Major, major problems with new system

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by greencreeper

I've followed this thread with interest. The dangers of building your own machine Put me right off. Methinks it's safer to let someone else do it - at least then you have someone to blame

Blaming someone doesn't necessarily get your computer fixed any quicker, someone else could have put Richards PC together using the same fault parts and might have spent a lot longer coming to the conclusion that the motherboard was shagged.

[SMHarman]

However the cost of getting someone else to build nowadays has fallen to the point that it is often £20-50 well spent, certainly was with my PC.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

However the cost of getting someone else to build nowadays has fallen to the point that it is often £20-50 well spent, certainly was with my PC.

If you're not confident building your own machine then I see no problem getting someone else to do it, myself, I'd not let anyone build one for me, every single one I've built for me (and other people) has lasted very well, I'm fairly sure Richard is just as confident.

[SMHarman]

I'm fairly confident about the concept of building a machine, just when you start speccing higher quality components and more complex builds if it causes problems its harder to fault find, someone with lots of system build experience should be able to track it down quicker. Richards problem is a good example of this, the shared help here has helped him pinpoint the problem.

I would be confident building something my parents would use, but for my own use wanting Raid HDDs and other things means I would be less confident, also looking at component costs vs built cost I found the difference to be about £20 so not worht my time.

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

I'm fairly confident about the concept of building a machine, just when you start speccing higher quality components and more complex builds if it causes problems its harder to fault find, someone with lots of system build experience should be able to track it down quicker. Richards problem is a good example of this, the shared help here has helped him pinpoint the problem.

I would be confident building something my parents would use, but for my own use wanting Raid HDDs and other things means I would be less confident, also looking at component costs vs built cost I found the difference to be about £20 so not worht my time.

No offcece mate, and im sure Richard is a bit tacked off now - but building up your own PC is half the fun of owning one IMO.

I wouldnt do it any other way AND i have had problems in the past.

But you learn as you go - simple things - like looking at forums to see what other people with the same parts that you intend to buy are having problems with and how they got them fixed and what a companys support is like.

[greencreeper]

Originally Posted by theblueraja

No offcece mate, and im sure Richard is a bit tacked off now - but building up your own PC is half the fun of owning one IMO.

I wouldnt do it any other way AND i have had problems in the past.

But you learn as you go - simple things - like looking at forums to see what other people with the same parts that you intend to buy are having problems with and how they got them fixed and what a companys support is like.

The hardware these days is much more complex and it's easy to create a fault simply by choosing the wrong hardware or configuring it wrongly - i.e. often the problem lies in the relationship between components rather than in anyone component. I'm confident I could build a PC - I know the theory and I've installed drives and cards - but I know the potential for problems is high, and hence I'm happier letting someone else do the build.

I understand that building a PC is "fun" but I'm sure Richard would agree that fault finding a build is far from "fun" and detracts from the overall experience.

[Richard M]

OK, an update.
After reading a 30 page thread on another forum, I changed the AGP speed to 4x and it ran 3DMark2001 without crashing!
I was slightly annoyed still because my score lost around 5000 marks, coming up with just over 16,000 but at least it was stable.

Then, I changed it back to 8x just to make sure and it finished also, giving me a score of just under 22,000! (stock speeds though)
I was getting seriously confused at this point but then I remembered that I also disabled the onboard firewire when changing AGP to 4x.
It seems that this is the problem, possibly some kind of IRQ conflict?
Maybe a conflict between the IRQ/PCI sharing or the Audigy 2 Firewire port?

I'll see how it goes and if it doesn't crash tonight then I'll maybe cancel the RMA and then buy an NForce 4 board when they come out, selling this one to pay for it.

[greencreeper]

Originally Posted by Richard M

It seems that this is the problem, possibly some kind of IRQ conflict?
Maybe a conflict between the IRQ/PCI sharing or the Audigy 2 Firewire port?

These days you shouldn't get an IRQ conflict problem unless the drivers for the hardware sharing an IRQ aren't IRQ sharing compatible. That said, I know that on my mum's laptop sometimes the speakers would screech and the dial-up modem would drop the connection - an IRQ conflict. You could list the IRQs in use and try reassigning the IRQ if Windows will let you - see what happens. Also look at DMA.

[TheBlueRaja]

Originally Posted by Richard M

OK, an update.
After reading a 30 page thread on another forum, I changed the AGP speed to 4x and it ran 3DMark2001 without crashing!
I was slightly annoyed still because my score lost around 5000 marks, coming up with just over 16,000 but at least it was stable.

Then, I changed it back to 8x just to make sure and it finished also, giving me a score of just under 22,000! (stock speeds though)
I was getting seriously confused at this point but then I remembered that I also disabled the onboard firewire when changing AGP to 4x.
It seems that this is the problem, possibly some kind of IRQ conflict?
Maybe a conflict between the IRQ/PCI sharing or the Audigy 2 Firewire port?

I'll see how it goes and if it doesn't crash tonight then I'll maybe cancel the RMA and then buy an NForce 4 board when they come out, selling this one to pay for it.

Word of warning - always beware of 1st version motherboards.

[Richard M]

Ain't that the truth, life's tough on the cutting edge...

[SMHarman]

Your beyond cutting edge and well into bleeding edge here