[vox-tech] Fwd: Re: failed to build a computer

[Bill Kendrick]

Not sure if James ever got this posted to the list, but here's a copy
that bounced a week+ ago. (Sorry for the delay... I've been innundated
at work.)

PS - Anyone know if mailman can be set up to append the original message's
subject to subject of the "Auto-discard notification".
(e.g., below, I would have seen: "Auto-discard notification: Re:
[vox-tech] failed to build a computer", amongst all of the
"Auto-discard notification: DEAR LUCKY WINNER")

I'd be willing to resort to some clever use of procmail and Perl or
somesuch. :)  I'm already using procmail to move these kinds of
messages into a separate "listadmin messages" mailbox.  99% of what
goes there is spam discarded by mailmain, 0.9% are notifications of
users (un)subscribing to lists, and 0.1% are messages like this that
failed to get posted because the author isn't subscribed, or more typically,
their "To:" line was simply not set to the same address with which they
subscribed to the list.

Thanks,

-bill!

----- Forwarded message from vox-tech-bounces at lists.lugod.org -----

Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:46:58 -0800
From: vox-tech-bounces at lists.lugod.org
Subject: Auto-discard notification
To: vox-tech-owner at lists.lugod.org

The attached message has been automatically discarded.
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:46:51 -0800
From: James <james at windowcats.com>
Subject: Re: [vox-tech] failed to build a computer
To: lugod's technical discussion forum <vox-tech at lists.lugod.org>

Haven't been on here a while, but since I used to be a professional 
computer tech that has built a bazillion systems, I thought I'd try and 
help by putting in my 2 cents worth.

First, you have to realize that the computer parts industry feels that a 
5% defect rate is good. Which means that some cheesy computer companies 
think that 10% is good. They figure that you're all technically minded 
and that if something goes wrong, you'll figure it out and return it.

That being said, I'm not sure what the number is, but I'm sure that its 
something in the 10-25% range where some products, especially USB, 
Firewire, power supplies, IDE, and SATA buses are out of spec. Not 
enough so that they don't work on their own. But enough so that if you 
have two out of spec controllers in one computer, and they're off on 
their timing, voltage, etc.... it will crash. And sometimes not crash 
consistently. Sometimes its something silly like putting on an IDE drive 
on the same controller thats running SATA. You never know.

Ok, so before you get scared here's how you start.

You start by setting up a bare bones system. The minimal. Motherboard, 
RAM, Processor, Case/PS, CD Drive, and HD.

That way you know whats working before you start adding all the other 
stuff. Let the BIOS help you out before you even start loading on the 
OS. Make sure there are no errors. If there are, it will be easier now 
than when you have everything else loaded.

Load the OS. Then the other devices on one at a time.

Certain symptoms scream that things are wrong with particular devices.

Sparkly screen.. probably the power supply, display card, or driver.
Keep loosing a hard drive.. incompatible hard drive, or conflict with 
the bus its on.

Lots of times, it can also be driver errors.

Stuff like that.

Somebody else here mentioned that they swap parts out and that is really 
your best bet in finding a problem once you suspect which component is 
causing it.

HOWEVER... nowdays there's so many things integrated into the 
motherboard its getting harder to tell when thats on the fritz. And it 
can be only one part that went bad. Like the clock, or something stupid 
like the keyboard controller.

Good luck on the hunt! I myself just had a problem with one of my SATA 
drive that kept disappearing. After a lot of switching around, I figured 
it to be an incompatibility with the controller, another drive that was 
attached, or something. (It wasn't the bus, that checked out with 
another drive) The solution was to buy an standalone SATA controller. 
That fixed my problem. (Or I suppose I could have purchased a newer 
motherboard, but then that would just make me want to get a new 
processor, new ram.. etc. You know how that goes)

Well, good luck!

James

 On 1/21/2011 5:13 PM, Nick Schmalenberger wrote:
>On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 04:18:17PM -0800, Richard Harke wrote:
>>Most of the systems I have built used "beep" codes for he most serious
>>failures. This required a small speaker
>>(usually comes with case) and connection from mobo. Manual should tell you
>>what beep codes mean.
>>
>>Richard
>>
>>On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 8:06 AM, Hai Yi<yihai2004 at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>
>>>Hello all:
>>>
>>>I am in the process of building a new desktop, and ran into some serious
>>>problems. I've been struggling with them for the past two days w/o too 
>>>much
>>>success.
>>>
>>>Please kindly bear with me. These are my desktop's specs:
>>>
>>>Case: Silverstone FT02B
>>>PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
>>>Mobo:GA-X58A-UD3R
>>>CPU: i7-950
>>>Video Card: Radeon HD 5870
>>>Memory:GSkill 4G * 2 DDR3 1600
>>>SSD: Kingston 128G
>>>
>>>I also use a old HDD (250G) for now.
>>>
>>>The problem is, after I wired up all internal wires and powered up the
>>>system, the system kept resetting, and there is no video signals. If I
>>>pressed the "cle cmos" button (there is one on the ft02B case, so I guess 
>>>I
>>>don't have to jump) during this process, the reseting stops, but still no
>>>video signals. Next time I power up, the above happens again.
>>>
>>>both atx_12v_2x and atx slots were hooked up with the PSU; two rams were 
>>>on
>>>bank 1&2; power/reset sw and others were rightly put in the F_PANEL.
>>>
>Does the cpu fan come on? Do the keyboard lights blink? If you
>have another video card that doesn't need its own power I would
>try that too. Are you using an antistatic wrist strap? If the
>keyboard lights blink it is probably booting somewhat normally
>except with no video.
>Nick Schmalenberger
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>vox-tech mailing list
>vox-tech at lists.lugod.org
>http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
>
>



----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
-bill!
Sent from my computer