Installing my rig

Tetras · 4 Aug 2006 at 20:44

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

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.

Tetras · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:21

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.

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?

Tetras · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:33

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.

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:

Tetras · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:44

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.

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

)

Tetras · 4 Aug 2006 at 21:53

I dunno, I always go for full, call me thorough

So..... I refer you to Microsoft (the more information bit):
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302686

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

)

Tetras · 4 Aug 2006 at 22:01

Well if Windows is installing without a hitch then your already half the way there

Hope it all goes aok from here on

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)

Tetras · 4 Aug 2006 at 22:46

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 :eek:

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!

Tetras · 5 Aug 2006 at 14:23

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.

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

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"?

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

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.

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.

Tetras · 6 Aug 2006 at 14:06

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.

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

Tetras · 7 Aug 2006 at 14:27

3D Mark would give you a good idea, go for one of the later ones, like 06, so you can compare both CPU and GPU scores.

The bleeping is hard to say, if there is a problem during POST I don't know why it is not stopping. Assuming an AMI/Award BIOS then 1 long, 2 short beeps means a video error, so at a guess, I'd check it is seated firmly in the slot and the cables are secure. Can't be much more help than that I'm afraid.