Academic License Rant

[theburan]

So, I'm running winXP pro that I got from my school. Works all well and good.

Then I go and install a pair of x1800xt's to fool around with while I wait for my new mobo. And you know what?

Window's wants me to activate. Within 3 days. Which I can't do, because of the academic license.

And I don't want to get a new key from my school, since I'm going to be reinstalling windows anyways once I get this new mobo in.

And linux isn't even an option, since the usb wireless adapter I have won't work (I've tried... it just doesn't.)

So.... lame.

/endrant

[azianai]

Wait, why didn't it auto activate through update?

[theburan]

I'm not really sure. Especially since it had already been activated before. I guess it just didnt like me swapping a pair of 1800xt's for the 7600gt's I had. Real shame too... it was working great at first, even without crossfire, the one 1800xt was playing cod4 better than the sli'd 7600gt's.

At least at first, it went steadily downhill until 3d apps would crash the computer and then windows wouldn't let me log in.

But those 30 minutes where it worked.... it worked really nice.

I'll probably just install ubuntu or suse on the computer for now, and try and get gpu-z to work, so I can at least finish my tests on the 1800's ( I need to see if the aquagate duo viva can even handle the dual 1800xt's... i think it's going to be pushing it, but I'm gonna give it a chance.)

[Lead Head]

Call microsoft up, and tell them that your old video cards died, and you got new ones. They should send you a reactivation code.

[theburan]

I'm just going to email the school. It's an academic license, so they can send me new keys (they've done it in the past).

I have a thing against talking to people on the phone, even the computer activation thing I tried today (which is odd, since I work in a call center. )

[Zambini]

Originally Posted by theburan

And linux isn't even an option, since the usb wireless adapter I have won't work (I've tried... it just doesn't.)

Have you tried Ubuntu 8.04 via Wubi? Not sure if you have tried that or some other distro.

[theburan]

yeah, I've had 8.04 on there. It's just the fact that the wireless adapter that I have doesn't use a linux friendly chipset. Even ndiswrapper and whatnot won't help it.

Hopefully the wireless built into the p5ke I should be getting is more linux friendly.

[Zambini]

Originally Posted by theburan

yeah, I've had 8.04 on there. It's just the fact that the wireless adapter that I have doesn't use a linux friendly chipset. Even ndiswrapper and whatnot won't help it.

Hopefully the wireless built into the p5ke I should be getting is more linux friendly.

:( that sux to hear that.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by theburan

yeah, I've had 8.04 on there. It's just the fact that the wireless adapter that I have doesn't use a linux friendly chipset. Even ndiswrapper and whatnot won't help it.

Hopefully the wireless built into the p5ke I should be getting is more linux friendly.

Realtek RTL8187 chip, do your research :D

Edit: Nothing over at Realtek
Realtek

The plot thickens!

Edit 2: Asus has it directly.
I made a mirror, because Asus servers are downright horrible.

Download from zSHARE - linuxdrivers.zip!

Zip contains audio, lan, wifi and raid. :)

[theburan]

Awesome, thanks! That'll come in real handy once my mobo gets here.

Now, since I managed to get back into windows through some mad trickery, I just have to get these x1800xt's to play nice. (i'm not trying to run them in crossfire, since it's an nvidia board, but I do want the 2nd one in there for the time being to run my other monitors. It'd be nice, at least.)

Has the fun habit of crashing when ever I do something 3d though, even rthdribl. Which is odd, since when I first installed them I spent an hour playing cod4 no problem, and then it took a dump on me.

Hopefully it just wants me to nuke the drivers and reinstall.


EDIT: Still locked up on me.... pulled one card, thinking maybe the psu was just being overloaded. With just the master card in there, it ran good for a little while, but it still locked up and died after a bit. I have the other card in there now... maybe the master card I got is just dodgey. I really don't know at this point... i should just go to bed.

EDIT2: Locked up with the other card too. Either the rail that the main video card is being plugged into is being over loaded (i'll try swapping pcie cables tomorrow), or I have 2 bad cards, or the drivers I'm using stink. I dunno. I'm going to bed.