So I turn my PC off Friday night....

[PaceAdvantage]

...and when I turn it on Preakness morning, the damn thing powers up...fans spinning, motherboard power light on...motherboard codes look good...nothing coming up on screen....five seconds later, it powers down, then powers back up on its own....this time, still nothing on the screen...no beeps...fans running, power going to the motherboard...motherboard digital readout indicating no errors....but still it's not booting up...nothing on the screen...keyboard unresponsive...it's just stopping right before the bios info is supposed to come up on screen...(this is an ABIT ip35 PRO board, which has a documented problem of this kind of thing happening...ABIT has gone out of business since I built this rig).

So I start pulling memory...pulling video card...clearing CMOS...going out and buying another power supply, all sorts of things, over and over...makes no difference...I console myself with the knowledge its probably the MB bios chip that got hosed somehow and luckily, my HDs are likely OK...so being the impulsive critter I am, I go out to Best Buy and purchase the Dell Alienware Aurora...Intel i7 920...9GB ram...1TB RAID 0 setup (a potential headache, I know)....the heaviest case I have ever tried to pick up, but damn cool to look at...

This is the first PC I have ever purchased retail...I have built all my own prior to this, but after seeing this last one bite the dust after barely two years in service, I decided my time was worth more than having to research, buy all the parts, and spend the better part of a day putting it all together and installing the OS.

Yup, I could have went out and gotten another motherboard from eBay possibly, or even a new BIOS chip from somewhere...but it would have taken days or longer to get it, and like I said, I'm way too impulsive and impatient to wait that long when it comes to my computer.

Happy to say I'm back in gear fully...not bad for a retail rig....water cooled...nifty lighting effects and a cool alien head button that serves as a front panel door switch....

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/9696/9696064_sa.jpg

[JustRalph]

Cool! High end rack.............

........ :ThmbUp:+

don't forget to check this out, down the road that is

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx

[LottaKash]

Happy New Boot-UPs, Mike...a wee bit jealous...GL widdit...

best,

[PaceAdvantage]

Cool! High end rack.............

........ :ThmbUp:+

don't forget to check this out, down the road that is

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspxThanks guys...yup, I was running Vista Ultimate prior to getting this new PC...now I'm running Windows 7...I gotta tell you...not blown away like others are...maybe that's because I never really had a problem with Vista...and Windows 7 is basically Vista anyway...

This rig came with W7 Home Premium...supposedly, I can't run XP Mode / Virtual mode unless I upgrade to one of the higher versions....we'll see if that's even ever necessary...somehow I doubt it will be....

[headhawg]

...I decided my time was worth more than having to research, buy all the parts, and spend the better part of a day putting it all together and installing the OS.Geeks like me would have loved to research all of the parts for the build. :) I just don't trust PC builders to put together the quality parts that I would like which is why I build my own. Best of luck with the new rig.

[PaceAdvantage]

Geeks like me would have loved to research all of the parts for the build. :) I just don't trust PC builders to put together the quality parts that I would like which is why I build my own. Best of luck with the new rig.I hear ya...but then again, I put together a pretty nice system over two years ago, and look what happened...lol

Here was my part list from two+ years ago:

ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ

AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black 120mm Case Fan (3)

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N LightScribe Support - OEM

EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600

PC Power and Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power ...

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

[Storm Cadet]

Darn PA my new Hyundai Elantra doesn't have that many moving parts! Hope all is well with you and the family! :eek:

[SAL]

I must say, that Alienware case is one of the coolest ones I've ever seen... :)

[bigmack]

Dell Alienware Aurora...Intel i7 920...9GB ram...1TB RAID 0 setup (a potential headache, I know)....the heaviest case I have ever tried to pick up, but damn cool to look at...
Cuánto, Miguel?

[PaceAdvantage]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Alienware+-+Aurora+Desktop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%231 53%3B+i7+Processor/9696064.p?id=1218151630210&skuId=9696064

I parted it out on NewEgg...price seems definitely within the range of where it should be had I built a similar rig myself (don't you just love the terminology used by us geeks...referring to our PCs as rigs).

[judd]

did you get new monitor?

[PaceAdvantage]

did you get new monitor?not necessary...

[LottaKash]

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600

My first PC, was a Northgate AT-286 running at an unbelievable 16mhz...with dual floppies 512/1.44...and a huge 75mb hard drive....Heavenly, running Lotus 1-2-3...

best,

[PaceAdvantage]

I believe my first PC ran at 8mhz.... :lol: I believe my first hard drive was 20mb... :lol:

I remember thinking...I'll never fill up all that space on the hard drive... :faint:

[LottaKash]

I believe my first PC ran at 8mhz.... :lol: I believe my first hard drive was 20mb... :lol:

I remember thinking...I'll never fill up all that space on the hard drive... :faint:

Isn't it amazing how far we've come Pilgrim...?...We take so much for granted these days, given where we've been...

My Dad was a "tech" at Bell Labs in NJ, and he made the electron tubes for the very first "ruby-lasers", and I remember how excited he was when he bought his first texas instruments scientific calculator....He gave me his old bamboo "slide-rule" as a souveneir of his early days....He would sit up all nite long doing his calculations, smiling and shaking his head in disbelief, the whole time....

Amazing how he used to tell me how, one day, that there will be chips with millions of transistors on them,(this was a time when a Japanese pocket radion had like 7-10 transistors in them) and how lasers would change the many ways that we do things....I didn't realize it then but he was working on the cutting edge of the technologies that we now take for granted these days...

In fact by using spare parts he made a home made " ruby-laser" bound to a breadboard....This may seem like nothing today, but back then, only the Department of Defense had any lasers....And, I had it as a toy....Later on my brother would do "light shows", using that very same laser, at the theaters that were then doing rock concerts (late 60/70's)....He lit up, for some of the houselhold names in rock at the time....At the Capital in Passaic in NJ, and the Fillmore East in Manhattan,....

How far...

best,

[JustRalph]

I am so old, I made my first facebook post with a telegraph

[gillenr]

Mine was chisled on a cave wall!!!
Seriously, my grandpa was born before the Wright bros 1st flight & died after man walked on the moon.
I was born before penicillin & hope I live to see cancer cured.

[DJofSD]

I was born before penicillin & hope I live to see cancer cured.

Perhaps not a cure but we are learning about a significant link between vitamim D and cancer. More: http://grassrootshealth.net/

[CBedo]

I believe my first PC ran at 8mhz.... :lol: I believe my first hard drive was 20mb... :lol:

I remember thinking...I'll never fill up all that space on the hard drive... :faint:After the old Apple IIe, my first PC as I went to college was the Compaq Portable 3 (pretty big and heavy for a portable) which ran a 286 at 16Mhz I think, had a nice orange plasma screen and a 20 meg hard drive. I remember swapping it out for a 40 meg and thinking there is no way I would ever ever need more! :rolleyes:

[PaceAdvantage]

After the old Apple IIe, my first PC as I went to college was the Compaq Portable 3 (pretty big and heavy for a portable) which ran a 286 at 16Mhz I think, had a nice orange plasma screen and a 20 meg hard drive. I remember swapping it out for a 40 meg and thinking there is no way I would ever ever need more! :rolleyes:I remember that machine...I believe my father had brought one home from work a few times and I just thought it was the greatest thing...

[CBedo]

I remember that machine...I believe my father had brought one home from work a few times and I just thought it was the greatest thing...Yeah, I thought I was pretty special being able to take that bad boy to college. I used to fake a knee injury when I was flying home so I could early board the plane to find a good spot to store it in the overheads, lol.

[headhawg]

Hey PA. Did you overclock your old rig? With the Abit board and the Zalman hsf (the same one that I have) it seemed like a natural thing to do. It could explain the shorter shelf life. Or maybe the Abit used those bad parts -- what were they, capacitors? -- that were problematic on many boards a couple of years ago.

I have my Core 2 E6750 O/C'd to 3.42 GHz and it's mostly stable but I have noticed some flakiness from time to time like an intermittently working NIC and HDDs that don't show up in the BIOS.

Now I have the urge to build a better box now. I just have to figure out how to explain that to the wife. :)

[BillW]

I believe my first PC ran at 8mhz.... :lol: I believe my first hard drive was 20mb... :lol:

I remember thinking...I'll never fill up all that space on the hard drive... :faint:

My first PC (generic definition, not the "PC" as branded by IBM) was a TRS-80 with 4kB memory and an audio tape recorder for mass storage. I never remember thinking that I'd never fill that up. :lol:

[skate]

I figure to get about 10/12 years from my Puter, e mach, vista, fine job.


But ifin you use, figures you do, your machine, say 5 or 6 times more than me, then the two years aint that god awful, yetly.
good luck

[PaceAdvantage]

Hey PA. Did you overclock your old rig?Yup, but nothing all that drastic...from 2.66 to 3.2...had a 600W power supply running only one graphics card and one hard drive, so plenty of power....

I'm probably going to get around to getting a replacement board and/or bios chip just to tinker with it and see exactly what's wrong...my guess is it's the actual bios chip itself, because it was working perfectly up until the point I turned it off for the night...and everything seems like it's getting power when i turn it on...it just won't post at all, and the code on the motherboard indicates it is stopping at the "point where the awardbios takes over the boot from the boards initial µGuru processes."