, I've installed my E6600

and now I'm installing the Thermaltake Big Typhoon and the instructions aren't helping me.

First, I wasn't sure which way to fit the sponge, I've done it now hoping it's in the right way (I think it is) but now it says:
"apply a thin layer of thermal grease on the CPU die"

What's the CPU die?
and is the thermal grease the same thing as the heatsink compound which looks like PVA glue?

Thanks in advance and no doubt I'll be back very soon with more questions

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 13:33

Thanks guys, I've plonked it on there but now I'm supposed to plug the power cable into the motherboard fan... the fan connecter has 3 pins but the CPU fan plug has 4, is that right?

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 16:49

It's a 4 pin plug (on the mobo) and the heatsink comes with a 3-pin cable. I read somewhere that told me to simply just, not use the last pin.

I have another problem...

I've got a Lian Li 7 and I'm not sure what to do with the Front Panel connectors as well as the USBs (and multimedia connectors) that are with the case when you buy it.

I've got a Gigabit DS3 mobo.

I could do with some help!

Thanks in advance...

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 17:13

Tetras said:
Might be a jumper on the board to set that fan header to 3 or 4 pin operation. For the front panel connectors there should be a diagram in the manual as to what to plug in where.

that's the thing, the manual isn't very good, especially with the USB connectors.

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 19:09

Tetras said:
Downloaded your manual, what are you having to difficulty with as far as the front panel goes? Is it translating the letters on your case connectors with the ones used in the Gigabyte manual?

It's okay now I think, My problem was the Lian Li has a IEEE cable but I couldn't find where to plug it in my DS3 but I've realised (I think) the DS3 doesn't have a IEEE connector.

Anyway, a whole new problem...

The DS3 has integrated graphics obviously but it doesn't have a monitor plug for my monitor! It just has a serial connector.

The only way I can connect my monitor is to plug it in my graphics card but you have to install your graphics card after first bootup don't you because the graphics card needs to be installed via its CD?

I hope that's not as confusing as it sounded when I typed it!

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 19:32

Tetras said:
Don't worry about it, there is no need to install the drivers, especially if it is disabled (which it should be). Just use your X1800 XT as if you were putting it in a mobo without onboard graphics (note: you sure the DS3 has onboard GPU, I can't see it in the specs?). The cable you were referring to is Firewire by the way.

thanks and I think you're right, no onboard GPU...
What's firewire for?

Next up, when I first boot it up what should I expect to do?
I assume I'll have to boot it up, then insert the OS CD? Will I have to fiddle with the BIOS/other options or should all the confusing stuff be done for me?

Thanks again

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 19:42

Tetras said:
BIOS should do it all automatically, you'll be safe to ignore it.

(*assuming all your drives are empty and you want to do a fresh install!*) When you first boot put the Windows CD in the drive, it might detect it and begin set-up or you might get an error something like NON SYSTEM DISK PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE like when you accidentally left that floppy in

If that happens then go into the BIOS and change the boot order over to the CD/DVD drive, then when you restart it should be happy and begin Windows set-up. After the first reboot initiated by Windows quickly nip into the BIOS and change the boot order back to the hard disk, otherwise you might end up in an endless setup loop which would get annoying after awhile

Firewire is a connector like USB that is used for much the same stuff, cameras, video recorders, card readers, external hard disks and sound cards, etc

Thanks again, I'm just about to boot it up so I'll be back soon with results!

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 20:12

I've booted the computer up with the new OS CD inserted and also changed the bootup option to CDROM but it just keeps loading to the "sorry for the inconvenience" page which asks you to choose:
""safe mode
safe mode with network
safe mode with (something else)

Boot with last known working configuration

Start windows normally""

Have any idea what's wrong?

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 20:29

Tetras said:
I assumed your disks were blank, was I wrong in that assumption?

Nope it's not formatted, I was told that when I put the HDD into the new computer it would format it there and then.

So what do I do to format and install my new OS?

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 20:44

Tetras said:
When that Windows screen you mentioned starts to load (or hammer the key before) press F10 and you should enter the recovery console, when your in there type map and hit enter, which should tell you the drive letters of all your drives.

Then choose which drive you wanna format (*you'll lose ALL data on the disk!*) and type format x: /fs:ntfs where x is the appropriate drive letter.

thanks I'll try that now, then I just restart it and it will boot straight from the CD?

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:19

Tetras said:
Yep! Providing the CD/DVD-ROM drive is first in the boot order that is.

no matter where and when and how many times I press F10 the recovery console does not show...

there is a Express Recovery option on the first page when the computer boots up (press F9) but when I insert the motherboard CD (as prompted) none of the options are applicable.

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:30

Tetras said:
Ok, can you get a floppy from the computer your using to type this to your other?

Easiest way is to put the floppy in the drive, go to My Computer, right click the floppy drive and choose format, and one of the options will be to create an MS-DOS boot disk. You can then boot with that floppy and use the format command there instead.

Hehe I don't have a floppy in the computer I'm building!

Anyway, I've found my way onto Windows Xp Setup and I've chosen to install a fresh version of windows Xp obviously.

I'm not sure what to do at this page, (I want to format the HDD completely). But I'm not sure what a partition is so to format my HDD and install a fresh OS XP onto that HDD what do I do here?

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:39

Tetras said:
Hmm I've never done it like that, if you press Enter it might give you the option to do a format. I'm not sure. May just install Windows over the top of the old one.

When I pressed enter it brought up a page saying if I install the OS onto this HDD partition it may cause problems due to there already being an OS on the HDD.

Should I delete the partition? :confused:

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:48

Tetras said:
I doubt it would, it'd just go over the top, you might get two items in the boot menu but that is easy to fix. If you try to delete the partition it will probably tell you that you can't, cos it contains system files.

okay, I pressed enter (to install it on this partition) and pressed C (to continue) and it gave me the option to format the partition using NTFS, and there's a (quick) version.

What's the difference between the quick and the non-quick format? (apart from one being quicker

)

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:55

Tetras said:
I dunno, I always go for full, call me thorough

So..... I refer you to Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302686

Aha thanks mate, my HDD isn't damaged and it's been formatted recently so quick format will do.

Major infinite kudos to you for all your help! (here's hoping I wont need much more) - (but knowing me

)

Tigjaw · 4 Aug 2006 at 22:21

Tetras said:
Well if Windows is installing without a hitch then your already half the way there Hope it all goes aok from here on

Thanks mate, it's going smooth at the moment (setup underway, half an hour to go)

And as commemoration to you my little (big) helper my computer is hereby called:

Tetroe

(Tetras Conroe)

Tigjaw · 5 Aug 2006 at 13:57

Tetras said:
Rofl I ran out of animals not long ago and my TV/PC is now called Bat! It is so gonna develop an only works at night syndrome

Here I am posting from Tetroe

It seems to be running fine but I just need to make sure it's 100% before I start to give it some work to do.

When I start the PC up it makes a bleeping noise similar to that of a dialup modem (without the screaching). I can't think of what that may be because everything seems to be working.

What's the best way to check that all my hardware is working properly? Is there a fool-proof program I can use which will tell me "everything is working A-okay" or "Your thingy is not installed properly"?

Thanks again!

Tigjaw · 5 Aug 2006 at 18:58

Tetras said:
Emmmm....? I haven't heard of that before, what point does it bleep? Before or after the single beep that indicates POST completed?

It boots up with fans brumming and then that sound happens, I haven't noticed the POST beep so I'm guessing the weird bleep my computer is making drowns the single POST beep.

Just check out device manager and DXDiag, if there are no (!) devices in DM and DXDiag reports no errors, then boot up a game and if that works, everything is aok

Device Manager and Dxdiag perfectamundo, all tests completed successfully and no exclamation marks etc...

Edit: Good idea to check out the temperatures that are being reported too, in the BIOS and with a temperature monitoring program in Windows and download CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com) to make sure your CPU is working right

Here's the GPU speeds and temperature, are they normal?

Thanks again, Tetroe is coming along well! I'm checking the CPU temp asap.

Tigjaw · 6 Aug 2006 at 18:08

Tetras said:
I never looked at the temp of an x1800 card but looks about right to me, there was probably some kind of monitoring software included with the mobo for the CPU/board temps, not had a Gigabyte board before though (well not recently anyway).

Does the bleeping sound like a jingle or something? It really doesn't seem right to me, but if it wasn't POSTing then the system would prolly halt there and then and not boot into Windows.

hello again....

Using EasyTune 5 here's my fan settings and temps:
CPU Fan : ~774rpm - Temp : ~33
System : 954rpm - Temp : ~43

They seem fine to me but I'm not sure.

The bleeping is still happening, it boots up and after the fans start running a long beep is followed by a few short higher pitched beeps.

Tigjaw · 7 Aug 2006 at 14:05

I'm still not sure my computer is running smoothly, it's nowhere near as fast as it should be and the 'dual core' isn't really showing.

I played GTA: SA to test out my CPU and GPU, the test was as follows:
Using cheats, added:
All cars have nitrous (to test framerate as top speed etc..)
Cars can fly (framerate, textures, resolution)

The game ran perfectly, in fact, the graphics in the game almost had trouble keeping up with the computer!

But since GTA:SA isn't the most graphically demanding game I don't think was a proper test.

Anyway, would something like 3DMark tell me whether my GPU and CPU are running nicely?

By the way, that bleeping is still happening, I really don't know what's wrong