Computer-construction tips please!

[JivinJeffJones]

So after much angst and spamming of the courier's tracking website, my computer arrived yesterday intact. I've set it up (kinda). I consider my setup a rough draft or, optimistically, a work in progress. Cables going everywhere.

Things which impressed me about my system: the gravity and sleekness of my 4870X2, the luxurious width of my monitor (24"), the resemblance my RAM bears to harmonicas, the apparent ability of my case (Coolermaster Cosmos) to exceed the speed limit.

Things which did not impress me about my system: insufficiently idiot-proof instructions for various bits and pieces (especially concerning which plug goes where), the 50s appearance of my internal modem ("Is that a transistor??"), the amount of packaging I will be required to dispose of sometime in the next week.

So it's up and basically running. A few problems though.

1. It seems to be identifying my beastly velociraptor as a floppy disk drive instead of a hard drive.
2. GAMES WILL NOT WORK.
3. BIOS keeps telling my I need to update it in order to "unleash the full power of your CPU!"
4. Intermittent clicking sound in the background like windows is doing something while I'm watching movies or trying to get games to work.
5. Case fans not running at all, probably due to poor wiring on my behalf.
6. GAMES WILL NOT WORK.

I have a moderate level of faith that I can fix the other issues, but the games thing is killing me. They install fine. They start to run okay. Then when it usually switches into the game mode (screen readjustments etc) it just goes blank on me and I have to switch off the computer before I can get a reboot.


Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

[millerm277]

First off. Relax.

Next. Item 1 should be getting the case fans running. If you've got a camera, take a picture of how you wired it, and I can help more easily.

[JivinJeffJones]

Originally Posted by millerm277

First off. Relax.

Next. Item 1 should be getting the case fans running. If you've got a camera, take a picture of how you wired it, and I can help more easily.

Ha, you really don't want to see that. I'd win the "P of the Year" award.

I think I know what I did wrong with the fans, so that's no biggie. I'll have a snooze and then redo that.

[Jack Flak]

LOL if you built it yourself you'd know how to work on it.

[Xander]

J3,

Games won't work? What about them doesn't work? Do they attempt to load? Is there an error message? Input required.

"Clicking sound"... that's not always so good. Random fast clicking or more like the floppy drive kinda sound?

For the raptor, try changing the plug to a different socket (the actual number of the socket seems to make little difference).

Have you updated all your drivers and got windows update so it's got no more updates for you?

As a side note... a modem? You have no broadband? What kind of backwater is this Oust-rail-eee-ah?

Anyhow, post or PM input please. Shouldn't be a biggie to fix.

Edit,
Oh and those fans. You wired them to the motherboard right? Make sure to check the BIOS settings and see if it's trying to be clever and has switched them off as it's cool enough already. Some of them can do that. Had a CPU fan that used to stop when it felt like it... very disturbing the first time I saw it !!!!

[Noel]

Have you installed your motherboard chipset drivers?
Have you installed DirectX?
Did you plug both the 6-pin and the 8-pin power connectors on the back of your 4870x2 (you lucky bastard) from your power supply?

I could (and want to) potentially help you more if you elucidate on the questions Xander proposed. You may want to hook up those fans ASAP, because your videocard may exhibit signs of overheating. See if you find out the temperture of your cpu, case and videocard.

[Dom]

Also check the bios and see what kind of setting you have on the sata controller, (actually you'll need to go into the sata bios not the motherboard bios unless they are better integrated these days)

They can be set to pretend to be IDE, or AHCI or A raid config. If you have the wrong or changed it after installing windows it can create a whole host of problems. You probably needed to install a raid/ahci controller driver DURING windows setup, if you did not then the floppy drive is probably the softwares best guess...

Defo get the fans working first, then check the wires for everything else, then wipe the hard drive, install windows (install the third party sata/raid/ahci drivers during windows set up (this can be difficult with windows xp) then install latest chipset drivers, then the device drivers, (modem, graphics card (this may require .net installed and direct x so I tend to do it last) audio, etc, etc) then update windows to the latest service pack.

If your bios says you need to update it to run the cpu properly then you should follow the instructions to do so from the motherboard's website, AFTER you have got the system running with some stability. Always be very cautious when flashing the bios...

Also Xander has a point, when I conntected up my last sata drive I found there were two sata ports reserved for pretending to be ide channels. This could be causing some of your floppy problems, if I recall correctly there is no need to try to put your hardrives on the first sata ports, port 6 works as well as port 1.

good luck...