Avian Gamers Network

first off just let me say AHHHHHHGGRRRGHHH!

I cannot describe how maddening this whole process has been. The biggest mistake I could even have made was to think I could build my own computer, after that my biggest mistake would have been to install XP Pro on that computer.

OK. I had it all working fine, I was hammered by Viruses and Spam but I have a reasonable handle on that then out of no where these things started happening.

1. I get 3 BIOS Beeps. Meaning Bad Memory. I am swaping these out now to try and find if one of my chips has gone bad.

2. CPU is runnign at 171 Fahrenheit. Both fans are running and heatsink is installed properly. I will add more thermal paste once I find where I put it and try that.

3. I get "16 bit MS-DOS error Illegal instructions" once I boot up and three windows pop up sbc.exe sbc.exe and mt.exe. This is new and started after I installed some drivers and such from my MoBo install disk.

Man, I just need all this to end. I will never ever build another computer ever again. For the 300 bucks I saved it is just not worth it.

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Moge

update:
well f*ck. I had two Ram chips a 256 and a 512 and tried booting with just one of the two and and each time I still got the 3 beeps. This is the same memory I used on my old PC DDR PC2100 RAM. When I have both chips in my system registers a full 768MB. No idea what to try now nut man those beeps are annoying.

I am not at a loss of what to do. That computer is totally useless and I am extremely tempted just to go back to my slow ass Celeron as this is just not worth the hassle.

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Moge

I had a bunch of trouble like that on one of the computers i made. Swaped out Mobos and it all ended. Have it tested, just to be sure. You should go ahead and have your ram tested too. Shouldnt be much money if any to get your stuff tested.

Trin

where would you get it tested at?

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Moge

I went to the store I bought my MoBo from. It was a small computer store, not like a big best buy type. Just check in the phone book for a computer repair shop. see how much they charge for testing.

Trin

thanks for your help but this is just to much for me. I am returning the CPU and MoBo to newegg and just going back to my old system.

I just cannot deal with this anymore.

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Moge

Did you check that all the hardware was compatable with each other when you bought it?

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X2-PB

Pathfinder Kingmaker Campaign:
Gednan Malithanar - Wizard (1)
Dukin Thunderstrike - Ranger (1)

Star Citizen: - https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/
AntanKarmola on their forums

Star Wars: The Old Republic: - Not really playing
Antare Karmola - Jedi Guardian (32)
Antan Karmola - Jedi Shadow (21)
Arianae Karmola - Gunslinger (20)

yeah...well kind. Intel MoBo and Intel CPU. The RAM is different brands but it is DDR RAM so it shouldn't matter (should it?).

All I know is that the beeping is driving me mad.

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Moge

I believe you can even get different types of DDR RAM. I checked most of my hardware bits through my brother when I built my PC as he has far better idea on these things than I do!

Check the specs of the MoBo and see what RAM it uses specifically.

_________________
X2-PB

Pathfinder Kingmaker Campaign:
Gednan Malithanar - Wizard (1)
Dukin Thunderstrike - Ranger (1)

Star Citizen: - https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/
AntanKarmola on their forums

Star Wars: The Old Republic: - Not really playing
Antare Karmola - Jedi Guardian (32)
Antan Karmola - Jedi Shadow (21)
Arianae Karmola - Gunslinger (20)

oh man!
Well I figured out the BIOS Beeps. I was getting 3 continuos beeps from my PC. I 'thought' this was BIOS beeps. But no...no it wasn't. It was some stupid Audio Warning telling my my CPU was overheating - which I knew.

Oh well, 1 problem down I guess. Im off to buy my Thermal Grease to see if that if the problem with the overheating CPU.

oh btw....DOH!

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Moge

You don't want more thermal compound, you want less. Get a thermal compound by the way, not a grease, like ArticSilver.

You want a thin a layer as possible on the die so you get good heat transfer between the die and the heatsink. I posted a link a while back on how it should be done.

question. The instruction said to only place a small amount in the center and not worry if it spreads out over the entire die that only the center most circle needs to be covered.
Would you also say this?

Also, would having to much compound ( I used articsilver the first time) cause my CPU temp to rocket up near 200? I am averaging 170-200Fahrenheit.

I have a CPUfan and heatsink and a case fan. I opned the case up but that didnt seem to help much.

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Moge

It should cover the entire die (this is just the raided black part).
If you only have it in the centre, that is why you are getting high temperatures.

Put this much on.


and spread it out to this.



You should get around 40deg C (I get 32), which is just over 100deg F.

Is it a P4 you have?
I just saw there they're highly accurate "twist the heatsink" method of spreading the compound.

yeah its a P4. Ill try spreading it out fully. I also got another 80mm Case fan to get a full current in the case.

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Moge

well that seemed to help quite a bit. I am hovering around 58celsius right now. I would like to get it a bit lower but it is about 45 degrees lower than it was

I don't want to speak to soon but I think *ducks* that might be all *ducks again just to be sure*

thanks for your help everyone! and if you hear about me trying to do anything fancy with hardware again please feel free to send a Trout my way

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Moge

Nah, ya don't want trouting, DIY is the best way to do it! Just ask for lots of help and advise first, there are plenty of people here who are able to give it.

_________________
X2-PB

Pathfinder Kingmaker Campaign:
Gednan Malithanar - Wizard (1)
Dukin Thunderstrike - Ranger (1)

Star Citizen: - https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/
AntanKarmola on their forums

Star Wars: The Old Republic: - Not really playing
Antare Karmola - Jedi Guardian (32)
Antan Karmola - Jedi Shadow (21)
Arianae Karmola - Gunslinger (20)

Glad to hear you are up and going!!

I'm unning at about 56-58 degrees celsius on my own computer (open cabinet). It is ok, until the cpu fan stops working for a little while....then I get all bells and whistles, and the PC shuts itself safely down.

Sometime I'll install a better cooling system..

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Leno WeEda - Miner
Locin WeEda - Hauler/Trader

It was very good for me to read through this, in case I ever decide to assemble one myself. So no trout for you!

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Retired Weaponsmith

The first few are always the hardest. By the third one you do, you should have it down.

Maybe you need to redesign your mobo:

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2004/07/feng_shui_motherboard.html

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Retired Weaponsmith

The third!!??
All you need is to read the manual properly.

I had to help a friend 5 month ago and I asked him on the phone if he had read the manual.
He answered "Manual! What that?"
I answered "Those tekstbook that follows!"
His reply was that he had thrown them out, so I went over to check but the trashbag was in the container so I had to crawl around to find it. I finally did, then I began to work with his computer just to find out he had fried the CPU and the ram blocks
Poor guy. But it was only 1.2 GHz and my Godfather had recently asked me if I needed one for free. I called him and got it. Installed it got 75 US$ for it. then I found a pair of 256 MB ram blocks back home and sold them to him 50 US$. Then he was up and going.

But on the other hand. I have had computer since age of two and professional computerrepairguy at the age of 10 (Hardware, software when I was 12)

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1st Feb 2008