Need help

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 3:50 pm

I have upgraded my PC several times now but this one has given me fits. My systems seems to be working fine once it loads up but it hangs up in 2 places...first right at the begining of the CPU and memory test portion as bios is loading. It gets just past the CPU being IDed and hangs right there for about 4 min. then continues on fine until windows is starting up and it hangs there again for a couple of min. I know I have a problem in windows but I didn't think that would come into play at the bios loading screen. It doesn't happen everytime but most of the time it does.

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:08 pm

Did you manage to get the 24pin PSU you were on about? (sorry, havent had chance to catch up on topics from this weekend yet)

Dan

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:20 pm

Yes I got a Raidmax 380W from Fry's yesterday. I ran a voltage calculator from a link here and it said all I needed was 308. I just left a couple of my casefans off. I am running ..well my sig shows it plus 2 case fans One storage and one boot HDD both are Maxtor one is 120GB one is 30GB, Sony DVD burner.

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:02 pm

Well your PSU should be plenty big enough. Does your BIOS hang if you set the post option to QUICK?

If you are running both IDE or SATA drives then disable the one you aren't using in BIOS, as the time wasted could be it trying to find a boot device on one of the unused channels.

Try loading into safe mode and see if you can spot the driver where windows is hanging on (after POST, press F8 to bring up the boot menu, then select safe mode) when you know what it is, see if there is anything you can do, i.e. reinstall it or delete it (that is presuming that it is there in safe mode, I think there is some way you can choose a selective startup and say yes or no to everything that loads in windows, but cant remember how to get that started)

Dan

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:28 pm

both HDDs are IDE. I will double check bois for the boot options to make sure I have the right drive listed as primary boot drive. I will also unplug the storage drive to see IF that helps at all.

Post by **dicecca112** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:40 pm

well its probably due to the fact that a Raidmax is a terrible PSU, probably can't handle the power load.

I swear to god I'm gonna sticky this

You spent the money to get the cheapest PSU quality and power wise. And now your system doesn't work. Coincidence?

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:41 pm

I spent what I had to get what I could afford!! Sure I would love to go out and spend $80-$150 bucks on a PSU but I could not do that at this time. I have had many PSU's and the Aspire was the most expensive I ever had and it din't work any better than the $5 one that came with my first case. I will buy a better PSU when I can but that will have to wait.
I did not take them time to notice that the newer mainboards took a 24 pin connector rather than the 20 pin of my old board, once I learned that I already had spent all of my budgeted money on the stuff I ordered. It was not and is not my intetion to "scrimp" on a PSU but right now I don't have much choice unless I want to just leave it all sit for a month or more.

Post by **dicecca112** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:58 pm

what I'm saying is wait. So you'll end up paying twice what it would have cost you and you could have avoided all this trouble. This is the last I'm gonna say. I'm not trying to attack you, it just doesn't make sense to me.

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:27 pm

Although it is probably true your comment did seem a bit harsh dicecca, Not everyone has the money to spend on pretty hardware. And its easy enough to overlook a component when upgrading. I bet merlin is fed up of waiting to use the new hardware he's been drooling after a while now.

Maybe a bit more compassion and forgiveness in future dicecca?

Dan

Post by **dicecca112** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:32 pm

I know but I'm trying to save him the PITA that I had to deal with. I've seen and had a PSU die on me and kill parts. its even worse. Tough love I guess. The guy that taught me how to build a computer stressed good PSUs. Antecs if you need to go cheap. Go to compusa, sell what you have, ask to trade for one. Whatever. He knows I'll be hear ready to help him trouble shoot if that Raidmax takes out something in his system god forbid.

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:00 am

Thanks DAN...its all cool. I know what your saying dicecca but let me say something . When I go to buy hardware I usually check two places..here for advise and NewEgg to read reviews. I asked here what I should get then I went to NewEgg and looked at prices. Sadly in my current position I could not buy what was recommended so I looked at other PSUs and read reviews. I read about Antec and the second review listed on the site was from a guy who had his Mainboard and memory fried by an Antec. The Raid max I ended up with had a 4 of 5 Egg rating with over 100 reviews which was a lot better than several PSUs that cost over $100.
My point is that I knew I wasn't buying the top of the line ( can't afford that) but I did not think I was buying a piece of crap. I saw other Raidmax PSUs that were pricey and had as good of feedback as Thermaltake or OCZ PSUs so I thought I was buying a lower end PSU from a good reputable manufactorer.
The only part of your comments that bothered me at all was that your post had the tone of...stop complaining you bought a piece of crap so thats what you get...as thought you assume I have all the same knowledge you do but still bought a bad PSU. Other than what I did how would you suggest I find a PSU I can afford that isn't a piece of crap...that is after all why I asked here first.

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:46 am

I'm always wary of customer reviews on places like newegg. There can be too many company plants trying to make a product sound good. I'd try and find dedicated review sites of products if you can in the future

Got a spare body organ that you can sell on the side to fund more PC bits?

I guess dicecca was stressed/tired that day, so we'll let him off eh?

Short of doing little extra jobs for some cash, or ebaying your dog, I think you might be stuck untill such a time as you can afford to sell/upgrade your new psu (if that really is the problem).

While I dont want to encourage you to be messing with live electric and all, do you have access to a multi-meter? You could try and measure the outputted voltage on the rails to see if it is dropping considerably under boot load.

As far as the 'hangs' go, is your PC ok when it has finally gets into windows?

And did you see if it hung when booting into safe mode?

Dan

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:48 am

once it boots up its fine. I haven't had the time yet to mess with safe mod yet. I did go thru BIOS and make sure all the settings were right. It all seems good to me. I am going to try removing my storage drive and see what that does.....less wattage draw on the PSU at boot and see if there could be a conflict.

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:28 pm

Opened up the case and removed all the wires and re-installed it all. Double check jumper settings on all IDE drives. Still no change. What are the chances that there is a jumper on the board that is not set right? The board did not come with a detailed manuel that covered all that so I am not sure. I am going to call DFI later today to see IF they can help.

Post by **dicecca112** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:35 pm

Merlin did you reinstall windows when you made the switch from a Socket A Board to a 939 Board? The chipsets are different and that would cause the issue. This is assuming you used the same hdds.

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:39 pm

I did re-install windows but I got a few errors in the setup..I posted those in the software section. I also spoke to DFI tech support today and he told me to put my 20 pin 500watt PSU back on the system. He said that the extra 4 pins are only needed if I add more stuff like SATA drives and RAID. He also said that while the sticker in the box said 350Watt is enought it really isn't...it needs at least 400watt. I stressed to him that I din't want my warranty to be messed up by using a 20 pin PSU and he said it wouldn't, I did of course get his name etc.

I now have my old 500w back in and am trying to re-install windows again. I think it could be a USB issue since Windows xp doesn't have USB 2.0 support till SP1 and I could not ever get that installed. I have tested my RAM and its fine. The guy at DFI told me that I needed to flash my BIOS and if that doesn't work RMA it to NewEgg for a new one.