It's ALIVE! ...a couple issues though

[Gig-O-Ram]

No...I didn't just watch Frankenstein, but I have finally managed to get my wife's computer to work once again! I decided to post here because there are a couple of small issues.

Some of you may recall that I was having some problems on her machine with installing windows and getting a new hard drive to work and all that, but after careful consideration of the problem, I decided that some new hardware (a new mobo and a new cpu) might just do the trick.

I got the new goodies installed in the case, got all the panel wiring right (amazing!), and got WinXP Pro SP2 installed with absolutely NO issues! Well, at least until I went to install the chipset drivers and some other software that came on the system disc. I didn't have any problems until I put in this kind of "Restore" program. When I restarted the system, everything crashed and all of a sudden I can't even get into windows via SafeMode!

So...I formatted the hdd - AGAIN - and did a complete reinstall of Windows, along with the chipset stuff and the other software, except for the Restore program, and now her computer is running XP Pro SP2 just fine. :) Windows even properly validated the second time as though it were the first time. So that issue was resolved, at least.

Now, though, the only issue we've run into is that her DVD-rom and/or Power DVD XP is having some kind of issue with the system. She brings up the program and the whole system locks up, or the program does things it shouldn't do, and just plain doesn't work. DVDs do not play. CDs play fine in Media Player, but no DVDs. I can't figure out if it has something to do with the fact that I had installed an earlier version of Power DVD the first time around, didn't want that version, and then installed P DVD XP. She has since uninstalled it, and reinstalled it twice, with the same bad results. We decided to try replacing the drive all together, since the system reads the rom-driver as being about six years old. The drive was being quite loud while installing WinXP and some other software anyway, so it may just be a matter of an old drive. I'll find out in a few days whether a new rom will solve the problem.

Another small issue I have is that with the second install of XP, I must have not partitioned the HDD right, because now I have 103GB total capacity showing in XP, and according to the Disk Manager, I have 46GB of unallocated space, where during the first install of of XP, I showed 149GB total. How can I get this space from UNallocated to allocated? I know there is a way with a partition wizard or something, but I don't want to make a mistake, so I thought I'd ask first.

Her new system specs are these:

Biostar PT880 Pro A7 Combo (VIA VT8237R chipset)| 800Mhz FSB | Dual DDR2 533/DDR 400 | 6 ch audio | 8xUSB 2.0 | onboard LAN | ATA133 | 4xPCI | 2x SATA/RAID | AGP 8x | PCIe (I would've liked another maker, but I chose it because it runs the RAM I have and I needed AGP, all in a LGA775 platform)

Intel P4 LGA775 630+ HT 3.0Ghz Prescott 800Mhz 2MB L2
2x512 MB RAM (which I already had)
160GB WD HDD w/XP Pro SP2
DVD RW/DVD Rom (new one on the way)
GF 5500FX (which I also had)
OCZ 450W ModStream (my old PSU)

[deantn]

Get "Bootit NG" and use it to do the partition work, don't install it on HDD just run it. Easiest boot and partition software I've found yet.

[Quakindude]

Here ya go.

[Gig-O-Ram]

Update: I used the wizard and now have the additional 45GB on a seperate partition, so now the entire 148GB is good to go.

Now if I can just solve the DVD player/software issue, then it'll ALL be good to go.

Another small thing I noticed is that the CPU is showing 2.99Ghz out of a possible 3.00Ghz. I know it's not that much difference, but CPU-Z shows the multiplier at 15x 199.xxMhz. BIOS shows 200Mhz, so I upped it to 201Mhz to get 3.03Ghz. It seems the multiplier cannot be changed in the BIOS, so I can't tweak it to get the even 3ghz. She wouldn't like it OC'd even a little bit, so I'm probably gonna leave it be. But I wonder why it's only at 2.99?

[Quakindude]

It's just how the math works out. Also, if you've ever sat there and monitored your processor in CPU-z, you'll see it fluctuate slightly. The same thing happens with the HTT on your mobo and the memory. It's just the nature of electronics and electricity.

I get small fluctuations like that on my laptop, my C2D rig in my sig line and on my AMD rig.

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by Quakindude

It's just how the math works out. Also, if you've ever sat there and monitored your processor in CPU-z, you'll see it fluctuate slightly. The same thing happens with the HTT on your mobo and the memory. It's just the nature of electronics and electricity.

I get small fluctuations like that on my laptop, my C2D rig in my sig line and on my AMD rig.

Yeah, I have seen it do that - up and down a little bit. I'm not gonna sweat it too much, it's close enough. And all my wife cares about is that it works anyway.

[Panda Man]

Try flashing the firmware. It could just be a borked drive, my Lite-on locks up when a DVD is in there, and its supposed to be able to read DVD-ROMs at 16x. The sony works fine however

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by Panda Man

Try flashing the firmware. It could just be a borked drive, my Lite-on locks up when a DVD is in there, and its supposed to be able to read DVD-ROMs at 16x. The sony works fine however

I understand updating a driver, but I'm a bit fuzzy when it comes to firmware. I know it's the internal software for the drive itself, but I don't have any idea how to flash it. Also, we never even got to see if the drive would lock up or not when a DVD was in the drive, because the DVD software itself was screwing up and coming up with all sorts of errors.

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

I understand updating a driver, but I'm a bit fuzzy when it comes to firmware. I know it's the internal software for the drive itself, but I don't have any idea how to flash it. Also, we never even got to see if the drive would lock up or not when a DVD was in the drive, because the DVD software itself was screwing up and coming up with all sorts of errors.

Then uninstall teh softwarez and reinstall! Anyways, what's the make and model of your drive? Flashing the firmware is about as easy as upgrading the drivers, most manufactures provide flashing utilities or stand-alone executable flash programs.

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by Panda Man

Then uninstall teh softwarez and reinstall! Anyways, what's the make and model of your drive? Flashing the firmware is about as easy as upgrading the drivers, most manufactures provide flashing utilities or stand-alone executable flash programs.

I think I stated earlier that we had removed the software, and reinstalled two or three times. And in each case, the problem could not be resolved. So, with the idea that some pieces of data had been left behind after removing the program, I ran Registry Mechanic to clean any bad reg entries. The new drive should arrive Monday, so I guess I'll see then if a new drive and a hopefully newer version of Power DVD will take care of the issue.

As far as make and model of the drive, I don't know off hand - except that it's either a Sony or Toshiba something. The machine in question is unplugged at the moment, so I'd have to switch from mine, turn it on and check - that or just pull the drive and look at the label, I guess.